English
The Death of Darius
The vizier came to Alexander and said: Victorious king, lover of wisdom,
we have suddenly killed your enemy; now the crown and throne of the great pass to you.
When Alexander heard Janushyar's words, he turned to Mahyar and said:
The enemy you struck down, where is he now? Show me the way straight to him.
The two of them went ahead, the Greek's heart and soul brimming with rage and blood.
When he drew near, he saw Darius's face, his chest and cheeks bloodied, pale as a withered flower.
He ordered the way cleared, and had the two ministers detained.
Alexander dropped from his horse like the wind and laid the wounded man's head upon his thigh.
He looked to see if the wounded man could still speak, and stroked his face with both hands.
He lifted the royal crown from his head and loosened the armor around his side.
Tears poured from his eyes; he saw the wounded body was beyond any physician's help.
He said to him: This wound will heal, and your enemies' hearts will be filled with dread.
Rise up and sit on the golden litter, and if you have the strength, mount your saddle.
I will bring you physicians from India and Greece; your suffering makes me weep tears of blood.
I will hand you back the kingship and the throne, and once you are well, we will pack and depart.
As for the traitors who wronged you, I will hang them upside down on the gallows this very hour.
Just as I heard from the elders last night, my heart filled with blood and my soul with turmoil:
We are one branch, one root, one garment; why should we uproot our own kind out of greed?
When Darius heard this, he said aloud: May wisdom always be your companion.
I trust that from your own pure Creator you will receive the reward of these words.
First, you said Iran is yours, that the crown and throne of the brave are yours.
But death is nearer to me than the throne now; the throne is emptied and my fortune overturned.
This is how the high wheel of fate ends: it strides toward pain, and its profit is only harm.
Look at me, so you never say you stand higher than any of this famous company.
Know that good and ill both come from God, and be grateful to Him as long as you live.
I myself am proof enough of my own words; in this I am the one whom all can reproach:
for all my greatness, kingship, and treasure, no one in this age suffered more than I.
Likewise all those weapons and armies, the priceless horses, thrones, and crowns,
and all my children and kin, kin whose hearts are branded and torn with grief.
Time and earth were my servants once, until my own bad fortune turned against me.
In this way I have been cut off from all good, fallen into the hands of murderers.
Despairing of my children and my kin, the world went black and my two eyes went blind.
None of my kin comes to my aid; my only hope is God, and nothing more.
Wounded like this, I lie upon the dust, caught in the snare of death in this world.
Such is the way of the turning wheel, whether one is a king or a champion.
Greatness too passes away in the end; death hunts it down as its prey.
Alexander wept tears of blood over that wounded king lying in the dust.
When Darius saw the grief in his heart, the flowing bloody tears on his pale face,
he said: Do not weep, there is no use in it; from this fire I have nothing left but smoke.
This was my portion from the Giver, and from my once bright days.
Listen to my last words, all of them; accept them and keep them in your mind.
Alexander said: The command is yours; say what you wish, for the promise is yours to make.
Darius opened his lips eagerly and recited his testament from beginning to end.
First he said: Renowned one, fear God, the judge and maker of the world,
who made the sky, the earth, and time, who created both the strong and the weak.
Look after my children and my family, my wise ones who live secluded.
Ask me for the hand of my pure-hearted daughter; keep her honored in your court.
Her mother named her Roshanak; she brought joy and gladness to the world.
Do not let my child be shamed, nor taunted by anyone of evil ways.
Since she was raised among kings, at feasts she was the crown of the famous.
Perhaps from her you will see a famous son who will renew the name of Esfandiar,
who will tend the fire of Zoroaster and take the Zend and Avesta in hand,
who will keep alive the festival of Sadeh, the glory of Nowruz and the fire temple,
and honor Hormozd, the month, the day of Mehr, and cleanse soul and face in the water of wisdom;
who will renew the faith of Lohrasp, so the royal creed of Goshtasp endures;
who will treat the great as great and the humble as humble, so the faith stays radiant and blessed.
Alexander answered him thus: Kind-hearted, truthful king,
I accept your counsel and your testament; I will not overstep them on this land of yours.
I will fulfill every good deed and let wisdom be my guide in this.
The king of the world took Alexander's hand and began to cry out in sorrow.
He pressed Alexander's palm to his lips and said: May God be your refuge.
I entrust my place to you and go to the dust; I give my soul to the pure God.
He said this, and his soul left his body; the whole gathering wept bitterly for him.
Alexander tore all his garments and scattered dust upon the royal crown.
He built him a tomb after his own custom, fitting to his glory and his faith.
When the time of his eternal sleep came, they washed the blood away with clear rosewater.
They adorned him in Greek brocade, his whole form covered with gems and gold.
His body vanished beneath the camphor, and after that no one saw Darius's face again.
In the tomb they set a golden throne, and placed a musk-scented crown upon his head.
They laid him in a coffin of gold, and Alexander wept tears of blood over him.
When they lifted the coffin from its place, they passed it hand to hand along the way.
Alexander walked on foot ahead of it, and all the nobles came with eyes full of blood.
So it went until they reached Darius's resting place; you would think their very skin was splitting with grief.
When they set the king's coffin on the bier, they carried out the rites in the way of kings.
When the honored burial was done, outside he raised up two tall gallows.
One gallows in the name of Janushyar, and the other likewise for Mahyar.
He hanged the two traitors alive; that wise man punished the king-killers.
Warriors came out from the army, each with a stone gripped in his fist.
They stoned them on the gallows, so that no one would ever dare kill a king again.
When the Iranians saw what he had done, mourning that noble, freeborn king,
they all blessed him with one voice, that lord and king of the earth.