A Literary History of the Arabs Part 46

[101] When Hurmuz summoned the sons of Mundhir to Ctesiphon that he might choose a king from among them, 'Adi said to each one privately, "If the Chosroes demands whether you can keep the Arabs in order, reply, 'All except Nu'man.'" To Nu'man, however, he said: "The Chosroes will ask, 'Can you manage your brothers?' Say to him: 'If I am not strong enough for them, I am still less able to control other folk!'" Hurmuz was satisfied with this answer and conferred the crown upon Nu'man.

[102] A full account of these matters is given by ?abari, i, 1016-1024 = Noldeke's translation, pp. 314-324.

[103] A similar description occurs in Freytag's _Arab.u.m Proverbia_, vol.

ii. p. 589 sqq.

[104] ?abari, i, 1024-1029 = Noldeke's translation, pp. 324-331. Ibn Qutayba in Brunnow's _Chrestomathy_, pp. 32-33.

[105] A town in Arabia, some distance to the north of Medina.

[106] See Freytag, _Arab.u.m Proverbia_, vol. ii, p. 611.

[107] A celebrated Companion of the Prophet. He led the Moslem army to the conquest of Syria, and died of the plague in 639 A.D.

[108] Ibn Qutayba in Brunnow's _Chrestomathy_, pp. 26-28.

[109] The following details are extracted from Noldeke's monograph: _Die Gha.s.sanischen Fursten aus dem Hause Gafna's_, in _Abhand. d. Kon.

Preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften_ (Berlin, 1887).

[110] Noldeke, _op. cit._, p. 20, refers to John of Ephesus, iii, 2. See _The Third Part of the Ecclesiastical History of John, Bishop of Ephesus_, translated by R. Payne Smith, p. 168.

[111] Iyas b. Qabi?a succeeded Nu'man III as ruler of ?ira (602-611 A.D.). He belonged to the tribe of ?ayyi'. See Rothstein, _La?miden_, p. 119.

[112] I read _yatafa??alu_ for _yanfa?ilu_. The arrangement which the former word denotes is explained in Lane's Dictionary as "the throwing a portion of one's garment over his left shoulder, and drawing its extremity under his right arm, and tying the two extremities together in a knot upon his bosom."

[113] The _fanak_ is properly a kind of white stoat or weasel found in Abyssinia and northern Africa, but the name is also applied by Mu?ammadans to other furs.

[114] _Aghani_, xvi, 15, ll. 22-30. So far as it purports to proceed from ?a.s.san, the pa.s.sage is apocryphal, but this does not seriously affect its value as evidence, if we consider that it is probably compiled from the poet's _diwan_ in which the Gha.s.sanids are often spoken of. The particular reference to Jabala b. al-Ayham is a mistake.

?a.s.san's acquaintance with the Gha.s.sanids belongs to the pagan period of his life, and he is known to have accepted Islam many years before Jabala began to reign.

[115] Nabigha, ed. by Derenbourg, p. 78; Noldeke's _Delectus_, p. 96.

The whole poem has been translated by Sir Charles Lyall in his _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 95 sqq.

[116] Thorbecke, _'Antarah, ein vorislamischer Dichter_, p. 14.

[117] The following narrative is an abridgment of the history of the War of Basus as related in Tibrizi's commentary on the _?amasa_ (ed. by Freytag), pp. 420-423 and 251-255. _Cf._ Noldeke's _Delectus_, p. 39 sqq.

[118] See p. 5 _supra_.

[119] Wa'il is the common ancestor of Bakr and Taghlib. For the use of stones (an?ab) in the worship of the Pagan Arabs see Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidentums_ (2nd ed.), p. 101 sqq. Robertson Smith, _Lectures on the Religion of the Semites_ (London, 1894), p. 200 sqq.

[120] _?amasa_, 422, 14 sqq. Noldeke's _Delectus_, p. 39, last line and foll.

[121] _?amasa_, 423, 11 sqq. Noldeke's _Delectus_, p. 41, l. 3 sqq.

[122] _?amasa_, 252, 8 seq. Noldeke's _Delectus_, p. 44, l. 3 seq.

[123] Hind is the mother of Bakr and Taghlib. Here the Banu Hind (Sons of Hind) are the Taghlibites.

[124] _?amasa_, 9, 17 seq. Noldeke's _Delectus_, p. 45, l. 10 sqq.

[125] _?amasa_, 252, 14 seq. Noldeke's _Delectus_, p. 46, l. 16 sqq.

[126] _?amasa_, 254, 6 seq. Noldeke's _Delectus_, p. 47, l. 2 seq.

[127] _?amasa_, 96. Ibn Nubata, cited by Rasmussen, _Additamenta ad Historiam Arab.u.m ante Islamismum_, p. 34, remarks that before Qays no one had ever lamented a foe slain by himself (_wa-huwa awwalu man ratha maqtulahu_).

[128] Ibn Hisham, p. 51, l. 7 sqq.

[129] In the account of Abraha's invasion given below I have followed ?abari, i, 936, 9-945, 19 = Noldeke's translation, pp. 206-220.

[130] I read _?ilalak_. See Glossary to ?abari.

[131] ?abari, i, 940, 13.

[132] Another version says: "Whenever a man was struck sores and pustules broke out on that part of his body. This was the first appearance of the small-pox" (?abari, i, 945, 2 sqq.). Here we have the historical fact--an outbreak of pestilence in the Abyssinian army--which gave rise to the legend related above.

[133] There is trustworthy evidence that Abraha continued to rule Yemen for some time after his defeat.

[134] Ibn Hisham, p. 38, l. 14 sqq.

[135] _Ibid._, p. 40, l. 12 sqq.

[136] See pp. 48-49 _supra_.

[137] Full details are given by ?abari, i, 1016-1037 = Noldeke's translation, pp. 311-345.

[138] A poet speaks of three thousand Arabs and two thousand Persians (?abari, i, 1036, 5-6).

[139] Ibn Rashiq in Suyu?i's Muzhir (Bulaq, 1282 A.H.), Part II, p.

236, l. 22 sqq. I quote the translation of Sir Charles Lyall in the Introduction to his _Ancient Arabian Poetry_, p. 17, a most admirable work which should be placed in the hands of every one who is beginning the study of this difficult subject.

[140] Freytag, _Arab.u.m Proverbia_, vol. ii, p. 494.

[141] Numb. xxi, 17. Such well-songs are still sung in the Syrian desert (see Enno Littmann, _Neuarabische Volkspoesie_, in _Abhand. der Kon.

Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Kla.s.se_, Gottingen, 1901), p. 92. In a specimen cited at p. 81 we find the words _witla ya dlewena_--_i.e._, "Rise, O bucket!" several times repeated.

[142] Goldziher, _Ueber die Vorgeschichte der Higa-Poesie_ in his _Abhand. zur Arab. Philologie_, Part I (Leyden, 1896), p. 26.

[143] _Cf._ the story of Balak and Balaam, with Goldziher's remarks thereon, _ibid._, p. 42 seq.

[144] _Ibid._, p. 46 seq.

[145] _Rajaz_ primarily means "a tremor (which is a symptom of disease) in the hind-quarters of a camel." This suggested to Dr. G. Jacob his interesting theory that the Arabian metres arose out of the camel-driver's song (_?ida_) in harmony with the varying paces of the animal which he rode (_Studien in arabischen Dichtern_, Heft III, p. 179 sqq.).

[146] The Arabic verse (_bayt_) consists of two halves or hemistichs (_mi?ra'_). It is generally convenient to use the word 'line' as a translation of _mi?ra'_, but the reader must understand that the 'line' is not, as in English poetry, an independent unit. _Rajaz_ is the sole exception to this rule, there being here no division into hemistichs, but each line (verse) forming an unbroken whole and rhyming with that which precedes it.

[147] In Arabic 'al-bayt,' the tent, which is here used figuratively for the grave.