English
Part 3: Dara and the King of Rome
The spearmen marched all the way to Rome, seeking battle in that flourishing land.
In Rome ruled the harsh king Filqus, and with him stood the king of Sus.
They wrote a letter: the son of Homay has brought a countless army from his land.
When the Roman commander heard these words, the old days of war came back to his mind.
From Amorium he gathered an army, all of them famous warriors of the battlefield.
When Dara came, the nobles of Rome abandoned all their borders and their land.
From Amorium, Filqus and his chiefs, the champions and the fighters, set out.
Two heavy battles were fought in three days; on the fourth, when the world-lighting sun rose,
Filqus and his army fled; not one of them still had a helmet or a Roman cap.
They took the women and children captive too, and killed many with sword and arrow.
When they came into the city before Dara, of that army only two parts remained.
Some had been killed and wounded earlier, and behind them the spears kept coming.
They took shelter within the fortress of Amorium; many of them begged for mercy.
A messenger came from Filqus, wise and alert, bearing gifts and greetings.
With slaves, purses of gold, and offerings, and two chests full of royal jewels.
This was the message: I ask that the one God be my guide,
that we make the end of this war a feast, and never turn our hearts toward battle again.
There must be honesty and humanity; from crookedness and cruelty only loss arises.
As for Amorium, which is my seat, if you come to seize it by force,
my heart will boil for the sake of name and honor, and at feast-time I will turn to war.
So do what befits kings: the father was a king, and the son is a king too.
When Dara heard this, he summoned his noblemen and told them the whole story.
He said: What do you think of these words? Filqus is trying to save his honor.
All the great ones sang his praise: O king of clear heart and pure faith,
the King of kings is greater than the great; from every matter he chooses what is fitting.
This famous man has a daughter, tall as a cypress, with a face like spring.
No idol-carver in China ever saw her like, shining among beauties like a brilliant gem.
If the king sees her and finds her pleasing, a tall cypress will come to his garden.
The king summoned the Roman messenger and told him what he had heard from his well-wishers.
He said to him: Go, tell the Caesar, if you truly wish to save your honor,
behind your veil there is a daughter who is a crown upon the heads of noblewomen,
a beauty you call Nahid, whom you seat upon a golden throne.
Give her to me and send her with Rome's tribute, if you wish your land to be left in peace.
The messenger heard, and came back like the wind, and repeated those words to the Caesar.
Filqus and his army were glad that such a king would be his son-in-law.
He spoke of every kind of tribute and levy, of the wealth that gave Rome its strength.
They agreed on a yearly sum the king would take from the Caesar, who kept an army:
a hundred thousand molded golden eggs, each one set with a royal jewel,
each egg weighing forty mithqals, and each with a precious gem as well.
He gave gifts to the border-lords of Rome, to everyone who came from that flourishing land,
and after that to all the philosophers of the city, to everyone who had a share in that place.
He ordered the road made ready, and freed his heart from every concern.
They set out with the king's daughter, each of the nobles bearing gifts.
They prepared a golden litter and chose crowned attendants for her.
Ten mules all loaded with Roman brocade, and many figures wrought from gems and gold.
Three hundred camel-loads of carpets and of everything worth carrying on the road.
The lovely Roman bride was in her litter, with a bishop and a monk to guide her.
Sixty handmaids walked behind Nahid, each one holding a golden cup,
and in each cup a royal jewel, that idol-beauty with her crown and earrings.
The bishop handed the fair-faced girl over to Dara, and counted the jewels out to his treasurer.
After that little remained on that battlefield, and he led his army toward the land of Iran.
He came toward Pars, joyful and at peace, and set the crown of greatness on his head.