Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Tebeddül olmag-ıçun oldı 'âlem
Tebeddül soñı bâkî oldı âdem
Cihânda 'ârifân yurt tutmamışdur
Benüm dimeg-ile kuruldı nizâm
Nizâm ki gaflete ma'den-i hâsdur
Olupdur ma'den-i akluña erkām
Bu gaflet tedbîrinden geçmedüñ sen
'Âşıkî hâlüñ-ile yöri epsem
In English
1. The world came to be in order to change; at the end of change, what remained lasting was man.
2. The wise have not taken up a homeland in the world; order was founded by saying "mine".
3. Order, which is a special mine of heedlessness, has become the pillars of the mine of your reason.
4. You have not given up this scheming of heedlessness; Âşıkî, walk silently as you are.
Literary and Historical Commentary
From Amasya to Samsun
The region of Amasya comes directly onto the stage in the seventy-fifth chapter. The author begins: "While Murad Han, son of Sultan Mehmed, was in Amasya, the infidels set fire to Infidel Samsun." That is, of the two Samsuns on the coast, the "Infidel Samsun" held by the Genoese was burned and abandoned by its inhabitants. The news reaches Prince Murad in Amasya; Murad sends Baçaroğlu Hamza Beg, governor-general of Rum, and Infidel Samsun is occupied. Word goes to Mehmed Çelebi: "Take and hold Infidel Samsun, and taking Muslim Samsun has become easy." Mehmed sets out, "came up to Marzuvan", that is to Merzifon, and from there descends on Samsun. In Muslim Samsun is İsfendiyar's son Hızır Beg, who surrenders the castle without a fight. When Hamza Beg asks him why, Hızır Beg says: "The livelihood of our town depended on this infidel town"; with the infidel town ruined and in Ottoman hands, there was no ease left for them. Then he makes his famous comparison: "Our friendship with you is like the neighbourliness of the duck and the goose." Mehmed offers him a timar, but Hızır Beg does not want to stay in the same place as his brother Kasım and goes to his father.
A Poem of Change
The first word of the first line is "tebeddül", change; a town changing hands thus becomes a reflection on change. The world was made to change; at the end of change what lasts is man. The second couplet separates the wise from the people of the world: the wise take up no homeland in the world, while order is founded by saying "mine". The sense of the third couplet is obscure; it says that order is the mine of heedlessness and that reason too has turned into the pillars of this mine. With the fourth couplet the words turn on the author himself: you too, Âşıkî, have not escaped this scheming of heedlessness; walk silently as you are. Prince Murad's governorship of Amasya, that is the later Murad II, appears plainly in this chapter. For the place of Amasya in this period and Murad's connection with Amasya see the pages Murad II and Çelebi Mehmed.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 425 (transliterated text, bâb 75).
