...of ancient and modern poetry without my being able to tell the ancient from the modern.' The Khalif then asked him how much poetry he knew by heart, and...poems rhyming in that letter, without taking into account the short pieces ; and all these composed exclusively by poets who lived before the promulgationof...

...miscellaneous learning. It is related, for example, that Hammad once said to the Caliph Walid b. Yazid : " I can recite to you, for each letter of the alphabet,...letter, without taking into count the short pieces, and ail that composed exclusively by poets who lived before the promulgation of Islamism." He commenced...