Untitled

V
(
, 86 FOURTH DISCOURSE. ON PHYSICIANS
< ( f
and in all branches of Mathematics he wak second only to
Ptolemy; an# Abu'l-Kh'ayr ibnu'l-Khammar was the thiid after
( *
.Hippocrates and Galen in the science of Medicine; and Abu'
Rayhan [al-Binini] in Astronomy hefd the position of Abu
Ma'shar and Ahmad ibn 'Abdu'l-Jalil ; wbjle Abu 'Ah' [ibn Sina]
and Abu Sahl Masihf \yere the successors of Aristotle in the
Science of Philosophy, which includes all sciences. And all these
were, in this their service, independent of worldly cares, and
maintained with one another familiar intercourse and pleasant
*
correspondence.
But Fortune disapproved of this and Heaven disallowed it;
their pleasure was spoiled and thein happy life was marred.
(YY) A notable arrived from Sultan Mahmud Yaminu'd-Dawla
with a letter, whereof the purport was as follows. " I have heard
that there are ii? attendance on Khwarazmshah several, men of
learning who are beyond compare, such as so-and-so and soand-so.
Thou must send them to my court, so that they may.
attain the honour of attendance thereat, while we may profit by.
their knowledge and skill. So shall we be much beholden to
Khwarazmshah."
Now the bearer of this message was Khwaja Husayn ibn
'AH ibn Mika^l, who was one of the most accomplished and
remarkable men of his age, and the wonder of his time amongst
his contemporaries, while the affairs of Sultan Mahmud Yaminu'd-
Dawla were at the zenith of prosperity, his Kingdom enjoyed
the utmost splendour, and his Empire the greatest elevation,
so that the Kings of the time used to treat him with every respect,
and at night lay down in fear of him. So Khwarazmshah
assigned to Husayn [ibn 'Ah'] ibn Mi'ka'il the best of lodgings^
and ordered him the most ample entertainment ; but, before
according him an audience, he summoned the philosophers and
' :
laid before them the King's letter, saying: Mahmud hath a strong
hand and a large army: he hath annexed Khurasan and India
his order or execute
ind covets '
Iraq, and I cannot refuse to obey
his mandate. What say ye on this matter?"
Abu 'All ibn Sina and Abu Sahl answered, "We will not
go"; but Abu Nasr, Abu'l-Khayr and Abu Rayhan w.ere eager
to go, having heard accounts of the King's munificent gifts and
presents. Then said Khwarazmshah, " Do, you two, who have no
wish to go, take your own way before I give audience to this
man." Then he equipped Abu 'All [ibn Sina] and Abis' Sail],
and sent with them a guide, and they set off by the way of the
wolves 1 towards Gurgan.
c
1 I imagine that a word-play is here intended between Gurgan (the old Hyrcania 1
,
of which the present capital is Astarabad) and az rdh-i-gurgdn (" by 1
the Wolves'
Way"), i.e. "across the desert." This is the reading of C. ; the other texts have
" across the desert to Mazandaran."