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 THE ASTRONOMER,-POET OF PERSIA 
 
 ~ TEMPERED INTO ENGLISH VEUSE BY 
 
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 \A/hei'« rtA^iT£)'|ANt> or 
 
 olitTu.de retires 
 
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 £ut still aj^aly^usfie* |yonv rteV 
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 ^jUfsallew cUfc of ker's fecar^dl 
 
 IoseS on Hip 
 
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cmd uv ikef Ire o fSjorlnj 
 ^u.rV/Ivrerjurmfnh ofR^eitlVmce flmjf: 
 
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 \v&effar tfieC/wJ? witfi sweet*or kilter mix, 
 
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 Tiff* Leaves of Lift keef f*l% ^y on «‘. 
 
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 ^\ndf/*Ii pnst"S un tmer month that bring 
 
 Su take Jftmskyd and t^ak.o(jad on 
 
 lo 
 
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 Raikob^d rf>e* C»i‘e<tl/or Rukjio 
 
 jLefv2dl thunder as ffi 
 
 ^^rWftiiiacftU loSu^ee-heednot 
 
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_s om« for ifie ones c>f ^ln s\/Vorl<{j ani 
 
 ^^ «^(a.|Q>*lf\eJ^o|jket' , S^j^.racl.ise lo come 
 y/\fi, hxke ifxe^aslx, and lei: rfie(jed 
 ^^\|or 4eed tile ruw\>lf of «. dis^i-D 
 
 j ^)olc lo Hip blowm<j"J^ose about" us—j_c 
 
 j^au-tjfvi vlc) j sfie says, ivtfo lAe wor l< 
 
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 Lo filing U~lo We wm.c(s in 
 
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 XA/tasrTortals art alWivalV JVfjtl' a rul iXly, 
 
 H ow Suit&n aflW S«.lt an w» rfi 
 
 /\\>o d« A»%<d«shWcl ^'loucra^^J.f»»* w«y. 
 
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 llxey setylde i->on n.v>dff\* J^arcl k*r)»^ 
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 j^r some wt* loved.} ffif love It esl* fm.fl tfie Lesl” 
 TUf 1*0 m /li^/nxlft j g rollov g j^c fias> st'j 
 
 jHave drunk rtinrfu^a^uUorrv-obefare, 
 jf\nc\. one by one ci*eJ>l”SilfeivKy lo »*ost“. 
 
 ^td we, iWnowmalJ meri^ <n lfiiff^>o>n 
 ^jky Ut-^anil^ainmev' dresses mw (doom, 
 Qiu-setveswslrwe be«e<dk ^(ouck offar A 
 ^Qesccntl-ourselves loit»ak« a^oucfi-jor w/»om? 
 
 A^make |fi<-mosto|*wkal'vye^e('mny S^endj 
 3 «f° re we lob mlo tfif)u.sl" descend^ 
 f) uS f Inl'oJWv an<t U.sl*, lo ) U, 
 
 ^<ms\A/ue j sans^oxg, Sa-n^ my er, and—Sansfnd f 
 
 ss^pggEgs5g£S 11 .. " ■■ 
 
rtwpwli«)|or ^o-BAy jorpfxire, 
 
 ■\ ifuii’Clffetr SOYnf ^O-A\0«ROW $!«,»-«, 
 
 [ A/V«SV* |-rr)m t^g |owi>roj^<u-knpS5 c-nfS^ 
 
 I S }^ols!j^oarJ^ ward is n«»ifi\erJ“l {> '* 1?T ' or 
 
 \/V^y, all ^f^a-infs awl^a^es wf*o clt'scusiU 
 rfie ^woWorlcU SoUftlrft.tdly arc tftru.it 
 
 j^',ke fo«i;s(ipro|J.^ 5 ^ • ri', e ,rVy>,,-.-t i Is^yoi’ifx 
 
 y^\n> lit !r^\oujf\! •» 'Jopw!^J)ush 
 
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 self vdxenyoimcj clid e&ej «dy 
 J^octar AMd^a^rmd. flPnrAjreal'^rjumPnt 
 
 y\bout 'd-crncL about**t>ui" evermore 
 
 (Ai,rv«i avd" by l{»p seme door wfiere on- J w<rrj\ 
 
 NA/fL f^nvtfie seed oj-\A/lsio«U*d] sow ; 
 
 y^\r»d udlfimy owvuf»<Mtd'A*Voa<J^-Ho wiki* ih^fow 
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 Of metal may bv^ileela Jf^ey, 
 
 Jlluf sf, all unlock fbtj^oor fie liowis v*itf)ftui\ 
 
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 littfe folk f(&' 4 i!!<' o( M« 
 
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 ) h<o?d,the oecrefcef hi earn: 
 
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 ion. ojvSN*e»*H » oncff 
 
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 •'/“lORROW^OU. 
 

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 \AXrH* 'no{*f^f»«we-w<?»''('rtolj^^)vrtme Jt>rf\im 
 
 tin's clay carcase Grilled lo abide? 
 
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 [JT U^~ \4i*»r*> takes fm one-Hoys zest 
 \^>ultan lo tfic* realm. o^X^A-rfi Adttrf-st; 
 ^ke Rattan rises, and Iftf dark]*erras(i 
 >h*tkes > And J»rpJ»nres ll'j^ar anotherCjaest. 
 

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 fect-v not Ustfca sletue clo sing your 
 
 artel vn.<ixe,sftou.lcl knowfU It ke rtoiuorej 
 
 'jlt^terna^akC tH a(J)OwI Us j>our»<L 
 
 /v^iUom dfj^ubbles like us, ovul will Jsour. 
 
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 ku£"H\e [rmjy ioi^q | w A.ile sUll la-sbj 
 
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 is rfi£^Ev 3 N^cAS *Uuld fieeel a-kcbUe-cast. 
 
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 j~^\/V\onxo\x.t > %J~-{a-\t —awom*»-d<ary Ihsle 
 ( 2 }f 3 £,Ne: f 11 ' 0 ” 1 rfieWell aw! *1 lk<*Y\Aste — 
 
 —fke fjfui.nlOh\^u-ec\*an.Us reach’d 
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 /\lout ^HE^BCRtT- Cjuuk dnul-ctj-nencL ! 
 
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 secrel^ese^e^r^ft^UlWj vet*vs 
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 m f^e^d| 3 ens(vall-l;ul'H^ remans; 
 
 ^or^enb^u-ess’d-rfien Wk beUruLlheJolcl 
 .{‘ r: InttniPtst" o^P<irkness rotmd iRe^vama-rollM. 
 
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 y^nd. Up-and-down ly ^S3' e A de^ne 
 
 (S)f- o-ll fjicit’ftne skoalel care To |-<vrf><”n> ) 
 ^^/a.% v<ever drej? nv avCyffu^ej tud—W*ue.. 
 
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 s(imi«^ tfn-ouc/v liie^usk aw/V^el ^U|»e 
 
 '^^eaviVc) «^V4ssfl on fus ^fionlcler j en\ot 
 
 j“|e l>i'd me la^h of il‘j cin<i > l»jn.* —rfie Q-n)>« f 
 
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 j(k€ Jwo-ancl^evc»vf> jarriny^actt Confute. I 
 
 jlie Soverei^x^lcfi cmist rf»cl(*m «. fVice 
 fife's leetf(<?n v>veftil hyP© frcuvSvmcle. 
 
 

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 ^\/V^y Le itaisjuice ffipjjrowfii oj" Ciocl^fio dare 
 '^)lasf^en\e the IwisiecL tendril as a^^ nare , 
 y\felessinj,^e should, use ltj should *e not? 
 
 y\ncl if- (CC ^urse — ^j^y } Kumi^aIio set"• l~[f)ere ? 
 
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 j im^h abjure rt\eP>cdm °f mus-l", 
 
 ^jco-reci j>y soi^tf/\[f( J r-VPckon!n<) I*’** on Tnist^ 
 lu.recl wilfkj-^j* o^some^ivlnerj^rnik^ 
 ^0 j-ill lK«»(^u|i—wkeix criuvxb)eimfcTj[3tsH 
 
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 LIowk jor ever dies. 
 
 68 
 
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 "^^e^Ore us jjass’d rfie dUor 0 ^X)arkaess ffn-oujfi 
 /4 ov»e returns To tell us o| rfieJ^oacL^ 
 ii discover w<»tmisl- travel fro. 
 
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 Wo rose before icy"” 1 as~]?of>fids turn'd, 
 J\rt all W^rorJe^wtu^awoke ^ronx^jleejo 
 
 ^J[uy hold fte'.rpWs, And • 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 awswerM. “j/Ayself ttm. Jf-jeav\ \an 4 M>* 
 
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 cl j”Ull tfie^/iatlo v/ of a5oul oia pre, 
 
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 we are no omer i nan a. movnuj row 
 ^^[y^\agl c^ (>aclow-s flCijoes rfial’comf rmg{. (jo 
 ^onncl wilit rfn s^ un-tllumo^cijanferit field 
 
 fiyffae y|V\asl?r 
 
 72 
 
 ^ni^olentj ieces o| liie^ameJ—(e j>lays 
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 dfier am(.thllf 
 
 ifrivioves^ttndcheck^antl slays, 
 
 ^\-wel one j>y one Lack i'v *•0 035 I-lays. 
 
 ^Jie/Ballno question rnnkes opyA\yes one oes, 
 
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 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND NOTES. 
 
 The Quatrains as given in this volume differ slightly in order from that adopted by 
 Fitzgerald, but the entire ioi retained by him are here included. These notes are given 
 merely to suggest a few of the most obvious meanings, without the intention of limiting 
 the imagination of those who will gain more pleasure from trusting to their own inter¬ 
 pretations. 
 
 Cober. 
 
 The swirl which appears here, and is an ever-recurring feature in the work, represents 
 the gradual concentration of the elements that combine to form life ; the sudden 
 pause through the reverse of the movement which marks the instant of life, and then 
 the gradual, ever-widening dispersion again of these elements into space. 
 
 3 Umng paper* 
 
 The serpent, the vine in fruit, and the clinging plant in flower. 
 
 jfroittteptccf. 
 
 Omar, surrounded by his jovial companions, looks down on the ambitious warrior, the 
 miser, the student, the theologian, and delivers his admonition. 
 
 Cttle Page, 
 publisher’# sparfe. 
 
 SDebicatton. 
 
 #mar’0 (Emblem. 
 
 A bird singing on a skull, while the rose of yesterday is floating away on the stream. 
 
 %\)Z $toabeiung. Verses 1-3. 
 
 % be 2 Dfjougt)tful £>oul to ^olttttbe retires. Verses 4-6. 
 
 IO)e ifinbltation. Verses 7-10. 
 
 SDbe £>ong m ttje Mttoerness. Verses u, 12. 
 
 %\)Z BlotDmg Hose. Verses 13-16. 
 
 Xfyt Courts Of 31 amsbpt). Verses 17, 18. 
 
 %\ )t KtoerdUp. Verses 19-21. 
 
 %\)t llong Hest. Verses 22-24. 
 
 This figure, representing Being, descends to a still profounder rest than that of sleep, 
 as shown by the poppies falling from her hand. She is throwing aside the garment of 
 life, and the flame of her existence is flickering to its close. 
 
 CbfOlogp. Verses 25-28. 
 
 The saints and sages of old are dimly discerned, like dried forms caught in the spi¬ 
 ders’ webs and dust of Time. Their vain theories and prophecies are symbolized in 
 the circle of books each overthrowing its predecessor, with the grim skull as the centre. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND NOTES. 
 
 Wjrnce ant) Mf)ttf)n7 Verses 29, 30. 
 
 “ Into this Universe like Water, and out of it as Wind.” 
 
 %\)t Cup of Pc#patr. Verse 3 1. 
 
 2 Q)C Warn Pursuit. Verses 32, 33. 
 
 As in the case of the alchemist who endeavors to extract the secret of life from the 
 living plant, heedless the while of his own life, which is passing away like the smoke 
 from his furnace. 
 
 ®mar’# poro#copc. Verses 34-36. 
 
 Presented symbolically. The vine entwining Jupiter and the Pleiades, the stars un¬ 
 der whose ascendency we are told Omar was born. 1 With the poet’s tendency of 
 mind, one can easily see how he would compare favorably the absolute freedom and 
 sincerity of the search for truth within the Tavern with the stagnation and ultimate 
 petrifaction of thought within the Temple. 
 
 Attain Questioning. Verses 37-39. 
 
 Absorbed in the contemplation of the Universe, the soul of the philosopher rises 
 even to 
 
 %\)t SOjrorte of Saturn, 
 
 Grasping many truths by the way, but ever baffled by the master problem of human 
 fate. 
 
 %\)t ©oul of tf)e Cup. Verses 40-42. 
 
 Murmurs lip to lip and gazes into Omar’s eyes. 
 
 %\)e prabrnlp pottrr. Verses 43-45. 
 
 As Omar, in imagination, saw the potter forming the cup out of clay that once lived, 
 so the artist sees in the potter an angelic workman remoulding the clay into some 
 form which may hold a far better wine than that of the cup from which the poet 
 drank. 
 
 fflt)t Cup of JlofcC. Verses 46-48. 
 
 %\)t Cup Of Pfatt). Verse 49. 
 
 %\ )e butane. Verses 50, 51. 
 
 In the cripple is typified the vast majority of mankind who prefer (perhaps wisely) to 
 remain in this “clay carcase” with which they are familiar and more or less satisfied, 
 rather than to trust to the attenuated joys of unlimited space, whither the disem¬ 
 bodied spirit passes. 
 
 Pratt)’# Krbtrto. Verses 52-54. 
 
 The indignation on the faces of the great army of humanity is for the ignorance in 
 which they remain, during this brief span of conscious existence, of all that lies before 
 and after. 
 
 2 Dt)r 31 nrbttablr jfatr. Verses 55-58. 
 
 This figure of an all-devouring sphinx stretched over the remains of Creation typifies 
 the destructive side of Nature, which “Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi, they 
 change and perish all.” 
 
 2 Dt)r 315 tttrr Cup. 
 
 A pause to mark the change of tone in the poem. 
 
 Paugtjter of tljr flUmr. Verse 59. 
 
 2 Dt)r Ptborrr of Kra#on. Verses 60, 61. 
 
 Both pages are here included in the composition. • 
 
 1 If it is remembered that the constellation of the Pleiades was also called by the ancients “The Cluster ot Grapes,” 
 it may throw a little more light on the metaphor 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND NOTES . 
 
 %\)t 31 arrtns £>CCt 0 . Verses 62, 63. 
 
 Above is shown the Heaven-given wine (taken literally or typically), below the secta¬ 
 rianism which loses sight of the spirit in fierce disputes over the letter. 
 
 %\)C Splgljtp SpatjniUt). Verse 64. 
 
 Represented as Bacchus dispersing with the juice of the grape Physical Pain, Melan¬ 
 choly Madness, and Ambition, “The black horde that infest the soul.” 
 
 2 Df )t tiUmc* Verses 65, 66. 
 
 2 L\)t present listening to tlje cMoices of tf)e past. Verses 67-69. 
 
 K\ je foul’s Hnsiuer. Verses 70, 71. 
 
 i?ates gathering in tfje ^>tars. Verses 72-74. 
 
 The artist has here carried the idea of the poet a step further, and represented the 
 game as being played with the Universe instead of merely with man. Having laid 
 aside the instruments of human destiny, the Fates in illimitable nets now gather in the 
 Stars themselves. 
 
 Limitation. Verses 75, 76. 
 
 That of man’s faculties is symbolized by the Eagle chained to the rock ; and the irrev¬ 
 ocability of the laws of nature by the stars bound together and with their courses 
 rigidly defined through space. Opposite 
 
 %\)t becoming 0ngfl 
 
 Is shown, who with his attendants may well have ears bandaged to shut out the 
 agonized appeals of humanity lifting up its hands in hopeless supplication. 
 
 2 D!je Laot span. Verse 77. 
 
 Alone amid the remains of his race. Love dead at his feet, and the spirit of Evil 
 whispering hatred of “ this sorry scheme.” 
 
 Lobe shrinking affrtgt)trn at ttjc sight of S?eU. Verse 78. 
 
 %\)t SpagDalcn. Verses 79, 80. 
 
 3 ln tije Beginning. Verse 81. 
 
 Omar’s reasoning has carried him so far that he cannot believe he is a mere irrespon¬ 
 sible agent, nor can he persuade himself that he is entirely responsible. He therefore 
 concludes that he is both free and fated, and this conclusion leads to the 
 
 parDon gibing ano parDon ^Imploring Uanos 
 
 Filled with the tangled skein of human life. 
 
 31 n tl)C Potter’S J^otisr. Verses 8 2, 83. 
 
 %\)t tKngainlp Pot. Verses 84-86. 
 
 2 Dtje Loquacious Vessels. Verses 87-89. 
 
 SDtje €no of Hama^an. Verse 90. 
 
 Omar’S 2 Comb. Verse 91. 
 
 Spring. Verses 93-95. 
 
 It is useless and even pernicious, if one wishes to combat the seductiveness of the 
 pleasures of the senses, utterly to ignore them. They exist as much as man’s other 
 faculties, and have their proper uses and place. Examine and dissect them, and one 
 will be enabled to give them their proper weight. This is the aim of the poet against an 
 overwhelming pressure in the other direction leading only to hypocrisy, a thing which 
 Omar most of all detests, 
 foutb atlD $gC. Verse 96. 
 
 %\)C S>orrp £>ct)cmc. Verses 97-99. 
 
 Looking around and seeing such, creatures as the buzzard, which only preys on the 
 helpless or already wounded creatures, and beholding everywhere life secured by 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND NOTES. 
 
 another’s death, Love flies to the heart of Man, where alone in Nature it finds a 
 refuge. 
 
 31 n Qjkmortam. Verses IOO, IOI. 
 
 The sigh of all. Omar, with his feeble hope of a future, but calmly contemplating 
 inexorable death, still longs for a continuance of existence, if only in the hearts of 
 his companions. 
 
 Artist’s Signature* 
 
 If an explanation of this be required, why may it not, in its high and low notes, repre¬ 
 sent the light and shade in which this work is done ? Hastily plucked and rudely fash¬ 
 ioned, this double pipe is (the artist believes) yet capable of producing some music 
 worthy of the listening ear. 
 
NOTES ON THE TEXT. 
 
 \_Mr. Vedders arrangement of the Rubaiyat includes the entire translation of 
 Mr. Fitzgerald ,, but in a slightly different order . The notes which follow 
 
 correspond by number to the quatrains as arranged in this volumef\ 
 
 2. The “ False Dawn ” ; Subhi Kazib, a transient Light on the Horizon about an hour before 
 the Subhi sddik, or True Dawn ; a well-known Phenomenon in the East. 
 
 4. New Year. Beginning with the Vernal Equinox, it must be remembered ; and (howsoever 
 the old Solar Year is practically superseded by the clumsy Lunar Year that dates from the Mo¬ 
 hammedan Hijra) still commemorated by a Festival that is said to have been appointed by the 
 very Jamshyd whom Omar so often talks of, and whose yearly Calendar he helped to rectify. 
 
 “ The sudden approach and rapid advance of the Spring,” says Mr. Binning, “ are very strik¬ 
 ing. Before the Snow is well off the Ground, the Trees burst into Blossom, and the Flowers 
 start from the Soil. At Naw Rooz ( their New Year’s Day) the Snow was lying in patches on the 
 Hills and in the shaded Vallies, while the Fruit-trees in the Garden were budding beautifully, and 
 green Plants and Flowers springing upon the Plains on every side — 
 
 * And on old Hyems’ Chin and icy Crown 
 An odorous Chaplet of sweet Summer’s buds 
 Is, as in mockery, set ’ — 
 
 Among the Plants newly appear’d I recognized some Acquaintances I had not seen for many a 
 Year: among these, two varieties of the Thistle ; a coarse species of the Daisy, like the Horse- 
 gowan; red and white Clover; the Dock; the blue Corn-flower; and that vulgar Herb the 
 Dandelion rearing its yellow crest on the Banks of the Watercourses.” The Nightingale was 
 not yet heard, for the Rose was not yet blown : but an almost identical Blackbird and Wood¬ 
 pecker helped to make up something of a North-country Spring. 
 
 4. Exodus iv. 6; where Moses draws forth his Hand — not, according to the Persians, 
 “leprous as Snow,” — but white, as our May-blossom in Spring perhaps. According to them 
 also the Healing Power of Jesus resided in his Breath. 
 
 5. Iram, planted by King Shaddad, and now sunk somewhere in the Sands of Arabia. 
 Jamshyd’s Seven-ring’d Cup was typical of the 7 Heavens, 7 Planets, 7 Seas, &c., and was a 
 Divining Cup. 
 
 6 . Pehlevi, the old Heroic Sanskrit of Persia. Hafiz also speaks of the Nightingale’s Pchfa'i, 
 which did not change with the People’s. 
 
 6. I am not sure if this refers to the Red Rose looking sickly, or the Yellow Rose that ought 
 to be Red ; Red, White, and Yellow Roses all common in Persia. I think Southey, in his Com¬ 
 mon-Place Book, quotes from some Spanish author about Rose being White till 10 o’clock; “Rosa 
 Perfecta ” at 2 ; and “ perfecta incarnada ” at 5. 
 
 10. Rustum, the “ Hercules ” of Persia, and Zal his Father, whose exploits are among the 
 most celebrated in the Shah-nama. Hatim Tai, a well-known Type of Oriental Generosity. 
 
 13. A Drum — beaten outside a Palace. 
 
 14. That is, the Rose’s Golden Centre. 
 
 18. Persepolis : call’d also Takht'i Jamshyd — The Throne of Jamshyd, “ King Splendid ,” 
 of the Mythical Peeshdddian Dynasty, and supposed (according to the Shah-nama) to have been 
 
NOTES ON THE TEXT. 
 
 founded and built by him. Others refer it to the Work of the Genie King, Jan Ibn Jan — who 
 also built the Pyramids — before the time of Adam. 
 
 BahrXm Gtjr — Bahr&m of the Wild Ass — a Sassanian Sovereign — had also his Seven 
 Castles (like the King of Bohemia!) each of a different Colour: each with a Royal Mistress 
 within; each of whom tells him a Story, as told in one of the most famous Poems of Persia, 
 written by Amir Khusraw: all these Sevens also figuring (according to Eastern Mysticism) the 
 Seven Heavens ; and perhaps the Book itself that Eighth, into which the mystical Seven tran¬ 
 scend, and within which they revolve. The Ruins of Three of these Towers are yet shown by the 
 Peasantry; as also the Swamp in which Bahram sunk, like the Master of Ravenswood, while pur¬ 
 suing his Gur. 
 
 The Palace that to Heav’n his pillars.threw, 
 
 And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew — 
 
 I saw the solitary Ringdove there, 
 
 And “ Coo, coo, coo,” she cried ; and “ Coo, coo, coo.” 
 
 This Quatrain Mr. Binning found, among several of Hafiz and others, inscribed by some 
 stray hand among the ruins of Persepolis. The Ringdove’s ancient Pehlevi Coo, Coo , Coo, signifies 
 also in Persian “ Where ? Where 1 Where 1 ” In Attar’s “ Bird-Parliament ” she is reproved by 
 the Leader of the Birds for sitting still, and for ever harping on that one note of lamentation for 
 her lost Yusuf. 
 
 Apropos of Omar’s Red Roses in Stanza xix, I am reminded of an old English Superstition, 
 that our Anemone Pulsatilla, or purple “ Pasque Flower ” (which grows plentifully about the 
 Fleam Dyke, near Cambridge), grows only where Danish blood has been spilt. 
 
 21. A thousand years to each Planet. 
 
 34. Parwfn and Mushtari — The Pleiads and Jupiter. 
 
 37. Saturn, Lord of the Seventh Heaven. 
 
 38. Me-and-Thee : some dividual Existence or Personality distinct from the Whole. 
 
 43. One of the Persian Poets — Attar, I think — has a pretty story about this. A thirsty 
 Traveller dips his hand into a Spring of Water to drink from. By and by comes another who 
 draws up and drinks from an earthen Bowl, and then departs, leaving his Bowl behind him. The 
 first Traveller takes it up for another draught; but is surprised to find that the same Water which 
 had tasted sweet from his own hand tastes bitter from the earthen Bowl. But a Voice — from 
 Heaven, I think — tells him the Clay from which the Bowl is made was once Man; and, into 
 whatever shape renew’d, can never lose the bitter flavour of Mortality. 
 
 45. The custom of throwing a little Wine on the ground before drinking still continues in 
 Persia, and perhaps generally in the East. Mons. Nicolas considers it “un signe de liberalite, 
 et en meme temps un avertissement que le buveur doit vider sa coupe jusqu’il la derniere goutte.” 
 Is it not more likely an ancient Superstition ; a Libation to propitiate Earth, or make her an Ac¬ 
 complice in the illicit Revel ? Or, perhaps, to divert the Jealous Eye by some sacrifice of super¬ 
 fluity, as with the Ancients of the West ? With Omar we see something more is signified ; the 
 precious Liquor is not lost, but sinks into the ground to refresh the dust of some poor Wine- 
 worshipper foregone. 
 
 Thus Hafiz, copying Omar in so many ways : “ When thou drinkest Wine pour a draught on 
 the ground. Wherefore fear the Sin which brings to another Gain ? ” 
 
 49. According to one beautiful Oriental Legend, Azniel accomplishes his mission by holding 
 to the nostril an Apple from the Tree of Life. 
 
 This, and the two following Stanzas would have been withdrawn, as somewhat de trop, from the 
 Text but for advice which I least like to disregard. 
 
 57. From Mah to Mahi; from Fish to Moon. 
 
 60. A Jest, of course, at his Studies. A curious mathematical Quatrain of Omar’s has been 
 pointed out to me ; the more curious because almost exactly parallel’d by some Verses of Doctor 
 Donne’s, that are quoted in Izaak Walton’s Lives ! Here is Omar : “You and I are the image of 
 
NOTES ON THE TEXT. 
 
 a pair of compasses ; though we have two heads (sc. our feet) we have one body; when we have 
 fixed the centre for our circle, we bring our heads (sc. feet) together at the end.” Ur. Donne: — 
 
 If we be two, we two are so 
 As stiff twin-compasses are two ; 
 
 Thy Soul, the fixt foot, makes no show 
 To move, but does if the other do. 
 
 And though thine in the centre sit, 
 
 Yet when my other far does roam, 
 
 Thine leans and hearkens after it, 
 
 And grows erect as mine comes home. 
 
 Such thou must be to me, who must 
 Like the other foot obliquely run ; 
 
 Thy firmness makes my circle just, 
 
 And me to end where I begun. 
 
 63. The Seventy-two Religions supposed to divide the World, including Islamism, as some 
 think : but others not. 
 
 64. Alluding to Sultan Mahmud’s Conquest of India and its dark people. 
 
 72. Fanusi khiyal. , a Magic-lanthorn still used in India; the cylindrical Interior being painted 
 with various Figures, and so lightly poised and ventilated as to revolve round the lighted Candle 
 within. 
 
 74. A very mysterious Line in the Original: — 
 
 O ddnad O danad O danad O — 
 
 breaking off something like our Wood-pigeon’s Note, which she is said to take up just where she 
 left off. 
 
 87. This relation of Pot and Potter to Man and his Maker figures far and wide in the Litera¬ 
 ture of the World, from the time of the Hebrew Prophets to the present; when it may finally take 
 the name of “ Pottheism,” by which Mr. Carlyle ridiculed Sterling’s “ Pantheism.” My Sheikh, 
 whose knowledge flows in from all quarters, writes to me — 
 
 “Apropos of old Omar’s Pots, did I ever tell you the sentence I found in ‘ Bishop Pearson on 
 the Creed ’ ? ” “ Thus are we wholly at the disposal of His will, and our present and future con¬ 
 
 dition, framed and ordered by His free, but wise and jwst, decrees. ‘ Hath not the potter power 
 over the clay , of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour , and another unto dishonour ? ’ (Rom. 
 ix. 21.) And can that earth-artificer have a freer power over his brother potsherd (both being 
 made of the same metal), than God hath over him, who, by the strange fecundity of His omnipo¬ 
 tent power, first made the clay out of nothing, and then him out of that ? ” 
 
 And again — from a very different quarter — “I had to refer the other day to Aristophanes, 
 and came by chance on a curious Speaking-pot story in the Vespae, which I had quite forgotten. 
 
 QiAokAcuv. y A nove, /jl^i <pevy ’• eV 2 i 43 apei yvvf) irore 1. 1435 
 
 Kareal’ exivov. 
 
 Karriyopos. T avr' iyw /j.aprvpofj.ai. 
 
 $1. O vx^vos ovv tx wv rlv ' eirepapTiiparo- 
 
 E? 0 ’ rj SufSapms elirtv, et val rav nlpav 
 t^v fjapTvpiav ravTTjv tanas, iv Ta^f 1 
 eniSecrpiov iirplco, vovv h.v irKtiova. 
 
 “ The Pot calls a bystander to be a witness to his bad treatment. The woman says, ‘ If, by 
 Proserpine, instead of all this “ testifying ” (comp. Cuddie and his mother in “ Old Mortality! ”) 
 
NOTES ON THE TEXT. 
 
 you would buy yourself a trivet, it would show more sense in you ! ’ The Scholiast explains 
 echinus as ayyos ri ix xepd/xov.” 
 
 90. At the Close of the Fasting Month, Ramazan (which makes the Musulman unhealthy and 
 unamiable), the first Glimpse of the New Moon (who rules their division of the Year), is looked 
 for with the utmost Anxiety, and hailed with Acclamation. Then it is that the Porter’s Knot may 
 be heard — toward the Cellar. Omar has elsewhere a pretty Quatrain about this same Moon — 
 
 “ Be of Good Cheer — the sullen Month will die, 
 
 And a young Moon requite us by and by: 
 
 Look how the Old one meagre, bent, and wan 
 With Age and Fast, is fainting from the Sky ! ” 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 \_Reprinted from the Introduction and Notes accompanying the Version of 
 Omar Khayyam s Rubaiyat by Edward Fitzgeraldi\ 
 
 OMAR KHAYYAM, 
 
 THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. 
 
 Omar KhayyXm was born at Naishapur in Khorassan in the latter half of our Eleventh, 
 and died within the first quarter of our Twelfth Century. The slender Story of his Life 
 is curiously twined about that of two other very considerable Figures in their Time and 
 Country : one of whom tells the Story of all Three. This was Nizam-ul-Mulk, Vizier to 
 Alp Arslan the Son, and Malik Shah the Grandson, of Toghrul Beg the Tartar, who had 
 wrested Persia from the feeble Successor of Mahmud the Great, and founded that Sel- 
 jukian Dynasty which finally roused Europe into the Crusades. This Nizam-ul-Mulk, 
 in his Wasiyat — or Testament — which he wrote and left as a Memorial for future States¬ 
 men, relates the following, as quoted in the Calcutta Review, No. 59, from Mirkhond’s 
 History of the Assassins : — 
 
 “‘One of the greatest of the wise men of Khorassan was the Imam Mowaffak of Naishapur, a 
 man highly honoured and reverenced, — may God rejoice his soul ; his illustrious years exceeded 
 eighty-five, and it was the universal belief that every boy who read the Koran or studied the tra¬ 
 ditions in his presence, would assuredly attain to honour and happiness. For this cause did my 
 father send me from Tus to Naishapur with Abd-us-samad, the doctor of law, that I might employ 
 myself in study and learning under the guidance of that illustrious teacher. Towards me he 
 ever turned an eye of favour and kindness, and as his pupil I felt for him extreme affection and 
 devotion, so that I passed four years in his service. When I first came there, I found two other 
 pupils of mine own age newly arrived, Hakim Omar Khayyam, and the ill-fated Ben Sabbah. 
 Both were endowed with sharpness of wit and the highest natural powers ; and we three formed a 
 close friendship together. When the Imam rose from his lectures, they used to join me, and we 
 repeated to each other the lessons we had heard. Now Omar was a native of Naishapur, while 
 Hasan Ben Sabbah’s father was one Ali, a man of austere life and practice, but heretical in his 
 creed and doctrine. One day Hasan said to me and to Khayyam, “It is a universal belief that the 
 pupils of the Imam Mowaffak will attain to fortune. Now, even if we all do not attain thereto, 
 without doubt one of us will ; what then shall be our mutual pledge and bond ?” We answered, 
 “ Be it what you please.” “ Well,” he said, “ let us make a vow, that to whomsoever this fortune 
 falls, he shall share it equally with the rest, and reserve no pre-eminence for himself.” “ Be it so,” 
 we both replied, and on those terms we mutually pledged our words. Years rolled on, and I went 
 from Khorassan to Transoxiana, and wandered to Ghazni and Cabul; and when I returned, I was 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM. 
 
 invested with office, and rose to be administrator of affairs during the Sultanate of Sultan Alp 
 Arslan.’ 
 
 “ He goes on to state, that years passed by, and both his old school-friends found him out, and 
 came and claimed a share in his good fortune, according to the school-day vow. The Vizier was 
 generous and kept his word. Hasan demanded a place in the government, which the Sultan 
 granted at the Vizier’s request ; but discontented with a gradual rise, he plunged into the maze of 
 intrigue of an oriental court, and, failing in a base attempt to supplant his benefactor, he was dis¬ 
 graced and fell. After many mishaps and wanderings, Hasan became the head of the Persian sect 
 of the Ismailians, a party of fanatics who had long murmured in obscurity, but rose to an evil 
 eminence under the guidance of his strong and evil will. In a. d. 1090, he seized the castle of 
 Alamut, in the province of Rudbar, which lies in the mountainous tract south of the Caspian 
 Sea ; and it was from this mountain home he obtained that evil celebrity among the Crusaders as 
 the OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS, and spread terror through the Mohammedan world ; 
 and it is yet disputed whether the word Assassin, which they have left in the language of modern 
 Europe as their dark memorial, is derived from the hashish, or opiate of hemp-leaves (the In¬ 
 dian bhang), with which they maddened themselves to the sullen pitch of oriental desperation, 
 or from the name of the founder of the dynasty, whom we have seen in his quiet collegiate days, 
 at Naishapur. One of the countless victims of the Assassin’s dagger was Nizam-ul-Mulk himself, 
 the old school-boy friend. 1 
 
 “ Omar Khayyam also came to the Vizier to claim the share ; but not to ask for title or office. 
 
 ‘ The greatest boon you can confer on me,’ he said, ‘ is to let me live in a corner under the shadow 
 of your fortune, to spread wide the advantages of Science, and pray for your long life and pros¬ 
 perity.’ The Vizier tells us, that, when he found Omar was really sincere in his refusal, he pressed 
 him no further, but granted him a yearly pension of twelve hundred mithkdls of gold, from the 
 treasury of Naishapur. 
 
 “ At Naishapur thus lived and died Omar Khayyam, ‘busied,’ adds the Vizier, ‘in winning knowl¬ 
 edge of every kind, and especially in Astronomy, wherein he attained to a very high pre-eminence. 
 Under the Sultanate of Malik Shah, he came to Merv, and obtained great praise for his proficiency 
 in Science, and the Sultan showered favours upon him.’ 
 
 “ When Malik Shah determined to reform the calendar, Omar was one of the eight learned men 
 employed to do it; the result was the Jalali era (so called from Jalal-u-din, one of the king’s names) 
 — ‘a computation of time,’ says Gibbon, ‘which surpasses the Julian, and approaches the accuracy 
 of the Gregorian style.’ He is also the author of some astronomical tables, entitled Zfji-Malikshahf, 
 and the French have lately republished and translated an Arabic Treatise of his on Algebra. 
 
 “ His Takhallus or poetical name (Khayyam) signifies a Tentmaker, and he is said to have at 
 one time exercised that trade, perhaps before Nizam-ul-Mulk’s generosity raised him to independ¬ 
 ence. Many Persian poets similarly derive their names from their occupations ; thus we have 
 Attar, ‘a druggist,’ Assar, ‘an oil presser,’ &c. 2 Omar himself alludes to his name in the following 
 whimsical lines : — 
 
 ‘ Khayyam, who stitched the tents of science, 
 
 Has fallen in grief’s furnace and been suddenly burned; 
 
 The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life, 
 
 And the broker of Hope has sold him for nothing ! ’ 
 
 “We have only one more anecdote to give of his Life, and that relates to the close ; it is told in 
 the anonymous preface which is sometimes prefixed to his poems ; it has been printed in the Per¬ 
 sian in the appendix to Hyde’s Veterujfi PersaruTn Religio, p. 499 ; and D’Herbelot alludes to it in 
 
 his Bibliothhque, under Khiam .- 8 — 
 
 1 Some of Omar’s Rubaiyat warn us of the danger of 
 Greatness, the instability of Fortune, and while advocat¬ 
 ing Charity to all Men, recommending us to be too inti¬ 
 mate with none. Attar makes Nizdm-ul-Mulk use the 
 very words of his friend Omar [Rub. xxviii.], “ When 
 Niz&m-ul-Muik was in the agony (of Death) he said, ‘O 
 God I I am passing away in the hand of the Wind.’ ” 
 
 2 Though all these, like our Smiths, Archers, Millers, 
 Fletchers, &c., may simply retain the Surname of an 
 hereditary calling. 
 
 8 “ Philosophe Musulman qui a vecu en Odeur de 
 Saintete dans la Fin du premier et le Commencement 
 du second Si£cle,” no part of which, except the “ Phi¬ 
 losophe,” can apply to our Khayyam. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM. 
 
 “ ‘ It is written in the chronicles of the ancients that this King of the Wise, Omar Khayyam, died 
 at Naishapur in the year of the Hegira, 517 ( a . d . 1123); in science he was unrivalled, — the very 
 paragon of his age.’ Khwajah Nizami of Samarcand, who was one of his pupils, relates the fol¬ 
 lowing story: ‘ I often used to hold conversations with my teacher, Omar Khayyam, in a garden ; 
 and one day he said to me, “ My tomb shall be in a spot where the north wind may scatter roses 
 over it.” I wondered at the words he spake, but I knew that his were no idle words. 1 Years after, 
 when I chanced to revisit Naishapur, I went to his final resting-place, and lo ! it was just outside a 
 garden, and trees laden with fruit stretched their boughs over the garden wall, and dropped their 
 flowers upon his tomb, so as the stone was hidden under them.’ ” 
 
 Thus far, without fear of Trespass, from the Calcutta Review. The writer of it, on 
 reading in India this story of Omar’s Grave, was reminded, he says, of Cicero’s Account 
 of finding Archimedes’ Tomb at Syracuse, buried in grass and weeds. I think Thorwald- 
 sen desired to have roses grow over him ; a wish religiously fulfilled for him to the present 
 day, I believe. However, to return to Omar. 
 
 Though the Sultan “shower’d Favors upon him,” Omar’s Epicurean Audacity of 
 Thought and Speech caused him to be regarded askance in his own Time and Country. 
 He is said to have been especially hated and dreaded by the Sufis, whose Practice he ridi¬ 
 culed, and whose Faith amounts to little more than his own when stript of the Mysticism 
 and formal recognition of Islamism under which Omar would not hide. Their Poets, in¬ 
 cluding Hafiz, who are (with the exception of Firdausi) the most considerable in Persia, 
 borrowed largely, indeed, of Omar’s material, but turning it to a mystical Use more con¬ 
 venient to Themselves and the People they addressed ; a People quite as quick of Doubt 
 as of belief; as keen of Bodily Sense as of Intellectual; and delighting in a cloudy com¬ 
 position of both, in which they could float luxuriously between Heaven and Earth, and this 
 World and the Next, on the wings of a poetical expression, that might serve indifferently 
 for either. Omar was too honest of Heart as well as of Head for this. Having failed 
 (however mistakenly) of finding any Providence but Destiny, and any World but This, he 
 set about making the most of it; preferring rather to soothe the Soul through the Senses 
 into Acquiescence with Things as he saw them, than to perplex it with vain disquietude 
 after what they might be. It has been seen, however, that his Worldly Ambition was not 
 exorbitant; and he very likely takes a humorous or perverse pleasure in exalting the grati¬ 
 fication of Sense above that of the Intellect, in which he must have taken great delight, 
 although it failed to answer the Questions in which he, in common with all men, was most 
 vitally interested. 
 
 For whatever reason, however, Omar, as before said, has never been popular in his own 
 Country, and therefore has been but scantily transmitted abroad. The MSS. of his Poems, 
 mutilated beyond the average Casualties of Oriental Transcription, are so rare in the 
 East as scarce to have reached Westward at all, in spite of all the acquisitions of Arms 
 and Science. There is no copy at the India House, none at the Bibliotheque Imperiale of 
 Paris. We know of but one in England: No. 140 of the Ouseley MSS. at the Bodleian, 
 
 1 The Rashness of the Words, according to DTIerbelot, 
 consisted in being so opposed to those in the Koran: “No 
 Man knows where he shall die.” — This Story of Omar 
 reminds me of another so naturally — and, when one re¬ 
 members how wide of his humble mark the noble sailor 
 aimed — so pathetically told by Captain Cook—not by 
 Doctor Hawkesworth — in his Second Voyage. When 
 leaving Ulietea, “ Oreo’s last request was for me to return. 
 When he saw he could not obtain that promise, he asked 
 the name of my Maraia — Burying-place. As strange a 
 
 question as this was, I hesitated not a moment to tell him 
 ‘ Stepney,’ the parish in which I live when in London. I 
 was made to repeat it several times till they could pro¬ 
 nounce it; and then ‘Stepney Marai no Tootee’ was 
 echoed through a hundred mouths at once. I afterwards 
 found the same question had been put to Mr. Forster by 
 a man on shore; but he gave a different, and indeed more 
 proper answer, by saying, ‘No Man who used the sea 
 could say where he should be buried.’ ” 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM. 
 
 written at Shiraz, A. d. 1460. This contains but 158 Rubaiyat. One in the Asiatic So¬ 
 ciety’s Library at Calcutta (of which we have a Copy), contains (and yet incomplete) 516, 
 though swelled to that by all kinds of Repetition and Corruption. So Von Hammer speaks 
 of his Copy as containing about 200, while Dr. Sprenger catalogues the Lucknow MS. at 
 double that number. 1 The Scribes, too, of the Oxford and Calcutta MSS. seem to do their 
 Work under a sort of Protest; each beginning with a Tetrastich (whether genuine or not), 
 taken out of its alphabetical order; the Oxford with one of Apology ; the Calcutta with 
 one of Expostulation, supposed (says a Notice prefixed to the MS.) to have risen from a 
 Dream, in which Omar’s mother asked about his future fate. It may be rendered thus : — 
 
 “ O Thou who burn’st in Heart for those who burn 
 In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn ; 
 
 How long be crying, ‘ Mercy on them, God! ’ 
 
 Why, who art Thou to teach, and He to learn ? ” 
 
 The Bodleian Quatrain pleads Pantheism by way of Justification : — 
 
 “ If I myself upon a looser Creed 
 Have loosely strung the Jewel of Good deed, 
 
 Let this one thing for my Atonement plead: 
 
 That One for Two I never did mis-read.” 
 
 The Reviewer, to whom I owe the Particulars of Omar’s Life, concludes his Review by 
 comparing him with Lucretius, both as to natural Temper and Genius, and as acted upon 
 by the Circumstances in which he lived. Both indeed were men of subtle, strong, and 
 cultivated Intellect, fine Imagination, and Hearts passionate for Truth and Justice ; who 
 justly revolted from their Country’s false Religion, and false, or foolish, Devotion to it; 
 but who yet fell short of replacing what they subverted by such better Hope as others, 
 with no better Revelation to guide them, had yet made a Law to themselves. Lucretius, 
 indeed, with such material as Epicurus furnished, satisfied himself with the theory of so 
 vast a machine fortuitously constructed, and acting by a Law that implied no Legislator ; 
 and so composing himself into a Stoical rather than Epicurean severity of Attitude, sat 
 down to contemplate the mechanical Drama of the Universe which he was part Actor in ; 
 himself and all about him (as in his own sublime description of the Roman Theatre) dis¬ 
 coloured with the lurid reflex of the Curtain suspended between the Spectator and the 
 Sun. Omar, more desperate, or more careless of any so complicated System as resulted 
 in nothing but hopeless Necessity, flung his own Genius and Learning with a bitter or 
 humorous jest into the general Ruin which their insufficient glimpses only served to re¬ 
 veal ; and, pretending sensual pleasure as the serious purpose of Life, only diverted him¬ 
 self with speculative problems of Deity, Destiny, Matter and Spirit, Good and Evil, and 
 other such questions, easier to start than to run down, and the pursuit of which becomes 
 a very weary sport at last! 
 
 With regard to the present Translation. The original Rubaiyat (as, missing an Arabic 
 Guttural, these Tetrastichs are more musically called) are independent Stanzas, consisting 
 each of four Lines of equal, though varied Prosody ; sometimes all rhyming, but oftener 
 (as here imitated) the third line a blank. Something as in the Greek Alcaic, where the 
 penultimate line seems to lift and suspend the Wave that falls over in the last. As usual 
 with such kind of Oriental Verse, the Rubaiyat follow one another according to Alpha¬ 
 betic Rhyme — a strange succession of Grave and Gay. Those here selected are strung 
 
 1 “Since this Paper was written (adds the Reviewer in with an Appendix containing 54 others not found in some 
 a note), we have met with a Copy of a very rare Edition, MSS.” 
 printed at Calcutta in 1836. This contains 438 Tetrastichs, 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM. 
 
 into something of an Eclogue, with perhaps a less than equal proportion of the “ Drink 
 and make merry,” which (genuine or not) recurs over frequently in the Original. Either 
 way, the result is sad enough : saddest perhaps when most ostentatiously merry : more 
 apt to move Sorrow than Anger toward the old Tentmaker, who, after vainly endeavouring 
 to unshackle his Steps from Destiny, and to catch some authentic Glimpse of Tomorrow, 
 fell back upon Today (which has outlasted so many Tomorrows !) as the only Ground he 
 got to stand upon, however momentarily slipping from under his Feet. 
 
 While the second Edition of this version of Omar was preparing, Monsieur Nicolas, 
 French Consul at Resht, published a very careful and very good Edition of the Text, from 
 a lithograph copy at Teheran, comprising 464 Rubaiyat, with translation and notes of his 
 own. 
 
 Mons. Nicolas, whose Edition has reminded me of several things, and instructed me in 
 others, does not consider Omar to be the material Epicurean that I have literally taken 
 him for, but a Mystic, shadowing the Deity under the figure of Wine, Wine-bearer, &c., as 
 Hafiz is supposed to do ; in short, a Sufi Poet like Hafiz and the rest. 
 
 I cannot see reason to alter my opinion, formed as it was more than a dozen years ago, 
 when Omar was first shown me by one to whom I am indebted for all I know of Oriental, 
 and very much of other literature. He admired Omar’s Genius so much, that he would 
 gladly have adopted any such Interpretation of his meaning as Mons. Nicolas’ if he could. 1 
 That he could not appears by his Paper in the Calcutta Review, already so largely quoted ; 
 in which he argues from the Poems themselves, as well as from what records remain of 
 the Poet’s Life. 
 
 And if more were needed to disprove Mons. Nicolas’ Theory, there is the Biographical 
 Notice which he himself has drawn up in direct contradiction to the Interpretation of the 
 Poems given in his Notes. (See pp. 13, 14 of his Preface.) Indeed I hardly knew poor 
 Omar was so far gone till his Apologist informed me. For here we see that, whatever 
 were the Wine that Hafiz drank and sang, the veritable Juice of the Grape it was which 
 Omar used, not only when carousing with his friends, but (says Mons. Nicolas) in order to 
 excite himself to that pitch of Devotion which others reached by cries and “hurlemens.” 
 And yet, whenever Wine, Wine-bearer, &c., occur in the Text — which is often enough — 
 Mons. Nicolas carefully annotates “Dieu,” “La Divinite,” &c.: so carefully indeed that 
 one is tempted to think that he was indoctrinated by the Sufi with whom he read the 
 Poems. (Note to Rub. ii. p. 8.) A Persian would naturally wish to vindicate a distin¬ 
 guished Countryman ; and a Sufi to enrol him in his own sect, which already comprises 
 all the chief Poets of Persia. 
 
 What historical Authority has Mons. Nicolas to show that Omar gave himself up “avec 
 passion a l’etude de la philosophic des Soufis”? (Preface, p. xiii.) The Doctrines of Pan¬ 
 theism, Materialism, Necessity, &c., were not peculiar to the Sufi; nor to Lucretius before 
 them ; nor to Epicurus before him; probably the very original Irreligion of Thinking men 
 from the first; and very likely to be the spontaneous growth of a Philosopher living in an 
 Age of social and political barbarism, under shadow of one of the Two and Seventy Re¬ 
 ligions supposed to divide the world. Von Hammer (according to Sprenger’s Oriental 
 Catalogue) speaks of Omar as “a Free-thinker, and a great opponent of Sufism perhaps 
 
 1 Perhaps would have edited the Poems himself some years ago. He may now as little approve of my Version 
 on one side, as of Mons. Nicolas’ Theory on the other. 
 
OMAR KHA YYAM. 
 
 because, while holding much of their Doctrine, he would not pretend to any inconsistent 
 severity of morals. Sir W. Ouseley has written a Note to something of the same effect 
 on the fly-leaf of the Bodleian MS. And in two Rubaiyat of Mons. Nicolas’ own Edition, 
 Suf and Sufi are both disparagingly named. 
 
 No doubt many of these Quatrains seem unaccountable unless mystically interpreted ; 
 but many more as unaccountable unless literally. Were the Wine spiritual, for instance, 
 how wash the Body with it when dead ? Why make cups of the dead clay to be filled with 
 — “ La Divinite ”— by some succeeding Mystic? Mons. Nicolas himself is puzzled by 
 some “ bizarres ” and “trop orientales” allusions and images — “d’une sensualit6 quel- 
 quefois revoltante,” indeed — which “ les convenances ” do not permit him to translate ; 
 but still which the reader cannot but refer to “ La Divinite.” 1 No doubt also many of the 
 Quatrains in the Teheran, as in the Calcutta Copies, are spurious ; such Rubaiyat being 
 the common form of Epigram in Persia. But this, at best, tells as much one way as 
 another ; nay, the Sufi, who may be considered the Scholar and Man of Letters in Persia, 
 would be far more likely than the careless Epicure to interpolate what favours his own view 
 of the Poet. I observe that very few of the more mystical Quatrains are in the Bodleian 
 MS., which must be one of the oldest, as dated at Shiraz, a. h. 865, a. d. 1460. And this, 
 I think, especially distinguishes Omar (I cannot help calling him by his — no, not Chris¬ 
 tian — familiar name) from all other Persian Poets : That, whereas with them the Poet is 
 lost in his Song, the Man in Allegory and Abstraction ; we seem to have the Man — the 
 Bonhomme —Omar himself, with all his Humors and Passions, as frankly before us as if 
 we were really at Table with him, after the Wine had gone round. 
 
 I must say that I, for one, never wholly believed in the Mysticism of Hafiz. It does not 
 appear there was any danger in holding and singing Sufi Pantheism, so long as the Poet 
 made his Salaam to Mohammed at the beginning and end of his Song. Under such con¬ 
 ditions Jelaluddin, Jami, Attar, and others sang; using Wine and Beauty indeed as Im¬ 
 ages to illustrate, not as a Mask to hide, the Divinity they were celebrating. Perhaps 
 some Allegory less liable to mistake or abuse had been better among so inflammable a 
 People: much more so when, as some think with Hafiz and Omar, the abstract is not only 
 likened to, but identified with, the sensual Image ; hazardous, if not to the Devotee him¬ 
 self, yet to his weaker Brethren; and worse for the Profane in proportion as the Devotion 
 of the Initiated grew warmer. And all for what ? To be tantalized with Images of sen¬ 
 sual enjoyment which must be renounced if one would approximate a God, who, according 
 to the Doctrine, is Sensual Matter as well as Spirit, and into whose Universe one expects 
 unconsciously to merge after Death, without hope of any posthumous Beatitude in another 
 world to compensate for all one’s self-denial in this. Lucretius’ blind Divinity certainly 
 merited, and probably got, as much self-sacrifice as this of the Sufi ; and the burden of 
 Omar’s Song, if not “Let us eat,” is assuredly “Let us drink, for Tomorrow we die !” 
 And if Hafiz meant quite otherwise by a similar language, he surely miscalculated when 
 he devoted his life and Genius to so equivocal a Psalmody as, from his Day to this, has 
 been said and sung by any rather than spiritual Worshippers. 
 
 However, as there is some traditional presumption, and certainly the opinion of some 
 
 1 A Note to Quatrain 234 admits that, however clear the pensees sur l’amour divin, et a la singularity dcs images 
 mystical meaning of such Images must be to Europeans, trop orientales, d’une sensualite quelquefois revoltante, 
 they are not quoted without “rougissant ” even by lay- n’auront pas de peine k se persuader qu’il s’agit de la 
 men in Persia — “Quant aux termes de tendresse qui com- Divinite, bien que cette conviction soit vivement discutee 
 mcncent ce quatrain, comme tant d’autres dans ce recueil, par les moullahs musulmans, et meme par beaucoup de 
 nos lccteurs, habitues maintenant k l’etrangete des expres- laiques, qui rougissent veritablement d’une pareille licence 
 sions si souvent employes par Kheyam pour rendre ses de leur compatriote a l’egard des choses spirituelles.” 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM. 
 
 learned men, in favour of Omar’s being a Sufi, — and even something of a Saint, — those 
 who please may so interpret his Wine and Cup-bearer. On the other hand, as there is far 
 more historical certainty of his being a Philosopher, of scientific Insight and Ability far 
 beyond that of the Age and Country he lived in ; of such moderate worldly Ambition as 
 becomes a Philosopher, and such moderate wants as rarely satisfy a Debauchee; other 
 readers may be content to believe with me that, while the Wine Omar celebrates is simply 
 the Juice of the Grape, he bragg’d more than he drank of it, in very Defiance perhaps of 
 that Spiritual Wine which left its Votaries sunk in Hypocrisy or Disgust 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 1914 
 
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 AN ENGLISH CRITIC ON MR. LE GALLI- 
 ENNE’S “OMAR KHAYYAM." 
 
 THE IMPERTINENCE OF A “WILD ASS’ 
 SONABLE SUGGESTION. 
 
 -A REA- 
 
 
 From The Saturday Review. 
 
 It is difficult to enter into the mental condi¬ 
 tion of the perpetrator of this impertinence to a 
 great English writer. To understand what Mr. 
 Le Oailienne has dared to do, the reader must 
 be reminded of one or two facts. About the 
 year 1853 Edward FitzGerald, under the di¬ 
 rection of Professor Cowell, began to study Per¬ 
 sian, and after some experiments with Hafiz 
 and Jami and the “Mantic” of Attar he settled 
 down to “that remarkable little fellow," Omar 
 Khayy&m. The “RubaiyAt” were not great 
 poetry; FitzGerald even deprecated Professor 
 Cowell’s scorn of him for stooping to the second ( 
 rate. But there was something in the spirit of ! 
 these verses which soothed FilzGerald; “Omar 
 breathes a sort of consolation over me.” In 
 1857 he was “sketching” versions, first in Latin, 
 then in English; presently he invented a stan- 
 zaic form analogous to the tetrastich of the 
 original; in 1859 he put forth, anonymously, 
 that translation of the astronomer-poet which 
 ranks as a masterpiece of English poetry and as 
 one of the treasures of tfre Y r ictorian age. 
 
 This “translation” of FitzGerald’s is prac¬ 
 tically an original work. By the universal ver-/ 
 diet of Orientalists it vastly surpasses its orig- i 
 inal in poetical merit. “Many quatrains,” as Fitz- J 
 Gerald said, “are mashed together”; many morq 
 are simply invented by the exquisite English I 
 poet who decked the dry bones of Omar Khay¬ 
 yam with the flesh of his genius. The form, the 
 spirit, the lovely originality of. the whole thing, 
 are FitzGerald’s, just as the credit of “Hamlet” 
 belongs to Shakespeare, and not to some pos¬ 
 sible precursor; the credit of “The Ancient 
 Mariner” to Coleridge and not to that obscure 
 Shelvocke from whom he took the tale. For 
 nearly forty years, under the mantle of Omar 
 Khayy&m, Edward FitzGerald’s original poem 
 has been moving among us, gradually filling 
 the air with its delicious fragrance, gradually 
 winning the praise which is due to a consum¬ 
 mate thing done once for all in absolute perfec¬ 
 tion. 
 
 What, then, is to be concluded about the men¬ 
 tal condition of Mr. Richard Le Gallienne, a 
 sentimental journalist, author of “If I Were 
 God,” who dances forward and jauntily pro¬ 
 poses to rewrite this perfect poem of FitzGer¬ 
 ald’s and improve it? He knows Persian, of 
 lourse, and will at least come closer to the orig- 
 nal? By no means; on his own showing Mr. Le 
 Gallienne does not know one word of Persian 
 tie has invented a metre more appropriate to 
 ;he spirit of the tetrastich? Not at all; he can 
 form no opinion as to that spirit, for he can 
 neither spell nor scan the words of Omar; he 
 iccepts, without modification, the metre invent- 
 ;d by FitzGerald. He will, at least, correct the 
 sentiment of the English poet when it fails to 
 •epresent the thought of the original? Certainly 
 rot, for Mr. Le Gallienne boasts as absolute an 
 gnorance of the philosophy as of the language 
 )f Persia. What, then, does Mr. Le Gallienne 
 >ffer to us? What does he propose to do? We 
 :an discover no aim whatever, except the prop- 
 >sition to rewrite Edward FitzGerald’s poem 
 ind improve it as poetry! 
 
 Let ps see how Mr. Le Gallienne succeeds in 
 his bold and perilous enterprise. With nothing I 
 n the Persian to support him, in a mere Hash j 
 >f his own unaided genius, FitzGerald inven 
 his: 
 
 ‘Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night 
 las flung the Stone that puts the Stars 
 Flight: 
 
 And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caug? 
 fhe Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light.” 
 
 DR. WILLIAM ALOIS WRIGHT. 
 (From a photograph.) 
 
 This is “improved" by Mr. Le Gallienne as fol- 
 ows: 
 
 ‘Wake! for the sun, the shepherd of the sky, 
 las penned the stars within their fold on high. 
 And. shaking darkness from his mighty limbs, 
 Scatters the daylight from his burning eye.” 
 
 Again, FitzGerald writes: 
 
 They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 
 'he Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank 
 deep; 
 
 And Bahr&m, that great Hunter—the wild Ass 
 (tamps o’er his Grave, but cannot break his 
 Sleep.” 
 
 That has been good enough for most of the 
 oets and critics of our age; it has been quoted 
 imes without number, as an example of nobility' 
 nd music. It is not good enough for Mr. Le 
 lallienne, who rewrites it thus: 
 
 The dove shall coo upon your castle wall, 
 
 'he timorous lizard o’er your head shall crawl— 
 Who lies so still within this ruined grave? 
 
 Vhy, this was Bahr&m, noisiest of them all!” 
 
 We need not pursue this tiresome investigation 
 jrther. In some cases Mr. Le Gallienne attains 
 considerable prettiness, in others he misses 
 le march and dignity of the theme altogether, 
 i every case we may be thankful to know that 
 e stamps over FitzGerald’s grave, but cannot 
 reak his sleep. This silly attempt to paint the 
 >se and gild refined gold is doomed to oblivion 
 
 
 The little “Pocket Magazine,” published by 
 Stokes, has cast in its fortunes with “Frank Les¬ 
 lie’s Popular Monthly,” thereby putting an end 
 to its independent position, but prolonging the 
 existence of a surprisingly large subscription 
 list. 
 
 When “Omar" FitzGerald made his friend, 
 YVilliam Aldis Wright, his literary executor he 
 knew that he was leaving his reputation in safe 
 hands. The event more than justified his confi¬ 
 dence. One refreshing fact that has stood out 
 from amid the welter of nonsense due to the 
 Omar cult has been the faultless attitude tow¬ 
 ard the whole business of the man best quali¬ 
 fied to speak of FitzGerald and his works. Dr. 
 Wright’s first service to his old friend was the 
 publication of those three volumes of “Literary 
 Remains” which are still, for those who really 
 care for FitzGerald, the most satisfactory monu¬ 
 ment to his genius. This was in 1889. In 1894 
 Dr. Wright prepared the two volume edition of 
 the Letters alone, for the Eversley Series; a 
 year later he made a volume of the Letters to 
 Fanny Kemble; in 1900 he published the “Mis¬ 
 cellanies,” and now he is giving us what will 
 probably be his last contribution on the subject 
 in the shape of a illume of “More Letters of 
 Edward FitzGerald." 
 
 In all his transactions with the work and 
 fame of the famous writer and hermit he has 
 used the utmost discretion, the most perfect 
 taste, and especially has he kept himself in the 
 background. Until the portrait appeared, of 
 which we give a reproduction to-day, his per¬ 
 sonality remained absolutely unknown to the 
 general public. Yet Dr. Wright is a man of 
 whom the public may well have desired to hear 
 more than has been put in print. In the early 
 sixties he was doing good work as a contributor 
 to Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible.” From 1870 
 to 1885 he w r as secretary to the Old Testament 
 Revision Company. With Mr. W. G. Clark he 
 edited the Cambridge Shakespeare and the Globe 
 Edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works, the 
 latter an edition which has deservedly been one 
 of the most popular ever published. He has 
 done much other useful literary work, and since 
 1888 he has filled the important post of vice¬ 
 master of Trinity College, Cambridge. His is 
 indeed a worthy name to figure in the list of 
 FitzGerald’s friends, the list that includes the 
 names of Tennyson, Spudding and Thackeray. 
 
 •i 
 
 One day in 1859 a certain personage by 4fhe 
 name of Whiteley Stokes was walking along the 
 streets of London. He paused in front of a book 
 shop, being a lover of books, to look at the bar¬ 
 gains offered in the stalls of the dealer outside 
 his door, Fingering over the booklets in the 
 penny box he came upon a brown covered 
 pamphlet which had originally been published 
 at five shillings, but which, apparently, had met 
 with such a poor reception that it had fallen to 
 the level of the penny box. The pamphlet con¬ 
 tained quatrains from , the Persian of Omar 
 Khayyam translated into English by an anony¬ 
 mous writer. Investing a penny, Stokes took the 
 pamphlet home. After reading it he passed it on 
 to Dante Gabriel Rossetti who in turn read it 
 and passed it on to Swinburne. All seemed to 
 think that the verses were poetry of a high or¬ 
 der, and spread the knowledge. It was discov¬ 
 ered that the translation was by the well known 
 recluse Edward FitzGerald, who two years previ¬ 
 ously had offered some of “the less wicked” of 
 the quatrains to “Frazer's Magazine.” The 
 editor failing to recognize their merit, they did 
 not appear in that publication, and FitzGerald, 
 tired of scanning the pages Tor them, gave them 
 to his publisher, Mr. Quaritch, who issued them 
 in the five shilling pamphlet. Fit2Gerald was 
 born on March 31 , 1809 , at Bredfleld House, near 
 the market town of Woodbridge, in Suffolk. He 
 died on June 14 , 1883 , at Merton Rectory, Nor¬ 
 folk, and was buried at Boulge.