174 CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 



mortalized the tribe of Tai. The suppUant he never 

 dismissed from his tent unreheved. Often were 

 forty camels roasted at a single feast ; and, in a 

 season of extreme scarcity, he killed the only horse 

 he possessed, — so valuable, that the Roman emperor 

 had sent an embassy on purpose to procure it. Ha- 

 tim's benevolence was hereditary ; his father rejoiced 

 when he had emptied his folds to feed the hungry, 

 and his mother was interdicted from giving alms for 

 a whole year, lest her prodigality should reduce the 

 family to beggary. He himself distributed the 

 greater part of his flocks among a troop of needy 

 poets on their way to the court of Hira. His bene- 

 ficence was as unwearied as it was extensive. On 

 the longest and darkest nights he would leave his 

 bed, if some hapless pilgrim required shelter ; and, 

 wrapped in his cloak, procure with his own hands a 

 light from some neighbouring tent. Not satisfied 

 with kindling his " fires on the mountains," he would 

 send forth his dog ; that, by its barking, strangers 

 might know where to find a place of rest. His 

 memory was revered over all Arabia ; and a female 

 captive taken in battle regained her liberty when she 

 pronounced herself to be the daughter of Hatim 

 Tai.* 



The fondness of the ancient Arabs for poetry and 

 oratory was excessive ; next to the practice of hos- 

 pitality and expertness in the use of arms and 

 horsemanship, these were the accomplishments on 

 which they chiefly valued themselves. The elo- 



* Sale relates a contest that had arisen among the citizens of 

 Mecca, to ascertain which of them was the most generous. The 

 prize was awarded to Abraha, a blind and aged man, who gave 

 away in charity the two slaves that led him, — all the wealth he 

 had, — and groped his way through the city with his hands along 

 the walls. — Prelim. Diss. sect. i. Caab and Hassan were cele- 

 brated for their Mherality. —D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. "The 

 Adventures of Hatim Tai," from the Persian, by D. Forbes, is 

 among the works recently pubhshed by the Oriental Translation 

 'Committee. 



