cup to seize,
'Tis sweet thy rage to see;
And first I drink myself to please;
And next--to anger thee.

_Yezid_.

[9] Yezid succeeded Mowiah in the Caliphate A.H. 60; and in most
respects showed himself to be of a very different disposition from
his predecessor. He was naturally cruel, avaricious, and debauched;
but instead of concealing his vices from the eyes of his subjects,
he seemed to make a parade of those actions which he knew no good
Mussulman could look upon without horror; he drank wine in public,
he caressed his dogs, and was waited upon by his eunuchs in sight
of the whole court.

ON FATALISM[10]

Not always wealth, not always force
A splendid destiny commands;
The lordly vulture gnaws the corse
That rots upon yon barren sands.

Nor want, nor weakness still conspires
To bind us to a sordid state;
The fly that with a touch expires
Sips honey from the royal plate.

_Imam Shafay Mohammed Ben Idris_.

[10] Shafay, the founder of one of the four orthodox sects into
which the Mohammedans are divided, was a disciple of Malek Ben
Ans, and master to Ahmed Ebn Hanbal; each of whom, like himself,
founded a sect which is still denominated from the name of its
author. The fourth sect is that of Abou Hanifah. This differs
in tenets considerably from the three others, for whilst the
Malekites, the Shafaites, and the Hanbalites are invariably
bigoted to tradition in their interpretations of the Koran, the
Hanifites consider themselves as at liberty in any difficulty to
make use of their own reason.

TO THE CALIPH HARUN-AL-RASHID[11]

Religion's gems can ne'er adorn
The flimsy robe by pleasure worn;
Its feeble texture soon would tear,
And give those jewels to the air.

Thrice happy they who seek th' abode
Of peace and pleasure, in their God!
Who spurn the world, its joys despise,
And grasp at bliss beyond the skies.

_Ibrahim Ben Adham_.

[11] The author of this poem was a hermit of Syria, equally celebrated
for his talents and piety. He was son to a prince of Khorasan, and
born about the ninety-seventh year of the Hegira. This poem was
addressed to the Caliph upon his undertaking a pilgrimage to Mecca.

LINES TO HARUN AND YAHIA[12]

Th' affrighted sun ere while he fled,
And hid his radiant face in night;
A cheerless gloom the world overspre