[436]. To what an absurd point this has been carried we may learn from Ibn Khallikán (i. 114). A poet addressing a single individual does not say “My friend!” or “My friends!” but “My two friends!” (in the dual) because a Badawi required a pair of companions, one to tend the sheep and the other to pasture the camels.
[437]. For further details concerning the Sabab, Watad and Fasilah, see at the end of this Essay the learned remarks of Dr. Steingass.
[438]. e.g. the Mu’allakats of “Amriolkais,” Tarafah and Zuhayr compared by Mr. Lyall (Introduction to Translations) with the metre of Abt Vogler, e.g.
Ye know why the forms are fair, ye hear how the tale is told.
[439]. e.g. the Poem of Hareth which often echoes the hexameter.
[440]. Gladwin p. 80.
[441]. Gladwin (p. 77) gives only eight, omitting Fă’ūl which he or his author probably considers the Muzáhaf, imperfect or apocopêd form of Fă’ūlūn, as Măfā’īl of Măfā’īlūn. For the infinite complications of Arabic prosody the Khafíf (soft breathing) and Sahíh (hard breathing); the Sadr and Arúz (first and last feet), the Ibtidá and Zarb (last foot of every line); the Hashw (cushion-stuffing) or body-part of verse; the ’Amúd al-Kasídah or Al-Musammat (the strong) and other details I must refer readers to such specialists as Freytag and Sam. Clarke (Prosodia Arabica), and to Dr. Steingass’s notes infra.
[442]. The Hebrew grammarians of the Middle Ages wisely copied their Arab cousins by turning Fa’la into Pael and so forth.
[443]. Mr. Lyall, whose “Ancient Arabic Poetry” (Williams and Norgate, 1885) I reviewed in The Academy of Oct. 3, ’85, did the absolute reverse of what is required: he preserved the metre and sacrificed the rhyme even when it naturally suggested itself. For instance in the last four lines of No. xli. what would be easier than to write,
Ah sweet and soft wi’ thee her ways: bethink thee well! The day shall be