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MAS'UD-I-SA'D'S IMPRISONMENT ', '5*1<br />
"Naught served tJx ends of statesmen save that 7, f<br />
A helpless exile, should in fetters lie,<br />
Nor do they dJem me safe within their cells,<br />
Unless surrounded byt ten sentinelf j<br />
Which ten sit ever by the gates and walls,<br />
And ever one unto his comrade calls:<br />
1Ho there ! On guard ! This cunning rogue is one<br />
To fashion bridge and stepsfrom shade and sun / '<br />
Why, grant I stood arrayedfor such h fight,<br />
And suddenly sprangforth, attemptingflight,<br />
* Could elephant or raging lion hope,<br />
{Thus cramped in prison-cage, with ten to cope?<br />
Can I, bereft ofweapous, take thefield, Or make of back and bosom bow and shield? "<br />
So, by reason of his relation to Sayfu'd-I}awla, lie remained<br />
1<br />
imprisoned for twelve years in the days of Sultan Ibrahim, and,<br />
2<br />
911 account of his like relation to Abu Nasr of Pars , for eight<br />
years more in the reign of Sultan Mas'ud ibn Ibrahim, though<br />
none hath been heard of who hath produced so many splendid<br />
elegies and rare gems of verse as were born of his brilliant genius.<br />
After eight years Thiqatu'1-Mulk Tahir ibn 'All ibn Mushkan 3<br />
brought him forth from his bondage, so that, in short, during<br />
these two reigns this illustrious man spent all his life in captivity,<br />
and the ill repute of this deed remained on this noble House.<br />
I hesitate as to the motives which are to be assigned to this act,<br />
and whether it is to be ascribed to strength of purpose, recklessness,<br />
hardness of heart, or a malicious disposition. In any case<br />
it was not a laudable deed, and I have never met with any<br />
sensible man who was prepared to praise that administration for<br />
such inflexibility of purpose or excess of caution. And I heard<br />
it remarked by the King of the world Ghiyathu'd-Dunya wa'd-<br />
* As Mfrza Muhammad has pointed out (Persian notes, pp. t YV- \ A ) there is some<br />
confusion of facts here., Mas'ud suffered two separate periods of imprisonment, the<br />
first for ten years, of which seven were spent in Sii and Dahak (between Zaranj and<br />
Bust in Sistan), the second for seven or eight years in Maranj in India. Sultan<br />
Ibrahim's death took place in A.H. 492 (A.IJ. 1098-9), so that, if he was still suffering<br />
his first imprisonment at that time, it cannot have begun earlier than A.H. 482<br />
(A.D. 1089-1090). We have Mas'ud's own authority for fixing the duration of his<br />
imprisonment at ten (not twelvte) years. See his verses quoted at the top of p.<br />
the Persian notes.<br />
2<br />
Qiwamu'1-Mulk Nizamu'd-Din Abu Nasr Hibatu'llah al-Farsi, a leading statesman<br />
durirTg these two reigns and a friend and patron of our poet, fell into disgrace in<br />
the reigh of Sultan Mas'ud, together with his clients and proteges. He died about<br />
,<br />
i A of<br />
510/1116. ^<br />
3<br />
!Fe was prime minister to Sultan Mas'ud ibn Ibrdhfm, and patron of many poets,<br />
intludimr, besides Mas'iid-i-Sa'd-i-Salma'n, Abu'1-Faraj-i-Runi, Mukhtail and Sana'i,<br />
all of whom ha^esung his praises. His uncle Abu Nasr Mansiir ibn Mushkan was<br />
'secretary to Sultan Mahmud and Sultan Mas'ud, author of a volume of Memoirs and<br />
teacher of the historian Abu'1-Fadl-i-Bayhaqi.<br />
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