Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/445

 A V I C E N N A. 40, AV1CENNA, a celebrated philofopher and phvfician r ' en l among the Mohammedans, u.is born in the year o,b'o. I the time he was ten years old, he had learned the Koran, and made a ereat pronrefs in ddfiical literature. Me W.TS next fent to a man who dealt in herbs, and was (killed in the In- dian method of accoun's, to learn arithmetic. After this, the rudiments of logic and the H r ft five or lix proportions of Kuclid were explained to him by a private tutor. He went through the relt of Euclid by himfelf, contultinc" the com- mentaries : when he entered on the Almagelf, his tutor left him. He next applied himfelf to the ftudv oi phfic, and to gain experience vitited patient.*, being then about fixtten. The following year and a half he employed with incredible application in reading; and when any difficulty occured, he had reconrfe to heaven [A]. Having atfarned to a perfect knowledge of logic, natural philofophy, and mathematics, he proceeded to divinity, and as a proper preparation for this fludy, he was defirous to make him'elf mafttr ef Ariftotle's Metaphyfics ; but having read the book over forty ti'nes, and even got it by heart, without being able to comprehend the author's meaning, he laid it by as unintelligible. One day whilft he was in a bookfeller's (hop, a broker offered him a book of metaphyfics to fei), which he rejected with. fcorn, faying it was an ufelefs fcience : the broker however tellinp- him he miphthave it cheap, the owner bein>T under a n .. " neceflity of felling it, he purchafed it. n he book proved to be a treatife of Al Farabius, " concerning the objects of " metaphyfics ;" which Avicennahad nofooner ( run over, than he plainly perceiveil the fenfe of Ariflotle, whofe words he retained in his memory, and out of jov gave a confiderable alms to the poor. Having recovered the king of Khorafan, A PU( J Atml- who durino- a fit of illnefs had fent for Avicenna, thou?h a farap. Hift. ^ *^ M very young man, that prince kept him near his perfon, and allowed him free accefs to his large and valuable library; which happening to be burnt foon after, Avicenna's enemies accufed him of having fet it or. fire, that nobody elfe mighfEbn Khaie- cun in Viia [A] Whenever I was pi'z/led, fays ing: and fo often as I v.-as overcome*^ 11 he, about any queftion, or could r.ot hy fleep, or found cayfelffaiot, I drank find the m'ddle term in a fyllogifm, 1 a glafs of vsii.etd recover ftrength, and wentto the mofque, and humbly poured then returned to reader- ?gain. If I out my prayers to the Creator <>l all flept ever i' little, I Ji earned of tl.ofs things, that he would be pleafed to very queftionf, fo that the reafons of make phin to me what nppeared sb- msn of them were mnde known to me flrufe and difficult.; and returning in my deep. Apud Abulfarag. Hift. home at ni^ht, I fct a lamp before me, Dynaft, p. 33. General Dic~l. and applied myfclf to reading and writ- cnjoy