The Sea of Precious Virtues (Bahr al-Favaid): A Medieval Islamic Mirror for Princes.

• Author: Davis, Dick

The nagging query that persists as one reads Julie Meisami's admirably fluent, scrupulous and thorough translation of the 12th-century Persian text, the Bahr al-Fava id (The Sea of Precious Virtues), is the taxonomic one. The cover announces that the book is "A Medieval Islamic Mirror for Princes," and in the course of her admirable and scholarly introduction Dr. Meisami largely treats it as such. But the book seems constantly to slip out of the category; of the 314 pages of the text of the English translation here printed I counted a mere ten that deal directly with the behavior, conduct and etiquette of kingship. The vast majority of the rest are taken up with general religious and ethical exhortation that could be addressed, and seem to be addressed, to anyone who is muhsin (adult, male, sane, Muslim, and married). It is true that some sections, particularly toward the end, begin with the formula "O prince," but this could well be mere acknowledgement of the author's aristocratic patron (persuasively identified by Dr. Meisami as Arslan Aba ibn Aq Sunqur, an atabeg in Syria appointed by the Saljuqs)...