68 BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 



he quotes a certain Babekai as an ancient 

 Babylonian sage. The science of " The 

 Book of Poisons" is imbued with charla- 

 tanism ; sorcery abounds in its pages ; we 

 feel that these are the fruits of an art in its 

 decay, which, no longer sustained by the 

 traditions of true science, degenerates into 

 superstition. Verbiage, trivial personalities, 

 so unlike the style of ancient writers, are 

 here even more rife than in the work of 

 Kuthami. 



We have, then, a work, anterior to "The 

 Book of ISTabathsean Agriculture," which 

 throughout presents evident marks of 

 modern origin. But another Nabathsean 

 work, also translated by Ibn "Wahshiya, 

 gives rise to yet more important deductions. 

 This work is entitled ^ISyiN JjU! l^SjjJ ^\sS 

 "The Book of Tenkelusha, "the Babylonian, 

 the Kukanian." It is a genethlialogical 



doubtless no other origin. In a word, from such scanty evidence of 

 the Oriental traditions, as well as the absolute silence of the Greek 

 historians, one is justified in coming to the conclusion that the opinion 

 which would assign a remote antiquity to Kazvin only rests on 

 doubtful documents or on merely gratuitous conjectures. 



