1877.] C. J. Lyall —Translations from the Hamaseh and the Aghani. 443 
/ ^ * * O * ofo s' (j s // //& / 0**0 / C“I a O < 
\^sy> &xla<£ s ^ ; 
' S , * *• S S 
et-Tebrizi, in his commentary on the Hamaseh (p. 298), quotes it thus : 
s s s * s (j s (j f'i S'<J s ss //& / <js^ s 9 ^ (jS *• 
UA_L° JjUxi I &JS: ) &\ia.£ ^Xs'M { ^yc f ; 
S S ^ < • /> / 
Caussin de Perceval (Essai, ii. 589), apparently following the Kitab-el-‘Iqd, reads— 
"• s s s s SO s'Os SS $ s<j 9 Cl s° S _ ctJj'T 9 O (j' s 
e; u ^l ^ y b** ^uuX*y j 
s s / / «• / / 
The first and second readings in the first hemistich give shatbeh, a mare light of 
flesh and active, instead of our nahdeh : the third gives muhrah, a young mare ; in the 
second hemistich, instead of our el-huww-el-jiy&d, “ the noble black horses,” Ibn-el- 
Athir reads “ the noble (‘ itaq) bays,” et-Tebrizi, “ the noble short-haired steeds’* 
( jurd ), and C. de Perceval “ the beautiful short-haired steeds.” As the last word of 
the verse tawdliya (plural of t&liyeh , “ following”) is decidedly best; mawaliyd, C. da 
P.’s reading, seems to be a word-play on the reading * itaq , since it means slaves in 
opposition to free-born ( l it&q) : such a play is foreign to old Arab verse. Et-ta.li is a 
special word used for the fourth horse in a race where ten run, and thus appropriately 
describes the place of the pursuers. 
v. 7. $)imur has the same meaning as haqiqah , viz., the persons whom it is one’s 
duty to defend. I am somewhat doubtful of the rendering of the second hemistich of 
this verse. I have taken yekhtatifna as meaning “ missed,” which is apparently a 
possible sense ; but it may also mean “ carried away, suddenly took possession of,” and 
may refer to his having been taken prisoner while he covered the retreat of his tribe. 
v. 8. “ Of ‘Abd-Shems,” that is, descended from ‘Abd-Shems, son of Sa‘d, son of 
Zeyd-Menat, son of Temim. 
v. 10. “ Teym,” This family did not belong to Temim, but was one of the 
Mibab , or five confederate tribes, whose fortunes were at this time linked to those of 
Temim : the five were Dabbeh, Teym, ‘ Adi ibn ‘Abd-Menat, ‘Okl, and Thaur; they 
were all descended from Udd, son of Tabikhah son of Ilyas. Teym is probably shorten¬ 
ed for Teym-el-Lat, (“ servant of el-Lat”) a name borne by many of the Arab families, 
which Mohammed changed into Teym-allah (“servant of God”). 
v. 12. The last words of the second hemistich {tahrubunl bimdliya ) may be more 
literally rendered “ despoil me of all my wealth.” 
v. 13. “Ye servants of God,” Hbada-llahi: there is reason to suspect that this 
has been altered from Hbada-llati , “ servants of el-Lat,” which would be a para¬ 
phrase of the name of the tribe he was addressing, Teym-el-Lat. El-met all, plural of 
el-mutli , means “she camels having their young ones following them”; mo l zibun is 
“ driving camels to distant pastures.” 
v. 17. Rijal is here a plural of rajil, a foot soldier, not of rajul, a man. 
v. 18. “ Comrades stout,” eysaru sidqin : eysar are companions gathered to¬ 
gether for the arrow-gambling called el-Meysir ; this was played in the winter time, 
and by men sitting over the fire at night; the call to heighten the blaze was in order 
that the fire might be more conspicuous to the night-wanderer seeking for a shelter. 
