In Egypt and the East 255 



always to the honey instead of to the bee, and are usually in 

 a moralizing rather than a poetical vein, as in the following 

 we are informed that — 



"He falls more easily than flies fall into honey;" and 

 again : " The lazy is not fed on honey." 



The following, though more elaborate, is equally moraliz- 

 ing : — 



" Nor want, nor weakness still conspires 

 To bind us to a sordid state ; 

 The fly that with a touch expires 

 Sips honey from the royal plate." 



In the " Assemblies of Al Hariri " we read the following 

 description of a false friend given by the queer old repro- 

 bate philosopher, Abu Zayd : — 



" I had a neighbor whose tongue cajoled, while his heart 

 was a scorpion ; whose speech was a honey-comb to refresh, 

 while his hidden thought was a concentrated venom." 



In Firdusi's " Epic of Kings," where Zal, the king's son, 

 falls in love with Rudabeh, daughter of the accursed 

 Serpent race, we learn that the attendants did not dare 

 speak, — 



" For there was none of them that listed to mingle 

 poison in the honey of this love." 



Again, the Turkish army having been defeated, the son 

 of the defeated king blames his father for having under- 

 taken the war, as the Persian army was so strong, — 



" For the world is not delivered of the race of Irij, and 

 the noxious poison hath not been converted into honey." 



From the " Divan " of Hafiz we get the following : — 



" At her tyranny, I grieve not. For, without the thorn, 

 The rose, none obtaineth ; without the sting, the honey." 



This is a favorite idea with the poets of many nations, 

 and Hafiz again uses it in one of his odes : — 



