110 
C. J. Lyall —Translations from the Hamaseh. 
[No. 2, 
on the other. For many years Sheyban was worsted in the contest with 
Teghlib, and at last the former sought the aid of el-Harith son of ‘Obad, 
chief of Hanifeh, in bringing about a peace. El-Harith sent his son (some 
say, nephew) Bujeyr to the men of Teghlib to treat for a compromise. 
The young man was, however, slain by Muhelhil, the leader of Teghlib, 
in despite of his character of peacemaker ; and from that time el-Harith 
and his tribe were arrayed with their brethren of Bekr against Teghlib. 
The latter soon found that fortune had turned ; and the struggle ended, 
after forty years of strife, in a hollow peace and the emigration of Teghlib 
to the uplands of el-‘Iraq. 
The War of Basus is a great centre of old Arab song and story. It is 
also one of the oldest well-vouched-for historical events of the Days of the 
Ignorance. Caussin de Perceval places its commencement, the slaying of 
Kuleyb, in 491 A. D., and the death of Bujeyr and the taking part in the 
war of el-Harith son of ‘Obad in the following year, 495 ; but this seems 
to me an error. Several battles are named in which Teghlib was victorious, 
before the disastrous Day of Qiddah, “ the Day of the shaving of the 
love-locks,” Tihldq el-limem, when they were beaten with great slaughter 
by el-Harith ; and I think we must allow at least five years between the 
outbreak of the war and this event. 
The poem above given is connected by tradition with the War of 
Basus, and it was most probably composed when the men of Hanifeh were, 
by the treacherous murder of Bujeyr, drawn into the strife of Bekr with 
Teghlib. This would fix its date as about the end of the 6th century after 
Christ. 
v. 1. “ Hind’s sons.” This is the better reading: the text of Frey- 
tag gives “ sons of Buhlbut no contest of Hanifeh with Buhl is record¬ 
ed : certainly not during the War of Basus. Hind is the reading given 
as an alternative in the notes, and that found in the Kitdh el-Aglmni , 
xx, 143. This Hind was the mother of Teghlib, herself the daughter of 
Murr son of Udd, and sister of Temim. 
The first two couplets of the poem have been somewhat inappro¬ 
priately quoted by more than one writer on old Arab legend as a prover¬ 
bial example of brotherly endurance of injury. They are but the prelude 
to a stern administration of chastisement. 
v. 6. The exact meaning of iqrdn is difficult to ascertain : of its 
general sense there can be no doubt. Literally it should be “ a yoking 
together”; and it seems probable that it refers to the taming of an unruly 
camel, which is tied to a stronger one that is tame, and so brought under 
control. Thus ‘Amr son of Kulthum says in his Mohallaqah (v. 6G) :— 
matd na’-qid qarinatand (better, to‘qad qarinatund) hihablin 
tejudda-l-habla ’em teqisi-l-qarind. 
