1878.] 
15 
C. J. Lyall —The Mo 1 allaqcth of Zuheyr. 
VJ_ 
KJ _ 
w_ 
w 
(In the second foot the third syllable is occasionally, hut rarely, short: the only 
instances of a short third syllable in the 128 hemistichs of this poem are v. 14, a and 
*5, v. 28, b, and v. 33, b ; it is observable that it most frequently occurs with proper 
names.) 
In the English an attempt has been made to imitate the metre of the original. 
The measure adopted is not absolutely unknown in our language ; it is to be found in 
many lines of that wonderful organ-swell, Browning’s Abt Voc/ler ; the seventh stanza 
of that poem in particular is almost entirely in the Taivil. The following lines are 
exactly the Arabic cadence— 
“ Existent behind all laws, that made them and, lo, they are !” 
“ And, there ! Ye have heard and seen : consider and bow the head !” 
Other verses of the same stanza exhibit the licences which I have found it neces¬ 
sary to take with the metre to adapt it to the English ; these are chiefly the following :— 
(1.) Dropping the first short syllable, as in v. 10, b ) 11, a. 
This is a licence which the Arabs themselves allow, but only (except in a few 
doubtful instances) at the commencement of a poem. It is matched by Browning’s— 
“ Give it to me to use ! I mix it with two in my thought.” 
(2.) Addition of a short syllable at the beginning of a foot, as in v. 12, a ; so in 
Browning— 
“ And I know not if, save in this, such gift be allowed to man.” 
(3.) Exchanging the one long third syllable of the second foot for two short, as 
in v. 4, a and b ; so Browning—• 
11 But here is the finger of God, a flash of the Will that can.” 
(4.) Changing ^-into w w •— in the third foot, as in v. 9, a, v. 11, b 
compare Browning’s— 
“ That out of three sounds he frame, not a fourth sound, but a Star.” 
The text above given and translated is that of Arnold (Leipzig, 1850), with two 
slight amendments in the vocalization of v. 3 b and v. 59 5, and the substitution of lau 
for in in v. 54 b ; of these the last two are indicated in Arnold’s notes, pp. 23 and 24, 
and the first is adopted from ez-Zauzeni. Arnold’s recension agrees in the text and 
arrangement of the verses with ez-Zauzeni’s, except in v. 59, which the latter entirely 
omits. 
Another recension is to be found in Ahlwardt, Six Poets, pp. 94 sqq . ; this is based 
on the MSS. of Gotha and Paris : it differs from Arnold’s chiefly in the arrangement of 
the verses in the teshbib describing the' journey of the ladies, and in the omission of 
several of the maxims which follow v. 49 and the arrangement of those which it retains. 
The following is the order of the verses in Ahlwardt’s recension as compared with 
Arnold’s, the numbers of the verses being those of the latter and the arrangement that of 
the former;— 
