Chapter 1

“TO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE”
(Puris omnia pura)

—Arab Proverb.

“Niuna corrotta mente intese mai sanamente parole.”

—“Decameron”—conclusion.

“Erubuit, posuitque meum Lucretia librum
Sed coram Bruto. Brute! recede, leget.”

—MARTIAL.

“Mieulx est de ris que de larmes escripre,
Pour ce que rire est le propre des hommes.”

—RABELAIS.

“The pleasure we derive from perusing the Thousand-and-One Stories makes us regret that we possess only a comparatively small part of these truly enchanting fictions.”

—CRICHTON’S “History of Arabia.”