He was a native of Sûr [Sidon], and was a great traveller. He advised people to acquire knowledge and to practise it; to be just, amicable, refraining from sin, eager to become acquainted with the physical properties of all substances, to practise love and friendship towards each other, and to live innocently. He taught people to fight infidels, to sit on chairs, to be diligent in reading instructive books, and to educate their females. He also broached the doctrine of the immortality of the soul after its separation from the body, and its capability of enjoying in that state pleasure, or suffering pain, and obtaining rewards or punishments. He never gave way to excess in any passion, nor did anyone ever see him weep or laugh. He was the first who advocated community of possessions among friends. He taught philosophy by enigmas, and kept it secret. When the inhabitants of Sûr emigrated on account of the occupation of their country by enemies, the father of Fithaghorath went with his children and friends to the town of Sûs, and lived there for some time with honour and dignity. From Sûs they afterwards travelled to Antaqiah, the governors of which city adopted Fithaghorath as their son, and entrusted him to a tutor, who instructed him in the science of language, the humanities, and music. When he had attained the age of discretion, he was sent to Malitûn, who was one of the greatest philosophers, and he remained with him till his thirtieth year, to study geometry and astronomy. When he had attained proficiency in these sciences, he followed his impulse to study philosophy, in the pursuit whereof he travelled to many cities. Having gone to Egypt, he cultivated intercourse with the priests of that country, and zealously applied himself to the study of various philosophical problems. From the said priests he learnt also three different kinds of writing, namely, the usual characters, those of the priests, and of the kings. At last he intended to become a guide to mankind, admonished people to abstain from sin and wickedness, and from believing in superstitions. When he again returned to Sûs the citizens prepared a handsome school-house for him, and so diligently attended his lectures that they became in a short time noted for their proficiency in the science of philosophy. All classes, the poor and the rich, simple and gentle, the young and the old, profited by his instruction, and hastened from the quicksands of wickedness to the shores of safety. Most of the kings who reigned in the adjoining countries paid him visits, and he was so prolific a writer that he is said to have composed more than two hundred and eighty different works on various scientific subjects.
Towards the close of his life he had to undertake journeys to various places, and when he reached any city, he alighted at the mansion of some grandee, where crowds assembled to welcome him. On a certain occasion an individual of high lineage, and distinguished above his peers by his great wealth, made his appearance in an assembly, and began, according to the custom of fools, to praise his own self, committing also various other breaches of civility. Fithaghorath reflected on the badness of his manners, and advised him to mend them, but met with an evil requital, because the overweening folly and impudence of the just-mentioned individual induced him to assemble a number of his adherents, and to rush upon Fithaghorath with a volley of insulting expressions; and when a number of the disciples of the sage attempted to interfere, a combat ensued, in which forty of them lost their lives, and the remainder fled. The inhabitants of the city then conveyed Fithaghorath out of it in disguise, during the night, with an escort. He was nevertheless pursued by his enemies from town to town, until he finally took refuge in a castle which he fortified. When his assailants despaired of being able to take the place by assault, they collected a great quantity of wood and of naphtha, which they heaped up around the castle, and set on fire. The philosopher was surrounded by his disciples, who sheltered him with their bodies, but the exceeding heat and debility of his body caused him to fall into a swoon, from which he never recovered. ‘For the command of Allah is a determinate decree.’*
Some of his sayings are as follow: ‘What pleasure can people gain in talking about nice things which they may never possess?—While the pure spirit is a captive in the prison-house of the passions [i.e., in the body], he is more ashamed of himself than of them.—Watch so as not to allow forbidden things to enter your hearts.—The admonitions of a man’s own conscience are more efficacious than those of his friends.—Love him more who informs you of your faults, than him who deceives you with false praises. —You must always do what you ought, and not what you like.—Most of the evils which befall animals are attributable to their want of speech, and those which befall men to their possession of it.’ One day he saw an individual dressed in rich garments, but committing many errors against grammar, precisely as the grandees of our own time are in the habit of doing. To him he said: ‘Friend, either speak in conformity with your dress, or wear a dress in conformity with your language.’ To an ignorant old man, who was ashamed to apply himself to the acquisition of knowledge, he said: ‘Would you be ashamed to be accounted more learned at the end of your life, than in the beginning of it?’ It is related that his wife happened to die on a journey, and that when his acquaintances came forward to condole with him on the hardship of dying far from one’s country, he replied: ‘Brothers, there is no difference between death in the town or out of it, the road to eternity being everywhere the same.’ One day he said to a youth who was negligent in his studies: ‘Young man, if you do not take patience and diligence for your motto at present, you will in your old age have to bear with trouble and discomfort.’ The following is also one of his sayings: ‘He is beloved by God the Most High who does not indulge in wicked thoughts, and does not obey criminal impulses. He has a right to deliver speeches on the attributes of the Most High, who prefers to such speeches good deeds, whereby he gains the approbation of God.’