t from the last of its fetters.
We think of the goddess Ran with her net. Death is imagined
(_quatrain_ 44) as a fowler or fisher of men, thus: "Do kam der
Tot als ein diep, und stal dem reinen wibe daz leben uz ir
libe."[10]

On account of its brilliance a weapon's edge (_quatrain_ 46) has
been compared in Arab poetry with sunlit glass, with the torch of
a monk, with the stars and with the flame in a dark night. Nor
would an Arab turn to picturesque comparisons in poetry alone.
Speaking of a certain letter, Abu'l-Ala assures the man who wrote
it that "it proceeds from the residence of the great doctor who
holds the reins of prose and verse" (_quatrain_ 50). Now with
regard to glass, it was a very ancient industry among the Arabs.
In the second century of the Hegira it was so far advanced that
they could make enamelled glass and unite in one glass different
colours. A certain skilled chemist of the period was not only
expert in these processes (_quatrain_ 52), but even tried to make
of glass false pearls, whereon he published a pamphlet.

Death, from being a silent messenger who punctually fulfilled his
duty, became a grasping, greedy foe (_quatrain_ 56). In the
Psalms (xci. 3-6) he comes as a hunter with snares and arrows.
Also "der Tot wil mit mir ringen."[11] In ancient times Death was
not a being that slew, but simply one that fetched away to the
underworld, a messenger. So was the soul of the beggar fetched
away by angels and carried into Abraham's bosom. An older view
was the death-goddess, who receives the dead men in her house and
does not fetch them. They are left alone to begin the long and
gloomy journey, provided with various things.[12] "Chacun remonte
a son tour le calvaire des siecles. Chacun retrouve les peines,
chacun retrouve l'espoir desespere et la folie des siecles.
Chacun remet ses pas dans les pas de ceux qui furent, de ceux qui
lutterent avant lui contre la mort, nierant la mort,--sont
morts"[13] (_quatrain_ 57). It is the same for men and trees
(_quatrain_ 59). This vision of Abu'l-Ala's is to be compared
with Milton's "men as trees walking," a kind of second sight, a
blind man's pageant. In reference to haughty folk, an Arab
proverb says that "There is not a poplar which has reached its
Lord." But on the other hand, "There are some virtues which dig
their own graves,"[14] and with regard to excessive polishing of
swords (_quatrain_ 60) we have the story of the poet Abu Tammam,
related by I