[FN#155] "Al-Mas' ú di," the "Herodotus of the Arabs," thus notices Sindibad the Sage (in his Mur ú j, etc., written about A.D. 934). "During the reign of Kur ú sh (Cyrus) lived Al-Sindibad who wrote the Seven Wazirs, etc." Al-Ya'ak ú bi had also named him, circ. A.D. 880. For notes on the name Sindibad, see Sindbad the Seaman, Night dxxxvi. I need not enter into the history of the "Seven Sages," a book evidently older than The Nights in present form; but refer the reader to Mr. Clouston, of whom more in a future page.
[FN#156] Evidently borrowed from the Christians, although the latter borrowed from writers of the most remote antiquity. Yet the saying is the basis of all morality and in few words contains the highest human wisdom.
[FN#157] It is curious to compare the dry and business-l
