And says "the Preacher": "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this also is vanity" (v. 10). But a little later he says: "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works. Let thy garments be always white and let not thy head lack ointment (ix. 7, 8). Strange echoes thundering down from dim and distant ages! But listen to Omar again : — " (319) Ô toi qui es le résumé de la création universelle! Nicolas cesse donc un instant de te préoccuper de gain ou de perte; prends une coupe de vin, de la main de l'échanson éternel, et affranchis-toi ainsi à la fois et des soucis de ce monde et de ceux de l'autre. O thou, the quintessence of the sum of existence, McCarthy cease a moment to think upon evil gain, take one cup (415) of wine from the Eternal Saki, and set thyself free from the care of both worlds. O man, who art creation's summary, Arise, and quaff the Etern Cupbearer's wine, And so from troubles of both worlds be free! Whinfield, 190 (1882), has the following variant: Gaining and spending . . And live from life's annoys forever free. (Wordsworth: "The world is too much with us.") Whinfield (362) Bodenstedt Mensch, der Du ein Auszug der ganzen atmenden Welt (VIII. 39) bist, Was soll's, dass Du nur auf Gewinn und Verlust gestellt bist? Nähr' Deinen Geist mit Wein aus der Hand des ewigen Schenken, Und hör' auf in Sorgen an Himmel und Erde zu denken. Von Schack O du, der Schöpfung Inbegriff, lass ab vom nieder'n Und an Gewinn und an Verlust denk ferner nicht auf Erden! Empfang den Becher, den dir heut des ew'gen Schenken Hand, Um von den Sorgen dieser Welt und jener frei zu werden! APPENDIX XX. RUBA'IY LV. The law of the Koran allows one of the faithful to marry a woman for the third time after he has twice repudiated her. See Koran, chapter entitled "The Cow." Ye may divorce your wives twice, and then either retain them with humanity, or dismiss them with kindness. . . . But if the husband divorce her a third time, she shall not be lawful for him again, until she marry another husband. But if he also divorce her, it shall be no crime in them if they return to each other, if they think they can observe the ordinances of God ! - Chap.II. p. 24 (George Sale's Translation). The wine is the daughter of the grape or of the vine. The same idea recurs in: Ne donne point dans ton esprit libre accès à des Nicolas pensées impossibles. Bois du vin durant des années, (259) et toujours la coupe pleine jusqu'au bord. Sois empressé auprès de la fille de la vigne et réjouis-toi, car il vaut mieux user de la fille défendue que de la mère permise. (Mussulman mollahs allow the faithful to eat grapes, a fruit which in the poetic language of the Orient is to the wine what a mother is to its daughter.) Do not suffer vain thoughts to enter the gate of McCarthy your mind. Drink while the years drive by, let the (232) cup be always full to the lips. Pay your court to, the daughter of the vine, and be glad, for it is better to enjoy the forbidden daughter than the permitted mother. Cast off dull care, O melancholy brother! Woo the sweet daughter of the grape, no other; Verwirre Dein Hirn nicht durch unnützes Gegrübel. Whinfield (299) Bodenstedt (IX. 31) Ein von der Tochter der Rebe heimlich geraubter Kuss Compare: 'Tis well to drink, and leave anxiety For what is past, and what is yet to be; Our prisoned spirits, lent us for a day, A while from reason's bondage shall go free! Whinfield (308) Von Schack Der Gegenwart nicht denkend, noch an das Vergang❜ne, Lasst uns bei'm Trunk, ihr Freunde, der Lust uns (228) weih'n, Damit wir unsere Seele, die arme Gefang'ne, Auf kurz von den Fesseln der Vernunft befrei'n! APPENDIX XXI. RUBA'IY LVI. FitzGerald's note numbered 14 to quatrain XLI of the first edition was merely these words: "A laugh at his mathematics perhaps," in previous editions. He afterwards amplified it as follows (18): — A Jest, of course, at his Studies. A curious mathematical Quatrain of Omar's has been pointed out to me; the more curious because almost exactly parallel'd by some Verses of Doctor Donne's, that are quoted in Izaak Walton's Lives! Here is Omar: "You and I are the image of a pair of compasses; though we have two heads (sc. our feet) we have one body; when we have fixed the centre for our circle, we bring our heads (sc. feet) together at the end." Dr. Donne: If we be two, we two are so As stiff twin-compasses are two; Thy Soul, the fixt foot, makes no show And though thine in the centre sit, Yet when my other far does roam, Such thou must be to me, who must Professor C. E. Norton, in his copy of Edition II, makes marginal corrections of the quotation from Dr. Donne. In Stanza I, line 4, does should be doth, and the second stanza should read: And though it in the center sit, Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans and hearkens after it, And grows erect as that comes home. The compass quatrain may be read in various ver sions: (283) Ô mon âme ! nous formons à nous deux le parallèle Nicolas d'un compas. Bien que nous ayons deux pointes, nous ne faisons qu'un corps. Actuellement, nous tournons sur un même point et décrivons un cercle, mais le jour final viendra où ces deux pointes se réuniront. Oh, my soul, thou and I together are like unto a McCarthy compass. We form but one body, having two points. Truly, we move but from the one point, and make the round of the circle; but the day cometh, and is not far off, when the two points must reunite. (187) In these twin compasses, O Love, you see One body with two heads, like you and me, But at the last in one same point agree. Whinfield, 183 (1882), has O soul, instead of O Love, and no comma after centre. Whinfield (323) |