A Literary History of the Arabs

by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson

[100] Aghání, ii, 22, l. 3 sqq.

[101] When Hurmuz summoned the sons of Mundhir to Ctesiphon that he might choose a king from among them, ‘Adí said to each one privately, "If the Chosroes demands whether you can keep the Arabs in order, reply, 'All except Nu‘mán.'" To Nu‘mán, however, he said: "The Chosroes will ask, 'Can you manage your brothers?' Say to him: 'If I am not strong enough for them, I am still less able to control other folk!'" Hurmuz was satisfied with this answer and conferred the crown upon Nu‘mán.

[102] A full account of these matters is given by Ṭabarí, i, 1016-1024 = Nöldeke's translation, pp. 314-324.

[103] A similar description occurs in Freytag's Arabum Proverbia, vol. ii. p. 589 sqq.

[104] Ṭabarí, i, 1024-1029 = Nöldeke's translation, pp. 324-331. Ibn Qutayba in Brünnow's Chrestomathy, pp. 32-33.

[105] A town in Arabia, some distance to the north of Medína.

[106] See Freytag, Arabum Proverbia, vol. ii, p. 611.

[107] A celebrated Companion of the Prophet. He led the Moslem army to the conquest of Syria, and died of the plague in 639 a.d.

[108] Ibn Qutayba in Brünnow's Chrestomathy, pp. 26-28.

[109] The following details are extracted from Nöldeke's monograph: Die Ghassânischen Fürsten aus dem Hause Gafna's, in Abhand. d. Kön. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissenschaften (Berlin, 1887).