[11] Perhaps he would have edited the Poems himself some years ago. He may now as little approve of my version on one side, as of M. Nicolas' theory on the other.
[12] A note to Quatrain 234 admits that, however clear the mystical meaning of such Images must be to Europeans, they are not quoted without «rougissant» even by laymen in Persia—«Quant aux termes de tendresse qui commencent ce quatrain, comme tant d'autres dans ce recueil, nos lecteurs, habitués maintenant à l'étrangeté des expressions si souvent employées par Khèyam pour rendre ses pensées sur l'amour divin, et à la singularité de ses images trop orientales, d'une sensualité quelquefois révoltante, n'auront pas de peine à se persuader qu'il s'agit de la Divinité, bien que cette conviction soit vivement discutée par les moullahs musulmans et même par beaucoup de laïques, qui rougissent véritablement d'une pareille licence de leur compatriote à l'égard des choses spirituelles.»
[13] Two Years' Travel in Persia, etc., i. 165.
[14] The precise degree to which FitzGerald himself deemed it expedient to adhere to his original may be gathered by referring to quatrains of his which he has himself declared to be renderings of particular and isolated ruba'iyat.
[15] These references are to other MSS. and printed texts and translations in which the cited quatrain is represented. I say advisedly «represented,» as the different texts differ a good deal. Often when a quatrain is repeated in the same text, variations may be found in it. The general scope of these variations may be appreciated by a glance at the notes to my translation of the Ouseley MS. (O.). I do not propose to deal with them here, excepting where there are important differences between the Calcutta MS. (C.) and the Ouseley, both of which were before Edward FitzGerald and between which he had to choose.
[16] i.e., the Saki, or Cupbearer, or Drawer (generally a comely youth), to whom a large proportion of Omar's ruba'iyat are addressed.
[17] Many parallels between these translations of Hafiz and FitzGerald's ruba'iyat may be found in the Terminal Essay to my former work.
[18] The sunnat, or Traditions of Muhammad, supplementing the Qur'an, and held in almost equal reverence.
[19] Zendha deli-ra means the heart alive, or initiated in the spiritual sense, as opposed to the mere pleasure-seekers of the world.
[20] See FitzGerald's notes to this quatrain.