Page:Beckford - Vathek (1816).djvu/242

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

(232)

Page 6.Mahomet in the seventh heaven.

In this heaven, the paradise of Mahomet is supposed to be placed contiguous to the throne of Alla. Hagi Khalfah relates, that Ben Iatmaiah, a celebrated doctor of Damascus, had the temerity to assert, that, when the Most High erected his throne, he reserved a vacant place for Mahomet upon it.


Page 6.Genii.

It is asserted, and not without plausible reasons, that the words Genn, GinnGenius, Genie, Gian, Gigas, Giant, Geant proceed from the same themes, viz. Γὴ, the earth, and Γὰω to produce; as if these supernatural agents had been an early production of the earth, long before Adam was modelled out from a lump of it. The Ωντες and Εωντες of Plato, bear a close analogy to these supposed intermediate creatures between God and man. From these premises arose the consequence that, boasting a higher order, formed of more subtile matter and possessed of much greater knowledge than man, they lorded over this planet and invisibly governed it with superior intellect. From this last circumstance, they ob-