62 LITERATURE OF THE ARAfiS. 



were courted from their hallowed retreats beyond 

 the Bosphorus, to expiate the giiilt of conquest and 

 illustrate the fame of the Abbassides, Almansor, 

 successful in his domestic wars, turned his thoughts 

 to the acquisition of science. Accident brought him 

 acquainted with a Greek physician, named George, 

 who was invited to court to prescribe for the re- 

 moval of a temporary indigestion. To him the Sara- 

 cens were indebted for the introduction of medicine. 

 The famous Haroun al Raschid has acquired a splen- 

 did name as the encourager of letters. He was fond 

 of poetry and music, and himself considerably skilled 

 in these divine arts. Volumes have been written 

 on the learning of the Moslem empire during this 

 cahph's reign. Whenever he undertook a journey, 

 or a pilgrimage, he carried with him a retinue of a 

 hundred learned men. The Arabs were deeply in- 

 debted to him for their rapid progress in education, 

 for he issued a law that a school should be attached 

 to every mosque erected within his dominions. 

 With a toleration superior to the fanaticism of his 

 creed, he did not despise the knowledge which the 

 believers of another faith possessed. The head of 

 his schools, and the chief director of academical 

 studies in his empire, was a Nestorian Christian of 

 Damascus, of the name of John ibn Messue. His 

 generous example was imitated by his successors : 

 and in a short time the sciences that were cultivated 

 in the capital were diffused to the distant extremi 

 ties of the caliphate. 



But the Augustus of Arabian literature was Alma 

 moun, whose attention from his youth had been 

 chiefly engrossed with books and study. Even in 

 his father's lifetime, and during his journey to Kho 

 rasan, of which he was appointed governor, he had 

 selected for his companions the most eminent 

 scholars among the Greeks, Persians, and Chal- 

 deans. His accession to the throne did not abate his 

 ardour for knowledge. Bagdad became the resort 



