LOKMAN is represented in the Koran and by later Arabian tradition as a celebrated philosopher, contemporary with David and Solomon, with whom he is said to have frequently conversed. lie was, we are told, an Arabian of the ancient tribe of Ad, or, according to another account, the king or chief of that tribe, and when his tribe perished by the Sell-el:Arica he was preserved on account of his wisdom and piety. Other accounts, drawn mostly from Persian authorities, state that Lokman was an Abyssinian slave, and noted for his personal deformity and ugliness, as for his wit and a peculiar talent for composing moral fictions and short apologues. Ho was considered to be the author of the well-known collection of fables in Arabic, which still exist under his name. There is some reason to suppose that Lokm(tn and ilisop were the same individual. This supposition is founded on the close correspondence of the traditional accounts of the person, character, and life of Lokrnfiu with those of Maximus Plauudes respecting iEsop. [A:soma, voL L, p. 51.] Even the name of Lokman may, by a slight transposition, be derived from the Greek Alkman. If Lokniftn is not altogether a fictitious person, his history seems to have been mixed up with that of A:sop. The monk of Constantinople probably engrafted many incidents of his life on the few circumstances recorded by the classic writers respecting that of the Greek fabulist. He may have been induced to do it by the apparently Asiatic origin of Esop and the derivation of his name (from deco and 4, which to a Greek would seem no forced derivation), and this assumed Asiatic origin might afterwards give rise to his dull buffooneries, his bodily defects, and /Ethiopic extraction.
The fables of /Esop have by no means the character of ancient and original Greek compositions. Many of them are strongly marked
with an Oriental character. They bear a very striking resemblance to the Indian fables in the 'Panchatantra; ' they allude to Asiatic manners and customs ; and animals are mentioned in them, which are only found in Upper Asia, as monkeys, peacocks, dm In the fables of Lokman the same peculiar features frequently occur. Hence we may safely infer that both collections were originally derived from one common source, the Indo-Persian entertainment of this descrip tion : from this source certainly came the fabulous work attributed to Syntipas (who was no other than the Sindbad of the 'Arabian Nights'), and other works of that kind, which during the middle ages so powerfully attracted the attention of Europe.
(See Boissonnade, 'Prwf. ad Syntipam,' p. vi.; Grauert, 'De Esopo et Fabulis Esopicie,' Bonnx, 1825.) The fables of Lokman show, in many instances, evident marks of a later and traditional origin ; the moral or application is frequently misunderstood, or at least ill adapted to the apologue ; a few ancient expressions had then become obsolete and are interpreted by words of more modern origin ; and the language in general exhibits some slight deviations from grammatical accuracy, and approaches nearer to the modern Arabic idiom; as for instance, in the use of the oblique case instead of the first case. The style is easy and flowing. The fables have often been reprinted for tho use of those who are begin ning to study the language: after the first edition with a Latin inter pretation, by Erpenius, Lugd. Hatay., 1615; the beat and latest editions are by Cousin, Paris, 1818; Freytag,Bonnx, 1823; Roediger, Melia, 1830, Itc.