Note 246 — Chapter XI · STORY OF THE SHĀH NĀMAH.
Reading edition
It appears to have been not unusual amongst the secluded women of the East to fall deeply in love with men of whom they knew very little. Josephus claims that the king’s daughter betrayed the city of Sava in Ethiopia into the hands of Moses, having fallen in love with his valor and bravery as she saw him from the walls of the city gallantly leading the Egyptian host. Dido was won merely by the fame of Æneas, and Kotzebue has pictured Elvira as enamored of the glory of Pizarro; but when at last she discovered the savage and merciless disposition of the conqueror, she taunted him with being a fraud. The lovely Desdemona affords another instance:
Oth.—“Her father loved me; oft invited me;
Still questioned me the story of my life.
* * * * * *
“I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances.
* * * * * *
“She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.”
(Othello, Act. 1, Sc. 3)