NIVERSITY CA ORNIA SAN DIEGO 3 1822 00204 6084 UNIVERSITY OF CAL FORNIA SAN DIEGO 3 1822 00204 6084 ' Woo. \j.\ WORKS OF EDWARD FITZGERALD. WORKS OF EDWARD FITZGERALD TRANSLATOR OF OMAR KHAYYAM REPRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL IMPRESSIONS, WITH SOME CORRECTIONS DERIVED FROM HIS OWN ANNOTATED COPIES IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I NEW-YORK AND BOSTON LONDON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. BERNARD QUARITCH 1887 % AMERICAN PEOPLE, WHOSE EARLY APPRECIATION OF THE GENIUS OF EDWARD FITZGERALD WAS THE CHIEF STIMULANT OF THAT CURIOSITY BY WHICH HIS NAME WAS DRAWN FROM ITS ANONYMOUS CONCEALMENT AND ADVANCED TO THE POSITION OF HONOUR WHICH IT NOW HOLDS, THIS EDITION OF HIS WORKS IS DEDICATED BY THE EDITOR. BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. TjlDWARD FITZGERALD, whom the world lias *-^ already learned, in spite of his own efforts to remain within the shadow of anonymity, to look upon as one of the rarest poets of the century, was born at Bredfield in Suffolk, on the 31st March, 1809. He was the third son of John Purcell, of Kilkenny in Ireland, who, marrying Miss Mary Frances Fitzgerald, daughter of John Fitzgerald, of William stown, County Water- ford, added that distinguished name to his own patro- nymic ; and the future Omar was thus doubly of Irish extraction. (Both the families of Purcell and Fitz- gerald claim descent from Norman warriors of the eleventh century.) This circumstance is thought to have had some influence in attracting him to the study of Persian poetry, Iran and Erin being almost con- vertible terms in the early days of modern ethnology. After some years of primary education at the grammar school of Bury St. Edmunds, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1826, and there formed acquaintance with several young men of great abilities, most of Vlll BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. whom rose to distinction before him, but never ceased to regard with affectionate remembrance the quiet and amiable associate of their college-days. Amongst them were Alfred Tennyson, Jarnes Spedding, William Bod- ham Donne, John Mitchell Kemble, and William Makepeace Thackeray ; and their long friendship has been touchingly referred to by the Laureate in dedi- cating his last poem to the memory of Edward Fitzger- ald. u Euphranor," our author's earliest printed work, affords a curious picture of his academic life and associations. Its substantial reality is .evident beneath the thin disguise of the symbolical or classical names which he gives to the personages of the colloquy ; and the speeches which he puts into his own mouth are full of the humorous gravity, the whimsical and kindly philosophy, which remained his distinguishing charac- teristics till the end. This book was first published in 1851 ; a second and a third edition were printed some years later ; all anonymous, and each of the latter two differing from its predecessor by changes in the text which were not indicated on the title-pages. "Euphranor" furnishes a good many characteriza- tions which would be useful for any writer treating upon Cambridge society in the third decade of this cen- tury. Keuelm Digby, the author of the " Broadstone of Honour," had left Cambridge before the time when Euphranor held his " dialogue," but he is picturesquely recollected as " a grand swarthy fellow who might have stepped out of the canvas of some knightly portrait in BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. IX his father's hall perhaps the living image of one sleeping under some cross-legged effigies in the church." In " Euphranor," it is easy to discover the earliest phase of the unconquerable attachment which Fitz- gerald entertained for his college and his life-long friends, and which induced him in later days to make frequent visits to Cambridge, renewing and refreshing the old ties of custom and friendship. In fact, his disposition was affectionate to a fault, and he betrayed his consciousness of weakness in that respect by refer- ring playfully at times to "a certain natural lubricity" which he attributed to the Irish character, and pro- fessed to discover especially in himself. This amiability of temper endeared him to many friends of totally dissimilar tastes and qualities ; and, by enlarging his sympathies, enabled him to enjoy the fructifying influ- ence of studies pursued in communion with scholars more profound than himself, but less gifted with the power of expression. One of the younger Cambridge men with whom he became intimate during his peri- odical pilgrimages to the university was Edward B. Cowell, a man of the highest attainment in Oriental learning, who resembled Fitzgerald himself in the pos- session of a warm and genial heart, and of the most unobtrusive modesty. From Cowell he could easily learn that the hypothetical affinity between the names of Erin and Iran belonged to an obsolete stage of etymology ;. but the attraction of a far-fetched theory was replaced by the charm of reading Persian poetry in companion- X BIOGRAPHICAL PEEFACE. ship with his young friend who was equally competent to enjoy and to analyse the beauties of a literature that formed a portion of his regular studies. They read together the poetical remains of Khayyam a choice of reading which sufficiently indicates the depth and range of Mr. Cowell's knowledge. Omar Khayyam, although not quite forgotten, enjoyed in the history of Persian literature a celebrity like that of Occleve and Gower in our own. In the many Tazkimt (memoirs or memorials) of Poets, he was mentioned and quoted with esteem ; but his poems, labouring as they did under the original sin of heresy and atheism, were seldom looked at, and from lack of demand on the part of readers, had become rarer than those of most other writers since the days of Firdausi. European scholars knew little of his works beyond his Arabic treatise on Algebra, and Mr. Cowell may be said to have disen- tombed his poems from oblivion. Now, thanks to the fine taste of that scholar, and to the transmuting genius of Fitzgerald, no Persian poet is so well known in the western world as Abu-'l-fat'h 7 Omar son of Ibrahim the Tentmaker of Naishapiir, whose manhood synchronises with the Norman conquest of England, and who took for his poetic name (taklmTlHx) the designation of his father's trade (KJiaijt/tinij. The Rubd'iyydt (Quatrains) do not compose a single poem divided into a certain number of stanzas ; there is no continuity of plan in them, and each stanza is a dis- tinct thought expressed in musical verse. There is no BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. xi other element of unity in them than the general ten- dency of the Epicurean idea, and the arbitrary divan form by which they are grouped according to the alphabetical arrangement of the final letters ; those in which the rhymes end in a constituting the first di vision , those with & the second, and so on. The peculiar attitude towards religion and the old questions of fate, immortality, the origin and the destiny of man, which educated thinkers have assumed in the present age of Christendom, is found admirably foreshadowed in the fantastic verses of Khayyam, who was no more of a Mohammedan than many of our best writers are Christians. His philosophical and Horatian fancies graced as they are by the charms of a lyrical expression equal to that of Horace, and a vivid brilliance of im- agination to which the Roman poet could make no claim exercised a powerful influence upon Fitzger- ald's mind, and coloured his thoughts to such a degree that even when he oversteps the largest licence allowed to a translator, his phrases reproduce the spirit and manner of his original with a nearer approach to perfection than would appear possible. It is usually supposed that there is more of Fitzgerald than of Khayyam in the English RuM'iyydt, and that the old Persian simply afforded themes for the Anglo- Irishman's display of poetic power ; but nothing could be further from the truth. The French translator, J. B. Nicolas, and the English one, Mr. Whinfield, supply a closer mechanical reflection of the sense in each Xll BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. separate stanza ; but Mr. Fitzgerald has, in some instances, given a version equally close and exact ; in others, rejointed scattered phrases from more than one stanza of his original, and thus accomplished a feat of marvellous poetical transfusion. He frequently turns literally into English the strange outlandish imagery which Mr. Whinfield thought necessary to replace by more intelligible banalities, and in this way the magic of his genius has successfully transplanted into the garden of English poesy exotics that bloom like native flowers. One of Mr. Fitzgerald's Woodbridge friends was Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, with whom he main- tained for many years the most intimate and cordial intercourse, and whose daughter Lucy he married. He wrote the memoir of his friend's life which appeared in the posthumous volume of Barton's poems. The story of his married life was a short one. With all the over- flowing amiability of his' nature, there were mingled certain peculiarities or waywardnesses which were more suitable to the freedom of celibacy than to the staid- ness of matrimonial life. A separation took place by mutual agreement, and Fitzgerald behaved in this cir- cumstance with the generosity and unselfishness which were apparent in all his whims no less than in his more deliberate actions. Indeed, his entire career was marked by an unchanging goodness of heart and a genial kindliness; and no one could complain of having ever endured hurt or ill-treatment at his BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. Xlll hands. His pleasures were innocent and simple. Amongst the more delightful, he counted the short coasting trips, occupying no more than a day or two at a time, which he used to make in his own yacht from Lowestoft, accompanied only by a crew of two men, and such a friend as Cowell, with a large pasty and a few bottles of wine to supply their material wants. It is needless to say that books were also put into the cabin, and that the symposia of the friends were thus brightened by communion with the minds of the great departed. Fitzgerald's enjoyment of gnomic wisdom en- shrined in words of exquisite propriety was evinced by the frequency with which he used to read Montaigne's essays and Madame de Sevigne's letters, and the vari- ous works from which he extracted and published his collection of wise saws entitled "Polonius." This taste was allied to a love for what was classical and correct in literature, by which he was also enabled to appreciate the prim and formal muse of Crabbe, in whose grandson's house he died. His second printed work was the " Polonius," already referred to, which appeared in 1852. It exemplifies his favourite reading, being a collection of extracts, some- times short proverbial phrases, sometimes longer pieces of characterization or reflection, arranged under abstract headings. He occasionally quotes Dr. John- son, for whom he entertained sincere admiration ; but the ponderous and artificial fabric of Johnsonese did not please him like the language of Bacon, Fuller, Sir XIV BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. Thomas Browne, Coleridge, whom he cites frequently. A disproportionate abundance of wise words was drawn from Carlyle; his original views, his forcible sense, and the friendship with which Fitzgerald regarded him, having apparently blinded the latter to the ungainly style and ungraceful mannerisms of the Chelsea sage. (It was Thackeray who first made them personally acquainted nearly forty years ago; and Fitzgerald remained always loyal to his first instincts of affection and admiration.*) Polonius also marks the period of his earliest attention to Persian studies, as he quotes in it the great Sufi poet Jalal-ud-din-Rumi, whose masnavi has lately been translated into English by Mr. Redhouse, but whom Fitzgerald can only have seen in the original. He, however, spells the name JaUaladin, an incorrect form of which he could not have been guilty at the time when he produced Omar Khayyam, and which thus betrays that he had not long been engaged with Irani literature. He was very fond of Montaigne's essays, and of Pascal's Pensees ; but his Polonius reveals a sort of dislike and contempt for Voltaire. * The close relation that subsisted between Fitzgerald and Carlyle has lately been made patent by an article in the Historical Ecvieir upon the Squire papers, those celebrated documents purporting to be contemporary records of Cromwell's time, which were ac- cepted by Carlyle as genuine, but which other scholars have asserted from internal evidence to be modern forgeries. However the question may Vie decided, the fact which concerns us here is that our poet was the negotiator between Mr. Squire and Carlyle. and that his correspondence with the latter upon the subject reveals the intimate nature of their acquaintance. < BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. XV Amongst the Germans, Jean Paul, Goethe, Alexander .von Hmnboldt, and August Wilhelm von Schlegel attracted him greatly ; but he seems to have read little German, and probably only quoted translations. His favourite motto was "Plain Living and High Thinking," and he expresses great reverence for all things manly, simple, and true. The laws and institutions of England were, in his eyes, of the highest value and sacredness ; and whatever Irish sympathies he had would never have diverted his affections from the Union to Home Rule. This is strongly illustrated by some original lines of blank verse at the end of Polouius, annexed to his quo- tation, under "^Esthetics," of the words in which Lord Palmerston eulogised Mr. Gladstone for having devoted his Neapolitan tour to an inspection of the prisons. Fitzgerald's next printed work was a translation of Six Dramas of Calderon, published in 1853, which was unfavourably received at the time, and consequently withdrawn by him from circulation. His name appeared on the title-page, a concession to publicity which was so unusual with him that it must have been made under strong pressure from his friends. The book is in ner- vous blank verse, a mode of composition which he han- dled with great ease and skill. There is no waste of power in diffuseness and no employment of unnecessary epithets. It gives the impression of a work of the Shakespearean age, and reveals a kindred felicity, strength, and directness of language. It deserves to rank with his best efforts in poetry, but its ill- XVI BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. success made him feel that the publication of his name was an unfavourable experiment, and he never again repeated it. His great modesty, however, would suffi- ciently account for this shyness. Of " Omar Khayyam/ 1 even after the little book had won its way to general esteem, he used to say that the suggested addition of his name on the title would imply an assumption of importance which he considered that his " transmogri- fication " of the Persian poet did not possess. Fitzgerald's conception of a translator's privilege is well set forth in the prefaces of his versions from Cal- deron, and the Agamemnon of ^Eschylus. He main- tained that, in the absence; of the perfect poet, who shall re-create in his own language the body and soul of his original, the best system is that of a paraphrase con- serving the spirit of the author, a sort of literary metempsychosis. Calderon, ^Eschylus. and Omar Khayyam were all treated with equal licence, so far as form is concerned, the last, perhaps, the most arbi- trarily ; but the result is not unsatisfactory as having given us perfect English poems instinct with the true flavour of their prototypes. The Persian was prob- ably somewhat more Horatian and less melancholy, the Greek a little less florid and mystic, the Spaniard more lyrical and fluent, than their metaphrast has made them ; but the essential spirit has not escaped in trans- fusion. Only a man of singular gifts could have performed the achievement, and these works attest Mr. Fitzgerald's right to rank amongst the finest poets of BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. XVli the century. About the same time as he printed his Calderon, another set of translations from the same dramatist was published by the late D. F. MacCarthy ; a scholar whose acquaintance with Castilian literature was much deeper than Mr. Fitzgerald's, and who also possessed poetical abilities of no mean order, with a totally different sense of the translator's duty. The popularity of MacCarthy's versions has been considera- ble, and as an equivalent rendering of the original in sense and form his work is valuable. Spaniards familiar with the English language rate its merit highly; but there can be little question of the very great superiority of Mr. Fitzgerald's work as a contribution to English literature. It is indeed only from this point of view that we should regard all the literary labours of our author. They are English poetical work of fine quality, dashed with a pleasant outlandish flavour which heightens their charm ; and it is as English poems, not as translations, that they have endeared themselves even more to the American English than to the mixed Britons of England. It was an occasion of no small moment to Mr. Fitz- gerald's fame, and to the intellectual gratification of many thousands of readers, when he took his little packet of Rubd'iyydt to Mr. Quaritch in the latter part of the year 1858. It was printed as a small quarto pamphlet, bearing the publisher's name but not the author's ; and although apparently a complete failure at first, a failure which Mr. Fitzgerald regretted less xviii BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. on his own account than on that of his publisher, to whom he had generously made a present of the book, received, nevertheless, a sufficient distribution by being quickly reduced from the price of five shillings and placed in the box of cheap books marked a penny each. Thus forced into circulation, the two hundred copies which had been printed were soon exhausted. Among the buyers were Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Mr. S win- bourne. Captain (now Sir Richard) Burton, and Mr. William Simpson, the accomplished artist of the Illus- trated London Neivs. The influence exercised by the first three, especially by Rossetti, upon a clique of young men who have since grown to distinction, was sufficient to attract observation to the singular beauties of the poem anonymously translated from the Persian. Most readers had no possible opportunity of discover- ing whether it was a disguised original or an actual translation ; even Captain Burton enjoyed probably but little chance of seeing a manuscript of the Persian Ruba'iyyat. The Oriental imagery and allusions were too thickly scattered throughout the verses to favour the notion that they could be the original work of an Englishman ; yet it was shrewdly suspected by most of the appreciative readers that the " translator " was sub- stantially the author and creator of the poem. In the refuge of his anonymity, Fitzgerald derived an inno- cent gratification from the curiosity that was aroused on all sides. After the first edition had disappeared, inquiries for the little book became frequent, and BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. xix in the year 1868 he gave the MS. of his second edi- tion to Mr. Quaritch, and the Ruba'iyyat came into circulation once more, but with several alterations and additions by which the number of stanzas was some- what increased beyond the original seventy-five. Most of the changes were, as might have been expected, improvements ; but in some instances the author's taste or caprice was at fault, notably in the first RulxViy. His fastidious desire to avoid anj'thing that seemed baroque or unnatural, or appeared like plagia- rism from other poets, may have influenced him ; but whether from this cause, or from some secret reason that we cannot divine, he sacrificed a fine and novel piece of imagery in his first stanza and replaced it by one of much more ordinary character. If it were from a dis- like to pervert his original too largely, he had no need to be so scrupulous, since he dealt on the whole with the Ruba'iyyat as though he had the licence of absolute authorship, changing, transposing, and manipulating the substance of the Persian quatrains with singular freedom. The vogue of " old Omar" (as he would affectionately call his work) went on increasing, and American readers took it up with eagerness. In those days, the mere mention of Omar Khayyam between two strangers meeting fortuitously acted like a sign of freemasonry and established frequently a bond of friendship. Some curious instances of this have been related. A remarkable feature of the Omar-cult in the United States was the circumstance that sinle indi- XX BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. viduals bought numbers of copies for gratuitous distri- bution before the book was reprinted in America. Its editions have been relatively numerous, when we con- sider how restricted was the circle of readers who could understand the peculiar beauties of the work. A third edition appeared in 1872, with some further alterations, and this may be regarded as virtually the author's final revision, for it hardly differs at all from the text of the fourth edition, which appeared in 1879. This last formed the first portion of a volume entitled " Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ; and the Salaman and Absal of Jami ren- dered into English verse." The Salaman (which had al- ready been printed in separate form in 1856) is a poem chiefly in blank verse, interspersed with various metres (although it is all in one measure in the original) embodying a love-story of mystic significance; for Jami was, unlike Omar Khayyam, a true Sufi, and indeed differed in other respects, his celebrity as a pious Mussulman doctor being equal to his fame as a poet. He lived in the fifteenth century, in a period of literary brilliance and decay ; and the rich exuberance of his poetry, full of far-fetched conceits, involved expres- sions, overstrained imagery, and false taste, offers a strong contrast to the simpler and more forcible lan- guage of Khayyam. There is little use of Arabic in the earlier poet ; he preferred the vernacular speech to the mongrel language which was fashionable among the heirs of the Saracen conquerors ; but J ami's compo- sition is largely embroidered with Arabic. BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. XXI Mr. Fitzgerald had from his early days been thrown into contact with the Crabbe family; the Reverend George Crabbe (the poet's grandson) was an intimate friend of his, and it was on a visit to Morton Rectory that Fitzgerald died. As we know that friendship has power to warp the judgment, we shall not probably be wrong in supposing that his enthusiastic admiration for Crabbe's poems was not the product of sound, impar- tial criticism. He attempted to reintroduce them to the world by publishing a little volume of " Readings from Crabbe," produced in the last year of his life, but without success. A different fate awaited his "Aga- memnon : a tragedy taken from ^Eschylus," which was first printed privately by him, and afterwards pub- lished with alterations in 1876. It is a very free render- ing from the Greek, and full of a poetical beauty which is but partly assignable to ^Eschylus. Without attain- ing to anything like the celebrity and admiration which have followed Omar Khayyam, the Agamemnon has achieved much more than a succes d'estime. Mr. Fitz- gerald's renderings from the Greek were not confined to this one essay ; he also translated the two OEdipus dramas of Sophocles, but left them unfinished in manu- script till Mr. Elliot Norton had a sight of them about five or six years ago and urged him to complete his work. When this was done, he had them set in type, but only a very few proofs can have been struck off, as it seems that, at least in England, no more than a single copy was sent out by the author. In a similar way he XXll BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. printed translations of two of Calderon's plays not included in the published " Six Dramas " namely, La Vida es Suefw, and El Magico Prodigioso, (both ranking among the Spaniard's finest work ; ) but they also were withheld from the public and all but half a dozen friends. When his old boatman died, about ten years ago, he abandoned his nautical exercises and gave up his yacht for ever. During the last few years of his life, he divided his time between Cambridge, Crabbe's house, and his own home at Little Grange, near Woodbridge, where he received occasional visits from friends and relatives. This edition of Mr. Fitzgerald's works is a modest memorial of one of the most modest men who have ever enriched English literature with poetry of distinct and permanent value. His best epitaph is found in Tennyson's "'Tiresias and other poems," published immediately after our author's quiet exit from life, in 1883, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. JANUARY, 1887. > k N ED WA RD FITZGERALD. Though still the famous Book of Kings With strange memorial music rings, FirdausVs muse is dead and gone As Kai-kobad and Feridon, And Rustum and his pahlawan Are cold as prehistoric man. KHAYYAM still lives : his magic rhyme Is forged of spells that conquer Time, The hopes and doubts, the joys and pains, TJiat never end while Man remains; The sin, the sorrow, and the strife Of good and ill in human life ; Such themes can ne'er grow stale and old Nor can the verse in which they're told, Reflecting as it does each phase Of human thought and human ways. The world may roll through ages yet, New stars may rise, old stars may set, But like the grass and like the rain Some things for ever fresh remain, Some poets whom no rust can touch - KHAYYAM and HORACE arc of such. But while we knew the Roman 's tongue, KHAYYAM in vain for us had sung, XXIV EDWARD FITZGERALD. Till One arose on English earth Who to his music gave new birth. Henceforth, so long as English speech Shall through tJie coming ages reach, The name 8 Rubaiyat. N \5 THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. V) One in the Asiatic Society'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 arisen from a Dream, in which Omar's mother asked about his future fate. It may be rendered thus : "Oh 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 1 " Since this Paper was written " (adds the Reviewer in a note), " we have met with a Copy of a very rare Edition, printed at Cal- cutta in 1836. This contains 438 Tetrastichs, with an Appendix containing 54 others not found in some MSS." 10 OMAR KHAYYAM, 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 pas- sionate for Truth and Justice ; who justly revolted from their Country's false Religion, and false, or foolish, Devotion to it ; but who 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 a vast machine fortuitously constructed, and acting by a Law that implied no Legislator and so composing himself into a Stoical rather than Epicu- rean 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) discoloured 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 reveal ; and, pretending sen- sual pleasure as the serious purpose of Life, only diverted himself with speculative problems of Deity, Destiny, Matter and Spirit, Good and Evil, and other such questions, easier to start than to run down, THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. 11 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 Tetra- stichs are more musically called) are independent Stan- zas, consisting each of four Lines of equal, though varied, Prosody; sometimes all rhyming, but oftener (as here imitated) the third line a blank. Sometimes 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 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 Teiitmaker, who, after vainly endeavouring to unshackle his Steps from Destiny, and to catch some authentic Glimpse of TO-MORROW, fell back upon TO-DAY (which has outlasted so many To- morrows !) as the only Ground he got to stand upon, however momentarily slipping from under his Feet. I [From the Third Edition.] While the second Edition of this version of Omar was preparing, Monsieur Nicolas, French Consul at Resht, published a very careful and very good Edi- tion 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 opinon, 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. 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. THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. 13 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 Mous. 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 dis- tinguished Countryman ; and a Siifi 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 Fetude de la philosophie des Soufis"? (Preface, p. xiii.) The Doctrines of Pantheism, 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 14 OMAK KHAYYAM, Philosopher living in an Age of social and political barbarism, under shadow of one of the Two and Seventy Religions supposed to divide the world. Von Hammer (according to Sprenger's Oriental Catalogue) speaks of Omar as " a Free-thinker, and a great oppo- nent of Sujism ; " perhaps because, while holding much of their Doctrine, he would not pretend to any incon- sistent 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 Siif and Sufi are both dispara- gingly named. No doubt many of these Quatrains seem unaccount- able unless mystically interpreted ; but many more as unaccountable unless literally. Were the Wine spiritual, for instance, how wash the Body with it when dead f 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 u trop Orientales " allusions and images "d'unesen- sualite quelquefois revoltante" indeed which "les convenances " do not permit him to translate ; but still which the reader cannot but refer to "La DiviniteV' 1 1 A Note to Quatrain 234 admits that, however clear the mystical meaning of such Images must be to Europeans, they are not quoted without "rougissant" even by laymen in Persia "Quant aiix termes de teiidresse qui commencent ce quatrain, comme taut d'autres dans ce recueil, nos lecteurs, habitues maintenaiit a I'etrangete des expressions si souvent employes par Klieyam pour rendre ses pensees sur 1'amour divin, et a la singularite des images THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. 15 No doubt also many of the Quatrains in the Teheran, as in the Calcutta, Copies, are spurious ; such EuMiydt 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 Christian familiar name) from all other Persian Poets: That, whereas with them the Poet is lost in his Song, the Man in ADegory and Abstraction ; we seem to have the Man the Bonhomme Omar himself, with all his Humours 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 conditions trop orientales, d'une sensualite quelqiiefois revoltante, n'auront pas de peine a se persuader qiril s'agit de la Divinite, bien que eette conviction soit vivement discutee par les moullahs musul- mans, et meme par beaucoup de laiqties, qni rougissent veritable- ment d'une pareille licence de leur compatriote a 1'egard des choses spirituelles." 10 OMAR KHAYYAM, Jelaluddin, Jami, Attar, and others sang ; using Wine and Beauty indeed as Images to illustrate, not as a Mask to hide, the Divinity they were celebrating. Per- haps 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 sensual 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 uncon- sciously 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-sac- rifice as this of the Sufi; and the burden of. Omar's Song if not "Let us eat " is assuredly " Let us drink, for To-morrow we die ! " And if Hafiz meant quite otherwise by a similar language, he surely mis- calculated 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 learned men, in favour of Omar's being a Sufi and even something of THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. 17 a Saint those who please may so interpret his Wine and Cnp-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. TOMB OF OMAR KHAYYAM, THE PERSIAN POET, AT NAISHAPUR. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM OF NA1SHAPUR. 20 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. AVAKE ! for Morning in the Bowl of Night Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo ! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light. II Dreaming, when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky, I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, "Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup " Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry." Ill And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern shouted " Open then the Door ! " You know how little while we have to stay, "And, once departed, may return no more." IV Now, the New Year reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 21 WAKE ! For the S^m who scattered into fligJit The Stars before him from the Field of Night, Drives Night along with them from Heavn, and strikes The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. II Before the phantom of False morning died, Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, " When all the Temple is prepared within, " Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside ? " A nd, as the Cock crew, those who stood before The Tavern sJiouted "Open then the Door ! " You know how little while we have to stay, "And, once departed, may return no more." IV Now the New Year reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the WHITE HAND OF MOSES on the ttoiigh Puts out, and Jesus from tlic ground suspires. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose, And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows ; But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields, And still a Garden by the Water blows. VI And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine High piping Pehlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine! "Red Wine !" the Nightingale cries to the Rose That yellow Cheek of her's to'incarnadine. VII Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter Garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly and Lo ! the Bird is on the Wing. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OP OMAR KHAYYAM. 23 Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose, And Jamshyd 's Sev'n-ringd Cup where no one knows, But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, A nd many a Garden by the Water blows. VI And David's lips are lockt ; but in divine High-piping Pehlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine! "Red Wine ! " the Nightingale cries to the Rose That sallow cheek of hers to incarnadine. VII Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring Your Winter- garment of Repentance fling : The Bird of Time has but a little way To flutter and the Bird is on the Wing. VIII Whether at Naishdpiir or Babylon, Whether tJie Cup with sweet or bitter run, The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. 26 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Editiou. XII " How sweet is mortal Sovranty ! " think some : Others " How blest the Paradise to come !" Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest ; Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum ! XIII Look to the Rose that blows about us " Lo, " Laughing," she says, " into the World I blow : "At once the silken Tassel of my Purse "Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." XIV The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashes or it prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face Lighting a little Hour or two is gone. XV And those who husbanded the Golden Grain, And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain, Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd As, buried once, Men want dug up again. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. XIII Some for the Glories of this World ; and some Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come; Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum ! XIV Look to the blowing Rose about us "Lo, " Laughing," she says, " into the world I blow, "At once the silken tassel of my Purse " Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." XV And those who husbanded the Golden grain, And those who filing it to the winds like Rain, Alike to no such aureate Earth are turrid As, buried once, Men want dug up again. XVI The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashes or it prospers ; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, Lighting a little hour or two was gone. 27 24 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Editioii. VIII And look a thousand Blossoms with the Day Woke and a thousand scatter'd into Clay: And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobad away. IX But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot : Let Rustum lay about him as he will, Or Hatim Tai cry Supper heed them not. x With me along some Strip of Herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown, Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known, And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne. XI Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness And Wilderness is Paradise enow. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OP OMAR KHAYYAM. 25 IX Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say ; Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday ? And this first Summer month that brings the Rose Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikobdd away. X Well, let it take them ! What have we to do With Kaikobdd the Great, or Kaikhosru ? Let Zdl and Rustum bluster as they will, Or Hdtim call to Supper heed not you. XI With me along the strip of Herbage strewn That just divides the desert from the sown, Wliere name of Slave and Sultan is forgot And Peace to MaJimud on his golden Throne ! XII A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 28 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XVI Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp Abode his Hour or two, and went his way. XVII They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts where Jamshy'd gloried and drank deep And Bahram, that great Hunter the Wild Ass Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep. XVI II I sometimes think that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled ; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head. XIX And this delightful Herb whose tender Green Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen ! Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT UP OMAR KHAYYAM. 29 XVII Think, in this batter d Caravanserai Whose Portals are alternate Nigtit and Day, How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp Abode his destind Hour, and went his way. XVIII They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts ivherc Jamshyd gloried and drank deep : And Bahrain, that great Hunter the Wild Ass Stamps oer his Head, but cannot break his Sleep. I sometimes tliink that never blows so red The Rose as where some buried Ccesar bled ; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. XX And this reviving Herb whose tender Green Fledges the River -Lip on which we lean Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who kuoivs From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen ! 30 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XX Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears To-morrow? Why, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years. XXI Lo ! some we loved, the loveliest and best That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest, Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to Rest. XXII And we, that now make merry in the Room They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth Descend, ourselves to make a Couch for whom ? XXIII Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the Dust descend ; Dust into -Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and sans End ! Fourth Edftiou. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 31 XXI Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears TO-DAY of past Regret and future Pears : To-morrow ! Why, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday's Sevn thousand Years. XXII For some ive loved, the loveliest and the best That from his Vintage rolling Time hath prest, Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to rest. XXIII And we that now make merry in the Room They left, and Summer dresses in neiv bloom, Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth Descend ourselves to make a Couch for whom? XXIV Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the Dust descend ; Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and sans End ! Xf 32 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. Firit Edition. XXIV Alike for those who for To- DAY prepare, And those that after a To-MORROW stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries " Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There ! " XXV Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. XXVI Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise To talk ; one thing is certain, that Life flies ; One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies ; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. XXVII Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument About it and about : but evermore Came out by the same Door as in I went. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 33 XXV Alike for those wiw for To-DAY /?r/wr, And those that after some To-MORROW stare A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, "Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There." XXVI Why, all the Saints and Sages ivho discuss 'd Of the two Worlds so wisely they are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn Are scattered, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. (See Stanza LXIII.) xxvn Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about : but evermore Came out by the same door tvhere in I went. 34 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XXVIII With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labour'd it to grow : And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd " I came like Water, and like Wind I go." XXIX Into this Universe, and why not knowing, Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing : And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing. XXX What, without asking, hither hurried zvhcncc ? And, without asking, whither hurried hence ! Another and another Cup to drown The Memory of this Impertinence! XXXI Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, And many Knots unravel'd by the Roacl ; But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate. ^ Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 35 XXVIII With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with mine own hand wrought to make it groiv ; And this was all the Harvest that I reaped " I 'came like Water, and like Wind I go." XXJX Into this Universe, and Why not knowing Xor Whence, like Water willy-nilly fiowing ; And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. xxx What, without asking, hither hurried Whence ? And, without asking, Whither hurried hence ! Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine Must drown the memory of that insolence ! XXXI Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, And many a Knot unravel d by the Road ; But not the Master-knot of Human Fate. 36 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XXXII There was a Door to which I found no Key : There was a Veil past which I could not see : Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE There seemed and then no more of THEE and ME. XXXIII Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried, Asking, " What Lamp had Destiny to guide " Her little Children stumbling in the Dark ? " And "A blind Understanding!" Heav'n replied. xxxiv Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn : And Lip to Lip it murmur'd "While you live " Drink ! for once dead you never shall return." Fourth Editiou. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 37 XXXII There was the Door to which I found no Key ; There was the Veil through which I might not sec : Some little talk awhile of ME and THEE There was and then no more of THEE and ME. XXXIII Earth could not answer ; nor the Seas that mourn In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn ; Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveal V/ And hidden by the sleeve of Night and J\Iorn. XXXIV Then of 'the THEE IN ME who works behind The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find A Lamp amid the Darkness ; and I heard, As from Without "THE ME WITHIN THEE BLIND!" xxxv Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn I leand, the Secret of my Life to learn : And Lip to Lip it murmur d " While yon live, "Drink ! for, once dead, you never shall return." 38 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XXXV I think the Vessel, that with fugitive Articulation answer'd, once did live, And merry-make ; and the cold "Lip I kiss'd How many Kisses might it take and give ! xxxvi For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day, I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay : And with its all obliterated Tongue It murmur'd "Gently, Brother, gently, pray!" XXXVII Ah, fill the Cup : what boots it to repeat How Time is slipping underneath o'ur Feet: Unborn To-MORROW, and dead YESTERDAY, Why fret about them if To-DAY be sweet ! Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 39 XX XVI I think the Vessel, that with fugitive Articulation ansiverd, once did live, And drink ; and All ! the passive Lip I kiss 1 d, How many Kisses might it take and give ! XXXVII For I remember stopping by the ivay To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay : And with its all-obliterated Tongue It murmur d "Gently, Brother, gently, pray /" (See Stanza LVII.) xxx vn I And has not such a Story from of Old Doivn Man's successive generations rolVd Of such a cloud of saturated Eartli Cast by the Maker into Human mould ? 40 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. (See Stanza xi.virj Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 41 XXXIX And not a drop that from our Cups ^ve throw For EartJi to drink of, but may steal below To quench t 'he fire of Anguish in some Eye There hidden far beneath, and long ago. XL As then the Tulip for her morning sup Of Heavnly Vintage from the soil looks up, Do you devoutly do the like, till Heavn To Eartli invert you like an empty Cup. XLI Perplext no more with Human or Divine, To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, And lose your fingers in the tresses of Tlie Cypress-slender Minister of Wine. XLII And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in wJiat All begins and ends in Yes ; Think then yon arc To- DAY what YESTERDAY You w'crc To- MORROW JYW shall not be less. 42 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. (See Stanza XLVUlJ [From Preface. Oh, if my soul can fling his Dust aside, And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, Is 't not a Shame, is 't not a Shame for Him So long in this Clay Suburb to abide ? Or is that but a Tent, where rests anon A Sultan to his Kingdom passing on, And which the swarthy Chamberlain shall strike Then when the Sultan rises to be gone ?] 7?v: Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 43 XL/// So when the A ngel of the darker Drink At last shall find yon by the river-brink, And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul Forth to your Lips to quaff you shall not shrink. XL1V Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside, A nd naked on the A ir of Heaven ride, Wert not a Shame wer't not a Shame for him In this clay carcase crippled to abide ? XLV ' T is but a Tent where takes his one day's rest A Sulttin to the realm of Deatli addrest ; The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrdsh Strikes, and prepares it for another^ Guest. XL VI And fear not lest Existence closing your Account, and mine, slwuld know the like no more ; The Eternal Sdki from that Bowl has pourd Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour. 44 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XXXVIII One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste The Stars are setting and the Caravan Starts for the Dawn of Nothing Oh, make haste Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 45 XL VII When You and I behind the Veil are past, Oh, but the long, long ivhile the World shall last, Which of our Coming and Departure heeds As the Sea s self should heed a pebble-cast. XL VIII A Moment's Halt a momentary taste Of BEING from the Well amid the Waste And Lo ! the phantom Caravan has rcacht The NOTHING it set out from Oh, make haste ! XLIX Would you that spangle of Existence spend About THE SECRET quick about it, Friend ! A Hair perhaps divides the False and True A nd upon what, prithee, does life depend ? A Hair perhaps divides the False and True ; Yes ; and a single Alif were the clue Could you but find it to the Treasure-house, And per adventure to THE MASTER too; 46 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XXXIX How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit Of This and That endeavour and dispute ? Better be merry with the fruitful Grape, Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 47 LI Whose secret Presence, through Creation s veins Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains ; Taking all shapes from Mdh to Mdhi ; and They change and perish all but He remains; LI I A moment guess d then back bcJiind tlic Fold Immerst of Darkness round the Drama rolVd Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold. LIII But if in vain, doivn on the stubborn floor Of Earth, and up to Hcavn's unopcning Door, You gaze TO-DAY, while You are You how then To-MORROW, You when shall be You no more? LIV Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit Of This and That endeavour and dispute ; Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 48 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XL You know, my Friends, how long since in my House For a new Marriage I did make Carouse : Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. XLI For " Is " and " Is-NOT " though with Rule and Line. And " UP-AND-DOWN " without, I could define, I yet in all I only cared to know, Was never deep in anything but Wine. (Sec Stanza xxxvuj XL! I And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder ; and He bid me taste of it ; and 't was the Grape ! Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 49 You knoiv, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse I made a Second Marriage in my house; Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. LVI For " Is " and " IS-NOT " though witJi Rule and Line, And " UP-AND-DOWN " by Logic I define, Of all that one should care to fathom, I Was never deep in anything but Wine. LVI I Ah, but my Computations, People say, Reduced the Year to better reckoning ? Nay, ~* T was only striking from the Calendar Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday. LVI II And lately, by the Tavern Door agape, Came shining throng JL the Dusk an Angel Shape Bearing a Vessel on his SJiouldcr ; and tic bid me taste of it ; and V was the Grape ! 50 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XLIII The Grape that can with Logic absolute The Tworand-Seventy jarring Sects confute : The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute. XLIV The mighty Mahmiid, the victorious Lord, That all the misbelieving and black Horde r Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword. XLV But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me The Quarrel of the Universe let be : And in some corner of the Hubbub coucht, Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 51 LIX The Grape that can ivith Logic absolute The Two-and- Seventy jarring Sects confute : The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice Lifes leaden metal into Gold transmute : LX The migJity MaJimud, Allah-breathing Lord, That all the misbelieving and black Horde Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. LXI Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare Blaspheme the tivistcd tendril as a Snare ? A Blessing, we should use it, should we not ? And if a Curse why, then, Who set it there ? /ul 52 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. (See Stanza XXVI.) Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 53 LXI1 I must abjtire the Balm of Life, I must, Scared by some After-reckoning taen on trust, Or lured witJi Hope of some Diviner Drink, To fill the Cup when crumbled into Dust ! LXIII Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise ! One tiling at least is certain This Life flies ; One thing is certain and the rest is Lies ; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. LXIV Strange, is it not ? that of the myriads who Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us of the Road, Which to discover ive must travel too. LXV The Revelations of Devout and Lcarrfd Who rose before us, and as Prophets bnrn'd, Arc all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep They told their comrades and to Sleep return' d. 54 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XLVI For in and out, above, about, below, 'T is nothing but a Magic Shadow- show, Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, Round which we Phantom Figures come and go. XLVI I And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in the Nothing all Things end in Yes Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what Thou shalt be Nothing Thou shalt not be less. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 55 LXV1 I sent my Soul throng Ji the Invisible, Some letter of that After- life to spell : And by and by my Soul return' d to me, And answer' d "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell : " LXVII Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill' d Desire, And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, So late cmcrg'd from, shall so soon expire. LXVII I We are no other than a moving row Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go Round witJi the Sun -illumin 'd Lantern held In Midnight by the Master of the Show ; (See Stanza XL//. ) 56 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. XLVIII While the Rose blows along the River Brink, With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink : And when the Angel with his darker Draught Draws up to Thee take that, and do not shrink. XLIX 'T is all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays : Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays. The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Right or Left, as strikes the Player, goes ; And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field, He knows about it all HE knows HE knows LI The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on : nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. Fourth. Editioii. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. U / (Sec Stanza XLIII.) LXIX But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days: Hither and tliitlicr moves, and cheeks, and slays, A nd one by one back in the Closet lays. The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, But Here or TJicrc as strikes the Player goes ; And He that toss'd you dozvn into the Field, ffe knows about it all HE knows HE knows ! LXXI The Moving Finger writes ; and, having writ, Moves on : nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 58 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. LI I And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die, Lift not thy hands to It for help for It Rolls impotently on as Thou or I. LIII With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead, And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed: Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. LIV I tell Thee this When starting from the Goal, Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung, In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 59 LXXII And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky, Whereunder crawling coofid we live and die, Lift not your hands to It for help for it As impotently moves as yon or I. LXXIII With Earths first Clay They did the Last Man knead, And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed : And the first Morning of Creation wrote What the Last Daivn of Reckoning shall read. LXXIV YESTERDAY This Day's Madness did prepare ; To-MoRROW's Silence, Triumph, or Despair: Drink ! for you knoiv not whence you came, nor why : Drink ! for you know not why you go, nor where. LXXV I tell you tJiis When, started from the Goal, Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal Of Hcavn Panvin and Mushtari they flung, In my predestined Plot of Dust and Soul iV 60 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. LV The Vine had struck a Fibre ; which about If clings my Being let the Sufi flout; Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key, That shall unlock the Door he howls without. LVI And this I know : whether the one True Light, Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 61 LXXVI The Vine had struck a fibre : which about If clings my Being let the DcrvisJi flout ; Of my Base metal may be filed a Key, That shall unlock the Door he howls without. LXXVII And this I know : whether the one True Light Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, One flasJi of It zuithin the Tavern caugJit Better than in the Temple lost outright. LXXVIH What ! out of senseless Nothing to provoke A conscious Something to resent the yoke Of unpcrmittcd Pleasure, under pain Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke ! LXXIX What ! from his helpless Creature be repaid Pure Gold for what lie lent him dross-allay d Sue for a Debt we never did contract, And cannot answer Oh the sorry trade ! 62 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. Firnt Edition. LVII. Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin Beset the Road I -was to wander in, Thou wilt not with Predestination round Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin ? LVIII Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make And who with Eden didst devise the Snake ; For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give and take! KUZA-NAMA. LIX LISTEN again. One Evening at the Close Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose, In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone With the clay Population round in Rows. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 63 LXXX Oil Than, wlw didst with pitfall and with gin Beset the Road I tvas to wander in, TJwu wilt not with Predestined Evil round Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin ! LXXXI Oil TJion, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And evn with Paradise devise the Snake : For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blackciid Man's forgiveness give and take ! LXXX1I As under cover of departing Day Slunk /lunger-stricken Ramazan away, Once more within the Potter s house alone I stood, surrounded by t/ie S/iapes of Clay. 'Vi * 64 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. LX And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot Some could articulate, while others not : And suddenly one more impatient cried "Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?" LXI Then said another "Surely not in vain " My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en, " That He who subtly wrought me into Shape "Should stamp me back to common Earth again." LXI I Another said "Why, ne'er a peevish Boy, " Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy ; " Shall He that made the Vessel in pure Love "And Fansy, in an after Rage destroy !" Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 65 (See Stanza Lxxxvii.) Lxxxin Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small, That stood along the floor and by the ivall ; And sonic loquacious vessels ivere ; and sonic Listened perhaps, but never talk'd at all. LXXXIV Said one among them "Surely not in vain My substance of the common Earth was ta'en And to this '^Figure moulded, to be broke, Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again. LXXXV Then said a Second "Ne'er a peevish Boy "Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy ; "And He that with his hand the Vessel made " Will surely not in after WratJi destroy.'' 1 66 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. LXIII None answer'd this ; but after Silence spake A Vessel of a more ungainly Make : " They sneer at me for leaning all awry ; " What ! did the Hand then of the Potter shake ? " (Sec Stanza Lxj LXIV Said one "Folks of a surly Tapster tell, "And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell ; " They talk of some strict Testing of us Pish ! " He 's a Good Fellow, and 't will all be well." LXV Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh, "My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry: " But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, " Methinks I might recover by-and-bye ! " Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 67 LXXXVI After a momentary silence spake Some Vessel of a more ungainly make : " They sneer at me for leaning all aivry : " What / did the Hand then of the Potter shake ?" LXXXVII Whereat sonic one of the loquacious Lot / think a Sufi pipkin waxing hot "All this of Pot and Potter Tell me then, " Who is the Potter, pray, and w/io the Pot ? " LXXXVIII "Why" said anotJicr, "Sonic there are who tell " Of one who threatens he will toss to If el I " 77ie luckless Pots he marrd in making Pish ! "He 's a Good Felloiv, and 't will all be well." LXXXIX "Well" murmur d one, "Let whoso make or buy, "My Clay zvith long Oblivion is gone dry: " But fill me with the old familiar Juice, "Met/links I might recover by and by." [y 68 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, One spied the little Crescent all were seeking : And then theyjogg'd each other, "Brother! Brother! " Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking! " LXVII Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, And wash my Body whence the Life has died, And in the Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt, So bury me by some sweet Garden-side. LXVII I That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air, As not a True Believer passing by But shall be overtaken unaware. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 69 XC So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, The little Moon look'd in that all were seeking : And then they jogg 1 d each other, "Brother! Brother! "Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking ! " XCI All, wit] i the Grape my fading Life provide, And wash the Body whence the Life has died, And lay me, shrouded in the' living Leaf, By some not unfrequented Garden-side. XCII That cv n my buried Ashes such a snare Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air As not a True-believer passing by But shall be overtaken unaware. 70 RUBAIYAT OF OMAE KHAYYAM. First Edition. LXIX Indeed the Idols I have loved so long Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong : Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup, And sold my Reputation for a Song. LXX Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore but was I sober when I swore? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. LXXI And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour well, I often wonder what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the Goods they sell. LXXII Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close ! The Nightingale that in the Branches sang, Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 71 XCIII Indeed the Idols I have loved so long Have done my credit in this World mucJi wrong: Have drown d my Glory in a sJiallow Cup, And sold my reputation for a Song. XCIV Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore but was I sober when I swore ? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand My thread- bare Penitence apiece s tore. XCV And much as Wine has play' d the Infidel, And robUd me of my Robe of Honour Well, I wonder often what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the stuff they sell. XCVI Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! That You t /is sweet-scented manuscript should close ! The Nightingale that in the branches sang, Ah iv hence, and whither flown again, who knows / 72 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. First Edition. LXXIII Ah Love ! could thou and I with Fate conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire ! Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. 73 xcvn Would but the Desert of the Fountain yield One glimpse if dimly, yet indeed, reveal d, To which the fainting Traveller might spring, As springs the trampled herbage of the field f XCVIII Would but some winged Angel ere too late Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, And make the stern Recorder otlicrivisc Enrcgistcr, or quite obliterate ! xcix All Love! could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's desire ! 74 RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. Firet Edition. LXXIV Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane, The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again : How oft hereafter rising shall she look Through this same Garden after me in vain ! LXXV And when Thyself with shining Foot shalt pass Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot Where I made one turn down an empty Glass TAMAiM SHUD. Fourth Edition. RUBAIYAT OP OMAR KHAYYAM. 75 Yon rising Moon that looks for ns again How oft hereafter ^v^ll she wax and ivane ; How oft hereafter rising look for ns Through this same Garden and for one /;/ vain ! Cl And when like her, oh Sdki, you shall pass Among the Guests Star-scatter 'd on the Grass, And in your joyous errand reach the spot Where I made One ////'// down an empty Glass ! TAMAM. ITOTES. [The references are, except in the first note only, to the stanzas of the Fourth edition.] (Stanza I.) Flinging a Stone into the Cup was the signal for " To Horse ! " in the Desert. (II.) The "False Dawn;" 1 " 1 SuWii Kdzib, a transient Light on the Horizon about an hour before the Sul>hi sddik or True Dawn ; a well-known Phenomenon in the East. (IV.) 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 Mohammedan Hijra) still commemorated by a Fes- tival 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 striking. 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 011 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 buds t Is, as in mockery, set Among the Plants newly appear'd I recognized some Acquaint- ances 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 NOTES. 77 yellow crest on the Banks of the Water-courses." The Night- ingale was not yet heard, for the Rose was not yet blown : but an almost identical Blackbird and Woodpecker helped to make up something of a North-country Spring. " The White Hand of Moses." Exodus iv. 6 ; where Moses draws forth his Hand not, according to the Persians, " leprous as Snow" but ivhite, as our May-blossom in Spring perhaps. According to them also the Healing Power of Jesus resided in his Breath. (V.) Irani, planted by King Shaddad, and now sunk some- where 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. (VI.) Pelilevi, the old Heroic Sanskrit of Persia. Hafiz also speaks of the Nightingale's Pehlevi, which did not change with the People's. I am not sure if the fourth line refers to the Red Rose look- ing sickly, or to the Yellow Rose that ought to be Red ; Red, White, and Yellow Roses all common'in Persia. I think that Southey in his Common-Place Book, quotes from some Span- ish author about the Rose being White till 10 o'clock ; " Rosa Perfecta " at 2 ; and " perfecta incarnada " at 5. (X.) Rustum, the " Hercules" of Persia, and Zal his Father, whose exploits are among the most celebrated in the Shahnama. Hatiin Tai, a well-known type of Oriental Generosity. (XIII.) A Drum beaten outside a Palace. (XIV.) That is, the Rose's Golden Centre. (XVIII.) Persepolis: call'd also Takht-i-JamsJiyd THE THRONE OF JAMSHYD, "King Splendid," of the mythical Pesli- dddian Dynasty, and supposed (according to the Shah-iiama) to have been 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. BAHRAM GUR. Bahmm of the Wild Ass a Sassanian Sovereign had also his Seven Castles (like the King of 78 NOTES. 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 transcend, and within which they revolve. The Ruins of Three of those Towers are yet shown by the Peasantry ; as also the Swamp in which Bahram sunk, like the Master of Ravenswood, while pursuing 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." [Included in Nicolas' s edition as No. 350 of the Rubdiyydt, and also in Mr. WJiin.fi eld's translation.] 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? Where?" 11 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. (XXI.) A thousand years to each Planet. (XXXI.) Satuni, Lord of the Seventh Heaven. (XXXII.) ME-AND-THEE : some dividual Existence or Personality distinct from the Whole. (XXXVII.) One of the Persian Poets Attar, I think - has a pretty story about this. A thirsty Traveller dips his NOTES. 79 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 Trav- eller takes it np 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 Avhich the Bowl is made was once Man ; and, into whatever shape renew'd, can never lose the bitter flavor of Mortality. (XXXIX.) 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'a la derniere goutte." Is it not more likely an ancient Superstition ; a Libation to propitiate Earth, or make her an Accomplice in the illicit Revel ? Or, perhaps, to divert the Jealous Eye by some sacrifice of super- fluity, as with the Ancients of the West 1 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 J ? " (XLIII.) According to one beautiful Oriental Legend, Azrael accomplishes his mission by holding to the nostril an Apple from the Tree of Life. This, and the two following Stanzas would have been with- drawn, as somewhat de trop, from the Text, but for advice which I least like to disregard. (LI.) From Mah to Mahi ; from Fish to Moon. (LVI.) A Jest, of coiirse, at his Studies. A curious mathe- matical Quatrain of Omar's has been pointed out to me ; the more curious because almost exactly parall'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 a pair of com- 80 NOTES. passes ; though we have two heads (sc. our feet) we have one body 5 when we have fixed the centre for our circle, we bring our heads (sc. feet) together at the end." Dr. Donne : If we be two, we two are so As stiff twin-conipasses 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 ray 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. (LIX.) The Seventy-two Religions supposed to divide the World, including Islamism, as some think : but others not. (LX.) Alluding to Sultan Mahmud's Conquest of India and its dark people. (LXVIII.) Funusi khiydl, 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. (LXX.) A very mysterious Line in the Original : danad danad danad breaking off something like our Wood-pigeon's Note, which she is said to take up just where she left off. (LXXV.) Parwin and Mushtari The Pleiads and Jupiter. (LXXXVII.) This Relation of Pot and Potter to Man and his Maker figures far and wide in the Literature of the World, NOTES. 81 from the time of the Hebrew Prophets to the present ; when it may finally take the name of "Pot theism," 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 sen- tence I found in l Bishop Pearson on the Creed ' ? ' Thus are we wholly at the disposal of His will, and our present and future condition framed and ordered by His free, but wise and just, decrees. Hath not tlie 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 omnipotent 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 Vespa?, which I had quite forgotten. 1.1435 Karf]Yp ?- Tr: , voov Sv si/s? icXeiova. " The Pot calls a bystander to be a witness to his bad treat- ment. The woman says, ' If, by Proserpine, instead of all this 'testifying' (comp. Cuddie and his mother in i Old Mor- tality ! ') you would buy yourself a rivet, it would show more sense in you!' The Scholiast explains echinus as YY? T: *" A 82 NOTES. One more illustration for the oddity's sake from the " Auto- biography of a Cornish Rector," by the late James Hamley Tregenna. 1871. " There was one odd Fellow in our Company he was so like a Figure in the ' Pilgrim's Progress ' that Richard always called him the 'ALLEGORY,' with a long white beard a rare Appendage in those days and a Face the colour of which seemed to have been baked in, like the Faces one used to see on Earthenware Jugs. In our Country-dialect Earth- enware is called 'dome'; so the Boys of the Village used to shout out after him ' Go back to the Potter, Old Clome- face, and get baked over again.' For the 'Allegory,' though shrewd enough in most things, had the reputation of being ' saift-baked^ i. e., of weak intellect." (XC.) At the Close of the Fasting Month, Ramazan (which makes the Mussulman 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 the 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!" FINIS. 3* NOTES BY THE EDITOR, GIVING REFERENCES FROM FITZGERALD'S RUBAIYYAT TO THE ORIGI- NALS AS PUBLISHED BY NICOLAS, PARIS, 1867, AXD MR. WHIN- FIELD'S ENGLISH VERSION PRINTED IN 1882; WITH OCCASIONAL LITERAL RENDERINGS IN THE FORM AND METRE OF THE ORIGINALS. The Roman numerals on the left refer to quatrains of the Rubaiyyat as published in the Fourth edition. The Arabic figures in the tlrst column on the right refer to the Rubaiyyat as numbered in the Paris edition. The Arabic figures of the last column refer to Whinfield's translation. (F.) (N.) (W. i. This rubffiy is not, in either of its forms, found in Nicolas or in Whinfield. II. The first in the Persian text of Nicolas 1 Absent The following is a nearly exact rendering, both of the sense and the metre Out from our inn, one morn, a voice came roaring " Up ! Sots, scamps, and madmen ! quit your heavy snoring ! Up ! Come pour we out a measure full of wine, and drink ! Ere yet the measure's brimmed for us they 're pouring up ! " I. and ii. can be compared with N. 255, W. 158 ; which may be rendered thus Lo ! the dawn breaks, and the curtain of night is torn Up! swallow thy morning cup Why seem to mourn? Drink wine, my heart ! for the dawns will come and come Still facing to us when our faces to earthward turn ! 84 NOTES BY THE EDITOR. (F.) . (N.) (W.) in. Not in the Persian, nor in Whinfield. iv 186 109 " The thoughtful soul to solitude retires " is the only interpolation. v. Not in the Persian, nor in Whinfield. VI. Partly original ; partly agreeing with 153 94 vil. Not found in the Persian, nor in Whinfield. vni 105 73 Life fleets Why care we then be it sweet or bitter ? At Balkh or at Naishiipvir that the soul shall flitter? Drink wine ! for when we are gone, the Moon shall ever Continue to wax and wane, to pale and slitter! ix. Seems compounded of two Persian stanzas, < Compounded of three stanzas < 413 234 (448 247 82 in the original is In the Springtime, biding with one who is houri-fair, And a flask of wine, if 't is to be had somewhere On the tillage's grassy skirt Alack! though most May think it a sin, I feel that my heaven is there ! NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 85 (F.) (N.) (\V.) 413 in the original A flask of red wine, and a volume of sons, together ; Half ;i loaf, just enough the ravage of Want to tether: Such is my wish then, tliou in the waste with me ! Oh! sweeter were this than a monarch's crown and feather! (A parallel is also found in No. 146 of the Persian, which runs thus He who doth here below but half a loaf possess, Who for his own can claim some sheltering nook's recess, He who to none is either lord or thrall Go! tell him he enjoys the world's full happiness!) xui. Compounded of two stanzas, the first of which ^ 61 is not in the printed text c 92 43 The Persian of N. 92, may be rendered thus I know not if He who kiiea-dcd my clay to man Belong to the host of Heaven or the Hellish' clan ; A life mid the meadows, with Woman, and Music, and Wine, Heaven's cash is to me: let Heaven's credit thy fancy trepan! xiv. Not found in the Persian of Nicolas 189 xv. 156 95 This is very beautiful in Fitzgerald. The exact rendering of the Persian is Darling, ere sorrow thy nightly couch enfold again, Bid wine be brought, red sparkling as of old, again ! And (Jiou, weak fool! think not that thou art gold: When buried, none will dig thee up from the mould again ! xvi. Not found in the Persian or in Whinfield. xvn 67 34 This old inn call'd the world, that man shelters his head in, (Pied curtains of Dawn and of Dusk o'er it spreading:) 'T is the banqueting-hall many Jamshids have quitted, The couch munv Bahrams have found their last bed in! 86 NOTES BY THE EDITOR. (F.) (N.) (W.) xviii 69 35 Here, where Bahrain oft brimmed his glorious chalice, Deers breed and lions sleep in the ruined palace; Like the wild ass he lassoed, the great Hunter Lies in the snare of Death's wild Huntsman callous ! xix. Not in Nicolas' Persian text 58 xx 59 31 The verdure that you rivulet's bank arraying is, "The down on an angel's lip," in homely saying, is O tread not thereon disdainfully ! - it springeth From the dust of some tulip-cheek that there decaying is ! xxi 269 167 Let not the morrow make thee, friend, down-hearted ! Draw profit of the day yet undeparted : We '11 join, when we to-morrow leave this mansion, The band seven thousand years ago that started ! xxii. A very beautiful stanza which I do not find in the Persian. xxni 348 205 The wheel of Heaven thy death and mine is bringing, friend'. Over our lives a deadly spell 't is flinging, friend! Come, sit upon this turf, for little time is left Ere fresher turf shall from our dust be springing, friend ! xxiv. Complementary to the sense of xxni, with an addition not in the Persian, xxv 337 198 Myriad minds a-busy sects and creeds to learn, The Doubtful from the Sure all puzzled to discern : Suddenly from the Dark the crier raised a cry "Not this, nor Uiat, ye fools! the path that ye must turn!" How delicately and skilfully Fitzgerald turns the Persian expression literally into a common Eng- lish phrase, "neither here nor there,'' to which V (P.) (N.) xxvin. Not in Nicolas xxix. i Paraphrased from the original (not in xxx. I Nicolas) of There is a hint of it in N. 42 and in W. 12, which corresponds to N. 22. This last may be ren- dered This life is tout three days' space, and it speeds apace, Like wind that sweeps away o'er the desert's face : So long as it lasts, two days ne'er trouble my mind, The daj' undawned, and the day that has run its race. Neither in Nicolas XXXI. XXXII XXXIH. A fine stanza ; not in N. or in W. xxxiv. Not in N. or W. xxxv. Not in the Persian text of Nicolas. 87 (W.) NOTES BY THE EDITOR. he lends new force and effect ! Instead of " from the dark, the Crier," Whinfield has "from behind the veil a Voice," while Fitzgerald ex- presses it in a fine paraphrase, " A Muezzin from the tower of Darkness." xxvi. Evidently from a Persian source which I cannot identify. It resembles N. 120, W. 82, which correspond to the following The learned, the cream of mankind, who have driven Intellect's chariot over the heights of heaven Void and o'ertunied, like that blue sky they trace, Are dazed, when they to measure Thee have striven ! xxvii 225 143 Forth, like a hawk, from Mystery's world I fly, Seeking escape to win from the Low to the High : Arriving, when none I find who the secret knows, Out through the door I go that I entered by ! 185 64 161 203 149 88 NOTES BY THE EDITOR. (F.) (N.) (\V.) A similar thought is contained in N. 389, W. 223 Sprung from the Four, and the Seven ! I see that never The Four and the Seven respond to thy brain's endeavour Drink wine ! for I tell thee, four times o'er and more, Return there is none ! Once gone, thou art gone for ever ! (The four elements and the seven heavens from which man derives his essence.) xxxvi. Perhaps suggested by N. 28, W. 17. XXXVII. xxxvili. Perhaps suggested by N. 119. xxxix. .211 137 XLII. XLIII. XLIV. XLV. 188 110 40 (294 ? 359 Partly altered from 49 28 Not in Nicolas 139 Not in Nicolas 218 . 80 37 A very fine and sufficiently close rendering, but the final " prepares it for another guest " con- tains an idea which confuses the relations be- tween the body and the soul. This is closer Thy body 's a tent, where the Soul, like a King in quest Of the goal of Nought, is a momentary guest; He arises; Death's far rush uproots the tent, And the King moves on to another stage to rest. 137 319 90 190 XL, vii. Not found in the original. XLVIII. Ditto. Perhaps suggested by N. 80 and N. 214. The latter (214) may be rendered Up ! smooth-faced boy, the daybreak shines for thee : Brimm'd with red wine let the crystal goblet be ! For this hour is lent thee in the House of Dust : Another thou may'st seek, but ne'er slialt see! NOTES BY THE EDITOR. (F.) XLIX., L., LI. Not found. These three and the pre- ceding one are probably founded on N. 365 and N. 214 blended. 89 (N.) (W.) LII. LIII. LIV. LV. 443 . 49 244 28 Not found. .181 106 A double-sized beaker to measure my wine I '11 take; Two doses to fill up my settled design I '11 take; With the first, I '11 divorce me from Faith and from Reason quite, With the next, a new bride in the Child of the Vine I '11 take ! This is a conceit derived from the Mohammedan law of divorce. Similar imagery is used in N. 259. LVI. Not found. Perhaps suggested from the same source as xxxv. LVII. Not found. Derived from N. 22, which is noticed under xxix-xxx. LVIII 329 A tolerably close paraphrase of the Persian icord-s, but conveying a totally different sense. LIX. 179 105 Only the last line differs to any considerable de- gree, and Fitzgerald has in it replaced the original with a superior idea. LX. LXI. LXII. LXIII. LXIV. Not found. Suggested by the conceits of cash and credit (i. e.j enjoyment of to-day, put in opposi- tion to ascetic holiness which waits for joy in the next world), which recur frequently in the Persian. Not found. 90 NOTES BY THE EDITOE. (F.) LXV. (N.) 464 (W.) 116 Is not so good as the original, which is the last stanza of the Persian text as given by Nicolas. Those who were paragons of Worth and Ken, Whose greatness torchlike lights their fellow men, Out of this night profound no path have traced for us ; They 've babbled dreams, then fall'n to sleep again ! LXVI. Not found. LXVII. Altered from 90 41 LXVIII. Improved from the Persian 267 165 This vault of Heaven at which we gaze astounded, May by a painted lantern be expounded : The light 's the Sun, the lantern is the World, And We the figures whirling dazed around it ! LXIX 231 148 But puppets are we in Fate's puppet-show No figure of speech is this, but in truth 't is so ! On the draughtboard of Life we are shuffled to and fro. Then one by one to the box of Nothing go! LXX. Not in Nicolas 104 LXXI 216 140 Since life has, love ! no true reality, Why let its coil of cares a trouble be? Yield thee to Fate, whatever of pain it bring: The Pen will never unwrite its writ for thee! LXXII 95 45 LXXIII. ^ < 216 140 LXXIV. V Derived from < 85 40 LXXV. ) (110 77 LXXVI. Not found. LXXVII. Altered considerably from 222 142 In the tavern, better with Thee my soul I share Than in the mosque, without Thee, uttering prayer O Thou, the First and Last of all that is! Or doom Thou me to burn, or choose to spare. NOTES BY THE EDITOR. (F.) 99 190 ^268 91 (W.) 46 111 390 N. 99 is as follows : When the Supreme my body made of clay, He well foreknew the part that I should play : Not without His ordainment have I Binned! Why would He then I burn at Judgment-day? N. 380 contains a similar idea, and has perhaps furnished suggestion for LXXIX : The wayward caprices my life that have tinted All spring from the mould on my Being imprinted : Nought else and nought better my nature conld be I am as I came from the crucible minted ! LXXXI. Partly from the same sources as LXXVIII- LXXX, and partly from .................. 375 But the original does not contain the idea of " Man's forgiveness give and take ! " N. 375 may be rendered thus : Woe ! that life's work should be so vain and hollow : Sin in each breath and in the food we swallow! Black is my face that what was Bid, undone is: If done the Unbidden, ah ! what then must follow ? Contain in greater diffuseness the exact idea of.. ..243 156 To a potter's shop, yestreen, I did repair; Two thousand dumb or chattering pots were there. All turned to me, and asked with speech distinct: "Who is 't that makes, that buys, that sells our ware?" 38 Suggested by several of the rnl>dii/>/dt. 92 NOTES BY THE EDITOK. (P.) (N.) (W.) LXXKIX. J 290 185 1 1 15 Wlieu Fate, at lier foot, a broken wreck shall fling me, And when Fate's hand, a poor plucked fowl shall wring me ; Beware, of my clay, aught else than a bowl to make, That the scent of the wine new life in time may bring me! XC. XCI. Not in the original. Let wine, gay comrades, be the food I 'in fed upon ; These amber cheeks its ruby light be shed upon! Wash me in 't, when I die; and let the trees Of my vineyard yield the bier that I lie dead upon! 109 76 Not in the original. .463 115 Siiice the Moon and the Star of Eve first shone on high, Nought has been known with ruby Wine could vie: Strange, that the vintners should in traffic deal! Better than what they sell, what could they buy? 128 80 Ah ! that young Life should close its volume bright away ! Mirth's springtime green, that it should pass from sight away ! Ah! for the Bird of Joy whose name is Youth: We know not when she came, nor when took flight away ! xcvu. Not found in the original. xcvin. > Suggested by N. 216, 340, 457 ; W. 140, ' xcix. $ 200, 251. N. 340 may be rendered thus : If I like God o'er Heaven's high fate could reign. I 'd sweep away the present Heaven's domain, And from its ruins such a new one build That an honest heart its wish could aye attain! N. 457 is as follows : I would God were this whole world's scheme renewing, And now! at once! that I might see it doing! That either from His roll my name were cancelled, Or luckier days for me from Heaven accruing! NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 93 (F.) (N.) (W.) c. $82 ' i 94 8 is as follows : Since none can bo our surety for to-morrow, Sweeten, my love, thy heart to-day from sorrow : Drink wine, fair Moon, in wine-light, for the moon Will come again, and miss us, many a morrow ! 94. The moon cleaves the skirt of the night then, oh! drink \Viiie! For never again will moment like this be thine. Be gay ! and remember that many and many a moon Oil the surface of earth again and again will shine! ci. . . 192 112 Appoint ye a tryst, happy comrades, anon! And when as your revel in gladness comes on The Saki takes goblet in hand, oh ! remember, And bless, while you drink, the poor fellow that 's gone ! The following may be added, as characteristic of the spirit of Omar Khayyam : N. 2. Thou ! chosen one from earth's full muster-roll to me ! Dearer than my two eyes, than even my soul to me ! Though nothing than life more precious we esteem, Yet dearer art thou, niy love, a hundred-fold to me ! N. 4. Nothing but pain and wretchedness we earn in This world that for a moment we sojourn in : We go! no problem solved alas! discerning; Myriad regrets within our bosoms burning '. N. 5. O master ! grant us only this, we prithee : Preach not! but (lurribly guide to bliss, we prithee! " \Yc walk not straight ?" Xay, it is thou who s([uintest ! Go, heal thy eight, and leave us in peace, we prithee : 94 NOTES BY THE EDITOR. N. 6. Hither ! coine hither, love ! my heart doth need thee ; Come, and expound a riddle f will read thee. The earthen jar bring too, and let us drink, love ! Ere, turned to clay, to earthenware they knead thee! N. 7. Wash nit; when dead in the juice of the vine, dear friends ! Let your funeral service be drinking and wine, dear friends ! And if you would meet me again when the Doomsday comes, . Search the dust of the tavern, and sift from it mine, dear friends ! N. 13. Howe'er with beauty's hue and bloom eudow'd I be, Of tulip-cheek and cypress-form though proud I be ; Yet know I not why the Limner chose that, here, in this Mint-house of clay, amid the painted crowd I be ! N. 57. Unworthy of Hell, unfit for Heaven, I be God knows what clay He used when He moulded me! Foul as a punk, ungodly as a monk, No faith, no world, no hope of Heaven I see ! N. 88. Wicked, men call me ever; yet blameless 1! Think how it is, ye Saints ! My life, ye cry, Breaks all Heaven's laws Good lack! I have no sin, That needs reproach, save wenching and drink! then, why? N. 388. Oh! Thou hast shattered to bits my jar of wine, my Lord! Thou hast shut me out from the gladness that was mine, my Lord ! Thou hast spilt and scattered my wine upon the clay O dust in my mouth ! if the drunkness be not Thine, my Lord ! According to the testimony of an old MS., according to M. Nicolas, the third line of this stanza ought to run thus : "7 drink the wine; 'tis Tliou who feel'st its power" SALAMAN AND ABSAL. TRANSLATED FROM THE PERSIAN OF JAML NOTICE OF JAMIS LIFE. Drawn from Rosenzweig's " Biographische Notizen" of the Poet. NURUDDIN ABDURRAHMAN, Son of Maulana Nizani- uddin Ahmad, and descended on the Mother's side from One of the Four great " FATHERS " of Islamism, was born A. H. 817, A. D. 1414, in Jam, a little Town of Khorasan, whither his Grandfather had removed from Desht of Ispahan and from which the Poet ultimately took his Takhallns, or Poetic name, JAMI. The word also signifies "A Cup;" wherefore, he says, u Born in Jam, and dipt in the "Jam" of Holy Lore, for a double reason I must be called JAMI in the Book of Song." ] He was celebrated afterwards in other Oriental Titles "Lord of Poets" "Elephant of Wisdom," &c., but latterly liked to call himself " The Ancient of Herat," where he mainly resided, and eventually died. When Five Years old he received the name of Niir- uddin the " Light of Faith," and even so early began to show the Metal, and take the Stamp that distin- 1 He elsewhere plays upon his name, imploring God that he may be accepted as a Cup to pass about that Spiritual Wine of which the Persian Mystical Poets make so much. 98 NOTICE OF JAMl'S LIFE. guished him through Life. In 1419, a famous Sheikh, Khwajah Mohammad Parsa, then in the last Year of his Life, was being carried through Jam. "I was not then Five Years old/' says Jami, " and my Father, who with his Friends went forth to salute him, had me car- ried on the Shoulders of one of the Family and set down before the Litter of the Sheikh, who gave a Nosegay into my hand. Sixty Years have passed, and methinks I now see before me the bright Image of the Holy Man, and feel the Blessing of his Aspect, from which I date my after Devotion to that Brotherhood in which I hope to be enrolled." So again, when Maulana Fakhruddin Loristani had alighted at his Mother's house "I was then so little that he set me upon his Knee, and, with his Fingers drawing the Letters of 'All' and 'OMAR' in the Air, laughed with delight to hear me spell them. He also by his Goodness sowed in my Heart the Seed of his Devotion, which has grown to Increase within me in which I hope to live, and in which to die. Oh God ! Dervish let me live, and Dervish die ; and in the Com- pany of the Dervish do Thou quicken me to life again ! " Jami first went to a School at Herat ; and afterward to one founded by the Great Tinmr at Samarcand. There he not only outstript his Fellow-students in the very Encyclopedic Studies of Persian Education, but even puzzled his Doctors in Logic, Astronomy, and Theology ; who, however, with unresenting Gravity I5T NOTICE OF JAMI'S LIFE. 99 welcomed him " Lo ! a new Light added to our Gal- axy ! " And among them in the wider Field of Samar- cand he might have liked to remain, had not a dream recalled him to Herat. A Vision of the Great Sufi Master there, Mohammad Saaduddin Kashghari, ap- peared to him in his Sleep, and bade him return to One who would satisfy all Desire. Jami returned to Herat ; he saw the Sheikh discoursing with his Disciples by the Door of the Great Mosque ; day after day passed him by without daring to present himself; but the Master's Eye was upon him; day by day drew him nearer and nearer till at last the Sheikh announces to those about him " Lo ! this Day have I taken a Falcon in my Snare ! " Under him Jami began his Sufi Noviciate, with such Devotion, both to Study and Master, that going, he tells us, but for one Summer Holiday into the Country, a single Line sufficed to "lure the Tassel-gentle back again ; " " Lo ! here am I, and Thou look's! on the Kose ! " By-and-by he withdrew, by due course of Sufi In- struction, into Solitude so long and profound, that on his return to Men he had almost lost the Power of Con- verse with them. At last, when duly taught, and duly authorised to teach as Sufi Doctor, he yet would not take upon himself so to do, though solicited by those who had seen such a Vision of him as had drawn him- self to Herat ; and not till the Evening of his Life was 100 NOTICE OF JAMl'S LIFE. he to be seen taking that place by the Mosque which his departed Master had been used to occupy before. Meanwhile he had become Poet, which no doubt winged his Reputation and Doctrine far and wide through a People so susceptible of poetic impulse. " A Thousand times/' he says, " I have repented of such Employment ; but I could no more shirk it than one can shirk what the Pen of Fate has written on his Forehead'' "As a Poet I have resounded through the World; Heaven filled itself with my Song, and the Bride of Time adorned her Ears and Neck with the Pearls of my Verse, whose coming Caravan the Per- sian Hafiz and Saadi came forth gladly to salute, and the Indian Khosru and Hasan hailed as a Wonder of the World." u The Kings of India and Rum greet me by Letter : the Lords of Irak and Tabriz load me with (lifts ; and what shall I say of those of Khorasan, who drown me in an Ocean of Munificence?" This, though Oriental, is scarcely bombast. Jami was honoured by Princes at home and abroad, at the very time they were cutting one another's Throats ; by his own Sultan Abii Said ; by Hasan Beg of Mesopo- tamia "Lord of Tabriz" by whom Abu Said was defeated, dethroned, and slain ; by Mohammad II. of Turkey "King of Rum" who in his turn defeated Hasan ; and lastly by Husein Mirza Baikara, who somehow made away with the Prince whom Hasan had set up in Abu Said's Place at Herat. Such is the house that Jack builds in Persia. Lf NOTICE OF JAMl'S LIFE. 101 As Hasan Beg, however the USUNCASSAN of old European Annals is singularly connected with the present Poem, and with probably the most important event in Jami's Life, I will briefly follow the Steps that led to that as well as other Princely Intercourse. In A. H. 877, A. D. 1472, Jami set off on his Pilgrimage to Mecca, as every True Believer who could afford it was expected once in his Life to do. He, and, on his Account, the Caravan he went with, were honourably and safely escorted through the interjacent Countries by order of their several Potentates as far as Baghdad. There Jami fell into trouble by the Treachery of a Fol- lower whom he had reproved, and who misquoted his Verse into disparagement of ALI, the Darling Imam of Persia. This, getting wind at Baghdad, was there brought to solemn Tribunal. Jami came victoriously off; his Accuser was pilloried with a dockt Beard in Baghdad Market-place : but the Poet was so ill-pleased with the stupidity of those who had believed the Report, that, in an after Poem, he called for a Cup of Wine to seal up Lips of whose Utterance the Men of Baghdad were unworthy. After four months' stay there, during which he visited at Helleh the Tomb of Ali's Son Husein, who had fallen at Kerbela, he set forth again to Najaf, (where he says his Camel sprang forward at sight of Ali's own Tomb) crossed the Desert in twenty-two days, continually meditating on the Prophet's Glory, to Medina ; and so at last to MECCA, where, as he sang in 102 NOTICE OF JAMl'S LIFE. a Ghazal, he went through all Mohammedan Ceremony with a Mystical Understanding of his Own. He then turned Homeward : was entertained for forty-five days at Damascus, which he left the very Day before the Turkish Mohammad's Envoys came with 5000 Ducats to carry him to Constantinople. On arriving at Amida, the Capital of Mesopotamia, he found War broken out and in full Flame between that Sultan and Hasan Beg, King of the Country, who caused Jami to be honourably escorted through the dangerous Roads to Tabriz ; there received him in full Divan, and would fain have him abide at his Court awhile. Jami, however, was intent on Home, and once more seeing his aged Mother for lie was turned of Sixty and at last reached Herat in the Month of Shaaban, 1473, after the Average Year's Absence. This is the HASAN, "in Name and Nature Handsome" (and so described by some Venetian Ambassadors of the Time), who was Father of YACUB BEG, to whom Jami dedicated the following Poem ; and who, after the due murder of an Elder Brother, succeeded to the Throne ; till aU the Dynasties of " Black and White Sheep " together were swept away a few years after by Ismail, Founder of the Sofi Dynasty in Persia. Arrived at home, Jami found Husein Mirza Baikara, last of the Timuridae, seated on the Throne there, and ready to receive him with open Arms. Nizamuddin AH Shir, Husein's Vizir, a Poet too, had hailed in Verse the Poet's Advent from Damascus as ''The Moon rising NOTICE OF JAMl'S LIFE. 103 in the West;" and they both continued affectionately to honour him as long as he lived. Jami sickened of his mortal Illness on the 13th of Moharrem, 1492 a Sunday. His Pulse began to fail on the following Friday, after the Hour of Morning- Prayer, and stopped at the very moment when the Muezzin began to call to Evening. He had lived Eighty-one Years. Sultan Husein undertook the pompous Burial of one whose Glory it was to have lived and died in Dervish Poverty; the Dignitaries of the Kingdom followed him to the Grave ; where twenty days afterward was recited in presence of the Sultan and his Court an Eulogy composed by the Vizir, who also laid the first Stone of a Monument to his Friend's Memory the first Stone of " Turbat-i Jami," in the Street of Meshhed, a principal Thoro'fare of the City of Herat. For, says Bosenzweig, it must be kept in mind that Jami was reverenced not only as a Poet and Philosopher, but as a Saint also ; who not only might work a Miracle himself, but leave such a Power linger- ing about his Tomb. It was known that an Arab, who had falsely accused him of selling a Camel he knew to be unsound, died very shortly after, as Jami had pre- dicted, and on the very selfsame spot w r here the Camel fell. And that libellous Bogue at Baghdad he, put- ting his hand into his Horse's Nose-bag to see if the beast had finisht his Corn, had his Forefinger bitten off by the same from which " Verstiimmlung " he soon died I suppose, as he ought, of Lock-jaw. 104 NOTICE OF JAMl'S LIFE. The Persians, who are adepts at much elegant Inge- nuity, are fond of commemorating Events by some analogous Word or Sentence whose Letters, cabalisti- cally corresponding to certain Numbers, compose the Date required. In Jami's case they have hit upon the word " KAS," A Cup, whose signification brings his own name to Memory, and whose relative letters make up his 81 years. They have Tdrikhs also for remember- ing the Year of his Death : Rosenzweig gives some ; but Ouseley the prettiest of all : Dud az Khorasan bar amed " The smoke " of Sighs " went up from Khorasan." No Biographer, says Rosenzweig cautiously, records of Jami's having more than one Wife (Granddaughter of his Master Sheikh) and Four Sons ; which, however, are Five too many for the Doctrine of this Poem. Of the Sons, Three died Infant ; and the Fourth (born to him in very old Age), and for whom he wrote some Elementary Tracts, and the more famous ^Beharistan," lived but a few years, and was remembered by his Father in the Preface to his Kliiradnama-i Iskauder Alexander's Wisdom-book which perhaps had also been begun for the Boy's Instruction. He had likewise a nephew, one Maulaiia Abdullah, who was ambitious of following his Uncle's Footsteps in Poetry. Jami first dissuaded him 5 then, by way of trial whether he had a Talent as well as a Taste, bade him imitate Firdusi's Satire on Shah Mahmud. The Nephew did so NOTICE OF JAMl'S LIFE. 105 well, that Jami then encouraged him to proceed ; himself wrote the first Couplet of his first (and most celebrated) Poem Laila and Majnun This Book of which the Pen has now laid the Foundation, May the diploma of Acceptance one day befall it, and Abdullah went on to write that and four other Poems which Persia continues to delight in to the present day, remembering their Author under his Takh- allus of HATIFI " The Voice from Heaven " the Last of the classic Poets of Persia. Of Jami's literary Offspring, Rosenzweig numbers forty-four. But Shir Khan Ludi in his "Memoirs of the Poets," says Ouseley, accounts him Author of Ninety-nine Volumes of Grammar, Poetry, and Theol- ogy, which, he says, " continue to be universally ad- mired in all parts of the Eastern World, Iran, Turan, and Hindustan" copied, some of them, into precious Manuscripts, illuminated with Gold and Painting, by the greatest Penmen and Artists of the time ; one such the "Beharistan" said to have cost some thousands of pounds autographed as their own by two Sover- eign Descendants of TIMUR ; and now reposited away from u the Drums and Tramplings" of Oriental Con- quest in the tranquil seclusion of an English library. With us, his Name is almost wholly associated with his "Yusuf and Zulaikha;" the "Beharistan" aforesaid: and this present " Salaman and Absal," which he tells us is like to be the last product of his Old Age. And of ^c r r&&m&ns, SALAMA^ AXD ABSAL. PRELIMINARY INVOCATION. OH Thou, whose Spirit through this universe In which Thou dost involve thyself diffused, Shall so perchance irradiate human clay That men, suddenly dazzled, lose themselves In ecstasy before a mortal shrine Whose Light is but a Shade of the Divine ; Not till thy Secret Beauty through the cheek Of LAILA smite doth she inflame MAJNUN ; ] And not till Thou have kindled SHIRIN'S Eyes The hearts of those two Rivals swell with blood. For Lov'd and Lover are not but by Thee, Nor Beauty; mortal Beauty but the veil Thy Heavenly hides behind, and from itself Feeds, and our hearts yearn after as a Bride 1 \Yell-known Types of Eastern Lovers. SIU'RIN and her Suitor figure on page 143. 110 SALAMAN AND ABSAL. That glances past us veil'd but ever so That none the veil from what it hides may know. How long wilt thou continue thus the World To cozen 1 with the fantom of a veil From which thou only peepest ? I would be Thy LoVer, and thine only I, mine eyes Seal'd in the light of Thee to all but Thee, Yea, in the revelation of Thyself Lost to Myself, and all that Self is not Within the Double world that is but One. Thou lurkest under all the forms of Thought, Under the form of all Created things ; Look where I may, still nothing I discern But Thee throughout this Universe, wherein Thyself Thou dost reflect, and through those eyes Of him whom MAN thou madest, scrutinise. To thy Harim DivlDUALlTY No entrance finds no word of THIS and THAT ; Do Thou my separate and derived Self Make one with thy Essential ! Leave me room On that Divan which leaves no room for Twain ; Lest, like the simple Arab in the tale, I grow perplext, oh God! 'twixt " ME " and " TllKE; " If/ this Spirit that inspires me whence? If 77/or then what this sensual Impotence ? 1 The Persian Mystics also represent the Deity dicing with Human Destiny behind the Curtain. 725 SALAMAN AND ABSAL. Ill From the solitary Desert Up to Baghdad came a simple Arab ; there amid the rout Grew bewildered of the countless People, hither, thither, running, Coming, going, meeting, parting, Clamour, clatter, and confusion, All about him and about. Travel- wearied, hubbub-dizzy, Would the simple Arab fain Get to sleep "But then, on waking, "How" quoth he, "amid so many " Waking know Myself again ? " So, to make the matter certain, Strung a gourd about his ancle. And, into a corner creeping, Baghdad and Himself and People Soon were blotted from his brain. But one that heard him and divin'd His purpose, slily crept behind; From the Sleeper's ancle slipping, Round his own the pumpkin tied, And laid him do^vn to sleep beside. By and by the Arab waking Looks directly for his Signal Sees it on another's Ancle Cries aloud, "Oh Good-for-nothing 112 SALAMAN AND ABSAL. "Rascal to perplex me so .' "That by you I am bewildered, " Whether I be I or no ! "If I the Pumpkin why on You ? "If You then Where am 7, and WHO ? " AND yet, how long, O Jami, stringing Verse, Pearl after pearl, on that old Harp of thine ? Year after year attuning some new Song, The breath of some old Story? 1 Life is gone, And that last song is not the last ; my Soul Is spent and still a Story to be told ! And I, whose back is crooked as the Harp I still keep tuning through the Night till Day ! That Harp untun'd by Time the harper's hand Shaking with Age how shall the harper's hand Repair its cunning, and the sweet old harp Be modulated as of old ? Methinks 'Twere time to break and cast it in the fire ; The vain old harp, that, breathing from its strings No music more to charm the ears of men, May, from its scented ashes, as it burns, Breathe resignation to the Harper's soul, Now that his body looks to dissolution. My teeth fall out my two eyes see no more 1 " Yusuf and Zulaikha," " Laila and Majmin," &c. & SALAMAN AND ABSAL. 113 Till by Feringhi glasses turn'd to four; 1 Pain sits with me sitting behind my knees, From which I hardly rise unhelpt of hand ; I bow down to my root, and like a Child Yearn as is likely, to my Mother Earth, Upon whose bosom, I shall cease to weep, And on my Mother's bosom fall asleep. 2 The House in ruin, and its music heard No more within, nor at the door of speech, Better in silence and oblivion To fold me head and foot, remembering What THE VOICE whisper'd in the Master's 8 ear " No longer think of Rhyme, but think of ME ! " Of WHOM ? Of HIM whose Palace the SOUL is. And Treasure-house who notices and knows Its income and out-going, and then comes To fill it when the Stranger is departed. Yea; but whose Shadow being Earthly Kings, Their Attributes, their Wrath and Favour, His, Lo ! in the meditation of His glory, The SHAH 4 whose subject upon Earth I am, As he of Heaven's, comes on me unaware, l First notice of Spectacles in Oriental Poetry, perhaps. y The same Figure is found in Chaucer's "Pardoner's Tale," and, I think, in other Western poems of that era. :i Jelaluddin Author of the " Mesnavi." 4 YAKUB BEG : to whose protection Jami owed a Song of gratitude. A 'TV 114 SALAMAN AND ABSAL. And suddenly arrests me for his due. Therefore for one last travel, and as brief As may become the feeble breath of Age, My weary pen once more drinks of the well, Whence, of the Mortal writing, I may read Anticipation of the Invisible. One who travel 'd in the Desert Saw MAJNUN where he was sitting All alone like a Magician Tracing Letters in the sand. "Oh distracted Lover ! writing " What the Sword-wind of the Desert "UndecipJicrs so' that no one "After you shall understand.'" MAJNUN answered "I am writing "Only for myself, and only " ' LAILA,' If for ever ' LAILA ' " Writing in that Word a Volume, "Over wl licit for ever poring, "From her very Name I sip "In Fancy, till I drink, her Lip." SALAMAN AND ABSAL. 115 THE STORY. PART I. A SHAH there was who ruled the realm of Yun, 1 And wore the Ring of Empire of Sikander ; And in his reign A SAGE, of such report For Insight reaching quite beyond the Veil, That Wise men from all quarters of the World, To catch the jewel falling from his lips Out of the secret treasure as he went, Went in a girdle round him. Which the SHAH Observing, took him to his secrecy ; Stirr'd not a step, nor set design afoot, Without the Prophet's sanction ; till, so counsel'd, From Kaf to Kaf 2 reach'd his Dominion: No People, and no Prince that over them The ring of Empire wore, but under his Bow'd down in Battle ; rising then in Peace Under his Justice grew, secure from wrong, And in their strength was his Dominion strong. The SHAH that has not Wisdom in himself, Nor has a Wise one for his Counsellor. l Or " YAVAX," Son of Japhet, from whom the Country was called " YUXAX," IOXIA, meant by the Persians to express GREECE gen- erally. Sikander is, of course, Alexander the Great. - The Fabulous Mountain supposed by Asiatics to surround the World, binding the Horizon on all sides. 116 SALAMAN AND ABSAL. The wand of his Authority falls short, And his Dominion crumbles at the base. For he, discerning not the characters Of Tyranny and Justice, confounds both, Making the World a desert, and Redress A fantom-water of the Wilderness. God said to the Prophet David ''David, whom I have exalted ''From the sheep to be my People 's "Shepherd, by your Justice my ''Revelation justify. "Lest the misbelieving yea, "The Fire -adoring, Princes rather "Be my Prophets, vv ho fulfill, "Knowing not my Word, my WILL." ONE night the SHAH of Yiinan as he sate Contemplating his measureless extent Of Empire, and the glory wherewithal, As with a garment robed, he ruled alone ; Then found he nothing wanted to his heart Unless a Son, who, while he lived, might share, And, after him, his robe of Empire wear. And then he turned him to THE SAGE, and said: SALAMAX AND ABSAL. 117 " O Darling of the soul of IFLATUN ; l " To whom with all his school ARISTO bows ; " Yea, thou that an ELEVENTH to the TEN " INTELLIGENCES addest: Thou hast read "The yet unutter'd secret of my Heart, " Answer Of all that man desires of God " Is any blessing greater than a Son ? " Man's prime Desire : by whom his name and he " Shall live beyond himself; by whom his eyes " Shine living, and his dust with roses blows. " A Foot for thee to stand on, and an Arm " To lean by ; sharp in battle as a sword ; " Salt of the banquet-table; and a tower " Of salutary counsel in Divan ; " One in whose youth a Father shall prolong " His years, and in his strength continue strong." When the shrewd SAGE had heard THE SHAH'S discourse In commendation of a Son, he said : "Thus much of a Good Son, whose wholesome growth "Approves the root he grew from. But for one " Kneaded of Ei