202 Idolatry and Philosophy of the Zabians. 
cies of idolatry, besides the many allusions to it in Scripture,* we 
have the evidence of the most ancient pagan historians, of whose 
writings any part has reached us. Herodotus speaking of the reii- 
gion of the Persians, says, ‘They worship the sun, moon, earth, fire, 
water, and the winds; and this adoration they have all along paid. 
Diodorus Siculus says, the early men supposed the sun and moon 
to be the principal and eternal gods. And Sanchoniathon informs 
us, in the fragment preserved by Eusebius, that the two first mortals 
inhabited Phenicia, and when they were scorched by the heat, they 
lifted up their hands to the sun, whom they supposed to be the 
Lord of heaven, and called him Baalsamen,—him whom the Greeks 
call Zeus. 
The Zabians lived on the north east of that part of Arabia, which, 
by the common consent of mankind, had been denominated ‘ The 
Happy,” on a neck of land, plentifully enriched by the dews from 
the Arabian and Caspian seas, and supplied with rivers from the 
mountains of Taurus, which run through its whole length. In these 
pleasant regions, the earth does not require that toil, to bring her 
fruits to perfection, which other countries demand. ‘The wants of — 
man are plentifully supplied by the profusion of nature, and even 
the luxuries of life are bounteously furnished. Sweet smelling gums 
drop from the trees, and whatever can please the eye or enchant the 
ear, 1s met at every step, in these delightful lands,—not unaptly deem- 
ed the seat of Eden and of Paradise. 
Here nature was free to form the minds of men; there was noth- — 
ing which asked their labor. A life without care is not unfitted for 
philosophic contemplations. Hence, to the present day, the natives. 
of these climes are known, as a peaceful race. It is interesting to — 
observe how the strains of their poetry sometimes pass from person- 
al feeling to philosophy, and this, as a natural effect of the con- 
formation of their minds, is influenced by scenes passing around them. 
A beautiful instance of this may be seen, in one of the songs of Fani, 
where he bewails the departure of Venada. “The ship which bore 
her from these lands was freighted with my last happiness. I have 
never had a care to enquire, if she arrived safe, in the sunny climes 
whither she sailed; for it gives me a melancholy delight, to walk by 
| 
ors ovx eBovrndyncay cxorovdjoas rots becig tov 4 ROTEL adTov, of eyevovre 
dv 77 Xaddaiov, Judith, ch. &. vy. 7, 
* 
