The Persian and Arabian periods from the time of Chosroes, to
Harun, covers the Golden Age of Arabian literature, which is
more prolific in chess incident than any other; yet even this and
Firdausi's celebrated Persian Shahnama, and Anna Comnena's
historical work escapes notice. We may perhaps, not implicitly
trust or credit, all we read of in some of the Eastern manuscripts
biographical sketches; but there is much of reasonable
narrative we need not discredit nor reject. We may feel
disposed to accept, with some reservation, the account of the 6,000
male and 6,000 female slaves, and 60,000 horses of Al Mutasem,
(the eighth of Abbasside). The prodigious bridal expenditure,
comprising gifts of Estates, houses, jewels, horses, described in
the history of Al Mamun (the seventh of Abbasside, and the most
glorious of his race), may seem fabulous to us; the extraordinary
memories of certain scholars narrated in biographies, who could
recite thousands of verses and whole books by heart may appear
worthy of confirmation; the composition of two thousand manuscripts
by one writer, and the possession of forty thousand volumes
by another, may somewhat tax our credulity.
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