rophet to a younger branch of the
tribe of Koreish. On solemn occasions they convened the assembly of
the people; and, since mankind must be either compelled or persuaded to
obey, the use and reputation of oratory among the ancient Arabs is the
clearest evidence of public freedom. [33] But their simple freedom was
of a very different cast from the nice and artificial machinery of the
Greek and Roman republics, in which each member possessed an undivided
share of the civil and political rights of the community. In the more
simple state of the Arabs, the nation is free, because each of her
sons disdains a base submission to the will of a master. His breast is
fortified by the austere virtues of courage, patience, and sobriety; the
love of independence prompts him to exercise the habits of self-command;
and the fear of dishonor guards him from the meaner apprehension of
pain, of danger, and of death. The gravity and firmness of the mind is
conspicuous in his outward demeanor; his speech is low, weighty, and
concise; he is seldom provoked to laughter; his only gesture is that of
stroking his beard, the venerable symbol of manhood; and the sense of
his own importance teaches him to accost his equals without levity, and
his superiors without awe. [34] The liberty of the Saracens survived
their conquests: the first caliphs indulged the bold and familiar
language of their subjects; they ascended the pulpit to persuade and
edify the congregation; nor was it before the seat of empire was
removed to the Tigris, that the Abbasides adopted the proud and pompous
ceremonial of the Persian and Byzantine courts.

[Footnote 31: Saraceni... mulieres aiunt in eos regnare, (Expositio
totius Mundi, p. 3, in Hudson, tom. iii.) The reign of Mavia is famous
in ecclesiastical story Pocock, Specimen, p. 69, 83.]

[Footnote 32: The report of Agatharcides, (de Mari Rubro, p. 63, 64, in
Hudson, tom. i.) Diodorus Siculus, (tom. i. l. iii. c. 47, p. 215,) and
Strabo, (l. xvi. p. 1124.) But I much suspect that this is one of
the popular tales, or extraordinary accidents, which the credulity of
travellers so often transforms into a fact, a custom, and a law.]

[Footnote 33: Non gloriabantur antiquitus Arabes, nisi gladio, hospite,
et eloquentia (Sephadius apud Pocock, Specimen, p. 161, 162.) This gift
of speech they shared only with the Persians; and the sententious
Arabs would probably have disdained the simple and sublime logic of
Demosthenes.]

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