d a poisonous potion
to Abu Nuwas, because he had composed a lampoon against him; but its
operation was so slow that he died only four months after he had drunk
it. His death took place at Baghdad in A.D. 810.

Al-Otbi was a poet of great celebrity, and taught traditions to the
people of Baghdad; but was more generally noted for drinking wine and
composing love verses about his beloved Otba. Being of the tribe of
Koraish, and of the family of Omaya, he and his father held a high
rank, and were regarded as accomplished scholars and elegant speakers,
Otbi both composed and collected poems. One of his verses has now
acquired the force of a proverb: 'When Sulaima saw me turn my eyes
away--and I turn my glances away from all who resemble her--she said:
"I once saw thee mad with love;" and I replied: "Youth is a madness of
which old age is the cure."' He died in A.D. 842.

Abu Tammam Habib, the celebrated poet, according to Ibn Khallikan,
'surpassed all his contemporaries in the purity of his style, the
merit of his poetry, and his excellent manner of treating a subject.
He is the author of a Hamasa, a compilation which is a standing proof
of his great talents, solid information, and good taste in making a
selection.' He wrote several other works connected with poets and
poetry, composed many Kasidas, and knew by heart, it is said, fourteen
thousand verses of that class of compositions called Rajaz, or free
metre. The poetry of Abu Tammam was put in order for the first time by
Abu Bakr as Sauli, who arranged it alphabetically, according to the
rhymes, and then Abul Faraj Ali bin Husain Al-Ispahani classed it
according to the subjects. He died at Mosul A.D. 845, about forty
years of age, and was buried there; but his verses have survived, and
rendered him one of the immortals.

The mantle of the poet Abu Tammam appears to have fallen on Abu Abada
Al-Bohtori, who was born in A.D. 821, and, like his predecessor, is
also the author of a Hamasa. He appears to have received his first
encouragement to persevere as a poet from Abu Tammam, and later on he
says: 'I recited to Abu Tammam a poem which I had composed in honour
of one of the Humaid family, and by which I gained a large sum of
money. When I finished he exclaimed: "Very good! You shall be the
prince of poets when I am no more." These words gave me more pleasure
than all the wealth which I had collected.' On being asked whether he
or Abu Tammam was the better poet, Al-Boht