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Moses ben Enoch the Talmudist, Menahem ben Saruk, the grammarian and lexicographer, and Dunash ben Labrat, the poet all three under the distinguished patronage of Hasdai ibn Shaprut inaugurated the long line of Spanish Jewish worthies, which continued almost five centuries, constituting the golden era of Jewish literature and making of Spain the intellectual centre of all Jewry.
She read it and laughing, said to me, "O Ibn Mensour, the poet lied not when he said: The love of thee I will endure with patient constancy, Till such time as a messenger shall come to me from thee. O Ibn Mensour," added she, "I will write thee an answer that he may give thee what he promised thee."
This has not been always the case; for Abdallah Ibn Aboo Kelaba passed a night in its palace in the reign of Moowiych, the prince of the Faithful. Lucky the man who shall next find it, but unlucky the world when he does; for then the day of the general conflagration will be at hand.
Apparently in agreement with Abraham ibn Daud that Gabirol's profuseness in his philosophic masterpiece made it possible to reduce it to a tenth part of its size, Falaquera did not find it necessary to translate the whole of the "Mekor Hayim" into Hebrew, giving us instead a translation of selected parts, which in his estimation contained the gist of Gabirol's teaching.
"What!" exclaimed Sidi ibn Thalabi, "is the barber present?" "The barber is not present," said Haroun, "but only the brush." As he said these words, Giafer, with a low bow, placed the brush again in his hands. "Allah, be merciful to us!" exclaimed the astonished Sidi ibn Thalabi. "Why, it can be no other than the Caliph himself!"
Thus God as a Being absolutely unknowable, of whom negations alone are true just because he is the acme of perfection and bears no analogy to the imperfect things of our world; matter in our world as the origin of evil, and the existence of matter in the intelligible world all these ideas will meet us again in Ibn Gabirol, in Ibn Daud, in Maimonides, some in one, some in the other.
"No, gentlemen," said Sidi ibn Thalabi; "the barber altogether refused to sell the brush on any terms, or at any price, and declared that he would never part with it unless the Caliph himself, seated upon his throne and arrayed in his royal robes, demanded it of him."
We have followed its ascending curve from Saadia through Gabirol, Bahya and Ibn Daud to its highest point in Maimonides, and we likewise traced its descent through Gersonides, Crescas and Albo. We took account of its essential nature as being a serious and conscientious attempt to define a Jewish Weltanschauung in the midst of conflicting claims of religions and philosophies.
Thirteen other junks were to receive the presents sent by the King of Delhi to the Emperor of China, but during the night a violent storm arose, and all the vessels sank. Fortunately for Ibn he had remained on shore to attend the service at the mosque, and thus his piety saved his life, but he had lost everything except "the carpet which he used at his devotions."
And when her master heard this, he groaned and replied in these couplets, "Albeit this thy case lack all resource, * Nor findeth aught but death's doom, pardon still; Evening and morning, thoughts of thee will dole * Comfort to heart all woes and griefs full fill: Peace be upon thee! Meet we now no more * Nor pair except at Ibn Ma'amar's will."
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