thousand concubines, and he built eight palaces.
It was also said that his slaves reached eighteen thousand, and he was a man of such overpowering might that, once angered, he cared not whom he killed (1).

Isḥāq al-Mawṣilī relates: I entered upon him while a female singer was performing, and he asked, “What do you think?”
I replied, “She subdues the melody with gentleness, guides it with gentleness, and moves from one passage to another still finer. Her voice carries a plaintive sweetness, with ornaments more beautiful than pearls upon bosoms.”
He said, “Your description of her is better—take her for yourself.”
I declined, knowing how dear she was to him, so he gave me her full price instead (2).

It is reported that when he prepared to march against Amorium, the astrologers claimed that his ascendant was ill-omened and that he would be defeated. Yet he emerged victorious, whereupon Abū Tammām composed his celebrated ode (3):

The sword tells news truer than the written page;
along its edge lies the line between earnestness and play (4).
True knowledge flashes in the meteors of lance-heads,
blazing between two armies of five, not in the seven wandering stars.