176 THE SHEMITIC SOCIETY. 



have displayed any real aptitude for civilization. The Arabs, whose 

 name is derived from the word Ardba, which signifies " desert," 

 seem almost exclusively adapted for a nomadic life ; and it is to 

 them can most correctly be applied the characteristics which Renan 

 too broadly attributes to the entire Shemitic race. 



" As far as concerns the civil and political life," says that distin- 

 guished orientalist, " the Shemites are distinguished by the same 

 character of simplicity. They have never understood civilization in 

 the sense which we apply to the word. We do not find among them 

 any great organized empires, or commerce, or public spirit nothing 

 which recalls the absolute monarchy of Egypt and Persia. The true 

 Shemitic society is that of the tent and the tribe : it owns no politi- 

 cal or judiciary institution ; its principle is, man free, without any 

 controlling authority, and without any other security than that of 

 the family tie. The questions of aristocracy, democracy, feudality, 

 which sum up all the history of the Aryan peoples, have no meaning 

 for the Shemites. Aristocracy, not having among them a military 

 origin, is accepted without protest and without repugnance. The 

 Shemitic nobility is purely patriarchal : it owes nothing to conquest ; 

 it has its origin in blood." 



As far as their physique is concerned, the Arabs are in general 

 tall, thin, nimble, not very strong. Their face is pale and long, their 

 forehead low, their nose aquiline, their mouth large, their chin receding. 

 The complexion is brown, as becomes those who live for months under 

 a glaring sun ; the eyes are keen and glowing ; the port is free and 

 even haughty. They have black hair and beard. 



Of their history, prior to the day when Mohammed's genius knit 

 them into a great proselytizing military people, little certain is 

 known. A Shemitic tribe, descended from Joktan, grandson of Shem, 

 settled in Arabia at a remote period of antiquity, and Joktan' s great- 

 grandson, Himzar or Homin, founded a dynasty which ruled in 

 Yemen for upwards of two thousand years. Even the Romans 

 could not utterly subdue them, but gradually the different tribes fell 

 apart from one another, and for centuries waged against each other 



