English
Part 14
When Branush saw the answer to the letter, his pure heart bloomed with joy.
He ordered the nobles of Rome, and a hundred men set out from that land.
They loaded sixty measures of silver coin, along with jewels and rich garments to wear.
As an offering, thirty thousand gold pieces were gathered from every direction, a whole treasury.
All the great men came before the king, their heads bare, without their caps.
When they poured out the gold before him, they spread and sifted the old coin.
Shapur forgave them and treated them kindly, seating each in his proper rank.
He said to Branush: from the land of Rome came many cruel and evil men.
What was flourishing land in Iran has now become nothing but thickets of thorns.
I want recompense for all that lies ruined, turned into the lair of leopards and lions.
Branush said: speak, tell me what is needed; since you have granted quarter, do not turn your face away.
The noble king answered thus: if you want me to forgive the whole offense,
then three times a year you must pay countless thousands of Roman gold coins.
And another thing: Nisibis shall be mine, if you want my grudge to be cut short.
Branush said: Iran is yours; Nisibis and the plain of the brave are yours.
I accept this heavy tribute and tax, for we have no strength to face your rage and wrath.
They wrote a treaty in the name of King Shapur: that from then on no army would march from Iran,
except in fitting and welcome cause, wherever Rome would suffer no loss from it.
After that he sent them off with honor and raised these noblemen high.
When they had gone, he set his army in motion and called often on the Maker of the world.
Joyful, he traveled to Estakhr in Pars, for Estakhr was the pride of the land of Pars.
When they got the news in Nisibis, they all rushed eagerly to war,
saying: it must not be that King Shapur seizes Nisibis and brings his army here,
for he does not hold the faith of the Messiah true; his creed is Zoroaster, the Zend and the Avesta.
When he comes he will not heed our words; we will not want the Avesta and that old faith.
The lowly rose above their masters; in vengeance every townsman mounted his saddle.
When word reached King Shapur that they had barred the way into Nisibis,
the king grew enraged at the faith of the Messiah and sent a countless army on the road.
He said: a prophet whom the Jews killed, his faith deserves no praise.
The army set off like a whirlwind, horsemen and lions of the day of battle.
For a whole week the fighting raged there; in that city things grew desperate with war.
They killed many of their leaders and laid heavy chains on the living.
Then they all begged for quarter and wrote a letter to the king.
The renowned king forgave them and ordered the army to turn back.
In every land he took a famous stronghold, and so gained mastery over the world.
They called him the victorious king, and for a long while he held the crown and the throne.
The slave girl who had once rescued him and brought him to such fortune,
he named Delforuz and Farrokhpish, and among the lovely ones made her his beloved.
He gave the gardener too much wealth and sent him off adorned with gifts.
The Caesar stayed in prison and in chains, in misery and disgrace, wounded by the lash of the lasso.
All the treasure he had in Rome, gathered painfully from every side,
he brought and handed over entirely to Shapur, and for a while he lingered with empty boasting.
At last he died in bondage and prison, and passed the royal crown to another.
Shapur sent him back to Rome in a coffin, with musk sprinkled on the crown at his head.
He said: this is our ending; I do not know where our resting place will be.
One man is all crudeness and folly; another has wisdom and grace.
For this one and that, the day still passes; blessed is the one who does not walk the world in evil.
He set his foot on the throne of the kings and for a time was the master of the world.
After that, to the land of Khuzistan, he sent much benefit and much loss.
For the captives he built a city and filled the world with wealth from that region.
The city was named Khorramabad, and whoever had a share in that pleasant land,
even one whose hand had been cut off before, found a dwelling place in this territory.
The whole land and soil belonged to him, and at the start of each new year he received a robe of honor.
He built another city in Syria and named it Piruz-Shapur.
The third city he built in Ahvaz, with a palace and a hospital inside it.
They named it the abode of captives, and there the captive found rest and contentment.