rning under the guidance of that illustrious
teacher. Towards me he ever turned an eye of favour and
kindness, and as his pupil I felt for him extreme affection
and devotion, so that I passed four years in his service. When
I first came there, I found two other pupils of mine own age
newly arrived, Hakim Omar Khayyam and the ill-fated Ben
Sabbah. Both were endowed with sharpness of wit and the
highest natural powers; and we three formed a close friendship
together. When the Imam rose from his lectures, they used to
join me, and we repeated to each other the lessons we had
heard. Now Omar was a native of Naishapur, while Hasan Ben
Sabbah's father was one Ali, a man of austere life and
practice, but heretical in his creed and doctrine. One day
Hasan said to me and to Khayyam, "It is a universal belief
that the pupils of the Imam Mowaffak will attain to fortune.
Now, if we _all_ do not attain thereto, without doubt one of
us will; what then shall be our mutual pledge and bond?" We
answered, "Be it what you please." "Well," he said, "let us
make a vow, that to whomsoever this fortune falls, he shall
share it equally with the rest, and reserve no pre-eminence
for himself." "Be it so," we both replied; and on those terms
we mutually pledged our words. Years rolled on, and I went
from Khorassan to Transoxiana, and wandered to Ghazni and
Cabul; and when I returned, I was invested with office, and
rose to be administrator of affairs during the Sultanate of
Sultan Alp Arslan.'

"He goes on to state, that years passed by, and both his old
school-friends found him out, and came and claimed a share in
his good fortune according to the school-day vow. The Vizier
was generous and kept his word. Hasan demanded a place in the
government, which the Sultan granted at the Vizier's request;
but, discontented with a gradual rise, he plunged into the
maze of intrigue of an Oriental Court, and, failing in a base
attempt to supplant his benefactor, he was disgraced and fell.
After many mishaps and wanderings, Hasan became the head of
the Persian sect of the _Ismailians_,--a party of fanatics who
had long murmured in obscurity, but rose to an evil eminence
under the guidance of his strong and evil will. In A.D. 1090
he seized the castle of Alamut, in the province of Rudbar,
which lies in t