Among those who were associated with Honein in his work of translating Greek medical books into Arabic there are three whose names also deserve to be remembered. They are: his son Isaac; his nephew Hobeïch; and a Christian Greek named Costa ben Luca, whose residence was at Baalbek. To men of the present time all these names of oriental physicians are, as a rule, mere meaningless words, conveying no idea of an important relationship to the evolution of medicine. During the ninth and tenth centuries of the present era, however, and indeed for many years subsequent to that time, they were accorded by the physicians of that period almost as much honor for the part which they took in furthering the revival of medicine among the Arabs as was given to Honein himself. It seems therefore appropriate that at least a brief account of the lives of these men and of the work which they did should be given here.

Isaac received his education from his father Honein, and soon after reaching manhood he was set to work translating from the Greek into both Syrian and Arabic—two sister languages. He was a man of great intelligence, and was thought by many to be the equal of his father in the knowledge of Greek, Syriac and Arabic. He also had, like his father, the good fortune to find favor with the rulers of that period. He died in 912 A. D. as the result of a stroke of cerebral apoplexy. In addition to his translations he wrote original treatises on the following topics:—

Hobeïch was the son of Honein’s sister. The date of his birth is not known. He received his training in the languages from his uncle, and in the course of time became associated with the latter in the work of translating. Eventually he reached his uncle’s high standard of scholarship, and the text of his translations was from that time forth accepted without any revision. The Caliph Moutaouakkel appointed him Court Physician, and the immediate successors of this Caliph retained him in the same position. His death occurred during the second half of the ninth century of the Christian era.

Hobeïch translated the “Oath of Hippocrates” and a large number of the more important of Galen’s treatises. In addition, he left to posterity several original writings. Quotations from these are to be found in the works of Rhazes, of Ebn el Beithar, and of Serapion the Younger, and they reveal two important facts: first, that Hobeïch was an excellent practicing physician; and, second, that the Arabs had already at this comparatively early date begun to gather their medical information from other sources than the Greek treatises. The following drugs, for example, are described by Hobeïch in the quotations just mentioned, and yet they do not appear to have been known to the Greek medical writers: Turbith, Convolvulus of the Nile, Nux Vomica, Colocynth, Croton Tiglium, Aloes and Myrobolans.

Costa, the son of Luca, was a Christian Greek from Baalbek, in Syria. The dates of his birth and death are not known, but it is believed that he lived during the first half of the tenth century of the present era. He was an excellent Greek and Arabic scholar and was also familiar with the Syriac language. His translations were esteemed equal to those of Honein. After spending some time in Greece he settled in Irak, a province of Persia, and devoted himself to the translation of the books which he had brought with him from Greece. At a later period of his life he removed to Armenia, a country which lies to the north of Irak, between it and the Black Sea, and it was during his residence there that he wrote a number of treatises. It was in Armenia, also, so far as may be judged from the accounts which we possess, that his death took place. As an evidence of the fact that he was highly esteemed by his contemporaries, his biographer states that a cupola was built over his tomb.

Among the medical works which he translated from the Greek the following are the only ones of special importance: The Aphorisms of Hippocrates, and Galen’s commentaries upon them.

The ninth century, the period during which the major portion of the work described in the preceding part of this chapter was accomplished, is considered by Lucien Le Clerc the most remarkable in the worlds history. He speaks of it in the following terms:—

Its greatness is emphasized by the fact that, except in this one corner of the globe, everything was in a state of decadence.... Great as is the credit due the Abbaside Dynasty and its ministers, still greater is our admiration for the Arab nation on account of the eagerness with which it met the wishes of its rulers and also because it pursued resolutely, and despite all the obstacles (political and religious) which were placed in its way, the course laid down for it to follow.... The Arabs also knew how to choose men who were really eminent and to rescue them from lives which otherwise would probably have been sterile; they claimed the inheritance of Greek science; and they revealed to the world that they were worthy of this inheritance.

Some idea of the completeness of the list of Greek medical works which the Arabs translated may be gained from the fact that Galen’s writings are more complete in the Arabic than they are in the Greek, the language in which they were originally composed.