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 RUBAIYAT 
 
 OF 
 
 OMAR KHAYYAM. 
 
 THE ASTRONOMER.POET OF PERSIA. 
 
 CvaitsilatctJ into (Qn^liii) Wtvie. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 BEENAED QUAEITCH, 
 
 CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE, 
 
 1859. 
 
Facsimile of the First Fdition of FitzGeraltV s 
 Ruh'aiyat of Omar Khayyam 
 
 One Spring day in 1856 Edward B. Cowell discovered in 
 the Bodleian library at Oxford a manuscript containing 158 
 quatrains of Omar Khayyam which he transcribed and sent to 
 his friend and pupil Kdward FitzGerald. Later Cowell sent 
 him from India a transcript of the so-called Calcutta manu- 
 script. In 1857 FitzGerald completed his first draft of the poem 
 and in January, 1858, sent it to Fraser's Magazine. After many 
 months, in January, 1859, FitzGerald recovered his neglected 
 manuscript and made a re-draft of the poem, which he printed 
 privately in an edition of 250 copies, most of which he gave 
 to (Juaritch, who had ill success in disposing of them, and 
 the remainder were sold from a clearance box at a penny 
 each. 
 
 Since the appearance of this modest book more than two 
 million copies have been sold in over two hundred editions, 
 and it has been translated into almost all the tongues of 
 modern Europe, as well as into Greek and Latin. 
 
 A soiled and penciled copy of the rare original would 
 readily bring $.300, while an uncut copy is priicUis. 
 
 This facsimile is made from the fine copy owned by 
 Charles Dana Burrage, to whose interest and courtesy 
 Omarians owe so much. 
 
RUBAIYAT 
 
 OF 
 
 OMAR KHAYYAM, 
 
 THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. 
 
 CvaiTgtatftI into eEngltdj ^tvie. 
 
 LONDON: 
 BERNAED QUARITCH, 
 
 CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE. 
 1859. 
 
a NORXAJ*. riivrrm, maidin lAxr, covkct cmdc«, iojcdok. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM, I A|A) 
 
 THE 
 
 ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. 
 
 Omar KiiaytaM was born at Naishapiir in Khorassda 
 ill the latter half of our Eleventh, and died within the First 
 Quarter of our Twelfth, Century, The slender Story of his 
 Life is curiously twined about that of two others very consi- 
 derable Figures in their Time and Country : one of them, 
 Hasan al Sabbdh, whose very Name has lengthen'd down to 
 us as a terrible Synonym for Murder : and the other (who 
 also tells the Story of all Three) Nizam al Mulk, Vizyr to 
 Alp the Lion and Malik Shah, Son and Grandson of Tog- 
 hrul Beg the Tartar, who had wrested Persia from the fee- 
 ble Successor of Mahmiid the Great, and founded that Sel- 
 jukian Dynasty which finally roused Europe into the Cru- 
 sades. This Nizam al Mulk, in his Wasyat — or Testament 
 — which he wrote and left as a Memorial for future States- 
 men — relates the following, as quoted in the Calcutta Review, 
 No. 59, from Mirkhond's History of the Assassins. 
 A 2 
 
 301377 
 
tV OMAR KH\VY\M, 
 
 " ' One of the greatest of tbe wise men of Khorassan was 
 
 * the Imam Mowaflak of Naishapur, a man highly honoured 
 
 * and reverenced, — may God rejoice his soul; his illustrious 
 ' years exceeded eighty-live, and it was the universal belief 
 
 * that every boy who read the Koran or studied the tradi- 
 ' tions in his presence, would assuredly attain to honour and 
 ' happiness. For this cause did my father send me from 
 
 * Tus to Xaishapur with Abd-u-samad, the doctor of law, 
 
 * that I might employ myself in study and learning under 
 ' the guidance of that illustrious teacher. Towards me he 
 ' ever turned an eye of favour and kindness, and as his pupil 
 ' I felt for him extreme affection and devotion, so that I 
 ' passed four years in his service. "When I Grat came there, 
 ' I found two other pupils of mine own age newly arrived, 
 
 * llakim Omar Khayyam, and the ill-fated Ben Sabbiih. 
 ' Both were endowed with sharpness of wit and the highest 
 ' natural powers ; and we three formed a close friendship 
 ' together. When the Imam rose from his lectures, they 
 ' used to join me, and we repeated to each other the lessons 
 ' we had heard. Now Omar was a native of Naishapur, 
 ' while Hasan Bon Sabbah's father was one Ali, a man of 
 ' austere life and practice, but heretical in his creed and 
 
 * doctrine. One day llasan said to me and to Khayyam, ' It 
 
 * is a universal belief that the pupils of the Im;im MowatVak 
 
 * will attain to fortune. Now, even if we all do not attain 
 ' thereto, without doubt one of us will ; what then shall be 
 
 * our mutual pledge and bond ?' "We answered ' Be it 
 ' what you please.' • AVell,' he said, * let us make a vow, 
 
 * that to whomsoever this fortune falls, he shall share it 
 
 * fijually witli the ro.-.t, and reserve no pre-eminence for him- 
 
TUE ASTEONOMER-POET OF PEUSIA. V 
 
 ' self.' ' Be it so,' we both replied, and on these terms we 
 ' mutually pledged our words. Tears rolled on, and I went 
 ' from Khorassan to Transoxiana, and wandered to Ghazni 
 
 * and Cabul; and when I returned, I was invested witli 
 
 * office, and rose to be administrator of affairs during the 
 
 * Sultanate of Sultan Alp Arslan.' " 
 
 " He goes on to state, that years passed by, and both his 
 old school-friends found him out, and came and claimed a 
 share in his good fortune, according to the school-day vow. 
 The Vizier was generous and kept his word. Hasan de- 
 manded a place in the government, which the Sultan granted 
 at the Vizier's request ; but discontented with a gradual 
 rise, he plunged into the maze of intrigue of an oriental 
 court, and, failing in a base attempt to supplant his bene- 
 factor, he was disgraced and fell. After many mishaps and 
 wanderings, Hasan became the head of the Persian sect of 
 the Ismailians, — a party of fanatics who had long murmured 
 in obscurity, but rose to an evil eminence under the guidance 
 of his strong and evil will. In A, B, 1090, he seized the 
 castle of Alamut, in the province of Eiidbar, which lies in 
 the mountainous tract, south of the Caspian sea ; and it was 
 from this mountain home he obtained that evil celebrity 
 among the Crusaders as the OLD MAN OF THE MOUN- 
 TAINS, and s])read terror through the Mohammedan world ; 
 and it is yet disputed whether the word Assassin, which 
 they have left in the language of modern Europe as their 
 dark memorial, is derived from the hashish, or opiate of 
 hemp-leaves (the Indian hhang,) with which they maddened 
 themselves to the sullen pitch of oriental desperation, or from 
 the name of the founder of the dynasty, whom wc have seen 
 
VI OM-vn kiiayyam, 
 
 in his quiet collegiate days, at Xaishapur. One of the count- 
 less victims of the Assassin's dagger was ^'izam-ul-Mulk 
 himself, the old school-boy friend." 
 
 " Omar Khayyam also came to the Vizier to claim his 
 share ; but not to ask for title or office. * The great<?st boon 
 ' you can confer on me,' he said, * is to let me live in a 
 ' corner under the shadow of your fortune, to spread wide 
 
 * the advantages of Science, and pray for your long life and 
 
 * prosperity.' The Vizier tells us, that, when he found 
 Omar was really sincere in his refusal, he pressed him no 
 further, but granted him a yearly pension of 1,200 mithkdU 
 of gold, from the treasury of Naishapur." 
 
 " At Naishapur thus Lived and died Omar Khayyam, 
 ' busied,' adds the Vizier, * in winning knowledge of every 
 ' kind, and especially in Astronomy, wherein he attained to a 
 
 * ver}' high pre-eminence. Under the Sultanate of Malik 
 
 * Shah, he came to Merv, and obtained great praise for his 
 ' proficiency in science, and the Sultan showered favours 
 ' upon him.' " 
 
 *' "When Malik Shah determined to reform the calendar, 
 Omar was one of the eight learned men employed to do it ; 
 the result was the Jal&U era, (so called from Jalal-ul-din, 
 one of the king's names,) — *a computation of time,' says 
 Gibbon, * which surpasses the Julian, and approaches the 
 
 * accuracy of the Gregorian style.' He is also the author 
 of some astronomical tables, entitled Ziji-Malikshahi," and 
 the French have lately republished and translated an Arabic 
 Treatise of his on Algebra. 
 
 These severer Studies, and his Verses, which, though hap- 
 pily fewer than any Persian Poet's, and, though perhaps 
 
THE ASTEOKOMEE-POET OF PEESIA. vii 
 
 fugitively composed, the Eesult of no fugitive Emotion or 
 Thought, are probably the AYork and Event of his Life, 
 leaving httle else to record. Perhaps he liked a little Farm- 
 ing too, so often as he speaks of the "Edge of the Tilth" 
 on v?hich he loved to rest with his Diwan of Verse, his Loaf 
 — and his Wine. 
 
 " His Takhallus or poetical name (Khayyam) signifies a 
 Tent-maker, and he is said to have at one time exercised 
 that trade, perhaps before Nizam-nl-Mulk's generosity raised 
 him to independence. Many Persian poets similarly derive 
 their names from their occupations ; thus we have Attar, " a 
 druggist," Assar, " an oil presser," &c. (Though all these, 
 like our Smiths, Archers, Millers, Fletchers, &c. may simply 
 retain the Sirname of an hereditary calling.) " Omar him- 
 self alludes to his name in the following whimsical lines : — 
 
 ' Khaj-y^m, who stitched the tents of science, 
 Has fallen in griefs furnace and been suddenly burned ; 
 The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life, 
 And the broker of Hope has sold him for nothing !' 
 
 " We have only one more anecdote to give of his Life, and 
 that relates to the close ; related in the anonymous preface 
 which is sometimes prefixed to his poems ; it has been printed 
 in the Persian in the appendix to Hyde's Veterum Persarii/m 
 ^eUgio, p. 499 ; and D'Herbelot alludes to it in his Biblio- 
 theque, under Kliiam : — * 
 
 * Though he attributes the story to a Khiam, " Philosophe Musulman 
 qui avecu en Odeur de Saintete dans la Fin du premier et le Commence- 
 ment du second Siecle," no part of which, except the "Philosophe," can 
 apply to our Khayyam, who, however, may claim the Story as his, on the 
 
Vm OMAR KHAYYAM, 
 
 ' It 13 written in the chronicles of the ancients that this 
 ' King of the Wise, Omar Khayyam, died at Naishapur in 
 ' the year of the llegira, 517 ( A,D. 1123) ; in science he was 
 
 * unrivalled, — the very paragon of his age. Khwajah Nizdmi 
 ' of ^jarnarcand, who was one of bis pupils, relates the follow- 
 ' ing story : * I often used to hold conversations with uiy 
 
 * teacher, Omar Khayyam, in a garden ; and one day he said 
 
 * to me, ' my tomb shall be in a spot, where the north wind 
 ' may scatter roses over it.' I wondered at the words he 
 ' spake, but I knew that his were no idle words. Years after, 
 
 * when I chanced to revisit Naishapur, I went to his final 
 ' resting place, and lo ! it was just outside a garden, and trees 
 
 * ladeu wirh fruit stretched their boughs over the garden 
 ' wall, and dropped their flowers upon his tomb, so as the 
 ' stone was hidden under them.' " 
 
 Thus far — without fear of Trespass — from the Calcutta 
 Review. 
 
 Though the Sultan" showcr'd Favours upon him," Omar's 
 Epicurean Audacity of Thought and Speech caused him to 
 be regarded askance in his own Time and Country. Jle is 
 said to have been especially hated and dreaded by the Sufis, 
 whose Practice he ridiculed, and whose Faith amounts to 
 little more than his own when stript of the Mysticism aud 
 formal Compliment to Islamism which Omar would not 
 hide under. Their Pucts, including liafiz, who are (with 
 
 Sore of Hubuiyiit, 77 and 78 of ibc present Version. The I\a»)inc5s 
 of the Wonls, accordinj; to D'llcrbilot, consisted in biing wj op- 
 fwsed to those in tlie Koniu : "No Man knows where be shall 
 d.c.- 
 
THE ASTliOyoMEK-POET OF PERSIA. \K 
 
 the exception of FirJiisi) the most considerable m Persia, 
 borrowed largely, indeed, of Omar's material, bat turning 
 it to a mystieal Use more convenient to Themselves 
 and the People they address'd ; a People quite as quiok 
 of Doubt as of Belief; quite as keen of the Bodily Senses as 
 of the Intellectual; and delighting in a cloudy Element com- 
 pounded of all, in which they could float luxuriously bet«-een 
 Heaven and Earth, and this World and the Next, on the w ings 
 of a poetical expression, that could be recited indifferently 
 whether at the Mosque or the Tavern. Omar was too 
 honest of Heart as well as of Head for this. Having failed 
 (however mistakenly) of finding any Providence but Destiny, 
 and any World but This, he set about making the most of it ; 
 preferring rather to soothe the Soul through the Senses into 
 Acquiescence with Things as they were, than to perplex it 
 with vain mortifications after what they might he. It has 
 been seen that his Worldly Desires, however, -were not exor- 
 bitant ; and he very likely takes a humourous pleasure in 
 exaggerating them above that Intellect in whose exercise he 
 must have found great pleasure, though not in a Theological 
 direction. However this may be, his Worldly Pleasures are 
 what they profess to be without any Pretence at divine Alle. 
 gory: his AVine is the veritable Juice of the Grape: his 
 Tavem,. where it was to be had: his Saki, the Flesh and 
 Blood that poured it out for him : all which, ai)d where the 
 Eoses were in Bloom, was all he profcss'd to waut of tliis 
 World or to expect of Paradise. 
 
 The Mathematic Faculty, too, which regulated his Faiisy, 
 and condensed his Verse to a Quality and Quantity un- 
 known in Persian, perhaps in Oriental, Poetry, hclp'd 
 
X OMAR KllAVTvM, 
 
 by its very virtue perhaps to render him less popular with 
 his countrymen. If the Greeks were Children in Gossip, 
 what does Persian Literature imply but a Second Childi^hncst 
 of Garrulity ? And certainly if no ungeometric Greek was 
 to enter Plato's School of Philosophy, no so unchastised a 
 Persian should enter on the Race of Persian Verse, with its 
 " fatal Facility " of running on long after Thought is winded ! 
 But Omar was not only the single Mathematician of his 
 Country's Poets; he was also of that older Time and stouter 
 Temper, before the native Soul of Persia was quite broke by 
 a foreign Creed as well as foreign Conquest. Like his great 
 Predecessor Firdusi, who was as little of a Mystic; who 
 scorned to use even a TTordof the xerx language in which the 
 New Faith came clothed ; and who was suspected, not of 
 Omar's Irreligion indeed, but of secretly clinging to the 
 ancient Fire-Religion of Zerdusht, of which so many of the 
 Kings he sang were Worshippers. 
 
 Por whatever Reason, however, Omar, as before said, has 
 never been popular in his own Country, and therefore has 
 been but charily transmitted abroad. The ^ISS. of hia 
 Poems, mutilated beyond the average Casualties of Oriental 
 Transcription, are so rare in the East as scarce to have 
 reacl;t "Westward at all, in spite of all that Arms and Science 
 have brought us. There is none at the India House, none 
 at the IJibliotheque Imperi;ile of Paris. We know but of one 
 in England; No. 140 of the Ouscley MSS. at the Bodleian, 
 written at Shiraz, a.d. IIGO. This contains but 15S Ra- 
 biiiyat. One in the Asiatic Society's Librarj- of Calcutta, 
 (of which we have a Copy) contains (and yet incomplete) 
 olG, though swcIJcd to that by all kinds of Repetition and 
 
THE ASTRONOMER-rOET OF PERSIA. XI 
 
 Corruptiou. So Von Hammer speaks of Ida Copy as coutaiu- 
 ing about 200, while Dr. Sprenger catalogues the Lucknow^ 
 MS. at double that Number. The Scribes, too, of the Oxford 
 and Calcutta MSS. seem to do their "Workunder a sort of 
 Protest ; each beginning ^vith a Tetrastich (wliether genuine 
 or not) taken out of its alphabetic order ; the Oxford with 
 one of Apology ; the Calcutta with one of Execration, too 
 stupid for Omar's, even had Omar been stupid enough to 
 execrate himself.* 
 
 The Reviewer, who translates the foregoing Particulars of 
 Omar's Life, and some of his Verse into Prose, concludes 
 bycomparing him with Lucretius, both in natural Temper and 
 Genius, and as acted upon by the Circumstances in which he 
 lived. Both indeed men of subtle Intellect and high Imagi- 
 nation, instructed in Learning beyond their day, and of Hearts 
 passionate for Truth and Justice ; who justly revolted from 
 their Country's false Religion, and false, or foolish, Devotion 
 to it ; but who yet fell short of replacing what they subverted 
 by any such better Hojpe as ot]iers,upon whom no better Faith 
 had dawned, had yet made a Law to themselves. Lucretius, 
 indeed, with such material as Epicurus furnished, consoled 
 himself with the construction of a Machine that needed no 
 Constructor, and acting by a Law that implied no Lawgiver; 
 and so composing himself into a Stoical rather than Epicu- 
 rean severity of Attitude, sat down to contemplate the me- 
 chanical Drama of the Universe of which he was part Actor ; 
 
 * " Since this Paper was writtea" (adds the Reviewer in a note) " we 
 have met with a Coj^y of a very rare Edition, printed at Calcutta in 1836. 
 This contains 438 Tetrastichs, with an Appendix containing 54 others 
 not found in some MSS." 
 
Ill OMAB KUAVYaM, 
 
 himself and all about hini, (as in his own sublime Description 
 of the Roman Theatre,) coloured with the lurid reflex of the 
 Curtain that was suspended between them and the outer 
 Sun. Omar, more desperate, or more careless, of any such 
 laborious System as resulted in nothing uiure than hopeless 
 Necessity, flung his own Genius and Learning with a bitter 
 jest into the general Ruin which their insufficient glimpses 
 only served to reveal ; and, yielding his Senses to the actual 
 Rose and ^'ine, only diverted his thoughts by balancing ideal 
 possibilities of Fate, Freewill, Existence and Annihilation ; 
 with an oscillation that so generally inclined to the negati\e 
 and lower side, as to make such Stanzas as the following ex- 
 ceptions to his general Philosophy— 
 
 Oh. if my Soul can fling his Ehist aside. 
 And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 
 
 Is't not a Shiuuc, is't not a Shanic fur Ilim 
 So long in ihia 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? 
 
 Witli regard to the present Translation. The original 
 Kubdiviit (as, inissLng an Arabic Guttural, these Tetrastich* 
 are more musically called), are independent Stanzas, con- 
 Histing each of four Lines of equal, though varied, Prosody, 
 Komotimes all rhyming, but oftener (as here attempted) 
 the third line suspending the Cadence by which the last 
 atones with the former Two. Something as in the Greek 
 Alcaic, where the tliinl line seems to lift .ind suspend the 
 
THE A-STEONOMER-rOET OF PERSIA. XIU 
 
 Wave that falls over in the last. As usual with such kind of 
 Oriental Verse, the Rubaiyat follow one another according 
 to Alpliabetic Rhyme — a strange Farrago 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. For Lucretian as Omar's Genius might be, 
 he cross' d that darker Mood with much of Oliver de Basselin 
 Humour. Any way, the Result is sad enough : saddest per- 
 liaps when most ostentatiously merry : any way, fitter to 
 move Sorrow than Anger toward the old Tentmaker, who, 
 after vainly endeavouring to unshackle his Steps from Des- 
 tiny, and to catch some authentic Glimpse of Tomorrow, 
 fell back upon Today (which has out-lasted so many To- 
 morrows !) as the only Ground he got to stand upon, how- 
 ever momentarily slipping from under his Feet. 
 
2 RUDAIYAT OF 
 
 IV. 
 
 Now the New Year ^> reviving old Desires, 
 The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires. 
 
 Where the "NVniTE Hand of Moses on tlie Bough 
 Puts out/ and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 
 
 Irum indeed is gone with all its Rosc,"^ 
 
 And Jamshyd's Se\-'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows 
 
 But still the Vine heryineient Ruby yields. 
 And still a Garden by the Water blows. 
 
 VI. 
 
 And David's Lips arc lock't ; but in divine 
 
 High piping Pcldevi/- with "Wine ! AViue I Wine ! 
 
 " Jlcd Wine !" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
 That yellow Check " of her's to'incarnadinc. 
 
 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 I the Bird is on the Wing. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 And look — a thousand Blossoms with the Day 
 Woke — and a thousand scattcr'd into Clay : 
 
 And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose 
 Shall take Jamshvd and Kaikobad awav. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHAPUR. 
 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. 
 
 " How sweet is mortal Sovranty \" — think some ; 
 Others — " How blest the Paradise to come I" 
 
 Ah, take the Cash in hand and wave 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 tho silken Tassel of my Purse 
 " Tear, and its Treasure ^° on the Garden throw.' 
 
4 riiiaiyat of 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
 Turns Ashes — or it prospers ; and anon, 
 
 Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face 
 Lij^htJiin*:^ a little Hour or two — is gone. 
 
 XV. 
 
 And those who husbanded the Golden Grain, 
 And those who flung it to the Winds like Kaln, 
 
 Alike to no sucli aureate Eartli are turn'd 
 As^ buried once, Men want dug up again. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Think, in this battcr'd Caravanserai 
 
 AN'hose 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 Janishyd gloried and drank deep : '^ 
 
 And Bahrain, that great Hunter — the "Wild Ass 
 Stamps o'er liis Head, and he lies fast asleep. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 I sometimes think that never blows so red 
 Tlie Rose as where some buried Ciesar bled ; 
 
 That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
 I>ropt in if-s Lap from some once lovely Head. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHAPUR. 
 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 ! 
 
 Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
 To-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears — 
 
 To-morroxo ? — Why, To-morrow I may be 
 Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.^2 
 
 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 ? 
 
 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 ! 
 
nun\iv.\T OK 
 
 > 
 
 Alike for tliosc wlio for To- day prepare. 
 And those tliat after n To-morrow stare, 
 
 A Mue/.ziii from tlic Tower of Darkness crie<? 
 " Fools ! your Reward is tjcitlicr Here nor Tiicre !" 
 
 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 arc stopt with Dust. 
 
 xwi. 
 Oh, come with oUl Khayyam, and leave the Wise 
 To talk ; one thing is certain, that Life Hies; 
 One thing is certain, and the Ke^t is Lies ; 
 The riowcr that once has blown for e\er dies. 
 
 XXVJl. 
 
 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 1 went. 
 
 X\\ III. 
 
 With them the Seed of Wisdom did 1 sow, 
 And \\ith my own liand labour'd it to grow : 
 
 And this was all the Har\est that I reap'd — 
 '■ 1 came like Water, and like Wind I -o'' 
 
OJIAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHaPUR. 
 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 whence ? 
 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 Eoad ; 
 But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate. 
 
 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.^'' 
 
 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. 
 
8 UUBAIYAT OF 
 
 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 I — for once dead vou never shall return." 
 
 I think the Vessel, that with furtive 
 Articulation answcr'd, once did live, 
 
 And raerr}'-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, 
 1 watch'd tlic Potter thumping his wet Clay : 
 
 And with its all obliterated Tongue 
 It nuirnuir'd — " Gently, Brother, gently, pray I" 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 A Ah, fdl the Cup :— what boots it to repeat 
 How Time is slipping underneath our Feet : 
 
 Unborn To-mokrow, and dead Yesterday, 
 Why fret about them if To- day be sweet ! 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 One ^Vfoment in Annihilation's Waste, 
 
 One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste — 
 
 The Stars arc setting and the Caravan 
 Starts for the Dawn of Nothing""- Oh, make liasle ! 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHAPUR. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 XL I. 
 
 For " is" and " Is-not" though ivith 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. 
 
 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 'twas— the Grape ! 
 
 The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
 The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects ^' confute 
 
 The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice 
 Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute. 
 
10 RIUAIYAT OF 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 The miglity Mabmud, the victorious Lord, 
 That all the misbelieving and black Horde''' 
 Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
 Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with nic 
 The Quarrel of the Universe let be : 
 
 And, in some corner of the Ilubljub couclit, 
 Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee. 
 
 XLV I. 
 
 For in and out, above, about, below, 
 'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, 
 
 IMay'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, 
 ]{ound which wc Phantom I'igurcs come and go.'* 
 
 XI.VII. 
 
 And if the ^\ iue you drink, the Lip you press, 
 lind 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. 
 
 XI.Vlll. 
 
 While the Rose blows along the River Brink, 
 ^^ itli old Khayyam the Ruby ^ intagc drink : 
 
 And when the Angel with his darker Pranglit 
 Hraws iij) to Thee — take that, and do not shrink. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHAPUR. 11 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 'Tis 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. 
 
 L. 
 
 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 !~o 
 
 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. 
 
 A And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, 
 Whereuiider 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 Plan's knead, 
 And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed : 
 
 Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote 
 AVhat the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 
 
12 IlLfBAlYAT OF 
 
 LIV. 
 
 1 tell Thcc this — When, .starting from the Goal, 
 Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal 
 
 Of Hcav'n Panvin and Mushtara they flimg, -^ 
 In my predcstiu'd Plot of Dust aud Soul 
 
 LV. 
 
 The Vine had struck a Fibre ; which about 
 If clings my Being— let the Siiti flout ; 
 
 Of ray Base Metal may be filed a Key, 
 That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 
 
 L\ I. 
 
 And this I know : whether the one True Light, 
 Kindle to Love, or Wrathconsun;c me quite. 
 
 One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught 
 Better than in the Temple lost outright. 
 
 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 ? 
 
 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 ' 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHAPUR. 13 
 
 KUZA-NAMA. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 ? " 
 
 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." 
 
 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 !'' 
 
14 RUBAIYAT OF 
 
 LMII. 
 
 None answcr'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 ' 
 
 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 1 
 *' He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill 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, 
 'Olcthinks I might recover by-and-byc I'' 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 So while the A'essels one by one were speaking, 
 One spied the little Crescent all were seeking : 
 
 And then they jogg'd each other, " Brother I Brother 
 *' Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking I'' 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHAPUR. 15 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 Ali_, with the Grape my fading Life provide, 
 And wash my Body whence the Life has died, 
 And in a Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt, 
 So bury me by some sweet Garden-side. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 Tliat 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. 
 
 Lideed the Idols I have loved so long 
 
 Have done my Credit in Men^s Eye much wrong : 
 
 Have drownM my Honour in a shallow Cup, 
 And sold my Reputation for a Song. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
 I swore— but Avas I sober when I swore? 
 
 And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
 Mj 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. 
 
^G RUBAIYAT. 
 
 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 I 
 
 I.XXIIl. 
 
 Ah Love I could thou and I with Fate conspire 
 To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
 Would not wc shatter it to bits — and then 
 Kc-mould it nearer to tlie Heart's Desire ! 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane. 
 The Moon of Hcav'n is rising once again : 
 
 How oft liereafter rising shall she look 
 Through this same Garden after me — in vain ! 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass 
 Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 
 
 And in tliy joyous Errand reach the Spot 
 AN'hcre I made one — turn down an empty Glass I 
 
 TAMAM SHLD. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 • Flinging a Stone Into the Cup was the Signal for " To 
 Horse!" in the Desert. 
 
 ^•^ The " False Daivn ;^' SuhJii Khd::ib, a transient Light 
 on the Horizon about an hour before the Suhhi sddhil', or 
 True Dawn ; a well known Phenomenon in the East. The 
 Persians call the iNIorning Gray, or Dusk, " Wolf-and- Sheep- 
 While." " Almost at odds with, which is which." 
 
 3 New Tear. Beginning with the Yernal Equinox, it 
 must be remembered ; and (howsoever the old Solar Year is 
 practically superseded by the clumsy Lunar Tear that dates 
 from the Mohammedan Hijra) still commemorated by a 
 Festival that is said to have been appointed by the very 
 Jamshyd whom Omar so often talks of, and whose yearly 
 Calendar he helped to rectify. 
 
 " The sudden approach and rapid advance of the Spring," 
 (says a late Traveller in Persia) " are very striking. Before 
 the Snow is well off the Ground, the Trees burst into Blos- 
 som, and the Flowers start from the Soil. At Ifow Rooz 
 {tlieir New Tear's Day) the Snow was lying in patches on 
 the Hills and in the shaded Vallies, while the Fruit-trees in 
 the Garden were budding beautifully, and green Plants and 
 Flowers springing upon the Plains on every side — 
 
 ' And oa old Hyem's Chin and icy Crown 
 ' An odorous Chaplet of sweet Summer buds 
 • Is, as in mockery, set — ' — 
 
18 NOTES. 
 
 Among the Plants newly appcar'd I recog;nized some old 
 Acquaintances I had not seen for many a Year : among these, 
 two varieties of the Thistle ; a coarse species of the Daisy, 
 like the llorse-gowan; red and white Clover ; the Dock ; the 
 blue Corn-flower; and that vulgar Herb the Dandelion rear- 
 ing its yellow crest on the Banks of the "Watercourses." The 
 Nightingale was not yet heard, for the Rose was not 
 yet blown : but an almost identical Blackbird and Wood- 
 pecker helped to make up sometliing of a North-country 
 Spring. 
 
 ■* Exodus iv. G ; where Moses draws forth his Hand — not, 
 according to the Persians, " leprous as Snow,'"— h\ii ichitc as 
 our May-Blossom in Spring perhaps ! According to them 
 also the llealing Power of Jesus resided in hia Breath. 
 
 ^ Iram, planted by King Schedad, and now sunk some- 
 where in tbe Sands of Arabia. Jamshyd's Seven-ring'd Cup 
 was typical of the Seven Heavens. 7 Planets, 7 Seas. Ac. 
 and was a Diviniiiff Cup. 
 
 ^ Pihlevi, the old Heroic Sanskii of Persia. Hiifiz also 
 spenks of the Nightingale's Pihlevi, which did not change 
 with the People's. 
 
 ' I am not sure if this refers to the Ecd Rose looking 
 sickly, or the Yellow Rose that ought to be Red ; Red, 
 "White, and Yellow Roses all common in Persia. 
 
 ^ Rustum, the " Hercules" of Persia, whose exploits are 
 among the most cel^k^ated in the SJwh-nama. Hatiiu Tai, 
 a well-known Type of Orient.il Generosity. 
 
 * A Drum — beaten outside a Palace. 
 
 1" TIkiI is. the Rome's Gokien Centre. 
 
NOTES. 1 9 
 
 ^^ Persepolis : call'd also TakMi Jamshyd — The Theone 
 OF Jamshyd, *' King-Splendid,'' of the mythical Peeshdddian 
 Dynasty, and supposed (with Shah-nama Authority) to 
 have been founded and built by him, though others refer it 
 to the Work of the G-enie King, Jan Ibn Jann, who also 
 built the Pyramids before the time of Adam. It is also 
 called ClieM-minar — Forty-column ; which is Persian, pro- 
 bably, for Column-countless; the Hall they adorned or 
 supported with their Lotus Base and taurine Capital 
 indicating double that Number, though now counted down 
 to less than half by Earthquake and other Inroad. By 
 whomsoever built, unquestionably the Monument of a long 
 extinguished Dynasty and Mythology ; its Halls, Chambers 
 and Galleries, inscribed with Arrow-head Characters, and 
 sculptured with colossal, wing'd, half human Figures like 
 those of Nimroud ; Processions of Priests and Warriors 
 — (doubtful if any where a Woman) — and Kings sitting on 
 Thrones or in Chariots, Staff or Lotus-flower in hand, and the 
 Feroolier — Symbol of Existence — with his wing'd Grlobe, 
 common also to Assyria and iEgjrpt— over their heads. All 
 this, together with Aqueduct and Cistern, and other Appur- 
 tenance of a Eoyal Palace, upon a Terrace-platform, ascended 
 by a double Flight of Stairs that may be gallop'd up, and 
 cut out of and into the Eock-side of the KoTii Bdhmet, 
 Mountain of Mercy, where the old Fire-worshiping Sove- 
 reigns are buried, and overlooking the -Plain of Merdasht. 
 
 Persians, like some other People, it seems, love to 
 write their own Names, with sometimes a Verse or two, on 
 their Country's Monuments. Mr. Binning (from whose 
 sensible Travels the foregoing Account is mainly condens't) 
 
20 NOTES. 
 
 found several such in Persepolis ; iu one Place a fine Line 
 ot'Hafiz : in another "an orifpnal, no doubt," he sajs, " by 
 no great Poet," however "right in liis Sentiment." The 
 Words somehow looked to tis, and the " halting metre" 
 sounded, familiar ; and on looking back at last among the 
 500 Rubayiat of the Calcutta Omar ^IS.— there it is : old 
 Omar quoted by one of his Countrymen, and here turned 
 into hasty Rhyme, at any rate — 
 
 " This Palace that its Top to Heaven threw, 
 And Kings their Forehead on its Threshold drew— 
 
 I saw a Ring- dove sitting there alone, 
 And ' Coo, Coo, Coo,' she cried, and ' Coo, Coo, Coo.' " 
 
 So as it seems the Persian speaks the English Riug-dove's 
 Pehlevi, which is also articulate Peri^ian for " Where r" 
 
 Baukam (M:^—Bahr&m of the Wild Ass y from his Fame 
 in hunting it— a Sassauian Sovereign, had also his Seven 
 Castles (like the King of Bohemia!) each ofa different Colour; 
 each with a Royal Mistress within side ; each of whom 
 recounts to Babram a Romance, according to one of the 
 most famous Poems of Persia, written by Amir Khusraw : 
 these Sevens also figxiring (according to Eastern Mysticism) 
 the Seven Heavens, and perhaps the Book itself that 
 Eij;hth, into which the mystical Seven transcend, and 
 within which they revolve. The Ruius of Three of these 
 Towers are yet shown by the Peasantry ; as also the Swamp 
 in whitli Bahnim simk, like the Master of Raveuswood, 
 while pursuing his Gur. 
 
 '- A Thousaud Years to each Planet. 
 
 '• Saturn, Lord of the Seventh Heaven. 
 
 '* A Laugh at his Mathematics perhaps. 
 
NOTES. 21 
 
 *'' Me and Thee ; that is, some Dividual Existence or 
 Personality apart from the Whole. 
 
 ^^ The Caravan travelling by Night (after their Xew 
 Year's Day of the Vernal Equinox) by command of Mo- 
 hammed, I believe. 
 
 17 The 72 Sects into which Islamism so soon split. 
 
 18 This alludes to Mahmud's Conquest of India and its 
 swarthy Idolaters. 
 
 19 Fanusi Jcliiydl, 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 
 Candle lighted within. 
 
 20 A very mysterious Line in the original ; 
 
 U danad u danad u danad u 
 
 breaking off something like our Wood-pigeon's Note, which 
 she is said to take up just where she left off. 
 
 -1 Parwin and Mushtara — The Pleiads and Jupiter. 
 
 -^ At the Close of the Fasting Month, Kamazan (which 
 makes the Musulman unhealthy and ujiamiable), the first 
 Glimpse of the New Moon (who rules their Division of the 
 Year) is looked for with the utmost Anxiety, and hailed 
 with all Acclamation. Then it is that the Porter's Knot 
 may be heard toward the Cellar, perhaps. Old Omar has 
 elsewhere a pretty Quatrain about this same Moon — 
 
 " Be of Good Cheer — the sullen Month will die, 
 " And a young Moon requite us by and bye: 
 
 " Look how the Old one meagre, bent, and wan 
 " With Age and Fast, is fainting from the Sky!" 
 
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