A literary history of Persia

375that four hundred camels would be required for the transportof his libraryalone. 1 Poet, philologist, patron of letters,statesman and wit, the Sahib stands out as one of the brightestornaments of that liberal and enlightened Buwayhid dynasty ofwhich, unfortunately, our knowledge is so much less completethan we could desire.Amongst other men of letters and science belonging to thisperiod, we can only mention the great ShI'ite theologian IbnBabawayh (t A.D. 99 1), 2 whose work on jurisprudencecalled Kitabu man la yahduruhu l-faqih(" the Book of him who hath no lawyer at hand ") is still of highauthority in Persia the; physician 'AH b. 'Abbds al-Majiisi(t A.D. QQ4),3 whose father was, as his nameAl-Majusi. > .implies, an adherent of the Zoroastnan faith ;thephilologist al-Mubarrad, author of the celebrated Kamil 4 and;last, but not least, the great Avicenna (Abu 'AH b.SIna), philosopher, physician, and statesman (tA.D. 1037),who at this time, being only about seventeen yearsof age, established his medical reputation by curing theSamanid ruler Nuh II b.Mansur, whose favour and protection*he thus secured. Of this great man we shall have more to sayin a subsequent chapter.We have now brought our history to the end of the tenthcentury of our era, at which point we may pause to survey,before proceeding further, the scientific and literaryReview thisachievements of this ^f period, its religious and philosophicalmovements, and more particularly theearliest developments of that revival of the Persian nationalliterature which now, having once been inaugurated, goesforwards with ever-increasing force. This period which we arediscussing began, as we have seen, with a Turkish ascendancyfraught with peril alike to the Caliphate and to the civilisation1Ibid., p. 215, and the Yatima, vol. Hi, pp. 35-6.2Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab. Litt^ vol. i, p. 187.3 Jbid., p. 236. Edited by Dr. W. Wright, Leipzig, 1864.