Note [édition originale] : Lokmân;] The
Arab writers say, that
Lokmân was the son of
Baûra who was the
son or grandson of a sister or aunt of
Job; and that he lived several
centuries, and to the time of
David, with whom he was conversant in
Palestine.
According to the description they give of his person, he must have been
deformed enough; for they say he was of a black complexion (whence some call
him an
Ethiopian), with thick lips and splay feet: but in return he received
from
God wisdom and eloquence in a great degree, which some pretend were given
him in a vision, on his making choice of wisdom preferably to the gift of
prophecy, either of which were offered him. The generality of the
Mohammedans, therefore, hold him to have been no prophet, but only a wise man.
As to his condition, they say he was a slave, but obtained his liberty on the
following occasion: His master having one day given him a bitter melon to eat,
he paid him such exact obedience as to eat it all; at which his master being
surprised, asked him how he could eat so nauseous a fruit? To which he
replied, it was no wonder that he should for once accept a bitter fruit from
the same hand from which he had received so many favours
1.
The commentators
mention several quick repartees of
Lokmân, which, together with the
circumstances above mentioned, agree so well with what
Maximus Planudes has
written of
Esop, that from thence, and from the fables attributed to
Lokmân by
the orientals, the latter has been generally thought to have been no other
than the
Esop of the
Greeks. However, that be (for I think the matter will
bear a dispute), I am of opinion that
Planudes borrowed great part of his life
of Esop from the traditions he met with in the east concerning
Lokmân,
concluding them to have been the same person, because they were both slaves,
and supposed to be the writers of those fables which go under their respective
names, and bear a great resemblance to one another; for it has long since been
observed by learned men that the greater part of that monk’s performance is an
absurd romance, and supported by no evidence of the ancient writers
2.
-
1
Al Zamakh. Al Beidawi, &c. V. D’Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 516, & Marracc.
in Alc. p. 547.
-
2
V. la Vie d’Esope, par M. de Meziriac, & Bayle, Dict. Hist. Art. Esope. Rem. B.