Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

200

Appendix 2

Onorganizingthework

ofslavesandnotletting

themcrowdtogether

whileserving

Slaveswhostandinattendanceare

apt

tocrowdtogether,

sothat

itis

constantlynecessary

tohurlabuse

at

them;

andwhen

they

promptly

disperse [toperform

atask],

theyjust

as

promptly

come

back

[in

acrowd].Butwhenordersare

given

indecisive

termsand

they

aretoldonceor

twicehow

they

aretobehave,

then

they

willactaccordingly

andtherewillbenoneedforthis

inconvenience.Alternatively,[pages

shouldbeemployedand]

clear

ordersshouldbe

given

how

many

water-bearers,

arms-

bearers,wine-bearers,robe-bearers

andthelikeshould

report

for

dutyevery day,

and

how

many

ofthose

pages

who have

reached

therankofamir-chamberlainand

great

amir

should

attend;

then

everydaythey

willcomeforservicefrom

eachtent

by

turnsinthe

required

numbers;likewise

withthe

private

[ser-

vantsofthe

king],

sothat

thereisno

crowding.

Moreoverinall

formertimes,

fromthe

day they

were

bought

untiltheir

ad-

vancementin

years

and

promotion

[to

high

office]pages

have

been

efficientlyorganized

astotheireducation

and

grading,

but

in these

days irregularities

have come

intothe

system.

Your

humbleservantwill

mentionalittleofwhatisneededtofulfilthe

purpose

ofthebook,inthe

hope

thatitmeetswiththeapproval

ofTheSublimeIntellect.

Concerning

the

training

of

pages

of

the

palace.

Thisisthesystem

whichwasstillinforceinthetimeoftheSamanids.Pages

were

givengradual

advancementinrankaccording

totheir

length

of

serviceand

general

merit.Thusaftera

page

was

bought,

forone

year

hewascommandedtoserveonfootatarider’sstirrup,

wearing

a

Zandaniji

cloakandboots;andthis

page

wasnotal-

lowed

during

hisfirst

year

to

rideahorsein

private

orin

public,

andifitwasfound

out

[that

hehadridden]hewas

punished.

When

hehaddoneone

year’s

servicewithboots,thetent-leader

spoke

tothechamberlainandhe

informedthe

king;

then

they

gave

himasmallTurkishhorse,

withasaddlecoveredinun-

tannedleather

andabridleof

plain

leather

strap.

Afterserving

for

a

year

withahorseand

whip,

inhisthirdyear

hewas

given

a

beltto

gird

onhiswaist. Inthefourthyeartheygave

hima