Note 172 — A NARRATIVE OF ITALIAN TRAVELS IN PERSIA.

It was by no means the case that at that time the Persian monarchs had no poets or historians to celebrate their deeds, as the Augustan age, so to speak, of Persian literature was just then coming to a close, the two last of the great poets, Jami and Hatifi, flourishing at the Court of Abou-said and his successor Hoossein Meerza, the enlightened descendants of Timour. Hatifi died in 1522; his great poem was written to commemorate the victory of Ismael Shah over the Usbegs at Merv in 1514. The two famous historians, Mirkhond and Khondemir, also flourished at this time.