literature was universally encouraged and patronised by the munificence of the great[1] and the study of eloquence and philosophy was ardently prosecuted.[2]
The Arabs of the times of ignorance, as the Moslem term the ages which preceded Muhammed, were not less celebrated for their skill in astronomy, astrology, and other sciences, than their descendants in the days of Islam.[3] The religion of the Hamyarites resembled that of the idolatrous nations who surrounded them, and their devotions were addressed
- ↑ The poet Zohair celebrates an Arabian noble, Hossain, for his munificence and love for learning. His relations having censured him for distributing his money among "viros eruditos, doctos, atque paupertate oppressos," he answered in the words of the poet:—
Nos donant suis liberales tam largiter bonis,
Et nos liberalium his utemur sordide bonis?Ecchelensis, Hist. Arab. p. 142.
There is an epigram of the same poet on an Ethiopian prince, after the Abyssinian conquest, marrying a fair Arabian maid, which is thus translated.
Vidi Æthiopem atræ simillimum nocti
Candidam amplexibus stringentem puellam,
Cui dixi: Heu nequam! naturæ ne ordine pervertas,
Albæ diei conjungens nigerrimam noctem.Id. p. 143.
- ↑ Abulfarag. ap. Pocock. p. 6. Ecchelensis, ibid.
- ↑ Certe non minus excelluerunt in studiis Philosophiæ, Astronomiæ, Astrologiæ, Medicinæ, Poesis, Oratoriæ, aliarumque disciplinarum antiqui illi Arabes seculi ignorantiæ, quas vocant, quam sub Mahometismo juniores.—Ecchelensis, Hist. Orient, p. 142.
ordered one hundred thousand dirhems to be given to him." History of the Mahommetan empire in Spain.
