Kitab Wafayat ALA'Yan. Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary Transl. by (Guillaume) B(aro)N Mac-Guckin de Slane Volume 3 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1845 edition. Excerpt: ...his bed of sickness went near him no more; he re" mained alone in his grief, uttering deep-drawn sighs and pouring forth tears " as a conduit pours forth water; none were left to console him in his solitude, " and, instead of the bowers (which he tmce frequented), he now saw nought but " strangers (31). Deprived of consolation, hopeless of the approach (of friends), " debarred from the aspect of joy, he called to mind his native abodes, and that " thought made him long for home; he saw in imagination the splendour of his " (court), and that image filled him with delight; his fancy showed him his " dwelling desolate, the palace bewailing its (former) inhabitants, its heavens " (extent) darkened by the absence of its full moons (beautiful women), the guards " and the companions of his evening hours no longer there."--His imprison ment inspired Abu Bakr ad-Dani (Ibn al-Labbdna) with the celebrated kasida which begins thus: Each thing has its appointed hour; each wish, a time for its fulfilment. Fortune has been immersed in the dye of the camelion, and the colours of its various states are always changing. We are chessmen in the hands of fortune, and sometimes the pawn may check the king (32). Cast off the world and its inhabitants; the earth is now tenantless; men (worthy of the name) are dead. Tell the creatures who still dwell on earth, that the treasure of the world, the exalted prince, is hidden at Aghmat. This is a long poem, containing about fifty verses. In the year 485 (A. D. 1092) he (Ibn al-Labbdna) composed at Aghmat the following piece on al-Motamid's imprisonment (33): Smell this nosegay of salutations; by itl break the seal of that musk (condolence) from...