69-70.) Plautus speaks of such
patterns in carpets, the produce of Alexandria - "Alexandrina belluata
conchyliata tapetia." Athenaeus speaks
Of Persian carpets of like
description at an extravagant entertainment given by Antiochus Epiphanes;
and the same author cites a banquet given in Persia by Alexander, at which
there figured costly curtains embroidered with animals. In the 4th century
Asterius, Bishop of Amasia in Pontus, rebukes the Christians who indulge
in such attire: "You find upon them lions, panthers, bears, huntsmen,
woods, and rocks; whilst the more devout display Christ and His disciples,
with the stories of His miracles," etc. And Sidonius alludes to upholstery
of like character:
"Peregrina det supellex
* * *
Ubi torvus, et per artem
Resupina flexus ora,
It equo reditque telo
Simulacra bestiarum
Fugiens fugansque Parthus." (Epist. ix. 13.)
A modern Kashmir example of such work is shown under ch. xvii.
(D'Avezac, p. 524; Pegolotti, in Cathay, 295, 306; I. B. II. 309,
388, 422; III. 81; Della Decima, IV. 125-126; Fr.-Michel, Recherches,
etc., II. 10-16, 204-206; Joseph. Bell. Jud. VII. 5, 5, and V. 5, 4;
Pliny, VIII. 74 (or 48); Plautus, Pseudolus, I. 2; Yonge's
Athenaeus, V. 26 and XII. 54; Mongez in Mem. Acad. IV. 275-276.)
NOTE 5. - [Bretschneider (Med. Res. I. p. 114) says: "Hulagu left
Karakorum, the residence of his brother, on the 2nd May, 1253, and
returned to his ordo, in order to organize his army. On the 19th October
of the same year, all being ready, he started for the west." He arrived at
Samarkand in September, 1255. For this chapter and the following of Polo,
see: Hulagu's Expedition to Western Asia, after the Mohammedan Authors,
pp. 112-122, and the Translation of the Si Shi Ki (Ch'ang Te), pp.
122-156, in Bretschneider's Mediaeval Researches, I. - H. C.]
NOTE 6. - ["Hulagu proceeded to the lake of Ormia (Urmia), when he
ordered a castle to be built on the island of Tala, in the middle of the
lake, for the purpose of depositing here the immense treasures captured at
Baghdad. A great part of the booty, however, had been sent to Mangu Khan."
(Hulagu's Exp., Bretschneider, Med. Res. I. p. 120.) Ch'ang Te says
(Si Shi Ki, p. 139): "The palace of the Ha-li-fa was built of fragrant
and precious woods. The walls of it were constructed of black and white
jade. It is impossible to imagine the quantity of gold and precious stones
found there." - H. C.]
NOTE 7. -
"I said to the Kalif: 'Thou art old,
Thou hast no need of so much gold.
Thou shouldst not have heaped and hidden it here,
Till the breath of Battle was hot and near,
But have sown through the land these useless hoards
To spring into shining blades of swords,
And keep thine honour sweet and clear.
* * * * *
Then into his dungeon I locked the drone,
And left him to feed there all alone
In the honey-cells of his golden hive:
Never a prayer, nor a cry, nor a groan
Was heard from those massive walls of stone,
Nor again was the Kalif seen alive.'
This is the story, strange and true,
That the great Captain Alau
Told to his brother, the Tartar Khan,
When he rode that day into Cambalu.
By the road that leadeth to Ispahan." (Longfellow.)[1]
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