1 AA Liitz, Viticulture and Brewing. 



time, who abstained from the use of wine and other liquors. 

 But these were rather isolated cases, so f i., 'Asad, the son of 

 Kurz ibn 'Amir (Ag. XIX, 53, 22). 'Asad's father "a man of 

 high qualities" was seemingly always well supplied with wine 

 (see, Kais ibn al-Hatim, ed. Kowalski, XIV, 16 17). Self- 

 imposed temporary abstinence from wine (and food, women, 

 etc.) is often undergone before starting on the mission of blood- 

 revenge. Amruul-Kais, at the news of the murder of his father 

 at Demmun in al-Yaman vowed, after seven nights spent in 

 drinking, to abstain from it until he had taken blood-revenge 

 (Kitab al-'agani, VIII, p. 68). 'Abu Kais ibn al-'Aslat swore 

 to abstain from wine for thirty nights (van, years; Kais ibn 

 al-Hatim, ed. Kowalski, IV, 28). Ta'abbata Sharran, after hav- 

 ing accomplished his task of avenging his uncle, slain by the 

 tribesmen of Hudhayl, sings ^ : 



"Lawful now to me is wine, long forbidden: 

 Sore my struggle ere the ban was o'erridden. 

 Pour me wine, O son of 'Amr'! I would taste it, 

 Since with grief for mine uncle I am wasted." 



Three motives are always recurring. The poet boasts 

 of his drinking powers, mentions his liberality when drunk, 

 and the exorbitant price he paid for the drinking-bout. 

 Yet, the Arab had not always a chance to drink wine. He 

 was dependent upon the wine merchant, the ta^ir, who was 

 generally a Jew 2, and sometimes a Christian. In 'Ag. VIII, 79 

 the Christians of Hira are mentioned as being engaged in the 

 sale of wine. Wine was very expensive in all parts of Arabia. 

 In the deathsong of 'Abd-Yaghuth, son of Waqqas, chief of 

 the Banu-1-Harith, of Najran, he sings: "Now am I as though 

 I ne'er had mounted a noble steed, or called to my horsemen 

 "Charge! gain space for our men to breathe", or bought 

 for a wealth of gold the full skin of wine" 3. 'Amr ibn Qa- 

 mi'ah^ XII, 3: "The wine-skin is a kingdom to him who pos- 



i) Hamasa, p. 382 ff. ; translated by Miclaolson, R. A., A Literary History 

 of the Arabs, p. 100. 



2) Goldziher, ZDMG , Vol.46, 1892, p. 185. Mufaddaliyat , ed. Lyall 



n, 34. 



3) Lyall, Ch. J., Transl. of Anc. Arab. Poetry, London, 1885, p. 86. 



4) Lyall, Charles, The Poems of Amr son of Qdmfak, Cambridge, 1919. 



