Note 588
Tale of the Jewish Doctor.
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?
The fashionable lover in the East must affect a frantic jealousy if he does not feel it.
…of wine. When the full moon shines from the cloudy veil, * And the branchlet sways in her greens that shine: When the red rose mantles in freshest cheek, * And Narcissus[FN#588] opeth his love sick eyne: When pleasure with those I love is so sweet, * When friendship with those I love is complete!"
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