working of the schools, established by Cicero, Virgil, and Livy, on the lines of the learning they had inherited from that defunct Grecian world which had long given way to the sway of the triumphant Roman arms. The Roman poetry, oratory, and rhetoric were merely offshoots engrafted on those of Homer, Demosthenes, and Aristotle. Much credit is certainly due to the Romans for the great improvement they made on the teachings of their mother-school, which elevated them to a high pitch of literary fame, and placed them at the top of the category of the civilized and refined nations of the time. But their achievements, though very noble and excellent in themselves, were merely parasitic, and had little originality to boast of.

About this time we find a new nation rushing upon the scene, and steadily progressing with long strides to the front of the literary world, neither by means of any learning borrowed from other nations, nor by any set examples to guide them, but solely by dint of the growth of their own natural faculties. This was the Arabian nation, which, living obscurely in a solitary peninsula, was cut off from the chief seats of learning and debarred by its own seclusion from all the advantages of a close contact with the civilized nations of the day, who regarded it merely as a degraded and barbarous nation. Notwithstanding its starting with such local and social disadvantages, this nation, which was destined by God to rise to great importance later on, and to succeed the Romans in presiding over the destinies of a great part of the world, bravely stemming the tide of adverse circumstances, deserves all praise for the high state of culture, civilization, and advancement which its people attained by means of self-development of those superior literary faculties with which it had pleased God to endow them.

Although the Arabic language was as old as any of the noble languages of the world, yet its literary fame was kept by God in store for a later generation. The history of its literature, properly speaking, dates only from as early as the beginning of the sixth century. Yet, within so short a period of time, extending indeed over not more than two centuries,

the Arabs succeeded in carrying their literature to such an elevated pitch as earned them an immortal name among the most refined nations of the literary world.

Their progress was marvelously rapid in every department of literature-poetry, oratory, rhetoric, politics, history, moral and mental philosophy. The greater part of their early literature, however, consisted of poetry, which was the principal and almost the only record the ancient Arabs possessed, and it is said with perfect truth that "Poetry is the record of the Arabs." Poetry was the record of their usages, their customs, their habits, their ways of living, their wars, their virtues, their vices, their domestic affairs, their social advancement, their mercantile dealings, their creeds and beliefs, their sentiments, their moral progress, and in short all that would interest both a historian and a moralist.

The Arab minds were cast by nature in poetical moulds of the best type, and their speeches even were mostly poetical, or such as could readily be converted into rhythmical numbers. They had at that time no rules of grammar or versification to guide them; and yet their verses were scrupulously accurate and hardly ever went wrong. They had neither any fixed criterion of rhetoric, nor any canons of criticism; yet their idioms, expressions, images, similes, and metaphors were as accurate, as clear, as lucid, and as perspicuous as any of the subsequently established schools of the Post-Islamic times. One of the distinctive features of the primitive literature of the Arabs was that it possessed the real and rare beauty of being a faithful representation of nature, inasmuch as their images were derived directly from nature, and their composition was merely a real expression of their real feelings and a true reflection of their mental workings. False fame, vainglory, flattery, and empty praise were motives not known to those early Arabs, who led a simple and innocent life in the lap of nature, invested with all its concomitant virtues bravery, courage, gallantry, truthfulness, innocent and sincere love, fidelity, generosity, liberality, charity, hospitality, and a hatred of cruelty and oppression. With the Arabs of those times poetry was a gift of nature, commonly bestowed

on all alike, whether old or young, man or woman, rich or poor, high or low, noble or mean, townsman or peasant, who used it as a tangible expression of their emotions, a ready vehicle of what they thought and felt and a lasting record of their views, made more impressive and more perspicuous by illustrative similes, apt images, and suitable metaphors, such as were readily supplied by natural objects and scenes of daily observance.

Thus we see the common topics of their poetry to be domestic life, wars, heroic deeds, martial triumphs, travels, camels, horses, weapons, chase, love, reminiscences of old associations, hospitality, glory and genealogy of the tribe, panegyrics of noble personages and chiefs, records of their patriotic and virtuous deeds done for the good of their tribes, acknowledgment of their obligations, elegies, embodying posthumous recollections and commemorations of the virtues of deserving merits in proportion to their deserts. Precepts of sociology, political views, philosophical doctrines, maxims and proverbs were not lacking; but they were mere results of a direct observation of the objects of nature and of a deep contemplation of humanity in its simplest aspect.

Nor were the Arabs unconscious of the high poetical genius wherewith they were endowed by nature, of the great success of their literature, and of the rising fame and triumph of their literary talents. Poetry soon came to be recognized as a noble mental production, to be appreciated as a high accomplishment, and to be regarded as a qualification for exaltation of rank and esteem in society. Poets came forward to emulate and vie with one another to carry off the palm. This led to the establishment of a department of literary exhibition in the national fair of 'Okaz, which was held annually in Zu-lQa'dah, one of the four sacred months, in which war was forbidden to be waged. To it flocked merchants from Hejaz, Nejd, and other parts of Arabia. 'Okaz was the "Olympia of Arabia," where poets resorted and placed their poetic talents before the public for their judgment and award, which were always regarded as decisive and final.

The Arabic literature attained the zenith just at the time

when the faith of Islam made its appearance in Arabia, and the Koran marked the highest point to which the Arabic language and literature were destined to rise, after which, as the Arabs by the spread and the conquest of Islam came in contact with foreigners, they had reason to grow jealous of their noble language; and being afraid lest its purity might suffer from its contact with other languages, they were obliged to state the principles of grammar, to explain the laws of syntax, to discover the measures of prosody, to formulate the figures of rhetoric and composition, to define the criteria of lexicography, to determine the standards of phraseology, and to fix the canons of criticism, all founded on the basis of the universal principles that underlie the pure language of the pre-Islamic time. The simplicity of nature, however, was rapidly waning and giving place to artificial ornamentation, unnatural embellishment, and scholastic mannerism. Poets, orators, and writers then vied in indulging in poetic reveries, in giving full play to their imagination, in forming new sentiments, in inventing new metaphors and rare similes, in discovering the beauties of the pre-Islamic poetry, and in imitating by every artificial means in their power the flowing diction of that natural poetry the pathos and the effect of which, however, they strove to grasp with various but dubious success. They lay claim to no little credit, indeed, for the many improvements they made on the ancient style, diction, ideas and expressions, for the standard they fixed to regulate the imaginative work of poetry, for the canons of criticism they laid down, for the laws of language they enunciated, and for the many beautiful figures they invented. It was, however, mannerism, all in all, a noble imitation, but without the true spirit of real nature.

The progress of the Arabic literature may best be illustrated by comparing it to a gradual and grand ascent up a lofty mountain, richly clad in every variety of beautiful verdure, pleasant vegetation, particolored and fragrant flowers, verdant meadows, varied trees - all of wild growth; and rife with cooling avenues, refreshing arbors and stately alcoves, resounding with diverse songs of wild birds, whose

varieties of notes, colors, and hues are objects of deep admiration and devotion to the votaries of nature. The summit was gained only at the appearance of the Koran, which occupied the proud position of a solitary eminence, beyond the reach of all aspirers, who fell short of it. A step further, and the declivity gradually led to a spacious plateau, abounding in fine valleys, laid out with beautiful gardens, charming flowerbeds, gliding rills, well trimmed alleys, leveled turfs, and picturesque parks, all combined in beautiful harmony and resounding with the harmonious melodies of trained birds, while art spared nothing to make all as perfect as lay in her power.

It was thus at the time when Arabic literature stood at its highest position, that the celebrated Seven Poems, well known at the "Seven Hanged Poems," made their appearance. They stood at the summit of the eminence of Arabic literature, exulting with deserving pride at that enviable position and triumphing over the evergreen laurels, so nobly won by the superior elegance, eloquence, and purity of their language, their admirable images, and their vivid descriptions. They were universally admired by the public, who in order to testify their appreciation of their real beauties and the recognition of the obligation, which the Arabic language in no little measure owed to them, unanimously agreed to immortalize their fame by conferring on them the highest honor they could bestow that of hanging them inside the Kaaba, the most sacred shrine of their worship, as a memorial to posterity, after they were inscribed in letters of gold on pieces of a fine white cloth of Egypt, whence they are also called "the Golden."