The chronography of Gregory Abû'l Faraj, the son of Aaron, the Hebrew physician, commonly known as Bar Hebraeus : being the first part of his political history of the world / translated from the Syriac by Ernest A. Wallis Budge.
- Bar Hebraeus
- Date:
- 1932
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The chronography of Gregory Abû'l Faraj, the son of Aaron, the Hebrew physician, commonly known as Bar Hebraeus : being the first part of his political history of the world / translated from the Syriac by Ernest A. Wallis Budge. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![things in the way of laudation—indeed it would not be right for me to praise, lest it might be thought that I have written these things as if I had been conquered by a defeat—but for me to hide a lamp under a bushel would not be just. And behold, I leave on one side the story of the excellent and chosen Orientals who saw his manner of life, and his diligence, and the power of his writings and his humility. If he is worthy of praise they would praise, and if he is worthy of blame they would blame, I shall not be blamed when I say a very little about his excellent mode of life, and his marvellous qualities because they were revealed to me more than to strangers. For during forty years I never saw him receive in his hand a daric (i.e. gold coin) or a zuza (i.e. copper coin). And when the believers brought to him bags of money as for a blessing, they crowded together that they might put them into his hand; and when he was unable to grasp them they set them down before him. And thus [the money] remained there until one of the disciples went into the place where he was, when he would say straightway, ‘Take this away from in front of me.’ Certain men when they were kissing his hands were in the habit of placing the bag of money under a covering cloth (or carpet). And of this we have knowledge from the fact that when he moved from one place to another, and they were lifting up that cloth many bags (i.e. purses) of money were found beneath it. And when he learned (or got the knowledge) that a few zuzi were collected in the cell, he schemed and thought out a plan whereby he might spend them. As for his goodness, and his humility, and his gentleness, and his pleasantness of his conversation, and his great-heartedness, I have not the power to define them or to set them down in writing, for I am too uneducated and feeble, and I lack the power of speech (i.e. eloquence) to do so. It is better for me to hold my peace, for I am confident that the nobles, and the brethren, and the chosen doctors with whom he was in the habit of holding frequent intercourse will, according to their powers, assign to him the true measure of his excellencies. And that is sufficient as far as I myself am concerned.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31365334_0043.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
