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The Zincali-Part39_George Borrow(1803-1881)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Greek at Zaragossa, where he gave lectures, in which he explained

the verses of Homer; he was a proficient in Greek, ancient and



modern, and it should be observed that, in the passage which we are

about to cite, he means himself by the learned individual who held



conversation with the Gitanos. (66) EL ESTUDIOSO CORTESANO was

reprinted at Alcala in 1587, from which edition we now copy.



'Who are the Gitanos? I answer; these vile people first began to

show themselves in Germany, in the year 1417, where they call them



Tartars or Gentiles; in Italy they are termed Ciani. They pretend

that they come from Lower Egypt, and that they wander about as a



penance, and to prove this, they show letters from the king of

Poland. They lie, however, for they do not lead the life of



penitents, but of dogs and thieves. A learned person, in the year

1540, prevailed with them, by dint of much persuasion, to show him



the king's letter, and he gathered from it that the time of their

penance was already expired; he spoke to them in the Egyptian



tongue; they said, however, as it was a long time since their

departure from Egypt, they did not understand it; he then spoke to



them in the vulgar Greek, such as is used at present in the Morea

and Archipelago; SOME UNDERSTOOD IT, others did not; so that as all



did not understand it, we may conclude that the language which they

use is a feigned one, (67) got up by thieves for the purpose of



concealing their robberies, like the jargon of blind beggars.'

Still more abundant, however, than the mixture of Greek, still more



abundant than the mixture of Sclavonian, is the alloy in the Gypsy

language, whereverspoken, of modern Persian words, which



circumstance will compel us to offer a few remarks on the share

which the Persian has had in the formation of the dialects of



India, as at present spoken.

The modern Persian, as has been already observed, is a daughter of



the ancient Zend, and, as such, is entitled to claim affinity with

the Sanscrit, and its dialects. With this language none in the



world would be able to vie in simplicity and beauty, had not the

Persians, in adopting the religion of Mahomet, unfortunately



introduces into their speech an infinity of words of the rude

coarse language used by the barbaric Arab tribes, the immediate



followers of the warlike Prophet. With the rise of Islam the

modern Persian was doomed to be carried into India. This country,



from the time of Alexander, had enjoyed repose from external

aggression, had been ruled by its native princes, and been



permitted by Providence to exercise, without control or reproof,

the degrading superstitions, and the unnatural and bloody rites of



a religion at the formation of which the fiends of cruelty and lust

seem to have presided; but reckoning was now about to be demanded



of the accursed ministers of this system for the pain, torture, and

misery which they had been instrumental in inflicting on their



countrymen for the gratification of their avarice, filthy passions,

and pride; the new Mahometans were at hand - Arab, Persian, and



Afghan, with the glittering scimitar upraised, full of zeal for the

glory and adoration of the one high God, and the relentless



persecutors of the idol-worshippers. Already, in the four hundred

and twenty-sixth year of the Hegeira, we read of the destruction of



the great Butkhan, or image-house of Sumnaut, by the armies of the

far-conquering Mahmoud, when the dissevered heads of the Brahmans



rolled down the steps of the gigantic and Babel-like temple of the

great image -



[Text which cannot be reproduced - Arabic?]

(This image grim, whose name was Laut,



Bold Mahmoud found when he took Sumnaut.)

It is not our intention to follow the conquests of the Mahometans



from the days of Walid and Mahmoud to those of Timour and Nadir;

sufficient to observe, that the greatest part of India was subdued,



new monarchies established, and the old religion, though far too

powerful and widely spread to be extirpated, was to a considerable






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