Note 310 — PART THE SECOND. (continued 2)

Sale observes that Yaḥyá most rationally understands hereby the divine revelations which David received from God, and not the art of making coats of mail.—The cause of his applying himself to this art is thus related in the Mir-át-ez-Zemán:—He used to go forth in disguise; and when he found any people who knew him not, he approached them and asked them respecting the conduct of David, and they praised him and prayed for him; but one day, as he was asking questions respecting himself as usual, God sent to him an angel in the form of a human being, who said, ‘An excellent man were David if he did not take from the public treasury:’—whereupon the heart of David was contracted, and he begged of God to render him independent: so He made iron soft to him, and it became in his hands as thread; and he used to sell a coat of mail for four thousand [pieces of money—whether gold or silver is not said] and with part of this he obtained food for himself, and part he gave in alms, and with part he fed his family.—Hence an excellent coat of mail is often called by the Arabs ‘Dáwoodee,’ i.e., ‘Davidean.’ See my translation of ‘The Thousand and One Nights,’ chap. viii. note 5.