A beautiful woman had many admirers, whose attentions
were so assiduous that the very street in which she
lived became thronged by her visitors, but when her
attractions disappeared and she had become ugly, her
lovers abandoned her. Then I said to one of them:
"She is the same friend as before, with the same
eyes, brows, lips, but perhaps her stature is more
tall and her body more stout. It is faithless and
treacherous on thy part to neglect her." He replied:
"Alas for what thou sayest! That which ravished the
heart, and enthralled the senses, was the spirit
which resided in her form, in the gracefulness of
her limbs, the smoothness of her skin, and in the
pleasantness of her voice, but as that spirit has
departed from the figure, how can I love a dead body,
or fondle a withered rose?"