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REMARKS ON A PERSIAN LEGEND IN ATHENÆUS.

late number of the Gentleazine, I gave some remarks ge in the "Various History" which appeared to throw esting light on a part of the e literature of Persia, as prein the national epic, or ShahIn this long poem, as I there preserved, as in a mausoleum, e nation knows of its ancient and, though many circumhave conspired to corrupt the f these traditions, and the of time and barbarism, as well onal vanity, have mutilated ed many of their original is, we may still continually e of the ancient features, and ly restore them. The Greek ve left us so much valuable on to assist us in our labours, task of partially separating from the mass of fiction, is considerably easier; and if y of Ctesias, had been pretead of its meagre epitome , perhaps we might have all the truth which the h preserves in its stories. t of this, however, it is inlay hold of all the means er, and the following exAthenæus is one which, Las hitherto never been obably most of the Shahnds might be identified in a similar manner, if us more of the Greek ia.

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nth book of his "Deip-
enaus relates the fol-
n the twelfth book of
ne's history of Alex-

- the younger brother of
both were fair; and the

the people was that
of Venus and Adonis.
over Media, and the
and Zariadres over the
Caspian gates as far as
Omartes, the king of
The beyond the Tauais,

med Odatis, and the Le once saw Zariadres ll in love with him; also happened unto Le time they continued OL. XXVIII.

thus, deeply loving each other from the image in the dream. Now Odatis was the fairest of all the women in Asia, and Zariadres too was fair; but on his asking her in marriage of her father, Omartes would not consent, as he had no other child but this one daughter, and he wished to marry her to some one of his own people, that she might be ever near him. And not long afterwards, Omartes summoned all the noblemen of his kingdom, and all his friends and relations, and made a marriage feast, but he told no one who it was that was to marry his daughter. And at length when the feast was at its height, he called Odatis into the hall, and said to her in the hearing of all the guests, O my daughter Odatis, we are making thy marriage feast; look round therefore on the guests and view them all, and take a golden cup and fill it, and give it to him whom thou wilt choose as thy husband; for his wife shalt thou be.' And she then, looking round upon all, walked slowly away, longing to see her Zariadres. For she had previously sent a message to him, how that her marriage was about to be solemnized. And he

now

happened at the time to be encamped by the Tanais, and immediately on hearing it, he left the army secretly, and set out with his charioteer; and after driving hard over more than 800 stadia, he reached the city by night; and on drawing near to the place where the revel was held, he left his attendant with the chariot hard by, and marched boldly in, having put on a Scythian dress. And on his entering the hall, he beheld Odatis standing by the cup-board (Toυ Kvλikeìov), and weeping bitterly, as she slowly filled the cup; and standing close by her, he said in a low voice, O Odatis, I am come as thou badest,-I, thy Zariadres.' And she, turning round and beholding the fair stranger,

so like him whom she had seen in her dream, joyfully put the cup into his hand, and he, seizing her in his arms, bore her And the away to his chariot, and fled.

servants and handmaidens, who knew of their love, stood silent, and when the father ordered them to speak, they said that they knew not whither she was gone. And this their love is known amongst all the dwellers in Asia, and greatly indeed do they prize it, and they sculpture it on their temples and palaces, aye and even in their own private houses; and many of the nobles call their daughters Odatis, after her."

It would have been sad, if a legend so universally known as Chares states

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Inscription in the Chapel at Alverna.

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INSCRIPTION IN THE CHAPEL AT ALVERNA.

MR. URBAN,

(With a Plate.)

IN your Magazine for Oct. 1835 is engraved a sepulchral inscription, now preserved at Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire, but removed from Monkton Farley, in the same county, which is very remarkable for the manner in which it is abbreviated by many letters being inclosed within others. Its date was assigned to about the year 1185; and other English inscriptions of the same kind are there referred to.

In the Archæologia, vol. xxix. p. 369, has also been published the inscription at Mayence to the memory of Fastrada,

wife of the emperor Charlemagne, who died in the year 794, which is arranged in a similar manner.

On visiting the chapel of the Stigmata at Alverna, in the Casentino,Nel crudo Sasso intra Tevere ed Arno Da Cristo prese l'ultimo sigillo, Che le sue membra du' anni portarno.

Dante, Paradiso, xi. 106-108. I noticed an inscription of a similar character, the inclosed copy of which (see the Plate) will perhaps be interesting to your readers.

It may be read as follows:

Anno Domini MCCLXIIII. Feriâ Quintâ post Festum
Assumptionis gloriose Virginis Marie Comes

Simon Filius illustris viri comitis Guidonis

Dei Gratia in Tuscia Palatini fecit fundari istud Oratorium ad hono

rem beati Francisci . . . . . . cui in loco isto Seraph apparuit

sub anno Domini MCCXXV. infra octavam

Nativitatis ejusdem Virginis et cori ejus impressit

Stigmata Jesu Christi; consignet eum gratia Spiritus Sancti.

(It will be observed that the mark of contraction over the word NATIVITATIS is redundant, and an evident mistake of the sculptor.)

I need scarcely add that the Conti Guidi here referred to are the famous Counts of the Casentino so frequently mentioned in the medieval history of this part of Italy, and whose palaces of Poppi, Romena, and Battifolle,

derive additional interest from their association with the names of Dante and Petrarch.

Your readers will recollect in Dante (Inferno, xvi. 34),—

Questi, l'orme di cui pestar mi vedi,
Tutto che nudo e dipelato vada,
Fu di grado maggior, che tu non credi;
Nepote fu della buona Gualdrada;

Guidoguerra ebbe nome, ed in sua vita
Fece col senno assai, e con la spada.

Our Simone was a first cousin of this Guidoguerra (third of that name),

their common grandmother having been "la Buona Gualdrada.”

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Inscriptions remind me of epitaphs, and epitaphs of a curious specimen of the dialect of Cento, the birth-place of Guercino; it is on one side of the principal entrance to the church of the Madonna del Rosario in that city,

and the explanation subjoined was given to me on the spot. I made no note of the apparent age of the memorial, but believe it to be from 20 to 50 years old.

Uomn e don anca vu Jus
Areurdeu ch' a son in stbus
E za ch' a passa a' per d' qui
Dsì una requiem anc per mi
Dsì mal ben en' val scurda
Ch' a v'al dmand in carità
Ferdinandus Baruffaldi
Sacerdos V.P.

Uomini, e donne, anche voi ragazzi,
Ricordatevi ch' io sono in questo sepolcro ;
E già che passate per da qui,

Dite una requiem anche per me

Dite me la bene e non vi ne scordate,

Perchè vi la dimando per carità.

Ferdinandus Baruffaldus
Sacerdos Vivens posuit.

Yours, &c.

F. C. B.

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I BEG to request the attention of your antiquarian readers to an object of curiosity, the original purpose of which I have hitherto been unable to ascertain. It is a piece of copper, of the same size as represented in the Plate, and of the thickness of a halfcrown. The figures upon it are raised in relief by deep engraving; there are apparently slight remains of gilding in the lines of that side which contains the monogram of Jhesus; and there are evidently portions of a purple enamel or pigment on the other side between the legs of the eagle of St. John. The inscription Ton below the eagle is, I presume, in the English language.

From the circumstance of both designs being religious, it may be supposed to have belonged to some ecclesiastical person or corporation, and I have imagined it might have been made as the warrant with which a steward or purveyor went to market, where his master or his convent pos

sessed the privilege of pre-emption. I have not, however, any evidence to give in support of this conjecture; and shall be thankful for reference to any other relics of similar character that would throw light on the subject.

The little shields of metal, somewhat smaller than this roundel, which have been noticed and figured in the Archæological Journal, vol. iii. p. 79, have been pronounced to be ornaments of horse-furniture. They differ from the present object in possessing rings for suspension, whilst this must have been always carried in the hand or the pouch. I am unacquainted with its history, further than that I purchased it with some matrices of seals at the sale in London of the antiquities collected by the late Dean of St. Patrick's, and he had marked it with the number 178. If the MS. catalogue of his collection is preserved, it may possibly contain some memorandum relating to this article.

Yours, &c. J. G. N.

on a

REMARKS ON A PERSIAN LEGEND IN ATHENÆUS.

IN a late number of the Gentleman's Magazine, I gave some remarks in the "Various History" passage of Elian, which appeared to throw an interesting light on a part of the romantic literature of Persia, as preserved in the national epic, or Shahnameh. In this long poem, as I there stated, is preserved, as in a mausoleum, all that the nation knows of its ancient history; and, though many circumstances have conspired to corrupt the purity of these traditions, and the ravages of time and barbarism, as well as national vanity, have mutilated and effaced many of their original lincaments, we may still continually trace some of the ancient features, and even partly restore them. The Greek writers have left us so much valuable information to assist us in our labours, that the task of partially separating the truth from the mass of fiction, is rendered considerably easier; and if the history of Ctesias, had been preserved, instead of its meagre epitome in Photius, perhaps we might have recovered all the truth which the Shahnameh preserves in its stories. In the want of this, however, it is interesting to lay hold of all the means in our power, and the following extract from Athenæus is one which, I believe, has hitherto never been noticed. Probably most of the Shahnameh's legends might be identified and proved, in a similar manner, if time had spared us more of the Greek authors on Persia.

In the thirteenth book of his "Deipnosophists," Athenæus relates the following story from the twelfth book of Chares of Mitylene's history of Alex

ander.

"Zariadres was the younger brother of Hystaspes, and both were fair; and the tradition amongst the people was that they were born of Venus and Adonis. Hystaspes ruled over Media, and the country below it; and Zariadres over the country above the Caspian gates as far as the Tanais. Now Omartes, the king of the Marathi, a tribe beyond the Tanais, had a daughter named Odatis, and the legend runs, that she once saw Zariadres in a dream, and fell in love with him ; and the same thing also happened unto him. And for some time they continued GENT. MAG. VOL. XXVIII.

thus, deeply loving each other from the image in the dream. Now Odatis was the fairest of all the women in Asia, and Zariadres too was fair; but on his asking her in marriage of her father, Omartes would not consent, as he had no other child but this one daughter, and he wished to marry her to some one of his own people, that she might be ever near him. And not long afterwards, Omartes summoned all the noblemen of his kingdom, and all his friends and relations, and made a marriage feast, but he told no one who it was that was to marry his daughter. And at length when the feast was at its height, he called Odatis into the hall, and said to her in the hearing of all the guests, O my daughter Odatis, we are now making thy marriage feast; look round therefore on the guests and view them all, and take a golden cup and fill it, and give it to him whom thou wilt choose as thy husband; for his wife shalt thou be.' And she then, looking round upon all, walked slowly away, longing to see her Zariadres. For she had previously sent a message to him, how that her marriage was about to be solemnized. And he

happened at the time to be encamped by

the Tanais, and immediately on hearing it, he left the army secretly, and set out with his charioteer; and after driving hard over more than 800 stadia, he reached the city by night; and on drawing near to the place where the revel was held, he left his attendant with the chariot hard by, and marched boldly in, having put on a Scythian dress. And on his entering the hall, he beheld Odatis standing by the cup-board (70υ kvλikeìov), and weeping bitterly, as she slowly filled the cup; and standing close by her, he said in a low

voice, O Odatis, I am come as thou badest,-I, thy Zariadres.' And she, turning round and beholding the fair stranger,

so like him whom she had seen in her dream, joyfully put the cup into his hand, and he, seizing her in his arms, bore her away to his chariot, and fled. And the servants and handmaidens, who knew of their love, stood silent, and when the father ordered them to speak, they said that they knew not whither she was gone. And this their love is known amongst all the dwellers in Asia, and greatly indeed do they prize it, and they sculpture it on their temples and palaces, aye and even in their own private houses; and many of the nobles call their daughters Odatis, after her."

It would have been sad, if a legend so universally known as Chares states E

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