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ECLECTIC ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 MATTHEW ARNOLD'S 
 
 SOHRAB AND RUSTUM 
 
 WITH QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY BY 
 
 JOHN L. TANNER, A.M. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, UTICA FREE ACADEMY, UTICA, N. Y. 
 
 NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
?Tf y-oa s. 
 
 .'^■^ 
 
 
 Copyright, 1893 and 19 10, by 
 American Book Company 
 
 SOHRAB AND RuST. 
 
 w. p. I 
 
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 ^' INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Matthew Arnold was born at Laleham, England, Dec. 24, 
 1822. He was the son of Dr. Thomas Arnold, who, as head 
 master of the Rugby School, was accounted one of the greatest 
 educational reformers of England. 
 
 Matthew Arnold entered Rugby in 1837, and a few years 
 later went to Balliol College, Oxford, where in 1840 he won a 
 scholarship for proficiency in Latin. In 1843 he won the New- 
 digate prize for English verse, the subject of his poem being 
 '' Cromwell." 
 
 While Arnold was a student at Oxford, he associated with 
 such men as Thomas Hughes, the Froudes, Bishop Eraser, Dean 
 Church, John Henry Newman, and Arthur Hugh Clough. With 
 Clough he formed a deep friendship, and mourned his death in 
 the exquisite elegiac poem ''Thyrsis," In 1844 he was gradu- 
 ated with honors, and in 1845 was elected a fellow of Oriel Col- 
 lege. Two years later he became private secretary to Lord 
 Lansdowne, which position he held until 185 1. 
 
 Up to this date Arnold's hfe had been preeminently that of a 
 student, although in 1848 he had published his first volume of 
 song, "The Strayed Reveler, and other Poems," and later the 
 narrative poem, "The Sick King in Bokhara." But in 1851, 
 after a short term as assistant teacher at Rugby, he was ap- 
 pointed lay inspector of schools, under the Committee of Coun- 
 
 3 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cil on Education, and began his valuable and efficient work in edu- 
 cational matters which formed the regular occupation of his life. 
 The same year he married the daughter of Justice Wightman. 
 
 In 1859 he visited France, Germany, and Holland, to inquire 
 into the methods of primary education in those countries ; and 
 he published his observations on this subject in 1868, in an essay 
 entitled "Schools and Universities on the Continent." In 1865 
 he again went abroad, this time with the view of reporting on 
 the schools for the middle and upper classes in France and Ger- 
 many ; and shortly before retiring from the office of inspector, 
 he made a third journey to the Continent, and examined partic- 
 ularly the elementary schools of the different nations. 
 
 It was only a few years before his death that he resigned 
 (1*886) his position under the Committee of Council on Educa- 
 tion. He was at all times an ardent advocate of soundness and 
 excellence in elementary education ; and his observation soon 
 led him to attribute to the lack of organized middle-class educa- 
 tion the dullness, sordid instincts, bhnd prejudices, and moral 
 obtuseness that characterize the middle classes of English so- 
 ciety. Grouping these faults under the name " Philistinism," he 
 held them up for reprobation, and labored to prove that they 
 could be remedied only by better and broader education. 
 
 In 1853 Arnold published " Empedocles, and other Poems; " 
 but he soon became dissatisfied with much in the volume, and 
 suppressed the whole work. Yet this book, in addition to the 
 former volumes of verse, established his reputation as a poet in 
 England; and in 1857 he was elected professor of poetry at Ox- 
 ford, a chair which he held for ten years. " Merope," a tragedy, 
 with a volume entitled " New Poems," published in 1869, fin- 
 ishes the list of his poetical works. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 A series of essays on translating Homer was published in 
 1 86 1, and was followed in 1868 by another on the study of 
 Celtic literature. His great and enduring work, however, ap- 
 peared in 1865, and consisted of two series of prose discourses, 
 " Essays in Criticism." The treatises " Culture and Anarchy," 
 and '' Irish Essays and others," followed. 
 
 The modern tendency to drift away from the old established 
 religious faith was a source ©f serious grief, and matter for 
 deep thought, to Arnold. He gave his mind to the considera- 
 tion of what was best and most lasting in religion, and tried to 
 give to the world a rational creed that would satisfy the skeptics 
 and attract the indifferent. The volumes " St. Paul and Protes- 
 tantism " (1871), "Literature and Dogma" (1873), "God and 
 the Bible" (1875), and "Last Essays on Church and State" 
 (1877), embody the fruit of his thought in this direction. 
 
 Arnold delivered the Cambridge Annual Rede Lecture in 
 June, 1882, choosing for his subject "Literature and Science." 
 He received the degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh in 1869, and 
 from his own college, Oxford, in 1870. 
 
 He visited the United States twice. The first time he deliv- 
 ered a lecture on Emerson, and one on the principle and value of 
 numbers. During his second visit, in 1886, made for the Com- 
 mittee of Council on Education, he delivered a lecture on the sub- 
 ject of education on the European continent. Arnold was struck 
 by the relative lack of ideality, absence of great institutions, and 
 predominance of the money-getting mania in America. His 
 criticism of our nation, though perhaps just, was severe ; but it 
 was no more severe than were many of his criticisms of English 
 traits and of the institutions of his native land. 
 
 He died suddenly and quietly of heart disease, at the house of 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a. friend in Liverpool, England, on April 15, 1888. He was 
 buried at his birthplace, Laleham. By his death England lost 
 a learned scholar, a polished writer, an earnest educational re- 
 former, a good man, and, above all, one of her most acute and 
 cultured critics. 
 
 Matthew Arnold was deeply imbued with the spirit of Greek 
 culture, and in this culture he found his ideal standards, to which 
 he brought for comparison all questions that engrossed his 
 thoughts. He is perhaps the purest classic writer that England 
 ever produced ; classic not merely in the repose of his style, but 
 in the unity and simplicity of his habit of thought. 
 
 Mr. Jacobs, in the " Athenaeum," gives a very just criticism of 
 Arnold, from which the substance of the following is taken. 
 
 Although it is quite usual to speak of Arnold as having revo- 
 lutionized English book criticism, when we come to examine the 
 facts, we realize that his judgments of books were few, and were 
 not always trustworthy. He criticised authors and their work in 
 a general way, rather than any of their books in particular. 
 
 But why, then, we ask, was Matthew Arnold such a force in 
 criticism, and where did he gain his reputation as a critic ? 
 
 " What he did in criticism was to introduce the causerie (or 
 chat), and with it the personal element. The personality of 
 Matthew Arnold was, with all its affectations and mannerisms, 
 so attractive, that a chat with him charmed not so much by add- 
 ing to our information about the author or his books, as because 
 it added to our knowledge of Matthew Arnold." 
 
 His was a criticism of life, and dealt with the deepest issues of 
 his time : he discussed problems social, theological, and Hterary. 
 His exposition was rather peculiar. He recognized the fact that 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 iteration and reiteration of certain formulae would impress on 
 the mind the particular view which they were designed to express. 
 This repetition may have been exasperating, but it effected its 
 purpose, as we cannot fail to see when we recall some of these 
 phrases, as " sweetness and hght," "criticism of hfe," " barbarians, 
 Philistines, and populace," *' the need of expression, the need 
 of manners, the need of intellect, the need of beauty, the need 
 of conduct." While the effect of these formulae may have 
 been chiefly mechanical, the discussions which they summa- 
 rized were examples of the most logical inductive or deductive 
 reasoning. 
 
 His powers of analysis were great, and his summary of "needs" 
 given above is a remarkable description of man as a social being. 
 He gave the vogue to the cultus of culture, which was in his hands 
 something precise. Although civilization is a difficult problem to 
 analyze, yet, when he spoke of it, it seemed to be something real 
 and definite, and not the vague abstractions of the sophist. 
 
 His power of analysis showed itself clearly in his theological 
 studies. As regards his own solution of the religious problem, 
 little need here be said. His very formula, which is purposely 
 vague and indefinite, is its own condemnation ; but it must not 
 be forgotten that his literary tone, and the gentle irony with 
 which he treated all extremes, helped to prevent an explosion of 
 theological or anti-theological polemics. Although his particular 
 way of putting his solution of theological difficulties is not likely 
 to gain many disciples, he has certainly greatly influenced Eng- 
 lish opinion ; and we may feel that he was right in laying stress 
 upon his theological activity and its results, as the most influen- 
 tial and abiding part of his work. 
 
 Arnold began life as a poet, and, if we can divorce the poet 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from the technique of his art, he remained one to the end. His 
 was a poetic force, a uniform recognition of the permanent 
 power and reahty of the ideal element in the human character. 
 He himself has defined his ideas of poetry, and they are seen to 
 be distinctly Greek. He says, " The radical difference between 
 the poetic theory of the Greeks and our own is this : that with 
 them the poetical character of the action in itself, and the con^ 
 duct of it, was the first consideration ; with us, attention is fixed 
 mainly on the value of the separate thoughts and images which 
 occur in the treatment of an action. They regarded the whole : 
 we regard the parts. We have poems which seem to exist merely 
 for the sake of single lines and passages, and not for the sake of 
 producing any total impression. We have critics who seem to 
 direct their attention merely to detached expressions, to the lan- 
 guage about the action, not to the action itself. I verily believe 
 that the majority of them do not believe that there is such a thing 
 as a total impression to be derived from a poem at all, or to be 
 demanded from a poet. They will permit the poet to select any 
 action he pleases, and to suffer that action to go as it will, pro- 
 vided he gratifies them with occasional bursts of fine writing, and 
 with a shower of isolated thoughts and images ; that is, they per- 
 mit him to leave their poetical sense ungratified, provided that 
 he gratifies their rhetorical sense and their curiosity." 
 
 He has illustrated with remarkable success his ideas of that 
 unity which gratifies the poetical sense, and has approached very 
 close to his Greek models in his epic or narrative poem of 
 " Sohrab and Rustum." Here we have a theme which is in- 
 tensely tragic, and which challenges our sympathy at once. A 
 young hero in search of his warrior father, whom he has never 
 seen, meets him in deadly single combat between the lines of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 contending armies ; but it is only after he has received a mortal 
 wound by his father's hand, that the relationship is discovered. 
 The accessories are in keeping with the wildness of the main in- 
 cident. The weird shapes of the Tartar hordes and of the Ira- 
 nian hosts, awaiting the event of the combat, are dimly seen on 
 the edge of the desert through the mists of the Oxus ; while, in 
 sharp contrast with the passions and anguish awakened in the 
 tragedy enacted on its banks, the mighty river maintains its calm 
 and majestic flow out '' into the frosty starhght," and typifies the 
 inexorableness of fate. The treatment, in smooth and simple 
 verse, is strictly subordinated and adapted to the action of the 
 theme, and the whole is admirably calculated to impart that 
 totality of impression which Mr. Arnold and the Greeks esteemed 
 so highly. It has been said of this poem that it is " the nearest 
 analogue in English to the rapidity of action, plainness of 
 thought, plainness of diction, and nobleness of Homer." 
 
 The episode of " Sohrab and Rustum " is found in the great Per- 
 sian epic poem called the " Shah Nameh," which was composed 
 by the native poet Firdusi towards the end of the tenth century. 
 This poem is to Persian literature about what the Iliad and the 
 Odyssey are to the Greek, and purports to comprise the annals 
 and achievements of the ancient Persian kings from Kaiumers 
 to the conquest of the Empire by the Saracens in 636, — an esti- 
 mated period of thirty-six centuries. It was gathered from the 
 tales and legends traditionally known throughout the country, 
 and abounds in adventures of the most wild and romantic de- 
 scription. The principal hero of the poem is Rustum, a prodigy 
 of strength, piety, and valor, w.ho, during his career of several 
 centuries, and mounted on his famous horse Ruksh, is the bul- 
 
I O IN TROD UCTION. 
 
 wark of the Persian throne ; in its defense slaying countless 
 enemies, overcoming devouring monsters, circumventing magi- 
 cians, and overthrowing works of enchantment. Of all the 
 adventures of the mighty Rustum, the most dramatic is the con- 
 flict with his son Sohrab. This forms but an episode in the 
 complete story of Sohrab and Rustum, an outline of which is 
 as follows : — 
 
 Rustum, having killed a wild ass while hunting on the borders 
 of Turan and having partaken of its flesh, composed himself 
 to sleep, leaving his horse Ruksh to graze at liberty. When he 
 awoke, his favorite steed had disappeared, and, feeling convinced 
 that it had been stolen, he hastened towards Samengan, a neighbor- 
 ing city, in which direction the hoof -prints led him. Upon encoun- 
 tering the King of Samengan he wrathfully demanded his stolen 
 property ; but the ruler met him so hospitably, and offered such 
 cordial help in searching for the missing horse, that Rustum was 
 appeased, and finally accompanied the King to the royal palace. 
 There he met the beautiful princess Tahmineh, who had become 
 enamored of him on account of his bravery and famous deeds. 
 She informed him that she had stolen Ruksh in the hope of lead- 
 ing Rustum to her father's court, and winning him for a husband. 
 She proposed that he should ask her father's consent to their 
 union. To this Rustum agreed, and they were married with 
 great pomp. Rustum was obliged to leave his bride soon there- 
 after, and at parting gave her an amulet, saying, *' If the 
 Almighty should bless our union w4th a daughter, place this 
 amulet in her hair; but if. a son, bind it on his arm, and it 
 will inspire him with great valor." Having regained his horse 
 Ruksh, he left Samengan. The fruit of this union was a marvel- 
 ous son, whom the King called Sohrab. Tahmineh, fearing 
 Rustum would take the boy from her, sent word that the child 
 was a girl, and thereupon Rustum took no more interest in it. 
 
 When Sohrab was about ten years old, he demanded his 
 father's name, and, upon hearing that it was the warrior Rustum, 
 
INTRODUCTION. ii 
 
 he determined to go in search of him. His mother's entreaties 
 that he would keep his parentage a secret availed nothing, and 
 at parting Tahmineh bound on Sohrab's arm the amulet which 
 Rustum had given her. 
 
 The news that Sohrab was about to wage war with Persia in 
 order to gain that kingdom for his father mightily pleased 
 Afrasiab, King of the Turanians, who desired the overthrow of 
 King Kaoos for purposes of his own; 
 
 He accordingly sent to the youth's assistance an army com- 
 manded by Haman, instructing that chief to keep the knowledge 
 of their relationship from both father and son. The army pro- 
 ceeded, and on the way Sohrab overthrew the Persian Hujir, 
 and then conquered the warrior maiden Gurdafrid, but, moved 
 by her beauty and her entreaties, released her. She hastened 
 to the court of Kaoos to warn him of the coming of the youth- 
 ful Sohrab, who would overthrow the Persian power. Kaoos, in 
 great terror, sent a messenger to call Rustum to his aid. Re- 
 gardless of the King's urgent demands, Rustum spent eight days 
 in feasting, and then departed for the Persian court. Kaoos, in 
 wrath at the delay thus caused, ordered both Rustum and the 
 messenger to be put to death ; but the former, after reproaching 
 the King for his ingratitude, escaped on his horse Ruksh. 
 
 When the King's anger had cooled, he recognized the danger 
 of his throne if unsupported by Rustum's prowess, and sent for 
 the chief with many apologies. Rustum was finally prevailed 
 upon to return, and advanced at the head of the Persians to 
 resist the opposing army. 
 
 The morning before the opening of hostilities, Sohrab took the 
 captive Hujir to the top of the fortress, and asked him which 
 was Rustum's tent ; but Hujir, fearing that Sohrab would 
 attack the Persian when the latter was unprepared, pretended 
 that Rustum's tent was not among those on the plain. His 
 hopes of finding his father here thus frustrated, Sohrab, armed 
 for battle, descended into the plain, and challenged Kai Kaoos 
 himself. The King sent for Rustum to take up the bold chal- 
 
1 2 INTROD UCTION. 
 
 lenge, and the latter was finally persuaded to meet the Tartar 
 champion. When he saw Sohrab, he was moved by his youth 
 and gallant bearing, and counseled him to retire. Sohrab, filled 
 with sudden hope, demanded whether he were Rustum ; but the 
 warrior declared that he was only the servant of Rustum, where- 
 upon, disappointed and saddened, Sohrab prepared for battle, 
 and the combat commenced. 
 
 They fought with spears', which were soon shivered to pieces, 
 then with swords, clubs, and bows and arrows. Finally Sohrab 
 struck Rustum a heavy blow with a mace, which caused him to 
 reel and fall. A truce was then made for that night, and both 
 warriors retired to their tents. Sohrab, still with a faint hope, 
 inquired of Haman whether his opponent were not the mighty 
 Rustum himself. But the chief, bearing in mind Afrasiab's in- 
 structions, declared that he knew Rustum well, and this man 
 was not the one Sohrab sought. 
 
 When morning broke, both combatants were ready to renew 
 the struggle. Wlien Sohrab saw Rustum, again an instinctive 
 feeling of affection moved him to propose peace, but Rustum 
 refused. They wrestled, and Sohrab threw Rustum on the plain, 
 and was about to slay him, when Rustum called out, that, ac- 
 cording to the Persian custom, it was not proper for a man to 
 kill his opponent until he had thrown him a second time. Sohrab, 
 upon hearing these words, returned the dagger to its sheath, and 
 again father and son parted. 
 
 When Rustum had escaped from his enemy, he purified him- 
 self with water, and prayed that his former strength might be 
 restored to him. His prayer was granted. 
 
 The following day the battle was renewed, and the doubtful 
 contest lasted from morning till evening. At length Rustum 
 gained the advantage over Sohrab, and, fearing the youth might 
 be too strong for him, ended the contest by immediately plun- 
 ging his dagger into Sohrab's side. 
 
 The dying Sohrab warned his conqueror to beware of his 
 father's wrath ; for " if thou wert a fish, and sought refuge at 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 the bottom of the ocean," he said, " or a star in the heavens, my 
 father would be revenged on thee for this deed." 
 
 The warrior asked the name of Sohrab's father, and upon the 
 youth's answer, " His name is Rustum, and my mother is the 
 daughter of the King of Samengan," Rustum fell senseless to 
 the ground, and, when he recovered, he demanded proofs of 
 Sohrab's story. Sohrab unfastened his mail, and showed the 
 amulet which his mother had bound on his arm. At this unmis- 
 takable sign, Rustum was overwhelmed with grief, and would 
 have ended his own hfe had not Sohrab's earnest pleading pre- 
 vented him. 
 
 When the Persian Army beheld Ruksh riderless, they hastened 
 to the spot where Rustum lay in the dust. He bewailed the 
 cruel fate which had brought father and son so strangely to- 
 gether, but Sohrab beautifully said, " Such is my destiny, such 
 the will of fortune. It was decreed that I should perish by the 
 hand of my father. I came like a flash of lightning, and now I 
 depart like the wind." He then requested that his army might 
 be allowed to return home in peace. 
 
 When Sohrab was dead, Rustum burned his tents and all his 
 armor, declaring he would no longer fight against the Turanians. 
 At his petition, Kai Kaoos permitted the Tartar tribes to recross 
 the Oxus unmolested. Rustum carried the body of his son to 
 Seistan, the home of his father, and there it was buried with 
 great honor. When the sad tidings of Sohrab's fate reached his 
 mother, Tahmineh, her grief was most violent and lasting. At 
 the end of a year, worn out with her long sorrowing, she died, 
 and *' the mother's spirit joined her child in heaven." 
 
 Arnold's poem starts at the point where the two armies are 
 encamped by the Oxus River, and proceeds to Sohrab's chal- 
 lenge of the Persian lords, Rustum's final consent to take it up, 
 and the combat itself, and ends with Sohrab's death and his 
 father's lonely grief. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 It will be noticed that Mr. Arnold has modified the story- 
 somewhat, in order to increase the rapidity of the action, to 
 round out the episode and make it more complete in itself, and 
 to enhance the dignity of the accessories. 
 
 Thus the combat is compressed into a single day, and the 
 weapons are different, Sohrab's motive for his challenge to sin- 
 gle combat is not, as in the " Shah Nameh," to awe the Persian 
 hosts into submission by the defeat of their bravest warrior, but 
 to bring his name to the ears of Rustum by the fame of a signal 
 feat of arms. For the amulet by which Sohrab proves his 
 identity, is substituted his father's seal pricked into his arm, 
 which is of course a much surer means of identification. 
 
 Again : in Arnold's poem, Sohrab's defeat is not due to su- 
 perior physical strength on the part of his adversary, but to the 
 emotion caused by hearing the beloved name of his father sud- 
 denly shouted ; and finally, as an instance of the care with which 
 Mr. Arnold selected his theme, and clothed it even in its remoter 
 parts with fittingly dignified surroundings, it is to be noted that 
 he has taken the episode bodily from the reign of the weak and 
 '' brainless monarch " Kaoos, in which it is placed in the " Shah 
 Nameh," and transferred it to that of his glorious grandson 
 Khosroo, who has been identified with Cyrus the Great. 
 
SOHRAB^ AND RUSTUM. 
 
 AN EPISODE. 
 
 AND the first gray of morning fill'd the east, 
 jr\. And the fog rose out of the Oxus^ stream. 
 But all the Tartar ^ camp along the stream 
 Was hush'd, and still the men were plunged in sleep ; 
 Sohrab alone, he slept not ; all night long . 5 
 
 He had lain wakeful, tossing on his bed ; 
 But when the gray dawn stole into his tent, 
 He rose, and clad himself, and girt his sword, 
 And took his horseman's cloak, and left his tent, 
 And went abroad into the cold wet fog, 10 
 
 Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's"^ tent. 
 
 Through the black Tartar tents he pass'd, which stood 
 Clustering like beehives on the low flat strand 
 Of Oxus, where the summer floods o'erflow 
 
 1 Soh'rab. 
 
 2 The great river Amu Daria was called the Oxus by the Greeks and 
 Romans, and the Jihun or Amu by the Arabs and Persians. 
 
 3 " Tartar " is the general name applied to many nomadic tribes of south- 
 ern Russia and central Asia, and particularly to those inhabiting the drain- 
 age basin of the Caspian and Aral Seas. 
 
 4 Pe'ran-We'sa. The Turanians are the Scythians of the Greek historians. 
 Turan was separated from Iran, or the Persian Empire, by the Oxus. Peran- 
 Wisa was a Turanian chief, and the commander of King Afrasiab's forces, 
 which included representatives of many Tartar tribes, as indicated in lines 
 1 19-134. 
 
 15 
 
1 6 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 1 5 When the sun melts the snows in high Pamere ; ^ 
 
 Through the black tents he pass'd, o'er that low strand, 
 
 And to a hillock came, a little back 
 
 From the stream's brink — the spot where first a boat. 
 
 Crossing the stream in summer, scrapes the land. 
 20 The men of former times had crown'd the top 
 
 With a clay fort ; but that was fall'n, and now 
 
 The Tartars built there Peran-Wisa's tent, 
 
 A dome of laths, and o'er it felts were spread. 
 
 And Sohrab came there, and went in, and stood 
 25 Upon the thick piled carpets in the tent. 
 
 And found the old man sleeping on his bed 
 
 Of rugs and felts, and near him lay his arms. 
 
 And Peran-Wisa heard him, though the step 
 
 Was dull'd ; for he slept light, an old man's sleep ; 
 30 And he rose quickly on one arm, and said : — 
 " Who art thou ? for it is not yet clear dawn. 
 
 Speak ! is there news, or any night alarm ? " 
 But Sohrab came to the bedside, and said : — 
 
 " Thou know'st me, Peran-Wisa ! it is I. 
 35 The sun is not yet risen, and the foe 
 
 Sleep ; but I sleep not ; all night long I lie 
 
 Tossing and wakeful, and I come to thee. 
 
 For so did King Afrasiab - bid me seek 
 
 Thy counsel, and to heed thee as thy son, 
 40 In Samarcand,^ before the army march'd ; 
 
 And I will tell thee what my heart desires. 
 
 Thou know'st if, since from Ader-baijan ^ first 
 
 I came among the Tartars and bore arms, 
 
 1 Pamir Plateau (locally called the " Roof of the World"), in which the 
 Oxus takes its rise at an elevation of about 16,000 feet. 
 
 2 Af-ra'si-yab. 
 
 3 A city of Turkistan, east of Bokhara. 
 
 * Az-er-bl'yan, the northwestern province of Persia, on the Turanian 
 frontier. 
 
SOHRAB AiVD RUSTUM. 17 
 
 I have still served Afrasiab well, and shown, 
 
 At my boy's years, the courage of a man. 45 
 
 This too thou know'st, that while I still bear on 
 
 The conquering Tartar ensigns through the world, 
 
 And beat the Persians back on every field, 
 
 I seek one man, one man, and one alone — 
 
 Rustum, my father; who I hoped should greet, 50 
 
 Should one day greet, upon some well-fought field, 
 
 His not unworthy, not inglorious son. 
 
 So I long hoped, but him I never find. 
 
 Come then, hear now, and grant me what I ask. 
 
 Let the two armies rest to-day; but I 55 
 
 Will challenge forth the bravest Persian lords 
 
 To meet me, man to man ; if I prevail, 
 
 Rustum will surely hear it ; if I fall — 
 
 Old man, the dead need no one, claim no kin. 
 
 Dim is the rumor of a common ^ fight, 60 
 
 Where host meets host, and many names are sunk ; 
 
 But of a single combat fame speaks clear." 
 
 He spoke ; and Peran-Wisa took the hand 
 Of the young man in his, and sigh'd, and said : — 
 
 "O Sohrab, an unquiet heart is thine ! 65 
 
 Canst thou not rest among the Tartar chiefs. 
 And share the battle's common chance with us 
 Who love thee, but must press forever first. 
 In single fight incurring single risk. 
 
 To find a father thou hast never seen ? 70 
 
 That were far best, my son, to stay with us 
 Unmurmuring ; in our tents, while it is war. 
 And when 'tis truce, then in Afrasiab's towns. 
 But, if this one desire indeed rules all. 
 To seek out Rustum — seek him not through fight ! 75 
 Seek him in peace, and carry to his arms, 
 
 1 Common in the sense of general. 
 
1 8 MATTHEW ARNOLD, 
 
 O Sohrab, carry an unwounded son ! 
 But far hence seek him, for he is not here. 
 For now it is not as when I was young, 
 
 80 When Rustum was in front of every fray ; 
 But now he keeps apart, and sits at home, 
 In Seistan,! with Zal,^ his father old. 
 Whether that ^ his own mighty strength at last 
 Feels the abhorr'd approaches of old age, 
 
 85 Or in* some quarrel with the Persian King. 
 
 There go ! — Thou wilt not ? Yet my heart forbodes 
 Danger or death awaits thee on this field. 
 Fain would I know thee safe and well, though lost 
 To us ; fain therefore send thee hence, in peace 
 
 90 To seek thy father, not seek single fights 
 In vain ; — but who can keep the lion's cub 
 From ravening, and who govern Rustum's son ? 
 Go, I will grant thee what thy heart desires." 
 So said he, and dropp'd Sohrab's hand, and left 
 
 95 His bed, and the warm rugs whereon he lay; 
 And o'er his chilly limbs his woolen coat 
 He pass'd, and tied his sandals on his feet, 
 And threw a white cloak round him, and he took 
 In his right hand a ruler's staff, no sword ; 
 100 And on his head he set his sheepskin cap. 
 
 Black, glossy, curl'd, the fleece of Kara-Kul ; ^ 
 And raised the curtain of his tent, and call'd 
 His herald to his side, and went abroad. 
 
 1 Se-is-tan' is a province in southwestern Afghanistan, bordering on Be- 
 loochistan and Persia. The Helmund River flows through it to Lake Ha- 
 moon or Lake Seistan. On an island in this lake is a fort called Fort 
 Rustum. Hamoon is now rather a morass than a lake ; and Lake Zirrah or 
 Zurrah, to the southeast, is now nearly dry. This territory was held by 
 Rustum's family in appanage from the Persian Kings. 
 
 2 Zal. 3 " Whether that," i.e., either because. 
 
 4 Because of. ^ a noted place of pasturage southwest of Bokhara. 
 
SOUR A B AND RUSTUM. 19 
 
 The sun by this had risen, and clear'd the fog 
 From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands. 105 
 
 And from their tents the Tartar horsemen filed 
 Into the open plain ; so Haman ^ bade — 
 Haman, who next to Peran-Wisa ruled 
 The host, and still was in his lusty prime. 
 From their black tents, long files of horse, they stream'd ; 1 1 o 
 As when some gray November morn the files, 
 In marching order spread, of long-neck'd cranes 
 Stream over Casbin ^ and the southern slopes 
 Of Elburz, from the Aralian estuaries. 
 
 Or some frore ^ Caspian reed bed, southward bound 115 
 For the warm Persian seaboard — so they stream'd. 
 The Tartars of the Oxus, the King's guard. 
 First, with black sheepskin caps and with long spears ; 
 Large men, large steeds ; who from Bokhara come 
 And Khiva, and ferment the milk of mares,^ 120 
 
 Next, the more temperate Toorkmuns of the south. 
 The Tukas, and the lances of Salore, 
 And those from Attruck ^ and the Caspian sands ; 
 Light men and on light steeds, who only drink 
 The acrid milk of camels, and their wells. 125 
 
 And then a swarm of wandering horse, who came 
 From far, and a more doubtful service own'd ; 
 The Tartars of Ferghana, from the banks 
 Of the Jaxartes,^ men with scanty beards 
 
 1 Ha'man. 
 
 2 An old city on the Persian Plateau, lying about 100 miles northwest of 
 Teheran. Just to the north of the city rises the Elburz Mountains, which 
 separate the Persian Plateau from the depression containing the Caspian and 
 the Aral Seas. 
 
 3 Frozen (from Anglo-Saxon, froren). 
 
 * Koumiss, an intoxicating drink made from mare's or camel's milk, is the 
 prevailing beverage of many of the Steppe tribes. 
 
 5 A tributary to the southeastern end of the Caspian. 
 
 6 The Jaxartes, Sihon, or Syr Daria, flows from the northern part of the 
 
20 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 130 And close-set skullcaps ; and those wilder hordes 
 Who roam o'er Kipchak 1 and the northern waste, 
 Kalmucks and unkempt Kuzzaks/" tribes who stray 
 Nearest the Pole, and wandering Kirghizzes, 
 Who come on shaggy ponies from Pamere ; 
 
 135 These all filed out from camp into the plain. 
 And on the other side the Persians form'd ; — 
 First a light cloud of horse, Tartars they seem'd, 
 The Ilyats of Khorassan ; ^ and behind. 
 The royal troops of Persia, horse and foot, 
 
 140 Marshal'd battahons bright in burnish'd steel. 
 But Peran-Wisa with his herald came, 
 Threading the Tartar squadrons to the front. 
 And with his staff kept back the foremost ranks. 
 And when Ferood, who led the Persians, saw 
 
 145 That Peran-Wisa kept the Tartars back, 
 
 He took his spear, and to the front he came. 
 
 And check'd his ranks, and fix'd them where they stood. 
 
 And the old Tartar came upon the sand 
 
 Betwixt the silent hosts, and spake, and said : — 
 
 150 " Ferood, and ye, Persians and Tartars, hear ! 
 Let there be truce between the hosts to-day. 
 But choose a champion from the Persian lords 
 To fight our champion Sohrab, man to man." 
 As, in the country, on a morn in June, 
 
 155 When the dew glistens on the pearled ears, 
 
 A shiver runs through the deep corn^ for joy — 
 
 Pamir Plateau, through the province of Ferghana, to the northeastern end of 
 the Aral Sea. 
 
 1 Kipchak is a Khanate about 70 miles below Khiva, on the Amu Daria, 
 or Oxus. 
 
 2 Kuzzaks, Kazaks, or Cossacks (literally " riders ") frequent the Steppes 
 on the northern border of the Aral depression. 
 
 3 " The Land of the Sun," a desert province in northeastern Persia. 
 
 4 This word is used with its European significance of " grain : " it is only 
 in America that it signifies " maize," or Indian corn. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 2i 
 
 So, when they heard what Peran-Wisa said, 
 A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons ran 
 Of pride and hope for Sohrab, whom they loved. 
 
 But as a troop of peddlers, from Cabool, i6o 
 
 Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus,^ 
 That vast sky-neighboring mountain of milk snow ; 
 Crossing so high, that, as they mount, they pass 
 Long flocks of traveling birds dead on the snow. 
 Choked by the air, and scarce can they themselves 165 
 Slake their parch'd throats with sugar'd mulberries — 
 In single file they move, and stop their breath, 
 For fear they should dislodge the o'erhanging snows — 
 So the pale Persians held their breath with fear. 
 
 And to Ferood his brother chiefs came up 170 
 
 To counsel ; Gudurz and Zoarrah ^ came, 
 And Feraburz, who ruled the Persian host 
 Second, and was the uncle of the King ; 
 These came and counsel'd, and then Gudurz said : — 
 
 " Ferood, shame bids us take their challenge up, 175. 
 Yet champion have we none to match this youth. 
 He has the wild stag's foot, the hon's heart.^ 
 But Rustum came last night ; aloof he sits 
 And sullen, and has pitch'd his tents apart. 
 Him will I seek, and carry to his ear 180 
 
 The Tartar challenge, and this young man's name. 
 Haply he will forget his WTath, and fight. 
 Stand forth the w^hile, and take their challenge up." 
 
 So spake he ; and Ferood stood forth -and cried : — 
 ** Old man, be it agreed as thou hast said ! 185 
 
 Let Sohrab arm, and we will find a man." 
 
 He spake : and Peran-Wisa turn'd, and strode 
 
 1 One of the names of the Hindu Koosh Mountains, the lofty range which 
 separates Afghanistan from Turkistan. 2 Zo-ar'ah. 
 
 3 " The wild stag's foot," etc., i.e., the endurance and activity of the wild 
 stag, the courage of the lion. 
 
22 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 Back through the opening squadrons to his tent. 
 But through the anxious Persians Gudurz ran, 
 
 190 And cross'd the camp which lay behind, and reach'd, 
 Out on the sands beyond it, Rustum's tents. 
 Of scarlet cloth they were, and glittering gay, 
 Just pitch'd ; the high pavilion in the midst 
 Was Rustum's, and his men lay camp'd around. 
 
 195 And Gudurz enter'd Rustum's tent, and found 
 Rustum ; his morning meal was done, but still 
 The table stood before him, charged with food — 
 A side of roasted sheep, and cakes of bread. 
 And dark-green melons ; and there Rustum sate ^ 
 
 200 Listless, and held a falcon 2 on his wrist. 
 
 And play'd with it ; but Gudurz came and stood 
 Before him ; and he look'd, and saw him stand, 
 And w^ith a cry sprang up and dropp'd the bird. 
 And greeted Gudurz with both hands, and said : — 
 
 205 " Welcome ! these eyes could see no better sight. 
 
 What news ? but sit down first, and eat and drink." 
 But Gudurz stood in the tent door, and said : — 
 " Not now ! a time will come to eat and drink, 
 But not to-day ; to-day has other needs. 
 
 2 1 o The armies are drawn out, and stand at gaze ; 
 For from the Tartars is a challenge brought 
 To pick a champion from the Persian lords 
 To fight their champion — and thou know'st his name — 
 Sohrab men call him, but his birth is hid. 
 
 215 O Rustum, like thy might is this young man's ! 
 He has the wild stag's foot, the lion's heart ; 
 And he is young, and Iran's chiefs are old, 
 Or else too weak ; and all eyes turn to thee. 
 Come down and help us, Rustum, or we lose ! " 
 
 1 Old form of " sat." 
 
 2 Falconry was known in Asia as early as 1700 B.C., and to the present 
 day has been a favorite sport in that country. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 23 
 
 He spoke; but Rustum answer'd with a smile : — 220 
 " Go to ! if Iran's chiefs are old, then I 
 Am older ; if the young are weak, the King 
 Errs strangely ; for the King, for Kai Khosroo,i 
 Himself is young, and honors younger men. 
 And lets the aged molder to their graves. 225 
 
 Rustum he loves no more, but loves the young — 
 The young may rise at Sohrab's vaunts, not I. 
 For what care I, though all speak Sohrab's fame ? 
 For would that I myself had such a son, 
 And not that one slight helpless girl ^ I have — 230 
 
 A son so famed, so brave, to send to war, 
 And I to tarry with the snow-hair'd Zal,^ 
 My father, whom the robber Afghans vex. 
 And clip his borders short, and drive his herds. 
 And he has none to guard his weak old age. 235 
 
 There would I go, and hang my armor up, 
 And with my great name fence that weak old man, 
 And spend the goodly treasures I have got. 
 And rest my age, and hear of Sohrab's fame. 
 And leave to death the hosts of thankless kings, 240 
 
 And with these slaughterous hands draw sword no more." 
 
 He spoke, and smiled ; and Gudurz made reply : — 
 " What then, O Rustum, will men say to this. 
 When Sohrab dares our bravest forth, and seeks 
 
 1 Kl K6s-roo', the third King of Persia of the dynasty called Kaianides. 
 He succeeded his grandfather Kai Ka'oos in the sixth century B.C. The Shah 
 Nameh places the episode of Sohrab and Rustum in the reign of the latter 
 monarch. 
 
 2 See p. 35, Hnes 609-611 ; also Introduction, p. 10. 
 
 3 It is related in the Shah Nameh that Zal was born with snoAV- white hair, — 
 a monstrosity which so shocked his father Sam, that the latter abandoned the 
 babe on the heights of the Elburz Mountains. Zal was miraculously pre- 
 served, however, by a great bird, or grifhn, and reclaimed by his repentant 
 parent. He subsequently married the Princess Ruda'beh of Zabulistan 
 (Seistan), and became the father of Rustum. 
 
24 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 245 Thee most of all, and thou, whom most he seeks, 
 Hidest thy face ? Take heed lest men should say : 
 ' Like some old miser, Rustum hoards his fame. 
 And shuns to peril it with younger men.' " 
 
 And, greatly moved, then Rustum made reply : — 
 
 250 " O Gudurz, wherefore dost thou say such words ? 
 Thou knowest better words than this to say. 
 What is one more, one less, obscure or famed, 
 Valiant or craven, young or old, to me ? 
 Are not they mortal, am not I myself ? 
 
 255 But who for men of naught would do great deeds ? 
 Come, thou shalt see how Rustum hoards his fame ! 
 But I will fight unknown, and in plain arms ; 
 Let not men say of Rustum, he was match'd 
 In single fight with any mortal man." 
 
 260 He spoke, and frown'd; and Gudurz turn'd, and ran 
 
 Back quickly through the camp in fear and joy — 
 Fear at his wrath, but joy that Rustum came. 
 But Rustum strode to his tent door, and call'd 
 His followers in, and bade them bring his arms, 
 
 265 And clad himself in steel ; the arms he chose 
 Were plain, and on his shield was no device, 
 Only his helm was rich, inlaid with gold. 
 And, from the fluted spine atop, a plume 
 Of horsehair waved, a scarlet horsehair plume. 
 
 270 So arm'd, he issued forth ; and Ruksh, his horse, 
 Follow'd him like a faithful hound at heel — 
 Ruksh, whose renown was noised through all the earth, 
 The horse, whom Rustum on a foray once 
 Did in Bokhara by the river find 
 
 275 A colt beneath its dam, and drove him home, 
 And rear'd him ; a bright bay, with lofty crest, 
 Dight 1 with a saddlecloth of broider'd green 
 
 ^ Dressed. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 25 
 
 • Crusted with gold, and on the ground were work'd 
 All beasts of chase, all beasts which hunters know. 
 So follow'd, Rustum left his tents, and cross'd 280 
 
 The camp, and to the Persian host appear'd. 
 And all the Persians knew him, and with shouts 
 Hail'd ; but the Tartars knew not who he was. 
 And dear as the wet diver to the eyes 
 Of his pale wife who waits and weeps on shore, 285 
 
 By sandy Bahrein,^ in the Persian Gulf, 
 Plunging all day in the blue waves, at night, 
 Having made up his tale ^ of precious pearls, 
 Rejoins her in their hut upon the sands— r- 
 So dear to the pale Persians Rustum came. 290 
 
 And Rustum to the Persian front advanced, 
 And Sohrab arm'd in Haman's tent, and came. 
 And as afield the reapers cut a swath 
 Down through the middle of a rich man's corn, 
 And on each side are squares of standing com, 295 
 
 And in the midst a stubble, short and bare ■ — 
 So on each side were squares of men, with spears 
 Bristling, and in the midst, the open sand. 
 And Rustum came upon the sand, and cast 
 His eyes toward the Tartar tents, and saw 300 
 
 Sohrab come forth, and eyed him as he came. 
 
 As some rich woman, on a winter's morn, 
 Eyes through her silken curtains the poor drudge 
 Who with numb blacken' d fingers makes her fire — 
 At cock-crow, on a starHt winter's mom, 305 
 
 When the frost flowers ^ the whiten'd windowpanes — 
 And wonders how she lives, and what the thoughts 
 Of that poor drudge may be ; so Rustum eyed 
 
 1 Bahrein (bah'ran), or Ma-na'ma, is an island in the Persian Gulf, famous 
 r its pearl fisheries. 
 
 2 Count or reckoning. 
 
 3 Decorates. 
 
26 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 The unknown adventurous youth, who from afar 
 
 310 Came seeking Rustum, and defying forth 
 
 All the most valiant chiefs ; long he perused 
 
 His spirited air, and wonder' d who he was. 
 
 For very young he seem'd, tenderly rear'd ; 
 
 Like some young cypress, tall, and dark, and straight, 
 
 3 1 5 Which in a queen's secluded garden throws 
 Its slight dark shadow on the moonlit turf, 
 By midnight, to a bubbling fountain's sound -X- 
 So slender Sohrab seem'd, so softly rear'd. 
 And a deep pity enter'd Rustum's soul 
 
 320 As he beheld him coming ; and he stood, 
 
 And beckon'd to him with his hand, and said : — 
 " O thou young man, the air of heaven is soft, 
 . And warm, and pleasant ; but the grave is cold ! 
 Heaven's air is better than the cold dead grave. 
 
 325 Behold me ! I am vast,i and clad in iron. 
 
 And tried ; ^ and I have stood on many a field 
 Of blood, and I have fought with many a foe — 
 Never was that field lost, or that foe saved. 
 O Sohrab, wherefore wilt thou rush on death ? 
 
 330 Be govern'd ! ^ quit the Tartar host, and come 
 To Iran, and be as my son to me, 
 And fight beneath my banner till I die ! 
 There are no youths in Iran brave as thou." 
 So he spake, mildly ; Sohrab heard his voice, 
 
 335 The mighty voice of Rustum, and he saw 
 His giant figure planted on the sand, 
 Sole, like some single tower, which a chief 
 Hath builded on the waste in former years 
 Against the robbers ; and he saw that head, 
 
 340 Streak'd with its first gray hairs ; — hope fill'd his soul, 
 And he ran forward and embraced his knees, 
 
 1 Mighty. 2 Experienced. 3 Advised. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 27 
 
 And clasp'd his hand within his own, and said : — 
 
 " Oh, by thy father's head ! by thine own soul ! 
 Art thou not Rustum ? speak ! art thou not he ? " 
 
 But Rustum eyed askance the kneehng youth, 345 
 
 And turn'd away, and spake to his own soul : — 
 
 " Ah me, I muse what this young fox may mean ! 
 False, wily, boastful, are these Tartar boys. 
 For if I now confess this thing he asks. 
 And hide it not, but say : ' Rustum is here ! ' 350 
 
 He will not yield indeed, nor quit our foes, 
 But he will find some pretext not to fight, 
 And praise my fame, and proffer courteous gifts, 
 A belt or sword perhaps, and go his way. 
 And on a feast tide, in Afrasiab's hall, 355 
 
 In Samarcand, he will arise and cry : 
 * I challenged once, when the two armies camp'd 
 Beside the Oxus, all the Persian lords 
 To cope with me in single fight ; but they 
 Shrank, only Rustum dared ; then he and I 360 
 
 Changed gifts, and went on equal terms away.' 
 So will he speak, perhaps, while men applaud ; 
 Then were the chiefs of Iran shamed through me." 
 
 And then he turn'd, and sternly spake aloud : — 
 "Rise ! wherefore dost thou vainly question thus 365 
 
 Of Rustum ? I am here, whom thou hast call'd 
 By challenge forth ; make good thy vaunt, or yield ! 
 Is it with Rustum only thou wouldst fight ? 
 Rash boy, men look on Rustum's face and flee ! 
 For well I know, that did great Rustum stand 370 
 
 Before thy face this day, and were reveal'd. 
 There would be then no talk of fighting more. 
 But being what I am, I tell thee this — 
 Do thou record it in thine inmost soul : 
 Either thou shalt renounce thy vaunt and yield, 375 
 
 Or else thy bones shall strew this sand, till winds 
 
28 • MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 Bleach them, or Oxus with his summer floods, 
 Oxus in summer wash them all away." 
 
 He spoke ; and Sohrab answer'd, on his feet; — > 
 
 380 " Art thou so fierce ? Thou wilt not fright me so ! 
 I am no girl, to be made pale by words. 
 Yet this thou hast said well, did Rustum stand 
 Here on this field, there were no fighting then. 
 But Rustum is far hence, and we stand here. 
 
 385 Begin ! thou art more vast, more dread than I, 
 
 And thou art proved, I know, and I am young — 
 But yet success sways with the breath of heaven. 
 And though thou thinkest that thou knowest sure 
 Thy victory, yet thou canst not surely know. 
 
 390 For we are all, like swimmers in the sea, 
 Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate. 
 Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall. 
 And whether it will heave us up to land, 
 Or whether it will roll us out to sea, 
 
 395 Back out to sea, to the deep waves of death. 
 
 We know not, and no search will make us know ; 
 Only the event will teach us in its hour." 
 
 He spoke, and Rustum answer'd not, but hurl'd 
 His spear ; down from the shoulder, down it came, 
 
 400 As on some partridge in the corn a hawk. 
 That long has tower'd in the airy clouds. 
 Drops like a plummet ; Sohrab saw it come. 
 And sprang aside, quick as a flash ; the spear 
 Hiss'd, and went quivering down into the sand, 
 
 405 Which it sent flying wide; — then Sohrab threw 
 
 In turn, and full struck Rustum's shield ; sharp rang. 
 The iron plates rang sharp, but turn'd the spear. 
 And Rustum seized his club, which none but he 
 Could wield ; an unlopp'd trunk it was, and huge, 
 
 410 Still rough — like those which men in treeless plains 
 To build them boats fish from the flooded rivers, 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. . 29 
 
 Hyphasis or Hydaspes,i when, high up 
 
 By their dark springs, the wind in winter time 
 
 Hath made in Himalayan forests wrack,''^ 
 
 And strewn the channels with torn boughs — so huge 415 
 
 The club which Rustum lifted now, and struck 
 
 One stroke ; but again Sohrab sprang aside, 
 
 Lithe as the glancing snake, and the club came 
 
 Thundering to earth, and leapt from Rustum's hand. 
 
 And Rustum follow'd his own blow, and fell 420 
 
 To his knees, and with his fingers clutch'd the sand ; 
 
 And now might Sohrab have unsheathed his sword, 
 
 And pierced the mighty Rustum while he lay 
 
 Dizzy, and on his knees, and choked with sand ; 
 
 But he'look'd on, and smiled, nor bared his sword, 425 
 
 But courteously drew back, and spoke, and said: — 
 
 '* Thou strik'st too hard ! that club of thine will float 
 Upon the summer floods, and not my bones. 
 But rise, and be not wroth ! not wroth am I ; 
 No, when I see thee, wrath forsakes my soul. 430 
 
 Thou say'st, thou art not Rustum ; be it so ! 
 Who art thou then, that canst so touch my soul ? 
 Boy as I am, I have seen battles too — 
 Have waded foremost in their bloody waves, 
 And heard their hollow roar of dying men ; 435 
 
 But never was my heart thus touch'd before. 
 Are they from Heaven, these softenings of the heart ? 
 O thou old wamor, let us yield to Heaven ! 
 Come, plant we here in earth our angry spears, 
 And make a truce, and sit upon this sand, 440 
 
 And pledge each other in red wine, like friends, 
 And thou shalt talk to me of Rustum's deeds. 
 There are enough foes in the Persian host, 
 
 1 Hyphasis, Hydaspes, are the ancient names of the Beas and the Jhylum, 
 two of the great rivers of the Indus system in the Punjab of northern India. 
 
 2 Wreck, or ruin. 
 
30 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 • Whom I may meet, and strike, and feel no pang ; 
 
 445 Champions enough Afrasiab has, whom thou 
 
 May St fight; fight thei7i, when they confront thy spear! 
 But oh, let there be peace 'twixt thee and me ! " 
 
 He ceased, but while he spake, Rustum had risen, 
 And stood erect, trembling with rage ; his club 
 
 450 He left to he, but had regain'd his spear. 
 
 Whose fiery point now in his mail'd right hand 
 Blazed bright and baleful, like that autumn star,i 
 The baleful sign of fevers ; dust had soil'd 
 His stately crest, and dimm'd his ghttering arms. 
 
 455 His breast heaved, his lips foam'd, and twice his voice 
 
 Was choked with rage ; at last these words broke way : — =■ 
 
 " Girl ! nimble with thy feet, not with thy hands ! 
 Curl'd minion, dancer, coiner of sweet words ! 
 Fight, let me hear thy hateful voice no more ! 
 
 460 Thou art not in Afrasiab's gardens now 
 
 With Tartar girls, with whom thou art wont to dance ; 
 But on the Oxus sands, and in the dance 
 Of battle, and with me, who make no play 
 Of war ; I fight it out, and hand to hand. 
 
 465 Speak not to me of truce, and pledge, and wine ! 
 Remember all thy valor ; try thy feints 
 And cunning ! all the pity I had is gone ; 
 Because thou hast shamed me before both the hosts 
 With thy light skipping tricks, and thy girl's wiles." 
 
 470 He spoke, and Sohrab kindled at his taunts, 
 And he too drew his sword ; at once they rush'd 
 Together, as two eagles on one prey \ 
 
 Come rushing down together from the clouds, 
 One from the east, one from the west ; their shields 
 
 1 It was the belief, not only of the ancient races, but of some compas.-a- 
 tively modern writers, that there is a close connection between certain planc'ts 
 and the prevalence of epidemic diseases. The star referred to is probably 
 Sirius, the Dog Star. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 31 
 
 Dash'd with a clang together, and a din 475 
 
 Rose, such as that the sinewy woodcutters 
 
 Make often in the forest's heart at mom, 
 
 Of hewing axes, crashing trees — such blows 
 
 Rustum and Sohrab on each other hail'd. 
 
 And you would say that sun and stars took part 480 
 
 In that unnatural 1 conflict ; for a cloud 
 
 Grew suddenly in heaven, and dark'd the sun 
 
 Over the fighters' heads ; and a wind rose 
 
 Under their feet, and moaning swept the plain, 
 
 And in a sandy whirlwind wrapp'd the pair. 485 
 
 In gloom they twain were wrapp'd, and they alone ; 
 
 For both the on-looking hosts on either hand 
 
 Stood in broad daylight, and the sky was pure, 
 
 And the sun sparkled on the Oxus stream. 
 
 But in the gloom they fought, with bloodshot eyes 490 
 
 And laboring breath ; first Rustum struck the shield 
 
 Which Sohrab held stiff out ; the steel-spiked spear 
 
 Rent the tough plates, but fail'd to reach the skin, 
 
 And Rustum pluck'd it back with angry groan. 
 
 Then Sohrab with his sword smote Rustum's helm, 495 
 
 Nor clove its steel quite through ; but all the crest 
 
 He shore ^ away, and that proud horsehair plume. 
 
 Never till now defiled, sank to the dust ; 
 
 And Rustum bow'd his head ; but then the gloom 
 
 Grew blacker, thunder rumbled in the air, 500 
 
 And lightnings rent the cloud ; and Ruksh, the horse, 
 
 Who stood at hand, utter'd a dreadful cry ; — 
 
 No horse's cry was that, most like the roar 
 
 Of some pain'd desert Hon, who all day 
 
 Hath trail'd the hunter's javelin in his side, 505 
 
 And comes at night to die upon the sand. 
 
 1 Unnatural because between father and son. 
 
 2 Past tense of " shear " (" to cut "). 
 
32 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 The two hosts heard that cry, and quaked for fear, 
 
 And Oxus curdled ^ as it cross'd his stream. 
 
 But Sohrab heard, and quail'd not, but rush'd on, 
 
 510 And struck again ; and again Rustum bow'd 
 
 His head ; but this time all the blade, like glass, 
 Sprang in a thousand shivers on the helm, 
 And in the hand the hilt remain'd alone. 
 Then Rustum raised his head ; his dreadful eyes 
 
 515 Glared, and he shook on high his menacing spear, 
 
 And shouted : " Rustum ! " — - Sohrab heard that shout, 
 And shrank amazed : back he recoil'd one step. 
 And scann'd with blinking eyes the advancing form ; 
 And then he stood bewilder'd, and he dropp'd 
 
 520 His covering shield, and the spear pierced. his side. 
 He reel'd, and, staggering back, sank to the ground ; 
 And then the gloom dispersed, and the wind fell. 
 And the bright sun broke forth, and melted all 
 The cloud ; and the two armies saw the pair — 
 
 525 Saw Rustum standing, safe upon his feet, 
 And Sohrab, wounded, on the bloody sand. 
 
 Then, with a bitter smile, Rustum began : — 
 " Sohrab, thou thoughtest in thy mind to kill 
 A Persian lord this day, and strip his corpse, 
 
 530 And bear thy trophies to A frasiab's tent ; 
 
 Or else that the great Rustum would come down 
 Himself to fight, and that thy wiles would move 
 His heart to take a gift, and let thee go ; 
 And then that all the Tartar host would praise 
 
 535 Thy courage or thy craft, and spread thy fame. 
 To glad thy father in his weak old age. 
 Fool, thou art slain, and by an unknown man ! 
 Dearer to the red jackals shalt thou be 
 Than to thy friends, and to thy father old." 
 
 1 Thickened with fear. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUAI. 33 
 
 And, with a fearless mien, Sohrab replied : — 540 
 
 " Unknown thou art ; yet thy fierce vaunt is vain. 
 Thou dost not slay me, proud and boastful man ! 
 No ! Rustum slays me, and this filial heart. 
 For were I match'd with ten such men as thee, 
 And I were that which till to-day I was, 545 
 
 They should be lying here, I standing there. 
 But that beloved name unnerved my arm — 
 That name, and something, I confess, in thee. 
 Which troubles all my heart, and made my shield 
 Fall; and thy spear transfix'd an unarm'd foe. 550 
 
 And now thou boastest, and insult'st my fate. 
 But hear thou this, fierce man, tremble to hear : 
 The mighty Rustum shall avenge my death ! 
 My father, whom I seek through all the world, 
 He shall avenge my death, and punish thee ! " 555 
 
 As when some hunter in the spring hath found 
 A breeding eagle sitting on her nest, 
 Upon the craggy isle of a hill lake. 
 And pierced her with an arrow as she rose. 
 And foUow'd her to find her where she fell 560 
 
 Far off ; — anon her mate comes winging back 
 From hunting, and a great way off descries 
 His huddhng young left sole ; 1 at that, he checks 
 His pinion, and with short uneasy sweeps 
 Circles above his eyry, with loud screams 565 
 
 Chiding his mate back to her nest ; but she 
 Lies dying, with the arrow in her side. 
 In some far stony gorge out of his ken, 
 A heap of fluttering feathers — never more 
 Shall the lake glass ^ her, flying over it; 570 
 
 Never the black and dripping precipices 
 Echo her stormy scream as she sail^ by — 
 
 1 Solitary, alone. 2 Reflect, as in a mirror. 
 
34 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 As that poor bird flies home, nor knows his loss, 
 
 So Rustum knew not his own loss, but stood 
 575 Over his dying son, and knew him not. 
 
 But, with a cold incredulous voice, he said : — ■ 
 
 " What prate is this of fathers and revenge ? 
 
 The mighty Rustum never had a son." 
 
 And, with a failing voice, Sohrab replied : — - 
 580 "Ah yes, he had ! and that lost son am I. 
 
 Surely the news will one day reach his ear, 
 
 Reach Rustum, where he sits, and tarries long, 
 
 Somewhere, I know not where, but far from here ; 
 
 And pierce him like a stab, and make him leap 
 585 To arms, and cry for vengeance upon thee. 
 
 Fierce man, bethink thee, for an only son ! 
 
 What will that grief, what will that vengeance be ? 
 
 Oh, could I hve till I that grief had seen ! 
 
 Yet him I pity not so much, but her, 
 590 My mother, who in Ader-baijan dwells 
 
 With that old king, her father, who grows gray 
 
 With age, and rules over the valiant Koords. 
 
 Her most I pity, who no more will see 
 
 Sohrab returning from the Tartar camp, 
 595 With spoils and honor, when the war is done. 
 
 But a dark rumor will be bruited up,i 
 
 From tribe to tribe, until it reach her ear ; 
 
 And then will that defenseless woman learn 
 
 That Sohrab will rejoice her sight no more, 
 600 But that in battle with a nameless foe. 
 
 By the far-distant Oxus, he is slain." 
 
 He spoke ; and as he ceased, he wept aloud. 
 
 Thinking of her he left, and his own death. 
 
 He spoke ; but Rustum listen'd, plunged in thought. 
 605 Nor did he yet beheve it was his son -j 
 
 1 " Bruited up," i.e., noised abroad. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 35 
 
 Who spoke, although he call'd back names he knew ; 
 For he had had sure tidings that the babe, 
 Which was in Ader-baijan born to him, 
 Had been a puny girl, no boy at all — 
 So that sad mother sent him word, for fear 6io 
 
 Rustum should seek the boy, to train in arms. 
 And so he deem'd that either Sohrab took. 
 By a false boast, the style ^ of Rustum's son ; 
 Or that men gave it him, to swell his fame, 
 ^o deem'd he : yet he hsten'd, plunged in thought ; 615 
 And his soul set to grief, as the vast tide 
 Of the bright rocking Ocean sets to shore 
 At the full moon ; tears gather'd in his eyes ; 
 For he remember'd his own early youth. 
 And all its bounding rapture ; as, at dawn, 620 
 
 The shepherd from his mountain lodge descries 
 . A far, bright city, smitten by the sun. 
 Through many rolling clouds — so Rustum saw 
 His youth ; saw Sohrab's mother, in her bloom ; 
 And that old king,^ her father, who loved well 625 
 
 His wandering guest, and gave him his fair child 
 With joy ; and all the pleasant life they led, 
 They three, in that long-distant summer time — 
 The castle, and the dewy woods, and hunt 
 And hound, and morn on those dehghtful hills 630 
 
 In Ader-baijan. And he saw that youth. 
 Of age and looks to be his own dear son,^ 
 Piteous and lovely, lying on the sand. 
 Like some rich hyacinth which by the scythe 
 Of an unskillful gardener has been cut, 635 
 
 Mowing the garden grassplots near its bed, 
 And lies, a fragrant tower of purple bloom, 
 
 1 Title or name. 2 See Introduction, p. 10. 
 
 S "Of age," etc., of such age and looks that he might have been his son. 
 
36 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 On the mown, dying grass — so Sohrab lay, 
 Lovely in death, upon the common sand. 
 
 640 And Rustum gazed on him with grief, and said: — 
 " O Sohrab, thou indeed art such a son 
 Whom Rustum, wert thou his, might well have loved ! 
 Yet here thou errest, Sohrab, or else men 
 Have told thee false — thou art not Rustum's son. 
 
 645 For Rustum had no son ; one child he had — 
 But one — a girl ; who with her mother now 
 Plies some light female task, nor dreams of us — 
 Of us she dreams not, nor of wounds, nor war." 
 But Sohrab answer' d him in wrath ; for now 
 
 650 The anguish of the deep-fix'd spear grew fierce. 
 And he desired to draw forth the steel, 
 And let the blood flow free, and so to die — 
 But first he would convince his stubborn foe ; 
 And, rising sternly on one arm, he said : — 
 
 655 " Man, who art thou who dost deny my words ? 
 
 Truth sits upon the hps of dying men. 
 And falsehood, while I lived, was far from mine.y 
 I tell thee, prick'd upon this arm I bear 
 That seal which Rustum to my mother gave, 
 
 660 That she might prick it on the babe she bore." 
 
 He spoke ; and all the blood left Rustum's cheeks, 
 And his knees totter'd, and he smote his hand 
 Against his breast, his heavy mailed hand, 
 That the hard iron corselet clank'd aloud ; 
 
 665 And to his heart he press'd the other hand, 
 
 And in a hollow voice he spake, and said : — 
 
 " Sohrab, that were a proof which could not lie ! 
 If thou show this, then art thou Rustum's son." 
 Then, with weak hasty fingers, Sohrab loosed 
 
 670 His belt, and near the shoulder bared his arm, 
 And show'd a sign in faint vermilion points 
 Prick'd ; as a cunning workman, in Pekin, 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 37 
 
 Pricks with vermilion some clear porcelain vase, 
 
 An emperor's gift — at early morn he paints, 
 
 And all day long, and, when night comes, the lamp 675 
 
 Lights up his studious forehead and thin hands — 
 
 So deHcately prick'd the sign appear'd 
 
 On Sohrab's arm, the sign of Rustum's seal. 
 
 It was that griffin, 1 which of old rear'd Zal, 
 
 Rustum's great father, whom the}^ left to die, 680 
 
 A helpless babe, among the mountain rocks ; 
 
 Him that kind creature found, and rear'd and loved — 
 
 Then Rustum took it for his glorious sign. 
 
 And Sohrab bared that image on his arm, 
 
 And himself scann'd it long with mournful eyes, 685 
 
 And then he touch'd it with his hand, and said : — 
 
 " How say'st thou ? Is that sign the proper sign 
 Of Rustum's son, or of some other man's ? " 
 
 He spoke ; but Rustum gazed, and gazed, and stood 
 Speechless ; and then he utter'd one sharp cry : 690 
 
 " O boy — thy father ! " — and his voice choked there. 
 And then a dark cloud pass'd before his eyes. 
 And his head swam, and he sank down to earth. 
 But Sohrab crawl'd to where he lay, and cast 
 His arms about his neck, and kiss'd his Hps, 695 
 
 And with fond faltering fingers stroked his cheeks, 
 Trying to call him back to life ; and life 
 Came back to Rustum, and he oped his eyes. 
 And they stood wide with horror ; and he seized 
 In both his hands the dust which lay around, 700 
 
 And threw it on his head, and smirch'd his hair, — 
 His hair, and face, and beard, and glittering arms ; 
 And strong convulsive groanings shook his breast. 
 And his sobs choked him ; and he clutch'd his sword. 
 To draw it, and forever let life out. 705 
 
 1 See Note 3, p. 23. 
 
38 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 But Sohrab saw his thought, and held his hands, 
 And with a soothing voice he spake, and said : ■ — 
 
 " Father, forbear ! for I but meet to-day 
 The doom which at my birth was written down 
 
 710 In heaven, and thou art heaven's unconscious hand. 
 Surely my heart cried out that it was thou, 
 When first I saw thee ; and thy heart spoke too, 
 I know it ! but fate trod those promptings down 
 Under its iron heel ; fate, fate engaged 
 
 715 The strife, and hurl'd me on my father's spear. 
 But let us speak no more of this ! I find 
 My father ; let me feel that I have found ! 
 Come, sit beside me on this sand, and take 
 My head betwixt thy hands, and kiss my cheeks, 
 
 720 And wash them Avith thy tears, and say: ' My son !' 
 Quick ! quick ! for number'd are my sands of life, 
 And swift ; for like the hghtning to this field 
 I came, and like the wind I go away — 
 Sudden, and swift, and like a passing wind. 
 
 725 But it was writ in heaven that this should be." 
 So said he, and his voice released the heart 
 Of Rustum, and his tears broke forth ; he cast 
 His arms round his son's neck, and wept aloud,. 
 And kiss'd him. And awe fell on both the hosts, 
 
 730 When they saw Rustum's grief ; and Ruksh, the horse, 
 With his head bowing to the ground and mane 
 Sweeping the dust, came near, and in mute woe 
 First to the one then to the other moved 
 His head, as if inquiring what their grief 
 
 735 Might mean ; and from his dark, compassionate eyes. 
 The big warm tears roll'd down, and caked ^ the sand. 
 But Rustum chid him with stern voice, and said : — 
 
 " Ruksh, now thou grievest ; but, O Ruksh, thy feet 
 Should first have rotted on their nimble joints, 
 
 1 Hardened or formed into cakes. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 39 
 
 Or ere they brought thy master to this field ! " 740 
 
 But Sohrab look'd upon the horse, and said : — 
 " Is this, then, Ruksh ? How often, in past days, 
 My mother told me of thee, thou brave steed. 
 My terrible father's terrible horse ! and said. 
 That I should one day find thy lord and thee. 745 
 
 Come, let me lay my hand upon thy mane ! 
 O Ruksh, thou art more fortunate than I ; 
 For thou hast gone where I shall never go, 
 And snuff 'd the breezes of my father's home. 
 And thou hast trod the sands of Seistan, 750 
 
 And seen the River of Helmund, and the Lake 
 Of Zirrah ; 1 and the aged Zal himself 
 Has often stroked thy neck, and given thee food. 
 Corn in a golden platter soak'd with wine, 
 And said : ' O Ruksh ! bear Rustum well,' — but I 755 
 Have never known my grandsire's furrow'd face. 
 Nor seen his lofty house in Seistan, 
 Nor slaked my thirst at the clear Helmund stream ; 
 But lodged among my father's foes, and seen 
 Afrasiab's cities only, Samarcand, 7^° 
 
 Bokhara, and lone Khiva in the waste. 
 And the black Toorkmun tents ; and only drunk 
 The desert rivers, Moorghab and Tejend, 
 Kohik, and where the Kalmuks feed their sheep, 
 The northern Sir ; 2 and this great Oxus stream, 765 
 
 The yellow Oxus, by whose brink I die." 
 
 Then, with a heavy groan, Rustum bewail'd : — 
 *' Oh, that its waves were flowing over me ! 
 Oh, that I saw its grains of yellow silt 
 Roll tumbling in the current o'er my head !" 770 
 
 1 See Note i, p. 18. 
 
 2 The Moorghab, Tejend (Tedzend), and Kohik are rivers of Turkistan 
 which lose themselves in the desert south of Bokhara. The " northern Sir " 
 is the Syr Daria, or Jaxartes. 
 
40 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 But, with a grave mild voice, Sohrab replied : — - 
 " Desire not that, my father ! thou must hve. 
 /For some are born to do great deeds, and hve, 
 As some are bom to be obscured, and die. ^ 
 
 775 Do thou the deeds I die too young to do, 
 And reap a second glory in thine age ; 
 Thou art my father, and thy gain is mine. 
 But come ! thou seest this great host of men 
 Which follow me ; I pray thee, slay not these ! 
 
 780 Let me entreat for them ; what have they done ? 
 They follow'd me, my hope, my fame, my star. 
 Let them all cross the Oxus back in peace. 
 But me thou must bear hence, not send with them, 
 But carry me with thee to Seistan, 
 
 785 And place me on a bed, and mourn for me, 
 
 Thou, and the snow-hair'd Zal, and all thy friends. 
 And thou must lay me in that lovely earth. 
 And heap a stately mound above my bones, 
 And plant a far-seen pillar over all. 
 
 790 That so the passing horseman on the waste 
 May see my tomb a great way off, and cry : 
 * Sohrab, the mighty Rustum's son, hes there, 
 Whom his great father did in ignorance kill ! ' 
 And I be not forgotten in my grave." 
 
 795 And, with a mournful voice, Rustum replied : — - 
 
 " Fear not ! as thou hast said, Sohrab, my son, 
 So shall it be ; for I will burn my tents. 
 And quit the host, and bear thee hence with me. 
 And carry thee away to Seistan, 
 
 800 And place thee on a bed, and mourn for thee, 
 With the snow-headed Zal, and all my friends. 
 And I will lay thee in that lovely earth. 
 And heap a stately mound above thy bones. 
 And plant a far-seen pillar over all, 
 
 805 And men shall not forget thee in thy grave. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 41 
 
 And I will spare thy host ; yea, let them go ! 
 
 Let them all cross the Oxus back in peace ! 
 
 What should I do with slaying any more ? 
 
 For would that all that I have ever slain 
 
 Might be once more ahve ; my bitterest foes, 810 
 
 And they who were call'd champions in their time, 
 
 And through whose death I won that fame I have — 
 
 And I were nothing but a common man, 
 
 A poor, mean soldier, and without renown, 
 
 So thou mightest hve too, my son, my son ! 815 
 
 Or rather would that I, even I myself, 
 
 Might now be lying on this bloody sand, 
 
 Near death, and by an ignorant stroke of thine, 
 
 Not thou of mine ! and I might die, not thou ; 
 
 And I, not thou, be borne to Seistan ; 820 
 
 And Zal might weep above my grave, not thine ; 
 
 And say : ' O son, I weep thee not too sore, 
 
 For wilhngly, I know, thou met'st thine end 1 ' 
 
 But now in blood and battles was my youth, 
 
 And full of blood and battles is my age, 825 
 
 And I shall never end this life of blood." 
 
 Then, at the point of death, Sohrab replied : — 
 " A Hfe of blood indeed, thou dreadful man ! 
 But thou shalt yet have peace ; only not now, 
 Not yet ! but thou shalt have it on that day ^ 830 
 
 When thou shalt sail in a high-masted ship, 
 
 1 Soon after the death of Afrasiab, against whom Kai Khosroo had waged 
 a ceaseless warfare, the Persian monarch determined to spend the rest of his 
 life in religious retirement. He divided his dominions among his nobles, and 
 then, accompanied by some of them, he went to a spring which had been 
 fixed upon as the place of his repose. There he disappeared suddenly and 
 mysteriously " in the twinkling of an eye;" and all those who went with 
 him were destroyed on the return voyage by a violent tempest. According 
 to Sohrab's prophecy, we would suppose Rustum to have been among those 
 peers who accompanied Kai Khosroo; yet, according to the Shah Nameh, 
 he was not among those who perished. 
 
42 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 Thou and the other peers of Kai Khosroo, 
 Returning home over the salt blue sea, 
 From laying thy dear master in his grave." 
 
 835 And Rustum gazed in Sohrab's face, and said: — 
 
 " Soon be that day, my son, and deep that sea ! 
 Till then, if fate so wills, let me endure." 
 
 He spoke ; and Sohrab smiled on him, and took 
 The spear, and drew it from his side, and eased 
 
 840 His wound's imperious anguish ; but the blood 
 Came welling from the open gash, and life 
 Flow'd with the stream ; — all down his cold white side 
 The crimson torrent ran, dim now and soil'd, 
 Like the soil'd tissue of white violets 
 
 845 Left, freshly gather'd, on their native bank, 
 By children whom their nurses call with haste 
 Indoors from the sun's eye ; his head droop'd low. 
 His limbs grew slack; motionless, white, he lay — 
 White, with eyes closed ; only when heavy gasps, 
 
 850 Deep heavy gasps quivering through all his frame, 
 Convulsed him back to life, he open'd them, 
 And fix'd them feebly on his father's face ; 
 Till now all strength was ebb'd, and from his limbs 
 Unwillingly the spirit fled away, 
 
 855 Regretting the warm mansion which it left. 
 
 And youth, and bloom, and this delightful world. 
 
 So, on the bloody sand, Sohrab lay dead ; 
 And the great Rustum drew his horseman's cloak 
 Down o'er his face, and sate by his dead son. 
 
 860 As those black granite pillars, once high-rear'd 
 By Jemshid in Persepolis,^ to bear 
 
 1 An ancient city of Persia. On its site are found the ruins of enormous 
 buildings, and conspicuous among them, the huge black granite pillars, some 
 of which are still standing. These remains go by the name of " Takhti 
 Jamshid," which translated is " the throne of Jamshid or Jemshid," a myth- 
 ical king. 
 
SOHRAB AND RUSTUM. 43 
 
 His house, now 'mid their broken flights of steps 
 Lie prone, enormous, down the mountain side — 
 So in the sand lay Rustum by his son. 
 
 And night came down over the solemn waste, 865 
 
 And the two gazing hosts, and that sole pair, 
 And darken'd all ; and a cold fog, with night, 
 Crept from the Oxus. Soon a hum arose, 
 As of a great assembly loosed, and fires 
 Began to twinkle through the fog ; for now 870 
 
 Both armies moved to camp, and took their meal ; 
 The Persians took it on the open sands 
 Southward, the Tartars by the river marge ; 
 And Rustum and his son were left alone. 
 
 But the majestic river floated on, 875 
 
 Out of the mist and hum of that low land, 
 Into the frosty starlight, and there moved, 
 Rejoicing, through the hush'd Chora smian 1 waste, 
 Under the solitary moon ; — he flow'd 
 Right for the polar star, past Orgunie,^ 880 
 
 Brimming, and bright, and large ; then sands begin 
 To hem hi1s watery march, and dam his streams. 
 And spht his currents ; that for many a league 
 The shorn and parcel'd Oxus strains along 
 Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles — 885 
 
 Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had 
 In his high mountain cradle in Pamere, 
 A foil'd circuitous wanderer — till at last 
 The long'd-for dash of waves is heard, and wide 
 
 1 Chorasmia is the ancient name of Kharasm, or Karissim, — a regioij of 
 Turkistan on the Oxus, and at one time the seat of a powerful empire. Its 
 present limits seem to be about those of Khiva. 
 
 2 Oor-ghenj', a village on the Oxus about 70 miles below Khiva, and near 
 the head of its delta. 
 
44 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 890 His luminous home ^ of waters opens, bright 
 
 And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed ^ stars 
 Emerge, and shine upon the Aral Sea. 
 
 1 The Aral Sea. 
 
 2 The horizon is the point where earth and sky, or sky and water, seem 
 to meet : hence the stars, when they appear above the horizon, seem to 
 emerge from the sea. 
 
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 1. Why does the poem begin with "and"? 
 
 2. Of the 892 Hnes how many start in the same way? 
 
 3. What effect does this have on the poem? 
 
 4. What impression is given at the opening of the poem and how is 
 it produced? 
 
 5. What figure of speech in hne 20? 
 
 6. What do you learn of Eastern hfe from Peran-Wisa's tent? 
 
 7. What is the first characteristic that Peran-Wisa displayed? 
 
 8. What do you learn of Sohrab from his speech to Peran-Wisa? 
 
 9. Why is Sohrab restless ? 
 
 10. Why does he not know his father? (See introduction page 10.) 
 
 11. What is the meaning of "still" in line 44? 
 
 12. What figure of speech in line 52? 
 
 13. What was Sohrab's plan? 
 
 14. Criticize it as a means to the end that he intended. 
 
 15. What characteristic does Sohrab display in his speech? 
 
 16. What figure of speech in Hnes 61 and 62 ? 
 
 17. How is Sohrab regarded among the Tartars? 
 
 18. What figure of speech in hne 84? 
 
 19. Give Peran-Wisa's arguments which he uses to dissuade Sohrab. 
 
 20. Why does Peran-Wisa, after saying, "There go!" grant what 
 Sohrab desires? 
 
 21. Was Peran-Wisa a good commander? 
 
 22. Where does the introduction end? 
 
 23. Does it give time, place, characters, and attendant circum- 
 stances ? 
 
 24. What is the .incentive moment of the story? (Incentive moment 
 is the incident that starts the story.) 
 
 25. Why is the long list of Eastern names introduced? Is it to give 
 information or to give local color to the poem ? 
 
 26. What figure of speech in Hne 125? 
 
 27. What figure of speech in Hnes 140 and 149? 
 
 45 
 
46 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 28. Was it a new device to let champions fight while the two armies 
 rested? 
 
 29. What figure of speech in line 176? 
 
 30. Why were the Persians frightened ? 
 
 31. Does this fear give any information about Sohrab? 
 
 32. What is the first characteristic which Rustum displays? 
 
 33. What is the meaning of "Go to"? 
 
 34. Why did Gudurz's words, ''Iran's chiefs are old," anger 
 Rustum ? 
 
 35. What figure of speech in Hne 235? 
 
 36. What figure of speech in line 237? 
 
 37. What is pathetic about Rustum's speech? 
 2,^. About what age is Rustum ? 
 
 39. By what means does Gudurz persuade Rustum to fight? 
 
 40. Is the argument sufficient? 
 
 41. Why does Rustum put on plain armor? 
 
 42. Do you see any fault in the simile in lines 284-290? 
 
 43. Why did Rustum pity Sohrab? 
 
 44. What figure of speech in Hues 322-323? 
 
 45. Why does Sohrab think his adversary is Rustum? 
 
 46. What is the meaning of "askance"? 
 
 47. What is the meaning of "Spake to his own soul"? 
 
 48. What is the meaning of "Ah me"? 
 
 49. Which one is to blame at this point of the story, Sohrab or 
 Rustum ? 
 
 50. In what spirit does Sohrab say, "Art thou so fierce?"? 
 
 51. Paraphrase lines 390-397 in a few words. 
 
 52. What characteristic of Sohrab is shown in this speech? 
 
 53. Why does Sohrab not kill Rustum as he lies on the sand ? 
 
 54. What does Sohrab intend to accomplish by the speech in lines 427- 
 
 447? 
 
 55. Explain, "Be it so," in line 431. 
 
 56. Pick out statements in the speech that would anger a tribe cham- 
 pion like Rustum when spoken by a boy like Sohrab ? 
 
 57. Which one is to blame at this point of the story? 
 
 58. What figure of speech in line 452? 
 
 59. What statements in Rustum's speech. Hues 457-469, would anger 
 Sohrab ? 
 
QUESTIONS AND SUGUESTIONS,. 47 
 
 60. Is this device of having nature take part in unnatural conflicts a 
 new one ? 
 
 61. Why did Arnold thus envelop the pair? 
 
 62. Can you explain this phenomenon ? 
 
 63. Why did Ruksh cry out? 
 
 64. Why did Rustum shout his own name while fighting disguised? 
 
 65. Trace the points by which Arnold increases the interest of the 
 story. 
 
 66. Point out the climax of the poem and prove that it is the climax. 
 
 67. Why did the name have such an effect on Sohrab ? 
 
 68. Up to the shout, how did the men compare as fighters ? 
 
 69. Had Rustum not shouted, who would have won? • 
 
 70. Why does Sohrab call the speech of Rustum, lines 528-539, a 
 vaunt ? 
 
 71. Explain, "Rustum slays me, and this filial heart." 
 
 72. Are lines 544, 545, 546 a vaunt on Sohrab's part? 
 
 73. What is the first step towards the explanation? 
 
 74. What characteristics does Rustum show in his speech, lines 580- 
 601? 
 
 75. Is the introduction of the story of Sohrab's birth at this point, 
 artistic? 
 
 76. Where else could it have been placed? 
 
 77. Explain, "nor . . . nor . . . nor", lines 647 and 648. 
 
 78. "Truth sits upon the lips of dying men." Explain and give the 
 reason. 
 
 79. How did Sohrab convince Rustum of the truth? 
 
 80. What is a griffin? 
 
 81. If he had not this proof, could he have convinced Rustum? Give 
 the reason for your opinion. 
 
 82. What touches of Eastern customs do you find in the poem when 
 Rustum discovers that Sohrab is his son? 
 
 83. Rustum had killed his son. Was his grief more or less intense 
 than that of another man under the same circumstances ? 
 
 84. In the speech, lines 221-241, find reasons for your answer. 
 
 85. Gather reasons for Rustum's impulse to take his own life. 
 
 86. What figure of speech in line 705? 
 
 87. What was the religion of Sohrab? 
 
 88. What figure of speech in line 713? 
 
48 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 89. Who was to blame for Sohrab's death? 
 
 90. From Rustum's actions do you judge he held the same belief as 
 Sohrab ? 
 
 91. ''Surely my heart cried out that it was thou, 
 When first I saw thee; and thy heart spoke too." 
 
 Point out the passage in the poem which proves this. 
 
 92. What does Fate mean to Sohrab? 
 
 93. What *'trod those promptings down," Fate or the pride of Rus- 
 tum ? 
 
 94. What figure of speech in line 776? 
 
 95. Why does Sohrab ask Rustum to say, ''My son"? Is it to sat- 
 isfy Sohrab or to relieve Rustum's mind? 
 
 96. Why does Sohrab not complain at his lot? 
 
 97. Explain the figure in, "Numbered are my sands of life." 
 
 98. What grieved Sohrab ? 
 
 99. What characteristic does this show? 
 100. What figure of speech in lines 762-763? 
 loi. What were Sohrab's three requests? 
 
 102. Why does Sohrab add the second Hne of the epitaph? 
 
 103. Why does Rustum repeat all three of Sohrab's requests when 
 he grants them ? 
 
 104. Explain how Sohrab was able to make the prophecy, which he 
 does in Hnes 828-834. (See note on page 41.) 
 
 105. Was Rustum, too, a fatahst? 
 
 106. What period of time does the story cover? 
 
 107. What figure of speech in lines 854, 855, 856? 
 
 108. Show that the last 18 lines form a good conclusion. 
 
 109. What figure of speech runs through the last 18 lines? 
 no. Why was the horse brought into the story? 
 
 111. In what two other ways might the story have ended? 
 
 112. Trace Rustum's grief. Where did it start, what increased it, 
 what was its climax and what allayed it? 
 
 113. Divide the poem into acts and scenes for a play. 
 
 114. What is the meter of the poem? 
 
 115. Scan the following lines and see how they differ: lines 2, 12, 54, 
 118, 122, 173, 200, 223, 326, 356, 391, 404, 461, 483, 486, 515, 576, 635, 
 736, 738, 815, 849. 
 
 116. What does the poem show of Arnold's education? 
 
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 49 
 
 117. What does it show of his character? 
 
 118. Which of the two men has gained the more sympathy, Sohrab 
 or Rustum? 
 
 119. Why are there indentations at Hnes 12, 31, ^;^, etc.? 
 
 120. On a map of Asia, locate the Amu Daria River, so you may 
 know where the story took place. 
 
 SIMILES 
 
 "Sohrab and Rustum" is noted for its similes. Unless the student is 
 familiar with them he does not know the poem. Apply the following 
 questions to the similes given below: 
 
 1. Does it fulfill the requirements of a good simile? 
 
 2. What are the two things compared? 
 
 3. Is it inserted in the poem to beautify or to make the subject clearer? 
 The power to complete any given simile is also required. While it is 
 
 not necessary to commit each one to memory, the student should be 
 able to supply, in his own words, one of the subjects compared when 
 the other is given. For instance, what did Arnold use to illustrate this: 
 
 "So Rustum knew not his own loss, but stood 
 Over his dying son, and knew him not" ? 
 
 I 
 
 "From their black tents, long files of horse, they stream'd; 
 As when some gray November morn the files. 
 In marching order spread, of long-neck 'd cranes 
 Stream over Casbin and the southern slopes 
 Of Elburz, from the Aralian estuaries, 
 Or some frore Caspian reed bed, southward bound 
 From the warm Persian seaboard — so they stream'd. 
 
 " As, in the country, on a mom in June, 
 When the dew glistens on the pearled ears, 
 A shiver runs through the deep corn for joy — 
 So, when they heard what Peran-Wisa said, 
 A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons ran 
 Of pride and hope for Sohrab, whom they loved. 
 
 4 
 
 
50 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 " But as a troop of peddlers, from Cabool, 
 Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus, 
 That vast sky-neighboring mountain of milk snow; 
 Crossing so high, that, as they mount, they pass 
 Long flocks of travehng birds dead on the snow. 
 Choked by the air, and scarce can they themselves 
 Slake their parch'd throats with sugar'd mulberries — 
 In single file they move, and stop their breath. 
 For fear they should dislodge the o'erhanging snows- 
 So the pale Persians held their breath with fear. 
 
 IV 
 
 " And dear as the wet diver to the eyes 
 Of his pale wife who waits and weeps on shore, 
 By sandy Bahrein, in the Persian gulf. 
 Plunging all day in the blue waves, at night, 
 Having made up his tale of precious pearls, 
 Rejoins her in their hut upon the sands — 
 So dear to the pale Persians Rustum came. 
 
 V 
 
 " And as afield the reapers cut a swath 
 Down through the middle of a rich man's com, 
 And on each side are squares of standing corn, 
 And in the midst a stubble, short and bare — 
 So on each side were squares of men, with spears 
 Bristling, and in the midst, the open sand. 
 
 VI 
 
 " As some rich woman, on a winter's morn, 
 Eyes through her silken curtains the poor drudge 
 Who with numb blacken' d fingers makes her fire — 
 At cock-crow, on a starlit winter's morn, 
 When the frost flowers the whiten 'd windowpanes — 
 And wonders how she lives, and what the thoughts 
 Of that poor drudge may be; so Rustum eyed 
 The unknown adventurous youth, . . . 
 
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 51 
 
 VII 
 
 " For very young he seem'd, tenderly rear'd; 
 Like some young cypress, tall, and dark, and straight, 
 Which in a queen's secluded garden throws 
 Its slight dark shadow on the moonlit turf, 
 By midnight, to a bubbling fountain's sound — 
 So slender Sohrab seem'd, so softly rear'd. 
 
 VIII 
 
 " For we are all, like swimmers in the sea, 
 Poised on the top of the huge wave of fate, 
 Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall. 
 And whether it will heave us up to land, 
 Or whether it will roll us out to sea. 
 Back out to sea, to the deep waves of death. 
 We know not, and no search will make us know; 
 Only the event will teach us in its hour. 
 
 IX 
 
 " He spoke, and Rustum answer'd not, but hurl'd 
 His spear; down from the shoulder, down it came, 
 As on some partridge in the com a hawk. 
 That long has tower'd in the airy clouds. 
 Drops like a plummet; Sohrab saw it come, . . . 
 
 X 
 
 " As when some hunter in the spring hath found 
 A breeding eagle sitting on her nest, 
 Upon the craggy isle of a hill lake, 
 And pierced her with an arrow as she rose, 
 And follow' d her to find her where she fell 
 Far off; — anon her mate comes winging back 
 From hunting, and a great way off descries 
 His huddhng young left sole; at that, he checks 
 His pinion, and with short uneasy sweeps 
 Circles above his eyry, with loud screams 
 Chiding his mate back to her nest; but she 
 Lies dying, with the arrow in her side. 
 
52 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 In some far stony gorge out of his ken, 
 A heap of fluttering feathers — never more 
 Shall the lake glass her, flying over it; 
 Never the black and dripping precipices 
 Echo her stormy scream as she sails by — 
 As that poor bird flies home, nor knows his loss, 
 So Rustum knew not his own loss, but stood 
 Over his dying son, and knew him not. 
 
 XI 
 
 " And he saw that youth, 
 Of age and looks to be his own dear son, 
 Piteous and lovely, lying on the sand. 
 Like some rich hyacinth which by* the scythe 
 Of an unskillful gardener has been cut, 
 Mowing the garden grassplots near its bed, 
 And lies, a fragrant tower of purple bloom, 
 On the mown, dying grass — so Sohrab lay. 
 Lovely in death, upon the common sand. 
 
 XII 
 
 "Then, with weak hasty fingers, Sohrab loosed 
 His belt, and near the shoulder bared his arm. 
 And show'd a sign in faint vermilion points 
 Prick'd; as a cunning workman, in Pekin, 
 Pricks with vermilion some clear porcelain vase, 
 An emperor's gift — at early morn he paints, 
 And all day long, and, when night comes, the lamp 
 Lights up his studious forehead and thin hands — 
 So delicately prick'd the sign appear'd 
 On Sohrab's arm, the sign of Rustum's seal. 
 
 XIII 
 
 " He spoke; and Sohrab smiled on him, and took 
 The spear, and drew it from his side, and eased . 
 His wound's imperious anguish; but the blood 
 Came welling from the open gash, and life 
 Flow'd with the stream; — all down his cold white side 
 
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 53 
 
 The crimson torrent ran, dim now and soil'd, 
 Like the soil'd tissue of white violets 
 Left, freshly gather'd, on their native bank, 
 By children whom their nurses call with haste 
 Indoors from the sun's eye; 
 
 XIV 
 
 " So, on the bloody sand, Sohrab lay dead; 
 And the great Rustum drew his horseman's cloak 
 Down o'er his face, and sate by his dead son. 
 As those black granite pillars, once high-rear'd 
 By Jemshid in Persepolis, to bear 
 His house, now 'mid their broken flights of steps 
 Lie prone, enormous, down the mountain side — 
 So in the sand lay Rustum by his son." 
 
 DESCRIPTION 
 
 Description is that form of discourse that aims to present a picture. 
 The following outline may help the student to make his descriptions 
 definite pictures: 
 
 1 . State your point of view, that is, tell the place where you are stand- 
 ing as you see the picture. 
 
 2. Give a general impression, by means of an adjective or two, tell 
 the reader what kind of a picture he is to expect — gay, gloomy, wonder- 
 ful, simple, or whatever it may be. 
 
 3. Give the details of the picture in the order in which you notice 
 them. 
 
 4. Make your conclusion sum up your picture. This can be done 
 easily by using an adjective or two that are synonyms of those used in 
 your general impression. 
 
 Subjects for Description 
 
 1. The scene on the Oxus as Sohrab saw it in the early morning. 
 
 2. Peran-Wisa's Tent. 
 
 3. The interior of Rustum's tent. 
 
 4. The scene as Rustum saw it from the hill top. 
 
54 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 5. The conflict as seen from the Tartar camp. 
 
 6. The conflict as seen from the Persian camp. 
 
 7. The scene when the sun had cleared the mist. 
 
 8. The scene at the close of the poem. 
 
 9. The tomb of Sohrab. 
 
 10. Sohrab. 
 
 11. Rustum. 
 
 NARRATION 
 
 Narration is that form of discourse that aims to tell a story. This is 
 the usual outline followed: 
 I. Introduction. 
 
 1. Who — the characters. 
 
 2. When — the time. 
 
 3. Where — the place. 
 
 4. Why — circumstances which attend the opening of the story. 
 II. Body. 
 
 1. The incident that starts the stoiy. 
 
 2. The tales in the order of time. 
 
 3. Climax — the highest point of interest. 
 
 4. Explanation. 
 III. Conclusion. 
 
 I. The end reached in such a way that the reader expects no more. 
 
 Subjects for Narration 
 
 1. Tell the story of the poem. 
 
 2. Tell the story of the poem, changing the outcome. 
 
 3. Narrate the story as told by a soldier of the Persian Army. 
 
 4. Narrate the story as told by Rustum 20 years after. 
 
 5. Tell the story, starting at the death of Sohrab and carrying it on 
 to his burial. 
 
 6. A visit of Rustum's to Sohrab's mother after the events of the 
 poem. 
 
 7. The wooing of Rustum. 
 
 8. How the news reached Sohrab's mother. 
 
 9. Narrate the story as told by one traveler to another, while they are 
 riding by Sohrab's tomb. Introduce conversation. 
 
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 55 
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 Exposition is that form of discourse that aims to explain. No outHne 
 can be followed in exposition because of the magnitude of its scope. 
 Two rules must be kept constantly in mind: 
 
 1. Before attempting to write a piece of exposition know your sub- 
 ject thoroughly. 
 
 2. Take for granted that your reader knows nothing at all about the 
 subject you are explaining. 
 
 Subjects for Exposition 
 
 1. Epic poetry. 
 
 2. Episode. 
 
 3. Fate. 
 
 4. Shah Nameh. 
 
 5. Why did Sohrab wish to fight. 
 
 6. Why did Sohrab and Rustum hesitate. 
 
 7. Why did Sohrab lose. 
 
 8. Blank verse. 
 
 9. Eastern customs as shown in the poem. 
 
 10. The character of Rustum. 
 
 11. The character of Sohrab. 
 
COMPOSITION-RHETORIC 
 
 I.OO 
 
 By STRATTON D. BROOKS, Superintendent of Schools, 
 Boston, Mass., and MARIETTA HUBBARD, for- 
 merly- English Department, High School, La Salle, 111. 
 
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A HISTORY OF ENGLISH 
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