Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/485

 myself, after returning to America, to arrange for the erection of a simple monument on the spot ; but the unsettled state of affairs prevailing at the time in Persia rendered temporarily advisable a postponement of the plan. But should any monu- ment be needed ? Firdausi himself, even in the de profundis moments of darkest despondency, rises to the heights and cries out with a vaunt, proud as the boast of Horace,

♦ From poesy I've raised a tower high

Which neither wind nor rain can ever harm; Over this work the years shall come and go, And he that wisdom hath shall learn its charm ; ' i

and again, with assurance of undying fame, he closes the great poem : —

Sown broadcast, and I shall not wholly die.' *
 * I shall live on ; the seeds of words have I

Mounting our horses again, we rode in a westerly direction towards the citadel which once formed the stronghold of the town. It was raised upon an artificial mound, covering an area about an acre in extent, and was square in form. A double wall and fosse lent strength to the fortification, the inner gate being strategically located at a point not opposite but widely removed, so as to prevent the place from being rushed in case of storm ; and the redoubts of the interior fort showed a heavy causeway and deep ditch to add to the security of the whole. But all these precautions proved to be of no avail when the

I am not sure whether the place we this dome covers the dust of the cele-

saw is the same that was pointed out brated poet Ferdousee, who, after the

to Fraser, in 1822, for it is not quite unworthy treatment he received from

clear from the context whether his Shah Mahmood Ghisnavee, retired

reference to the gate is to the Rizan there to die.'

or, more probably, to the Rudbar. He ^ Firdausi, /S'/ia A Ndmah, ed. VuUers-

writes as follows (Narrative, p. 519) : Landauer, 3. 1275, 11. 69-70. Compare

' A little way from the gate of en- Horace, Odes, 3. 30. trance, there stands a dome orna- ^ Compare also Noldeke, Grundr.

mented with lacquered tiles, so small iran. Philol. 2. 159 ; Warner, Shdh-

that I thought at first it must have wdma, 1. 46, London, 1905. formed a part of some private house ;

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