2.7.4
It has to be stated here that the Christians native to the Islamic lands, who follow the Muslims in their customs and morality, are always inferior to them in the chasteness of their language, in literature, in aesthetics, in intelligence, in sophistication, and in cleanliness. They are, however, more active than them in travel, trading, and manufacturing, and bolder and more steadfast in taking on difficult tasks. This is because Muslims are a nation of self-denial and abnegation while Christians have an insatiable appetite for territorial expansion, not to mention the acquisition of pure-bred horses, precious gems, and luxury goods. If you enter the house of a wealthy Christian in Cairo, you’ll find he has both serving women and serving men, around twenty tobacco pipes of the most expensive kind (half of them valuable waterpipes), three rooms upholstered in the best materials, silver vessels for eating and drinking, along with smooth, high beds, luxurious clothes, and so forth, and yet, for all that, not a single book. Also, if someone wants to buy something from a Muslim trader, he’ll find it costs him twenty-five percent less than the Christian’s goods. This avarice is, however, found, for the most part, only among foreign Christians. The Copts are more like the Muslims, and few of them practice trade.
2.7.5
As far as the Egyptian state is concerned, it had reached in those days a peak of splendor, strength, magnificence, munificence, and glory. Those inducted into its service enjoyed a huge salary in the form of money, clothing, and provisions, more than was customary in any other state. Its viceroy470 awarded high rank and tokens of imperial favor to Muslim and Christian alike, though not to Jews, in which Egypt differed from the Tunisian state, whose honors fell on all men equally.471 Despite the large amounts earned by both merchants and craftsmen and the generous livings obtained by the servants of the state, prices in Cairo were exceedingly low, and, as a result, one might observe everyone, members of the elite and commoners, engaging together in work and play. The gardens overflowed with pleasure-seekers and revelers. The cafés were meeting places for friends. At the weddings, singing and musical instruments of every kind might be heard. The men swaggered in silk-wool and brocade, the women staggered under the weight of their jewelry. The horses, mules, and donkeys wore saddles and saddle-coths of embroidered silk. Any land blessed by fortune, however — if our friend the Fāriyāq ever entered it — inevitably changed for the worse before he exited it. Return, then, with me now so that we can release him from the hands of the Bag-men, for I left him a while ago engaged in trying to do just that.
CHAPTER 8: NOTICE THAT THE DESCRIPTION OF CAIRO IS ENDED
2.8.1
We — that is, all my good friends and I — had left the Fāriyāq trying to shake the Bag-men’s bag off his back. Now I, to the exclusion of the others, have come to know that he spent a night pondering the fact that everything that skill may set firmly in place external factors will shake to the core, and, this being the case, he decided to take the shaking business into his own hands. When morning came, he left the place where he’d been playing and started to wander through the markets, shaking his shoulders with every step and saying, “I shall turn him upside down! I shall give him the push! I shall send him back to where he came from! I shall beat him to mush! He has broken, meaning galled, meaning chafed, my back. Am I become today no better than one ass owned by another? A pretty pass!”
2.8.2
A man of some sophistication observed him shaking his shoulders and said to himself, “There is something afoot with this man” and approached him and spoke politely to him, finally extracting his secret from his navel, and learning his condition and the reason for his travel. “Never mind,” he told him. “Cairo — God protect it! — is the mother-lode of good things and benefaction, though to win them you will have to take action.” “What greater action can I undertake than what you observe?” he asked. “There’s no call for such things,” the other replied. “Have you a ready ear, a clever mind, a foot to effort inclined?” “I have,” he said. “Then listen while I tell you,” said the other.
2.8.3
“In this metropolis is a poet of great skill,472 a Christian, who has influence and standing with the whole elite.” Said the other, “These aren’t the characteristics of a poet, and to me your words appear an oxymoron. How can this riddle be solved, this puzzle explained?” The other replied, “There is no contradiction: he’s a poet by nature, not by trade, the difference being that the poet by trade is one who depends on his verse to make his living; thus he eulogizes this one and flatters that in order to get something from them. The poet by nature, on the other hand, speaks poetry because he cannot help himself — without having to force himself or in expectation of reward.” “That’s not the difference mentioned by al-Āmidī,”473 said the Fāriyāq. “Then scoot al-Āmidī back to Āmid474 and listen to me,” said the other. “Voilà! I’ve a-i-m-(e)-d him and scooted him,” he said, “so what’s the scoop?” “I advise you to write a letter to this scholarly man and beg him, through the deployment of your praise, for an audience. If he is kind enough to grant this, use the occasion to tell him of your sufferings and seek his help. He is certain to say yes, for he is known for his noble morals and loves the titillation of high self-esteem. Your chances are especially good, because he loves to keep company with literary types and make their lives more comfortable. Speak to him courteously, and I guarantee you’ll realize your hopes through him.” The Fāriyāq thanked the man for his advice and returned to his lodging comforted and expecting the best.
2.8.4
When night came, he took his pen and paper and wrote the following:
A greeting I send that, if ’twere carried on the breeze, the horizon with perfume would freight and if ’twere made a halo for the moon, would save the latter from its monthly fate; if ’twere added to the tawny wine, would cause no headache to follow its potation and if ’twere swallowed or licked by a sick man, would cause him no fever or excruciation; if ’twere hung upon a tree, though the season were autumn, would make its leaves straightway burst out and if ’twere used to water gardens, would make each charming and delightful flower sprout; if ’twere laid o’er the strings of a lute, would have them induce ecstasy without need of any agent instrumental and if at a gathering ’twere sung, would render all sweet-smelling plants and instruments purely incidental; if ’twere hung in the ear as a pendant, it would be one of those that, being from its upper rim dependent, are the more clearly seen and, if ’twere used to whet the dulled sword’s edge, would make it keen; if ’twere portrayed, would be as blooming gardens and meadows of that ilk and soothing liquids and purest milk and if ’twere suspended from one’s headdress, would render amulets superfl’ous; if ’twere worn as a ring by one by passion misled, would serve him in oblivion’s stead and if ’twere written on a tombstone, would distract the grieving mother from making moan, or on the waist of a slender lass, would take the place of a sash, or on the nose of one with a rheum, for nose drops would leave no room, or on a cripple’s feet, would make him hop ahead and all others in the race to the wellhead beat, or on a dumb man’s tongue, would cause the knot therein to come undone, or on a miser’s hand, would make it easier for him his gold and silver to spend, or on brackish water, would make it sweet at just one go, or on sand, would cause it to make even basil grow; plus salutations ornamented, sweet-smelling and scented, softer than the breeze, sweeter than heaven’s mead, than good health for the sick a more sought-after goal, more brightening for the eye than kohl, dearer to the assayer than purest gold, clearer than sweetest water fresh and cold, dearer to the heart than hope of the beloved’s arms, more distracting than a coquette’s charms, brighter than the light of morn, more brilliant than the anemone’s bloom, more fragrant than wine’s aromas, more closely guarded than tiaras, dearer to al-Bustī than paronomasias,475 to Abū l-ʿAtāhiyah476 than ascetic verse, to Abū Nuwās477 than poems about wine (and worse), to al-Farazdaq478 than panegyrics, to Jarīr479 than lyrics, to Abū Tammām480 than sagacity, to al-Mutanabbī481 than poems demonstrating rhetorical capacity—to be presented to that honored person of respected station who is the resort of the depressed, object of the entreaties of the oppressed, protector of those who’ve suffered wrong, refuge of the victims of the strong, watering hole of those who aspire to his attention, wellspring of those who seek his intervention, may God preserve his good fortune for ever and a day, and never let his glory fade away!