Photo: Maarten from Netherlands, CC BY 2.0

Manzume 164 — Çerinüñ serveri kim 'âkil olmaz

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

Three couplets on the witless commander, in the chapter where Murad Paşa, governor of Rumelia, ignores Mahmud Paşa, crosses the Euphrates and vanishes, and many lords are taken.

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Çerinüñ serveri kim 'âkil olmaz
Ne kadar çok ola düşmâna turmaz

Aña kim 'akl u devlet yâr degüldür
Öñünde taglar olsa gözi görmez

Murâd Paşa belürsüz oldı gitdi
Hana bir kul dahı hîç eksük olmaz

In English

1. If the head of the army is not wise, however numerous (the army) is, it cannot stand against the enemy.

2. He to whom reason and fortune are not friends, his eye does not see though mountains stand before him.

3. Murad Paşa vanished and was gone; the khan never lacks for another slave.

Literary and Historical Commentary

On the Bank of the Euphrates

The first disaster of the campaign against Uzun Hasan comes, in the hundred and forty-ninth chapter, on the bank of the Euphrates. Mihaloğlu Ali Beg raids Kemah; the army advances towards Sivas, Akşehir, Karahisar, Erzincan and Tercan. On the bank of the Euphrates Mahmud Paşa warns Murad Paşa, governor-general of Rumelia: "Ho, Murad Beg, come, let us not cross the water, let us not be caught off guard. Let us not give ourselves up to the enemy with our eyes open." Murad does not heed this: "Mihaloğlu Ali Beg has gone ahead; why then should we stand still?" Mahmud Paşa tells him that against the enemy reason and counsel are needed, and that he has not yet even seen the enemy; but Murad shuts his eyes and crosses the Euphrates. Mahmud Paşa waits patiently. A little later Ali Beg is seen coming at a run; the enemy has men in ambush. Mahmud Paşa and Ali Beg fall back to the camp; the enemy surrounds Murad Paşa and he "vanishes". Turahan Beg's son Ömer Beg, Hacı Beg and Fenârîoğlu Ahmed Paşa are taken; the subaşıs are sent to Bayburt and the three lords are held at the enemy's side.

Reason and Fortune

The lesson of the rout is plain. If the head of the army is not wise, however numerous the army, it cannot stand against the enemy. The second couplet says that one to whom reason and fortune are not friends cannot see even the mountains before him; this alludes to Murad Paşa shutting his eyes and crossing the water. The last couplet ends with cold realism: Murad Paşa has vanished and is gone, but the khan never lacks for another slave. This last line may also be read as a reflection of the work's view of slave-born servants of the state: in place of one paşa another can at once be set. The portrayal of Mahmud Paşa in this chapter as a wise and patient commander shows once more the respect the work holds for him. Olmaz, turmaz and görmez, all negative verbs, follow one another at the line-ends.