المعلقات السبع (The Seven Suspended Odes — Arabic text with English)

patiently to a relation of his heroic achievements and to acknowledge the claims of his position and martial prowess. He gives a detailed description of her excellent beauties and of the pain he felt at her separation. He then asks the king, 'Amru-bin-Hind, who, he is quite aware, is a very powerful and despotic ruler, to grant him a patient hearing, while he recounts in details the various glories of his tribe, Banî Taghlib, their chivalrous deeds, and their noble services to their country. Quoting several instances to show how his tribesmen are always ready to fight and how indifferently they disregard the threats of their rivals, he cautions the king against the evil consequences of offending his tribe, of making any rash attempt at exercising any undue authority and power over them and of treating them with contempt, reminds him of the heroic exploits of his ancestors and of the prowess they had long evinced on the battle-field, and says that the ancestral chivalrous spirit still continues as active as ever in his own person and in the persons of many other heroes of the tribe. The martial spirit is not confined to their men only, but it forms a rare feature in the character of their women, who, though prevented by their feminine nature from taking any active part in war, do not fail to encourage their men by every means in their power, and even make a solemn covenant with their husbands that they return not from the battle-field without rich spoils and splendid trophies. He further asks the king to always bear in mind the superior position that his tribe has long enjoyed over other tribes, and to take the greatest care not to put it on an equal footing with its rival tribe of Bakr.

This poem is a noble relic of ancient chivalrous poetry that breathes all through of martial independence and haughty indignation at the king’s unjust encroachment on the liberty of his tribe, and at his shewing an undue predilection for the rival tribe of Bakr. The language is accordingly high-toned, majestic, ennobled, very impressive, and keeping pace