THE CITY OF ROSES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1296, 27 November 1911, Page 9

THE CITY OF ROSES.

Shiraz, to which a Brilisb. force is fo bo dispatched, is one of- (he .most famous cities in Persia (says a .writer'-in the Mnnchesler Guardian'-' of October 11). 1 oets have vied with-'each other in singing the. praises of ifs.bcautv.' Thcv have succeeded iii'surrounding it with a halo of romance; and even if Lord Curzon's opinion (hat its glories aro due to..the lact Hint; "every local goose is a swan" is correct,'.it still-remains true that to tho Persians Shiraz is "the"citv"of roses and nightingales" "the citv of" poets," "the city of wine," ajid "the cily of fair women." It .may justly claim to bo the lersian centre of learning and culture, and it is the proud boast: of its inhabitants that "'when:Shira« was Shiraz. Cairo was one of its suburbs." Two of Persia's most famous poets, Sadi and Hafiz, were born and.died within its walls; and this is perhaps its chief interest to Englishmen, for, although neither of them has ever enjoyed the vogue of Omar Khayyam, their w v orks aro fairlv well thowii, especially- Sacli's-"Gulistan," which has found many admirers here.

One of the remarkable features of Persian life is tho popularity of these I 'two authors among all classes. Mr. E. Cfawshay Williams, in his "Across Persia/" says:—''These poems of philosophy aufL imagination, of nature and man, are still on the lips of the Persian nation, and the-frequenters of little lea-taverns arid out-of-the-way villages will he surprised to-hear from some uncouth-looking barbarian from one of his national poets. It is ns though in the slums of London or the by-ways- of a Midland county the loafers and labourers were to bo found quoting Shakespeare." The tombs of the two poets are sacred shrines to the Persians, and if in the military operations they should he. damaged or destroved there will bo an outburst of indignation through tho whole country.