The poem evidently made a profound impression on FitzGerald and in 1858 he gave the manuscript of his translation of the _Ruba'iyat_ to the publisher, Quaritch. It was printed without the translator's name, but soon gained notice from the praises of Rossetti, Swinburne, Burton and others who recognized the genius of the anonymous author. Ten years later FitzGerald revised his first version and added many new quatrains, but the text as we have it today was the fifth which he gave to the public. Unlike Tennyson, FitzGerald appeared to improve everything he labored over, with the single exception of the first quatrain of the _Ruba'iyat_. In the commonly printed fifth edition he omits a splendid figure because he happened to use it in another poem. Aside from this the changes are all improvements, which is more than can be said for the revisions of Tennyson. [Illustration: A PAGE FROM AN ANCIENT PERSIAN MANUSCRIPT COPY OF THE "RUBA'IYAT" WITH MINIATURES IN COLOR] The authorship of the _Ruba'iyat_, which soon ceased to be a secret, gave FitzGerald great fame during the closing years of his life. FitzGerald also translated a work of Jami, a Persian poet of the fifth century, and he put into English verse a free version of the _Agamemnon_ of AEschylus, two _OEdipus_ dramas of Sophocles, and several plays by Calderon, the great Spanish dramatist. The _Ruba'iyat_ is far longer than Gray's _Elegy_, but it occupies much the same position in English literature as this classic of meditation, because of the finish of its verse and a certain beguiling attraction in its thought. The reader of the period who makes a study of the _Ruba'iyat_ cannot escape the conviction that old Omar is secretly laughing at his readers. In fact, we come to the conclusion that he had much of FitzGerald's quizzical humor, and consequently believed in few of the heresies that he voices so poetically in his work. That he was an epicurean and a materialist is very difficult to believe when one considers the simple life that he led and the fact that he voluntarily gave up high official place and the means of securing much wealth. To live the life of a scholar, to dwell in the world of thought and abstraction is not the habit of the man who loves pleasure for its own sake. Hence, though Omar indulges in many panegyrics on the juice of the grape, it is pretty safe to say, from the record left by his disciples, that he cared little for wine and less for kindred pleasures of the senses that he sings of so well. That he could not accept the mystical Moslem faith of his day is not strange, for he had a modern cast of mind. His religion was that of thousands today who long to believe in a future life, but who have not the faith to accept it on trust. [Illustration: ONE OF THE GILBERT JAMES ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE "RUBA'IYAT" TAKEN FROM AN EDITION PUBLISHED BY PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY]