The Ruba'iyat . 1, q. v. sub q. 16. 1. C. and N. for all sciences read science and 2. Literally, to hang, is best. 3. For surahi, bottle, L. reads karrabat,3 flagon, or vat; N. reads kinmnat,* a glass bottle; P. reads pialeh ; and C. reads adwat,5 , as muchblood as you can. 132. This quatrain is P. 300, L. 654, S. P. 361, B. G46, N. 364, and \V. 409, anddoes not vary. The freedom of translation amounts to licence. 0U («) ^,^ («) Transcript and Translation 249 L-^UJ in 6i dila^ j^ ^* ^\ How many delicate bodies2 the world3 burns away to dust! and where is the smoke of them ? 131
The Ruba'iyat . 1, q. v. sub q. 16. 1. C. and N. for all sciences read science and 2. Literally, to hang, is best. 3. For surahi, bottle, L. reads karrabat,3 flagon, or vat; N. reads kinmnat,* a glass bottle; P. reads pialeh ; and C. reads adwat,5 , as muchblood as you can. 132. This quatrain is P. 300, L. 654, S. P. 361, B. G46, N. 364, and \V. 409, anddoes not vary. The freedom of translation amounts to licence. 0U («) ^,^ («) Transcript and Translation 249 L-^UJ in 6i dila^ j^ ^* ^\ How many delicate bodies2 the world3 burns away to dust! and where is the smoke of them ? 131-Flee from the study of all sciences—tis better thus,and twine thy fingers3 in the curly locks of a loved one—tis better thus,ere that fate shall spill thy blood;pour thou the blood of the bottle3 into the cup—tis better thus. 132. Ah! I have brushed the tavern doorway with my moustaches,I have bidden farewell to the good and evil of both worlds ;. 250 Notes i. , at my feet. Note the vowel points in the text to make the meaningclear. Cf. M., 1. 3224. 133-This quatrain is C. 442, L. 672, S. P. 355, B. G64, N. 358, and W. 404. 1. For wine N. reads gladness,1 and L. reads rectitude,2 whichW. thinks is a gloss by a Sufi scribe. 2. Literally, shortness—deficiency. 3. The other texts read this line, Wine also from the hand of Idols in apavilion, is 4. Kalendars (with whom we are familiar in the pages of the ArabianNights) are a kind of itinerant Muhammadan monk with shaven head andbeard, who abandon everything, wife, friends, and possessions, and wander aboutthe world (Steingass). W. calls them bibulous Sufis. The term has come tobe applied to persons who have abandoned all respectability. 5. This means continually; literally, from the Moon-month to theFish-month. mah is the Moon, and mahi, the sign Pisces, upon which, accordingto the Persian cosmogony, the world is supposed to rest. All Persian poetry isfull of reference
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