Untitled

(
<
, the
84
'
FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
When he reached Bukhara, the Amfr can e in and they saw
one another and he began to treat him, exerting his pcwers to
utmost, but without relief to the patient. One day he came
in* before the Arnir and said, "To-morrow (vo) I am going to try
another method of treatment, but for the^carrying out of it you
will have to sacrifice such-and-such a hoyse and such-and-such a
mule," the two being both animals noted for their speed, so that
in one night they would go forty parasangs.
So next day he took the Amir to the hot bath of Ju-yioutside
the ,
palace, leaving that horse and mule ready
Muliydn, 1
equipped and tightly girt in the charge of his own servant at
the door of the bath; while of the King's retinue and attendants
he suffered not one to enter the bath. Then he brought the King
into the middle chamber of the hot bath, and poured over him
tepid water, after which he prepared a draught, tastec] it, and
gave it to him to drink. And he kept him there till such time
as the humours in his joints had undergone coction.
Then he himself went out and put on his clothes, and, [taking
2
a knife in his hand] came in, and stood for a while reviling the
,
King, saying, "O such-and-such, thou didst order thy people
to bind and cast me into the boat and to threaten my life. If I do
not destroy thee as a punishment for this, I am no true son of
[my father] Zakariyya!"
The Amir was furious and rose from his place to his l^nees.
Muhammad ibn Zakariyy^ drew a knife and threatened him yet
more, until the Amir, partly from anger, partly from fear, completely
rose to his feet. When Muhammad ibn Zakariyya saw
the Amir on his feet, he turned round and went out from the
buth^and both he and his servant mounted, the one the horse,
the other the mule, and turned their faces towards the Oxus.
At the time of the afternoon prayer they crossed the river, and
halted nowhere till they reached Merv. When Mnhammad ibn
Zakariyya alighted at Merv, he wrote a letter to the Amir,
'saying, "May the life of the King be prolonged in health of body
and effective command! I your servant undertook the treatment
and did all that was possible. There was, however, an extreme
failure in the natural caloric, and the treatment of the /disease by
ordinary means would have been a protracted affair. I therefore
abandoned it in favour of psychical treatment, carried you to the
hot bath, administered a draught, and left you so long as to bring
about a coction of the humours. Then I angered the King, so as to
aid the natural caloric, and it gained strength until those humours,
already softened, were dissolved. But henceforth it is not expedient
that a meeting should take place between myself and the King."
1 See n. 2 on p. 35 supra, and Note XVI at the end.
2 This sentence, though omitted in the printed text, seems on the whole to be an
improvement.