LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 61 



able lessons in science and the arts. In the pre- 

 ceding- chapters of this work we have beheld the 

 disciples of Mohammed in the character of warriors 

 and conquerors. Their success in arms had been 

 enough to satiate even the most unmeasured ambi- 

 tion. But, great and splendid as were the events 

 we have just detailed, we shall turn with pleasure 

 from fields of blood, from scenes of misery and vice, 

 to contemplate the more g-entle and useful progress 

 of the Arabs in the cultivation of learning. The 

 first Mussulmans knew, or at least esteemed, no 

 other book than the Koran. But this aversion to 

 intellectual pursuits gradually relaxed, in proportion 

 as their faith and their empire extended. The pos- 

 session of those happy countries, so long the seats 

 of ancient taste and splendour, naturally introduced 

 among them a spirit of refinement ; and here their 

 career was as rapid and surprising as it had been 

 in the field. The literature of Greece, such as it 

 was in the days of Pericles, required the slow growth 

 of nearly eight centuries of progressive cultivation. 

 The same period elapsed between the foundation 

 of Rome and the age of Augustus. In France, the 

 reign of Louis XIV., the brilliant era of wit and 

 genius, was 1200 years subsequent to that of Clovis. 

 But among the Saracens, such was their enthusiasm 

 for learning, that little more than a single centui^ 

 elapsed from the period of their deepest barbarism 

 to the universal diffusion of science over the vast 

 extent of their dominions. It was in the year 641 

 that Omar committed the Alexandrian library to the 

 flames, and in 750 the house of Abbas, the munifi- 

 cent patrons of letters, mounted the throne. 



Under the first of the Ommiadan caliphs, the 

 genius of Greece had begun to obtain an influence 

 over the Arabs. But it was not till the great and 

 final division of the empire — till Bagdad arose, a fair 

 and splendid city — that the golden age of A rabian 

 literature commenced in the East, and the Muses 



Vol. XL— F 



