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nay, it was said he never mounted a horse, which was not either given away, or promised.

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Bohadin, whom he employed in most of his acts of munificence, relates, that all who approached him were sensible of its effects; nay, that he exceeded in his donations even the unreasonable wishes of the petitioners, although he was never heard to boast of any favour that he had conferred."

The effect of such immense liberality was, that, when he died, out of all the vast revenues of Egypt, Syria, the Oriental Provinces, and Arabia Felix, there was no more left in his treasury than forty-seven pieces of silver, and one of gold; so that they were forced to borrow money, to defray the expenses of his funeral.i

As to the facts respecting the Western crusaders at this period, and particularly Saladin's great antagonist, Richard Cœur de Leon, these are subjects reserved, till we come to the Latins, or Franks.

We shall now say something concerning Arabian poetry and works of invention, adding, withal, a few more anecdotes relative to their manners and character.

CHAPTER VII.

ARABIAN POETRY, AND WORKS OF INVENTION-FACTS RELATIVE TO THEIR MANNERS AND CHARACTERS.

ARABIAN poetry is so immense a field, that he who enters it is in danger of being lost. It was their favourite study long before the time of Mahomet, and many poems are still extant of an earlier era. So much did they value themselves upon the elegance of their compositions, that they called their neighbours, and more particularly the Persians, Barbarians.' It seems unfortunate for these last, that the old Greeks should have distinguished them by the same appellation.TM

If we reckon among pieces of poetry, not the metrical only, but those also the mere efforts of invention and imagination, (such as the incomparable Telemachus, of the truly eloquent Fenelon,) we may justly range in this class the Arabian Nights, and the Turkish Tales. They are valuable, not only for ex

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hibiting a picture of Oriental manners during the splendour of the caliphate, but for inculcating, in many instances, a useful and instructive moral. Nothing can be better written than the Tale of Alnaschar, to illustrate that important part of the Stoic moral, the fatal consequence of not resisting our fancies."

They were fond of the fabulous and allegorical, and loved to represent under that form the doctrines they most favoured. They favoured no doctrine more than that of each individual's inevitable destiny. Let us see after what manner they conveyed this doctrine.

"They tell us, that as Solomon (whom they supposed a magician from his superior wisdom) was one day walking with a person in Palestine, his companion said to him with some horror, What ugly being is that which approaches us? I do not like his visage; send me, I pray thee, to the remotest mountain of India.' Solomon complied, and the very moment he was sent off, the ugly being arrived. Solomon, (said the being,) how came that fellow here? I was to have fetched him from the remotest mountain of India.' Solomon answered, 'Angel of Death, thou wilt find him there."""

I may add to this that elegant fiction concerning the selftaught philosopher Hai Ebn Yokdan, who, being supposed to have been cast an infant on a desert island, is made by various incidents (some possible, but all ingenious) to ascend gradually, as he grew up in solitude, to the sublime of all philosophy, natural, moral, and divine."

But this last was the production of a more refined period, when they had adopted the philosophy of other nations. In their earlier days of empire they valued no literature but their own, as we have learned from the celebrated story, already related, concerning Omar, Amrus, and the library at Alexandria."

The same Omar, after the same Amrus had conquered the vast province of Egypt, and given (according to the custom of those early times) many proofs of personal strength and valour, the same Omar (I say) was desirous to see the sword by which Amrus had performed so many wonders. Having taken it into his hand, and found it no better than any other sword, he returned it with contempt, and averred, "it was good for nothing." "You say true, sir," replied Amrus; "for you demanded to see the sword, not the arm that wielded it: while that was wanting, the sword was no better than the sword of Pharezdacus."

Now Pharezdacus was, it seems, a poet, famous for his fine

n A curious and accurate version of this admirable tale is printed at Oxford, in a Grammar of the Arabic language; a version which gives us too much reason to lament our imperfect view of those other ingenious fictions, so obscurely transmitted to us through a French medium.

This tale was told me by Dr. Gregory Sharpe, late master of the Temple, well known for his knowledge in Oriental lite

rature.

P See Pococke's edition of this work, Oxon. 1671.

See before, p. 458. 478.

description of a sword, but not equally famous for his personal prowess.

It is a singular instance of their attention to hospitality, that they used to kindle fires by night, upon hills near their camps, to conduct wandering travellers to a place of refuge.s

Such an attention to this duty naturally brings to our mind what Eumæus in the Odyssey says to Ulysses:

Ξεῖν ̓ οὔ μοι θέμις ἔστ', οὐδ ̓ εἰ κακίων σέθεν ἔλθοι,
Ξεῖνον ἀτιμῆσαι, πρὸς γὰρ Διός εἰσιν ἅπαντες

Ξείνοι.

"Stranger, I dare not with dishonour treat

A stranger, tho' a worse than thou should come;
For strangers all belong to Jove."

Οδυσ. Ξ. 56.

Nor are there wanting other instances of resemblance to the age of Homer. When Ibrahim, a dangerous competitor of the caliph Almanzur, had in a decisive battle been mortally wounded, and his friends were endeavouring to carry him off, a desperate conflict ensued, in which the enemy prevailed, overpowered his friends, and gained what they contended for, the body of Ibrahim. The resemblance between this story, and that respecting the body of Patroclus, is a fact too obvious to be more than hinted.'

In an earlier period, when Moawigea (the competitor of the great Ali) was pressed in a battle, and had just begun to fly, he is reported to have rallied upon the strength of certain verses, which at that critical instant occurred to his memory. The verses were these, as we attempt to translate them:

When direful scenes of death appear,
And fill thy flutt'ring heart with fear:
Say-Heart! be firm; the storm endure;
For evils ever find a cure.

Their mem'ry, should we 'scape, will please;
Or, should we fall, we sleep at ease."

This naturally suggests to every lover of Homer, what is said by Ulysses:

Τέτλαθι δὴ, κραδίη· καὶ κύντερον ἄλλο πότ ̓ ἔτλης
Ηματι τῷ, ὅτε, κ.τ.λ.

"Endure it, heart; for worse thou hast endured
In days of yore, when," &c.

Οδυσ. Υ. 18.

Such resemblances as these prove a probable connection between the manners of the Arabians, and those of the ancient Greeks. There are other resemblances, which, as they respect not only Greek authors, but Roman, are perhaps no more than casual.

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Horses and wealth we know you've none;

Let then your eloquence atone
For fortune's failure.

What the Arabian says of his friend, Horace says of himself:

Donarem pateras, grataque commodus,
Censorine, meis, &c.

Another of their poets has the following sentiment :

Who fondly can himself deceive,
And venture reason's rules to leave;
Who dares, thro' ignorance, aspire
To that, which no one can acquire;
To spotless fame, to solid health,
To firm unalienable wealth;

Each wish he forms, will surely find

A wish denied to human kind.y

Od. 8. 1. iv.

Here we read the Stoic description of things not in our power, and the consequence of pursuing them, as if they were things in our power; concerning which fatal mistake, see Epictetus, either in the original, or in Mrs. Carter's valuable translation. The Enchiridion, we know, begins with this very doctrine.

There is a fine precept among the Arabians: "Let him to whom the gate of good fortune is opened, seize his opportunity; for he knoweth not how soon it may be shut."

Compare this with those admired lines in Shakspeare,

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which taken at the flood, &c.

Jul. Cæs. act iv. sc. 5.

Though the metaphors differ, the sentiment is the same." In the comment on the verses of Tograi we meet an Arabic sentiment, which says, that "a friend is another self." The same elegant thought occurs in Aristotle's Ethics, and that in the same words: Ἔστι γὰρ ὁ φίλος ἄλλος αὐτός.

a

After the preceding instances of Arabian genius, the following perhaps may give a sample of their manners and character.

On a rainy day, the caliph Al-Mostasem happened, as he was riding, to wander from his attendants. While he was thus alone, he found an old man, whose ass, laden with fagots, had just cast his burden, and was mired in a slough. As the old man was standing in a state of perplexity, the caliph quitted his horse, and went to helping up the ass. "In the name of my father and my mother, I beseech thee," said the old man, "do not spoil thy clothes." "That is nothing to thee," replied the caliph; who, after having helped up the ass, replaced the fagots, and washed his hands, got again upon his horse; the old man in the mean time crying out, "Oh youth, may God reward thee!" Soon after

* Abulfeda, p. 279.

y Ibid.

work, p. 439.

a Arist. Ethic. Nicom. x. 4. and Not. Bohadin Vit. Salad. p. 73. Of this in Carm. Tograi, p. 25.

this, the caliph's company overtook him, whom he generously commanded to present the old man with a noble largess of gold. To this instance of generosity we subjoin another of resentment.

The Grecian emperors used to pay the caliphs a tribute. This the emperor Nicephorus would pay no longer; and not only that, but requiring the caliph in a haughty manner to refund all he had received, added that, if he refused, the sword should decide the controversy. The caliph had no sooner read the letter, than, inflamed with rage, he inscribes upon the back of it the following answer.

"In the name of the most merciful God: from Harun, prince of the faithful, to Nicephorus, dog of the Romans. I have read thy epistle, thou son of an unbelieving mother: to which, what thou shalt behold, and not what thou shalt hear, shall serve for an answer."

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He immediately upon the very day decamped, marched as far as Heraclia, and, filling all things with rapine and slaughter, extorted from Nicephorus the performance of his contract.

The following is an instance of a calmer magnanimity. In the middle of the third century after Mahomet, one Jacub, from being originally a brazier, had made himself master of some fine provinces, which he governed at will, though professing (like the Eastern governors of later times) a seeming deference to his proper sovereign.

The caliph, not satisfied with this apparent submission, sent a legate to persuade him into a more perfect obedience. Jacub, who was then ill, sent for the legate into his presence, and there shewed him three things, which he had prepared for his inspection-a sword, some black barley bread, and a bundle of onions. He then informed the legate, that, should he die of his present disorder, the caliph in such case would find no further trouble. But if the contrary should happen, there could be then no arbitrator to decide between them, excepting that, pointing to the sword. He added, that if fortune should prove adverse, should he be conquered by the caliph, and stripped of his possessions, he was then resolved to return to his ancient frugality, pointing to the black bread and the bundle of onions.d

To former instances of munificence we add the following, concerning the celebrated Almamun."

Being once at Damascus, and in great want of money, he complained of it to his brother Mostasem. His brother assured him he should have money in a few days, and sent immediately for thirty thousand pieces of gold from the revenues of those provinces which he governed in the name of his brother. When the money arrived, brought by the royal beasts of burden, Al

b Abulpharagius, p. 166.

Abulfeda, p. 166, 167.

d Abulfeda, p. 214.

e Ibid. p. 326.

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