“They say the Lion and the Lizard keep the Courts:” Edward FitzGerald’s the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:17

Quatrain 17 of the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám continues the theme that kingly glory quickly fades. They say the Lion and the Lizard keepThe Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep:And Bahrám, that great Hunter — the Wild AssStamps o’er his Head, and he lies fast asleep. or for $16 at Amazon Kindle——-I talked about the ancient mythical king of Iran, Jamshid, in an earlier commentary. Bahram V or Bahram Gor was a king of the Sasanian dynasty who ruled 420-438 CE. This important workshop created some of the canonical illustrations to Nizami’s text—immediately recognizable, repeated, and emulated over the subsequent centuries.”—-For more commentaries on FitzGerald’s translations of the Rubáiyát, seeFitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: Commentary by Juan Cole with Original Persian