768 OMAR KHAYYÁM. — ALPHONSO THE WISE.

OMAR KHAYYẨM.

--1123.

(Translated by Edward Fitzgerald.)

I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bled;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head.
Rubaiyát. Stanza xix.

a momentary taste

Of BEING from the Well amid the Waste

And, Lo! the phantom Caravan has reach'd
The NOTHING it set out from. Oh, make haste!

Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,
And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire.

Stanza xlviii.

Stanza lxvii.

The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on; nor all your Piety nor Wit

Stanza lxxi.

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
And this I know: whether the one True Light
Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite,
One Flash of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.
And when like her, O Sáki, you shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,
And in your blissful errand reach the spot
Where I made One - turn down an empty Glass.

Stanza lxxvii.

Stanza ci.

ALPHONSO THE WISE. 1221-1284.

Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.1

1 Carlyle says, in his "History of Frederick the Great," book ii. chap. vii. that this saying of Alphonso about Ptolemy's astronomy, "that it seemed a crank machine; that it was pity the Creator had not taken advice," is still remembered by mankind, this and no other of his many sayings.

VILLON.

DANTE.

1265-1321.

(Cary's Translation.)

All hope abandon, ye who enter here.

Hell. Canto iii. Line 9.

The wretched souls of those who lived
Without or praise or blame.

No greater grief than to remember days.
Of joy when misery is at hand.1

Line 34.

Canto v. Line 121.

2 But where is last year's snow? This was the greatest care that Villon,

the Parisian poet, took. — RABELAIS : book ii, chap. xiv.

MARTIN LUTHER. 1483-1546.

A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing.

Psalm. Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (trans. by
Frederic H. Hedge).

Tell your master that if there were as many devils at Worms as tiles on its roofs, I would enter.1

Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen! Speech at the Diet of Worms.

For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel.2

Table-Talk. lxvii.

A faithful and good servant is a real godsend; but truly 't is a rare bird in the land.

clvi.

FRANCIS RABELAIS. 1495-1553.

I am just going to leap into the dark.3

Motteur's Life.

Let down the curtain: the farce is done.

Ibid.

He left a paper sealed up, wherein were found three articles as his last will: "I owe much; I have nothing; I give the rest to the poor."

One inch of joy surmounts of grief a span,
Because to laugh is proper to the man.

Ibid.

To the Reader.

1 On the 16th of April, 1521, Luther entered the imperial city [of Worms]. . . On his approach . . . the Elector's chancellor entreated him, in the name of his master, not to enter a town where his death was decided. The answer which Luther returned was simply this. - BUNSEN : Life of Luther.

I will go, though as many devils aim at me as there are tiles on the roofs of the houses. RANKE: History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 533 (Mrs. Austin's translation).

2 See Burton, page 192.

3 Je m'en vay chercher un grand peut-estre.

To return to our wethers.1

I drink no more than a sponge.

Works. Book i. Chap. i. n. 2.

Appetite comes with eating, says Angeston.2
Thought the moon was made of green cheese.

He always looked a given horse in the mouth.

By robbing Peter he paid Paul,* . . . and hoped to catch larks if ever the heavens should fall.5

He laid him squat as a flounder.

Send them home as merry as crickets.

Corn is the sinews of war.

6

Ibid.

Chap. xxvii.

Chap. xxix.

Chap. xlvi.

How shall I be able to rule over others, that have not full power and command of myself?

Chap. lii.

Subject to a kind of disease, which at that time they called lack of money.

Book ii. Chap. xvi.

He did not care a button for it.

Ibid.

How well I feathered my nest.

Chap. xvii.

So much is a man worth as he esteems himself.

Chap. xxix.

A good crier of green sauce.

Chap. xxxi.

Then I began to think that it is very true which is commonly said, that the one half of the world knoweth not how the other half liveth.

Chap. xxxii.

This flea which I have in mine ear. Book iii. Chap. xxxi.
You have there hit the nail on the head."
Above the pitch, out of tune, and off the hinges.

Chap. xxxiv.

Book iv. Chap. xix.

1 "Revenons à nos moutons," a proverb taken from the French farce

of "Pierre Patelin," edition of 1762, p. 90.

2 My appetite comes to me while eating. - MONTAIGNE: Book iii. chap.

I'll go his halves.

The Devil was sick,
The Devil was well,

Works. Book iv. Chap. xxiii.

- the Devil a monk would be;
the devil a monk was he.

Chap. xxiv. Do not believe what I tell you here any more than if it were some tale of a tub. Chap. xxxviii.

I would have you call to mind the strength of the ancient giants, that undertook to lay the high mountain Pelion on the top of Ossa, and set among those the shady Olympus.1

Which was performed to a T.2

Ibid.

Chap. xli.

He that has patience may compass anything.

Chap. xlviii.

We will take the good will for the deed.3

Chap. xlix.

You are Christians of the best edition, all picked and

He freshly and cheerfully asked him how a man should kill time.

Chap. lxii.

The belly has no ears, nor is it to be filled with fair words.5

Ibid.

Whose cockloft is unfurnished."

The Author's Prologue to the Fifth Book. Speak the truth and shame the Devil."

Plain as a nose in a man's face.

1 See Ovid, page 707.

3 See Swift, page 292.

5 See Plutarch, page 725.

7 See Shakespeare, page 85.

8

2 Sce Johnson, page 375.
4 See Heywood, page 18.

6 See Bacon, page 170.

Ibid.

Ibid.

8 See Shakespeare, page 44.