ARABIAN LITERATURE. 



223 



princely salaries. He caused the works of the most 

 famous Grecian authors to be translated into Arabic, 

 and spread abroad by numerous copies. Al Mamum, 

 who ruled soon after him, offered the Grecian empe- 

 ror 10,000 pounds of gold and a perpetual peace, if 

 he would send him the philosopher Leo, for a time, 

 to instruct him. Under his government, excellent 

 schools were established at Bagdad, Bassora, Bocha- 

 ra, Cufa, and large libraries at Alexandria, Bagdad, 

 and Cairo. The caliph Motasem, who died A. D. 

 841, was of the same disposition, and a high degree 

 of literary rivalry existed between the dynasty or the 

 Abassides in Bagdad, and that of the Ommaiades in 

 Spain. What Bagdad was to Asia, the high school 

 at Cordova was to Europe, where, particularly in the 

 -10th century, the Arabians were the chief pillars of 

 literature. At a time when learning found scarcely 

 any where else a place of rest and encouragement, 

 the Arabians employed themselves in collecting and 

 diffusing it in the three great divisions of the world. 

 Soon after the beginning of the 10th century, stu- 

 dents travelled from France, and other European 

 countries, to the Arabian schools in Spain, particu- 

 larly with the view of learning mathematics and me- 

 dicine. Besides the academy of Cordova, the Ara- 

 bians had established 14 others in Spain, without 

 mentioning the higher and the elementary schools. 

 They had five public libraries, and Casiri mentions 17 

 Arabians, in Spain, who undertook scientific journeys. 

 Such rapid advances did this nation make (which, 

 scarcely half a century before, was limited to the Ko- 

 ran, poetry, and eloquence), when they had formed an 

 acquaintance with the Greeks. In geography, his- 

 tory, philosophy, medicine, physics, mathematics, and 

 especially in arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy,, 

 their efforts have been crowned with great success, 

 as is proved from the various terms of Arabian origin, 

 still in use ; for example, almanac, algebra, alcohol, 

 azimitth, zenith, nadir, and many others. The inven- 

 tion of the common ciphers, also, has been generally 

 ascribed to them ; but professor SeySarth, who has 

 been lately engaged in examining the precious col- 

 lection of papyra and other Egyptian antiquities in 

 the royal museum of Turin, among other important 

 discoveries, asserts, that the Arabic figures are found 

 among those of the Egyptians, which renders it pro- 

 bable that the Arabians did not invent, but merely 

 borrowed, their ciphers. The Egyptians wrote, as 

 we do, 1,2, 3, &c. Even their Fractions resemble 

 ours, their fractional figures being written above and 

 below a small horizontal line. He has also discover- 

 ed that they employed the decimal system. Most of 

 the geography in the middle ages is the work of the 

 Arabians. They extended, in Africa and Asia espe- 

 cially, the limits of the known world. In the north 

 of Africa, they penetrated as far as the Niger ; in the 

 west, to the Senegal ; in the east, to cape Corientes. 

 When they first commenced their conquests, the ge- 

 nerals were ordered, by the caliphs, to give a geo- 

 graphical description of the conquerea countries. 

 The countries, nations, and wealth of Asia were, in a 

 great degree, known to them. They extended the 

 knowledge of Arabia, their own country, of Syria 

 and Persia, and gained some acquaintance, at least, 

 with Great Tartary, the south of Russia, China, and 

 Hindostan. Al Marun, Abu Ischak, Scherif Edrisi, 

 Nassir Eddin, Ebn Haukal, who wrote between A. D. 

 15 and 21, Abulfeda, and Ulugh Begh Abdollatif, 

 distinguished themselves as geographers ; and much 

 that the most renowned among them, Abulfeda and 

 Edrsi, have written, is still useful and important in 

 regard to historical geography. The Arabian histo- 

 rians, since the 8th century, have been very nume- 

 rous, though they have not yet been long enough 

 known to European 'Scholars to enable them to derive 



much advantage therefrom. The oldest and best 

 known historian is Hesliam Ibn Muhamed Ibn Sclio- 

 aib Alkhekebi, A. D. 818. Praise is due, also, to 

 Abu Abdallah Mohammed Ibn Achmed, Abulphara- 

 gius, George Almakin, Abulfeda (who wrote a uni- 

 versal history of the world till A. D. 1315), Macrizi, 

 Arabschah, and others. The later historical works 

 are in a calmer and more simple style. The philo- 

 sophy of the Arabians was of Greek origin, and de- 

 rived principally from that of Aristotle, which was 

 studied first by those in Spain, and thence in all the 

 west of Europe, having been translated from Arabic 

 into Latin. Hence the origin of the scholastic phi- 

 losophy may be traced to the Arabians. To dialec- 

 tics and metaphysics they paid particular attention. 

 Of their philosophical authors, Alfarabi must be 

 mentioned, who wrote on the principles of nature, 

 954 ; Avicenna, who died A. D. 1036, and, besides 

 other philosophical writings, was the author of a 

 treatise on logic, physics, and metaphysics, and of a 

 commentary on the works of Aristotle. Ibn Bajah 

 distinguished himself as an original thinker. Alga- 

 zel wrote a work, attacking all philosophical systems, 

 to which Happalath Hahappalah published an an- 

 swer. The commentary on Aristotle, by Averroes, 

 was particularly esteemed, and his paraphrase of 

 Plato's Republic, which appears formerly to have 

 been little read, even among his countrymen, de- 

 serves much praise. Many famous philosophers were, 

 at the same time, physicians ; for the physical sci- 

 ences, including medicine, were not then separated 

 from philosophy. Next to geography, the Arabians, 

 without doubt, have contributed most to these sci- 

 ences. At Dschondisabur, Bagdad, Ispahan, Firu- 

 zabad, Bukharia, Cufa, Bassora, Alexandria, and 

 Cordova, from the 8th to the llth century, medical 

 schools were instituted, and, with the devoted study 

 bestowed on this branch of science, the nation could 

 not fail of making important advances in it, though, 

 in reality, they were here also dependent on the 

 Greeks. Anatomy made no progress among them, 

 because the Koran expressly prohibited dissections. 

 Yet they had an extensive knowledge of medicine, 

 zealously studied botany, and might be regarded as 

 the inventors of chemistry ; at least, they have made 

 many discoveries in it, and Dscheber is regarded as 

 the inventor of a panacea. Jn the science of dis- 

 eases (nosology) they made much progress, and 

 learned how to treat judiciously various kinds of 

 sickness. To their famous writers on medicine be- 

 long Aharum (who first described the small-pox), 

 Jahiah Ibn Serapion, Jacob Ibn Ishak Alkendi, John 

 Mesve, Rhazes, Almansor, All Ibn Abbas, Avicenna 

 (who published the Canon of Medicine, for a long 

 time the best work of the kind), Ishak Ben Soleiman, 

 Abulcasis, Aben Zohar, Averroes (the author of a 

 compendium of physic). It cannot be denied, that 

 honour is due to the Arabians for having maintained 

 the scientific knowledge of medicine during the mid- 

 dle ages, and revived the study of it in Europe. If 

 physics made less progress among them, the cause 

 lies in the method of study. This science was treated 

 metaphysically, in order to reconcile the principles of 

 Aristotle with the doctrine of fatality taught in the 

 Koran. Mathematics the Arabians enriched, simpli- 

 fied, and extended. In arithmetic, they introduced 

 the use of the ciphers which go under their name, 

 and of decimals, into Europe, and, in trigonometry, 

 sines instead of chords. They simplified the trigono- 

 metrical operations of the Greeks, and extended the 

 general and useful applications of algebra. Moham- 

 med Ben Musa and Thibet Ben Corrah particularly 

 distinguished themselves in this department. Alha- 

 zen wrote on optics. Nassireddin translated the ele- 

 ments of Euclid. Dscheber Ben Afla wrote a com- 



