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THE GRECO-SYRIAC AND ARABIC SOURCES OF BARHEBRAEUS' MINERALOGY 243
source, and clauses (2e)-(4a) agree closely with the passage of Nic. given above.
Although (4b)-(6) have no counterparts in the text of Nic. preserved in the
Cambridge manuscript, the echoes found here of Arist. Mete. suggest that these
parts may well be based on lost passages of N~c.'~
More difficult tcr account for are the alterations made in sentence (2), namely
the introduction of the notion of "sulphureous" exhalations, and the insertion of
the phrase "like columns" (ak 'arnrn~i') in sentence (3), a sentence which otherwise
follows Nic. word for word.
I would like to concentrate here on the latter of these alterations, since this
notion of "columns" of fire or of light is one which occurs in at least three other
works of Barhebraeus, the Ttgrat ttgrata (Treatise of treatises), K. d-zalgt (Book
of Rays) and But.yrurn sapientiae, and in each case (except in K. d-zalgE, where
Barhebraeus is summarising his own Cad.) the notion is introduced where there
is no such notion in the principal sources which Barhebraeus is following in the
respective works, a fact which suggests that Barhebraeus had a particular interest
in making a mention of this phenomenon.
In Cand. Barhebraeus apparently envisages the phenomenon under
consideration as a kind of shooting star, as indicated by the fact that he talks of
these lights as "falling to the earth and the sea". Similarly in the Ttgrat ttgrata,
the mention of the "columns of fire" occurs in a passage where in the corresponding
part of Ghazali's Maqa!id al-falasifah the talk is of "shooting stars". 59
TFgrat tkgriitii, ms. Cantab. Add. 3,003, 56v 12- 16:
-a&:rdbur~~13/-MeLmdA&i.&12
-ex~15/&iiur&.m~+A~-&Aa&14/+~-.&
. +& -
Ad
d+e- e+a 16/aiia~ m. L- es.u
w-tennana man en IS metCakkrana"it netmate Iwl giglfi hfiy nuranit& meshtgm M
meshtgar. badgon hi hula dileh en 'damma I-ar% y, kulhen mnawzteh hda men hdfi
sbiss3it meshtagran, w-haannfi 'ammuday nurfi men ar'fi Iwfit shmayya methzen.
When smoke comes to that fiery circle 1i.e. the sphere of fire] unhindered, it catches
+ Ld, .rrk ,I; o ,UI 4j -1, .$'UI J! &*sla- 3,JI A+ +
On the relationship of Tegrat tegrata to the Maqeid, see Takahashi, "Barhebraeus und seine
islamischen Quellen ..." - With the passage here, cf. Ghadi, Maqeid al-faltisifah [Dunya]
342.23-26: . jl;dI J,b - j!,
.ihij'~~~~lri (Yf coldness does not strike it, (the smoke) rises to aether, fire is kindled in it
and there &ses from it a fire which is seen; sometimes the fire extends [tasta!il?] along the
length of the smoke and is then called a shooting star [kaukab munq&].") - Cf. also Ibn Sina,
Danish-namah. Tabi'iyyat [Mishkat] 71 .I-4.