The Rubaiyat: Quatrain XVII

This is another quatrain to which FitzGerald made only minor changes over the five editions.


First Edition: Quatrain XVII

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep;
And Bahram, that great Hunter--the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.



Second Edition: Quatrain XIX

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep:
And Bahram, that great Hunter--the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his sleep.



Fifth Edition: Quatrain XVIII

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep:
And Bahram, that great Hunter--the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his sleep.



Aside from a minor punctuation change, the only significant variance occurs in the Second Edition and is carried through to the Fifth. In the First Edition, the last line reads

"Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep."


while the last line in the Second and Fifth has been changed to

"Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his sleep."


There seems to be no conscious intention to the Wild Ass's actions in the First edition--the Wild Ass stamps and Bahram remains "fast asleep." However, in the Second Edition, which remains the same through the Fifth, FitzGerald changes it to sound almost as if the Wild Ass tries but fails to awaken him.


The theme of this quatrain is one that FitzGerald has given us earlier: the glories of the human past, Jamshyd's Courtyard, now belongs to the Lion, a mighty beast whom perhaps Jamshyd had hunted, and the Lizard, one of Nature's more humble creatures. There's a touch of irony here. Jamshyd was a legendary king of Persia who ruled for over seven hundred years and now only ruins remain of that reign, and those are occupied by Nature's creations, both large and small. In addition, Bahram was known as a hunter of the wild onager or ass during his life time, and now the Wild Ass stamps on his grave, as if to waken him for one more hunt, "but cannot break his sleep."

The Bahram referred to here is probably King Bahram V who ruled Persia from 421-438 AD. He persecuted Christians and this resulted in an invasion by the Romans. After a failed attempt at negotiation, Bahram led the Persians to decisively defeat the Roman army, after which a peace treaty was signed.

Like snow in the desert, we come, we stay a short while, and we go, never to return.