[581]. i.e. admiration will be complete.
[582]. Arab. "Sáhil Masr" (Misr): hence I suppose Galland's villes maritimes.
[583]. A favourite simile, suggested by the broken glitter and shimmer of the stream under the level rays and the breeze of eventide.
[584]. Arab. "Halab," derived by Moslems from "He (Abraham) milked (halaba) the white and dun cow." But the name of the city occurs in the Cuneiforms as Halbun or Khalbun, and the classics knew it as Βέροια, Beroea, written with variants.
[585]. Arab. "Ká'ah," usually a saloon; but also applied to a fine house here and elsewhere in The Nights.
[586]. Arab. "Ghamz"=winking, signing with the eye which, amongst Moslems, is not held "vulgar."
[587]. Arab. "Kamís" from low Lat. "Camicia," first found in St. Jerome:—"Solent militantes habere lineas, quas Camicias vocant." Our shirt, chemise, chemisette, etc. was unknown to the Ancients of Europe.
[588]. Arab. "Narjís." The Arabs borrowed nothing, but the Persians much, from Greek Mythology. Hence the eye of Narcissus, an idea hardly suggested by the look of the daffodil (or asphodel) flower, is at times the glance of a spy and at times the die-away look of a mistress. Some scholars explain it by the form of the flower, the internal calyx resembling the iris, and the stalk being bent just below the petals suggesting drooping eyelids and languid eyes. Hence a poet addresses the Narcissus:—
O Narjis, look away! Before those eyes ✿ I may not kiss her as a-breast she lies.
What! Shall the lover close his eyes in sleep ✿ While thine watch all things between earth and skies?