Persian Poets. 



267 



reciting this ode was interrupted by the Sultan's suddenly demanding 

 from him whence he came. The poet without the slightest hesitation 

 replied to the monarch in the same metre in which he was then re- 

 citing, 



cL 3 fj H ^U^Afjl jlkc *.=5ua> 



u Like attar, I come from the rose garden of Mishapur, 

 But I am as a thorn of the desert,while attar is fragrant as the rose." 



Katebi received ten thousand dinars for the ode. He bestowed the 

 sum on the poor and indigent. The date of his death may be ascertained 

 by the numerical value of the letters composing the following hemis- 

 tich, viz. A. H. 886 : 



Katebi remained not, but his name is everlasting in the world. 



He is said to have been styled Katebi from the beauty of his hand- 

 writing. His khamseh is on the model of that of the celebrated Nizomi 

 (2 vol.). 



Mohammed Shems-uddin Sozni 



More familiarly called Hukkim Sozni, was descended from Suliman 

 Farsi, one of the first companions of the prophet. Some writers aver 

 that he was born at Sdmarcand, — others, at Nakshet, and that 

 having completed his studies at Bokhara, he settled at Samarcand, 

 where he died, aged 80 years, A. H. 569 ; according to Mahommed 

 Bukhtawar Khan A. H. 566. Sozni was of a lively and agreeable turn 

 of mind, and on this account his society was much sought after by the 

 young and convivial. In their parties he gave free vent to those 

 sallies of wit, for which he is so justly celebrated, and which sparkled 

 in various impromptu repartees, both in prose and verse. He was 

 a needle-maker, as his surname Sozni imports, and adopted this 



