F. Schlegel, in his very able summary of the characteristics of the dwellers in Arabia, remarks: Those tribe-feelings, and passions of pride and hatred, anger and revenge, so prevalent 'among the Arabians, are displayed in their ancient poetry, and " even constitute its essential spirit and purpose.' Here, as in some other respects, this distinguished writer is perhaps paullò iniquior to the countrymen of Mahomet. Their loves, their liberality, their hospitality, their pride in their steeds, their fondness for poetry itself, at least claim a due share of the ancient Arab poems, as well as their love of pillage and their thirst for vengeance. But it is not to be denied, that this last-named passion, so dear to the natural man, is frequently expressed with great vigour and gusto on the part of the minstrel. A specimen may perhaps interest the reader. In a battle between Arabs of Irak against the Ghassanide Arabs of Syria, Aswad (king of Hira, from A.D. 471 to 491) overcame the Ghassanides, and took captive many of their princes. Aswad's own inclination was to accept a ransom and restore his prisoners. But a cousin of the king, by name Abou-Odheyna, who had lost a brother in the conflict, urged, only too successfully, a more sanguinary course of proceeding, in the following very celebrated verses:

'Man does not obtain what he desires every day; and jealous fortune will not permit him to enjoy a success at his leisure.

'When we are in possession of opportunity, wisdom commands that we should not let it escape us.

'It is just to compel our enemies to drink of the cup whose bitterness they have made us taste,

To slay them with the sword with which they first struck us.

Mercy towards the weak is a virtue, towards the strong it is madness. Any contrary maxim is false.

Thou hast killed one brother in battle, and thou wouldest leave the others alive! It would be drawing certain peril on thy head.

'Do not let go the serpent, after having cut his tail; if thou art wise, crush his head.

'They have bared the sabre, let them feel its edge; they have kindled the fire, let them become its food.

'What will be said if thou sparest them?-that it is not generosity on thy part, but a fear of consequences.

For they are princes, the pride of the family of Ghassan; a powerful family, whose ambition naturally desires thy kingdom.

'They offer us a ransom; they boast of their horses and milch camels, whose beauty charms all beholders.

'What? For our blood, which they have shed, they offer us milk in exchange? Of a surety the bargain would be glorious for us!

'No, no! No ransom. Remember thou, that from us, in such a case, they would accept neither gold nor silver !' 2

1 Philosophy of History, Lecture xii. ad init.

2 Caussin, tom. ii. p. 65. They have also been given, with a Latin translation, says M. Caussin, by Schultens (Monumenta veterum Arabum, p. 57), and by M. Fleischer (Histoire anteislamite, p. 124).

In this instance the poet was stimulated by the desire of producing a practical result. This, indeed, was regarded by the Arabs as one great end both of poetry and eloquence ;-a man who had thus persuaded his tribe to anything great, or dissuaded them from a dangerous enterprise, was thenceforth honoured with the title of Khateb, or orator. Among those who did not write poetry themselves, it was esteemed an accomplishment and mark of good birth to have been so educated as to quote with ease and aptness upon all occasions. 1 Another great aim of their poetry was to preserve, as in an historical record, the distinction of descents, the rights of tribes, and the memory of great achievements: hence a poet was deemed an honour to his tribe; other tribes congratulated the fortunate one on their possession; and at entertainments given in honour of the bard, the women wore their nuptial garments;-only the birth of a son, and of a foal of generous breed, were celebrated with an equal degree of rejoicing. Once every year was a meeting held of all the tribes, at which poets contended for a prize. Their prize-poems are known as the Moallacat. Comparatively few have come down to us, as the use of writing was more rare before the age of Mahomet, or, as the Arabs would say, in the time of ignorance. We select a few examples from the curious researches of M. Caussin. It need hardly be said, that the reader must not look for the logical sequence of the classic authors of Greece and Rome. The fulness of the periods, the elegance of the expression, and the allusive acuteness of the proverbial sayings, (frequently bearing reference to historic legends,) have been, from the days even of the inspired Solomon, the attractions of Eastern composition;-their verses are, indeed, as 'Orient pearls at random strung.'

2

Here is an extract from a prize-poem by Imroulcays, the founder of their laws of metre. It displays an observation of nature and enjoyment of its beauties which is but rarely exhibited in the pagan classics of the West :

'My friend, seest thou those lightnings, which move like rapid hands, and flash above those mountains of clouds which they crown?

"They throw a light brighter than the lamps of the solitary, whose hand has lavished on the twisted wick, the oil expressed from the

sesame.

'I stop to watch them; my companions also stop with me, between Dhâridj and Odbrayb. At what an immense distance lay the picture that attracted my attention!

'The storm, as far as my eye could discern it, extended on the right to Mount Catan, and on the left to the mountains of Setan and Yadhbal.

1 Sale, Prelim. Discourse, sect. i.

2 That is, Poems suspended; for they were hung to the walls of the Caaba, the great temple of all Arabians, at Mecca. (Caussin; Sale.)

'It shed on Coutayfa, torrents that overthrew the highest trees.

It sent on the summit of Kenân a shower which drove the roes from

their coverts.

'At Taymâ, the tempest has not left standing a palm-tree, nor a house; only citadels, made of enormous blocks of stones, have withstood its violence.

'Mount Thabîr, in the midst of clouds that dissolved into rain, looked like a venerable old man enveloped in a striped mantle.

In the morning the summit of Moudjaymir, full of the tracks of the torrents, looked like the clew of flax on a distaff.

'The storm in sending its waters on to the plain of Ghâbih, has renewed its verdure, and made blossoms burst forth; so the merchant of Yemen, when he makes a halt, opens his bales, and displays a thousand varied stuffs.

The birds of the valley are twittering with joy, as if they were intoxicated since the dawn with a delicious and piquant wine.

'The lions, which the torrents have carried off and drowned during the night, lie extended in the distance, along with feeble and weak plants uprooted on the ground.'1

So important a feature in the poetic character was this love of nature considered, that life in towns was esteemed unfavourable to the development of the bard's genius, because the townsman could not have the beauties of natural scenery continually before his eyes. But we hasten to afford proofs of the existence of some of the other themes of Arabian verse to which we have alluded. Hâtim, one of the noblest ante-Islamite chieftains of the tribe of Benóu Taij, on numberless occasions thoroughly acted up to the spirit of his generous professions. These words were addressed to his bride, Mâwia, a lady of such exalted rank as to entitle her to divorce her husband whenever she pleased. The latter part was written after she had exercised this privilege towards Hâtim himself.

'Riches, oh, Mâwia, come in the morning, and depart at evening. They are transitory, but they can procure for man immortal renown.

'Oh, Mâwia, in whatever state I am, never do I say to the man who begs of me, I have nothing to give thee.

'Oh, Mâwia, when my owl (my soul) shall fly into the desert, and my body, laid in the tomb, shall taste no more either water or wine,

Shall I feel myself robbed of what I have given? Should I enjoy that

which I had denied?

'The world may know that Hâtim might be rich, if he wished. But I devote to benevolence all that I acquire; and I nourish others, to live in their memory.

'I have known both riches and poverty; I have tasted the two cups fortune.

of

'Riches did not puff me up with pride, neither does poverty humiliate me.

'Others are slaves to their wealth; I, thanks be to God, dispose as I will of my own goods.

'I employ it in redeeming captives, in feeding travellers, in shedding benefits around me; and I do not imitate the miser, who mingles reproaches with the little that he bestows.

1 Caussin, tom. ii. pp. 331, 332.

It is thus that men are divided into two classes; grovelling spirits delight in parsimony; great souls delight in the glory of generosity."

We can only afford space for one more such extract. Zolayr (reckoned with Imroulcays and Nâbigha as the three greatest poets of the time of ignorance) laments, at the age of eighty, the wife of his youth, whom he had rashly divorced; and subsequently appeals to chieftains of another tribe to keep inviolate a treaty of peace.

'Are these the traces of the sojourn of Oumm-Aufa, these mute remains of an encampment on the stony soil of Darrâdj and Motethallem? 'Has Oumm-Aufa occupied, between the two Racma, this abode, whose vestiges are like prints newly touched on the flesh of the arm?

'There wander by turns, troops of white gazelles, and herds of wild cows, with large eyes; their little ones, leaving their hiding places, bound along beside their mothers.

'I am again in these places, which I have not beheld for twenty years. Scarcely do I recognise them. At last my doubts vanish.

'These stones, blackened by the fire, served to support the kettles; this circular bowl-like trench not yet degraded, surrounded the tent of OummAufa.

'Yes, I remember this place; and I exclaim, Abode of my beloved, may this dawn bring thee a happy day, may Heaven preserve thee!

My friend, send these counsels to the Dhobyân and their allies; say to them, Are you not bound by the strongest oaths to observe peace?

'Do not attempt to conceal from God your secret thoughts; God knows all that is hidden.

'If sometimes he delays his vengeance, he writes it in the book of his decrees, and reserves it till the day when he will demand an account from each one of his actions; often also he punishes crime by a sudden chastisement.

'You know the evils of discord; you have felt them by bitter experience, and it is not on doubtful reports of them that you have formed your opinion.

If you rekindle war, you will bring ignominy on yourselves; war, like a wild beast, will attack you furiously if you rouse it; as a fire, will it burn you; as a mill bruises the grain, will it crush you; as a camel which brings forth twins every year, will it be fertile to you in evils.'2

One circumstance revealed in these poems is the excessive amount of gambling, of drunkenness, and consequent quarrelling, prevalent among the pre-Islamite Arabs. Of the other positive qualities of their poetry we have already spoken. But it is time to remark upon one negative feature-we mean the total absence of anything like religious mysticism. If, in a later day, a mystic philosophy arose in the Arabian peninsula, that philosophy may be traced to Persia for its origin.' But Arabia had neither mysticisms nor mythology; between the Creator and the created universe there existed too profound a gulf to be bridged over by

1 Caussin, tom. ii. pp. 614, 626. 2 Idem, pp. 531, 532.

3 M. Renan.

F. Schlegel, in his very able summary of the characteristics of the dwellers in Arabia, remarks: Those tribe-feelings, and passions of pride and hatred, anger and revenge, so prevalent among the Arabians, are displayed in their ancient poetry, and even constitute its essential spirit and purpose.'' Here, as in some other respects, this distinguished writer is perhaps paullò iniquior to the countrymen of Mahomet. Their loves, their liberality, their hospitality, their pride in their steeds, their fondness for poetry itself, at least claim a due share of the ancient Arab poems, as well as their love of pillage and their thirst for vengeance. But it is not to be denied, that this last-named passion, so dear to the natural man, is frequently expressed with great vigour and gusto on the part of the minstrel. A specimen may perhaps interest the reader. battle between Arabs of Irak against the Ghassanide Arabs of Syria, Aswad (king of Hira, from A.D. 471 to 491) overcame the Ghassanides, and took captive many of their princes. Aswad's own inclination was to accept a ransom and restore his prisoners. But a cousin of the king, by name Abou-Odheyna, who had lost a brother in the conflict, urged, only too successfully, a more sanguinary course of proceeding, in the following very celebrated verses:

In a

'Man does not obtain what he desires every day; and jealous fortune will not permit him to enjoy a success at his leisure.

'When we are in possession of opportunity, wisdom commands that we should not let it escape us.

'It is just to compel our enemies to drink of the cup whose bitterness they have made us taste,

'To slay them with the sword with which they first struck us.

'Mercy towards the weak is a virtue, towards the strong it is madness. Any contrary maxim is false.

Thou hast killed one brother in battle, and thou wouldest leave the others alive! It would be drawing certain peril on thy head.

'Do not let go the serpent, after having cut his tail; if thou art wise, crush his head.

They have bared the sabre, let them feel its edge; they have kindled the fire, let them become its food.

What will be said if thou sparest them?-that it is not generosity on thy part, but a fear of consequences.

For they are princes, the pride of the family of Ghassan; a powerful family, whose ambition naturally desires thy kingdom.

They offer us a ransom; they boast of their horses and milch camels, whose beauty charms all beholders.

'What? For our blood, which they have shed, they offer us milk in exchange? Of a surety the bargain would be glorious for us!

'No, no! No ransom. Remember thou, that from us, in such a case, they would accept neither gold nor silver ! '2

1 Philosophy of History, Lecture xii. ad init.

2 Caussin, tom. ii. p. 65. They have also been given, with a Latin translation, says M. Caussin, by Schultens (Monumenta veterum Arabum, p. 57), and by M. Fleischer (Histoire anteislamite, p. 124).