[49] C. reads «of this juggling about of the soul.» E.B.C. suggests «of this chess-opening.» [50] C. reads «And was enslaved by the curly head of a sweetheart.» [51] _i.e._, «Let us cease striving to earn salvation.» [52] C. reads «with love.» [53] FitzGerald records in his note to this quatrain that had it not been for the advice of Prof. Cowell, this and the two following quatrains would have been withdrawn after the Second Edition. It is impossible to conceive why, for they are singularly fine and exceptionally «authorized.» [54] FitzGerald's rendering in the 1st edition (Introduction), «in this clay suburb» is a more literal rendering. [55] _i.e._, The ferrash of fate, preparing for the next halting-place, destroys this tent (body) when the Sultan (soul) arises. [56] I do not know the origin of N.'s text, but I have never seen this quatrain in any other MS. The same remark applies to N. 123, cited under No. 47. [57] C. reads «From my creation the Age derived no advantage.» [58] _Harifan_; literally, «companions,» « fellow-workers.» [59] _i.e._, The One God. Compare Hafiz (Ode 416), «He who knows the One, knows all.» [60] Prof. Cowell's translation. V. appends a note, «Apparently the Essence of Life, the _Ding an Sich_ of Kant, and the _Wille_ of Schopenhauer, the Platonic Idea, the abiding type of the perishable individuality; possibly, however, the Vedantic ‹self› is meant.» For the word _mah_ = moon at the commencement of the quatrain, some of the texts read _badeh_ = wine. [61] Literally, «discernment.» [62] The obscurity of the meaning here baffles satisfactory translation. Prof. Cowell says: I would rather take it as a sarcasm, «Those fools with their unripe grapes become (in their own eyes) pure wine.» [63] _Azal_ in Persian dogma is eternity without beginning, _i.e._, «_from_ all time,» as opposed to _abad_, eternity without end, _i.e._, «_to_ all eternity.» [64] In the East a man may divorce his wife twice and take her back again, but the third time it is irrevocable--unless (curiously enough) she has been married to someone else in the meantime. [65] _i.e._, Wine, a recurrent Persian metaphor. Comp.: Arabic «_bint-ul-kerm_.» [66] _Zahir_ = exoteric, as opposed to _batin_ = esoteric, in line 2. [67] C. reads «I am weary.» [68] The opening lines of FitzGerald's quatrain refer to Omar's reformation of the calendar, and institution of the Jalali era, which Gibbon describes as «a computation of time which surpassed the Julian, and approached the accuracy of the Gregorian style.» («Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,» Gibbing's edition, 1890, vol. iv., p. 180.) [69] C. reads «So long as I live, I will not grieve for two days.» [70] _i.e._, Wine. [71] The _Lauh u Kalam_ are the Tablet and Pen whereon and wherewith the Divine decrees of what should be from all time were written. Compare Koran, ch. lxviii, 1. «By the Pen and what they write, O Muhammad! thou art not distracted.» [72] The river Oxus.