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SECONP DISCOURSE. ON POETS
and only then
after hint for two parasangs* as far as Buruna 1
,
did he put them on rior did he draw rein till
; anywhere he
reached Bukhara, and Rudagi received from the army the doublfe
(
of.that five, thousand dinars:
At Samarqand, in th$ year A.H. 504 f= A.D. mo-mi), I
'heard from the Dihqan Abu Rija Ahmad ibn 'Abdu's-Samad
"
al-'Abidi as follows : My grandfather Abu Rija related that on
this occasion when Rudagi reached Samarqand, he had four
hundred camels laden with his baggage." And indeed that
illustrious man was worthy of this splendid equipment, for no
one has yet produced a successful imitation of that elegy, nor
found means to surmount triumphantly the difficulties {whioii
the subject presents]. Thus the P9et-laureatc Mu'izzi was one
of the sweetest singers and most graceful wits in Persia, for hfs
poetry reaches the
( highest level in beauty and freshness, and
excels in fluency and, charm. Zaynu'1-Mulk Abu Sa'd [ibn] Hindu
ibn Muhammad ibn Hindu of Isfahan 2
requested him ta compose
an imitation of this qasida. Mu'izzi declared his inability to do so,
but, being pressed, produced
Ju ^\^c\ Jl