It is not the beauty of henna that doth embellish my hand; 'tis the beauty of my hand that doth heighten the beauty of the henna.
Girl-pages, attired like men, sometimes like soldiers, were also fashionable. One of these is spoken of as having worn a helmet on which was engraved: 'Admire the beauty of this slave; never can thine eye learn to define it. Is she male or female; yes,'t is a woman! aye, 't is a man!'
And on her sword-belt was graven:—
The sword of her eyes doth not suffice her,—that terrible sword that striketh down the keenest sabres. How dare I remain between those two swords! Let thee behold but once this proud beauty marching in warrior-garb, with her twofold apparatus of slaughter; and thou wilt learn that the scimitar of her glance is even more terrible than the scimitar that is wielded with both hands.
The rage for beautiful slaves and exquisite dresses and inscribed girdles increased greatly under Haroun's reign; and the art of the poet was more than ever in demand. Even the tapestries, the coverings of furniture, were adorned with appropriate inscriptions, of which the following on a divan is a fair sample:—
More ravishing, more delicious than wine and the perfume of roses, is the group of two lovers, with cheek pressed against cheek....
The one speaking of the troubles that he feels; the other telling of the love within her heart.
Or this, upon a fan:—
I bring a tender breath of air; with me rosy shame doth play:
I serve as a veil to the amorous mouth that pouts for a kiss.
And some of the kisses of those days, too, have become historical; we read of a single kiss being paid for with two pearls worth forty thousand drachmas. The giver was no caliph, but a private citizen who sold his property to buy the pearls, and gave them away on the easy condition that the girl should take them from his lips with hers.
The tendency of such splendid voluptuousness, extravagance, and luxury has been the same in all civilized countries; the results similarly lamentable: national enervation, indolence, loss of patriotism and warrior-daring, loss of moral principle, death of ethical sentiment. Pleasure ruined the Caliphate as it ruined Rome. Abou Nouwas, Haroun's court poet, wrote two poems, of which two fragments reveal the whole history of the moral decadence of Islam. The first fragment is not without beauty:—