completely crushed the spirit of the nation. There is little poetry in
this period that calls for even passing notice in this investigation.
Paul Fleming, although he was with Olearius in Persia, has written
nothing that would interest us here. Andreas Gryphius took the subject
for his drama "Catharina von Georgien" (1657) from Persian history. It
is the story of the cruel execution of the Georgian queen by order of
Shah 'Abbas in 1624.[61] Nor is Oriental influence in the eighteenth
century more noticeable. Occasionally an Oriental touch is brought in.
Pfeffel makes his "Bramine" read a lesson to bigots; Matthias Claudius
in his well-known poem makes Herr Urian pay a visit to the Great Mogul;
Buerger, in his salacious story of the queen of Golkonde, transports the
lovers to India; Lessing, in "Minna von Barnhelm" (Act i. Sc. 12)
represents Werner as intending to take service with Prince Heraklius of
Persia, and he chooses an Oriental setting for his "Nathan der Weise."

* * * * *

In the prose writings of this period Oriental influence is much more
discernible. In the literature dealing with magic Zoroaster always
played a prominent part. The invention of the Cabala was commonly
ascribed to him.[62] European writers on the black art, as for instance
Bodinus, whose _De Magorum Daemonomania_ was translated by Fischart
(Strassburg, 1591), repeat about Zoroaster all the fables found in
classical or patristic writers. So the Iranian sage figures prominently
also in the Faust-legend. He is the prince of magicians whose book Faust
studies so diligently that he is called a second Zoroastris.[63] This
book passes into the hands of Faust's pupil Christoph Wagner, who uses
it as diligently as his master.[64]

In all this folkbook-literature India is a mere name. Thus in the oldest
Faust-book of 1587 the sorcerer makes a journey in the air through
England, Spain, France, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, India, Africa and
Persia, and finally comes to _Morenland_.[65]

Of all the prose-writings, however, the novel, which began to flourish
luxuriously in the seventeenth century, showed the most marked tendency
to make use of Eastern scenery and episodes, and incidentally to exhibit
the author's erudition on everything Oriental. Thus Grimmelshausen
transports his hero Simplicissimus into Asia through the device of
Tartar captivity. Lohenstein, in his ultra-Teutonic romance of Arminius,
manages to introduce a