The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam, Omar Khayyám [best time to read books .txt] 📗

do it; the result was the Jalaliera (so called from Jalal-ud-din, one of the king's names)--'acomputation of time,' says Gibbon, 'which surpasses the Julian, andapproaches the accuracy of the Gregorian style.' He is also theauthor of some astronomical tables, entitled 'Ziji-Malikshahi,' andthe French have lately republished and translated an Arabic Treatiseof his on Algebra.

"His Takhallus or poetical name (Khayyam) signifies a Tent-maker, andhe is said to have at one time exercised that trade, perhaps beforeNizam-ul-Mulk's generosity raised him to independence. Many Persianpoets similarly derive their names from their occupations; thus wehave Attar, 'a druggist,' Assar, 'an oil presser,' etc.<2> Omarhimself alludes to his name in the following whimsical lines:--

"'Khayyam, who stitched the tents of science,
Has fallen in grief's 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