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ihU period . Hfrre ^ lte 4 the ex pjairtat ^ Jew * * , . During the feign ctf the infamous ami ill-fated Ro 4 eric , we hear little qf the Jews . Too deeply engaged ir > his licentious pleasures in the $ aj ? l #
part of his reign , ana too much perplexed and cwfouwteil by the miseries they ao speedily entailed on him at a later period , he does not appear to have interfered w ^ th this obstinate and untracfcable people .
Though , if sometimes the liberality of a monarch , more tolerant than the rest of his race , ga ^ e to the Jews , a short and uncertain repose , during this long era of almost uninterrupted calamity , it rnay well be imagined they would rejoice ia the prospect of
a permanent security ; and when the Moors were led by their victorious chiefs to the invasion and conquest of Spain , no doubt they found the Jews but little disposed to resist their progress * In truth * Mahomrnedanism , even in all its proselytizing fury , was far more amiable than the barbarous
Christianity of this period , which offered no choice to its victims but conversion or banishment , torture and death . An easy tribute purchased the protection of the successful invaders , who prudently conciliated and
caressed a widely extended people , whom common sufferings and sorrows had bound together in the closest connexion . Uader the favour of the Caliphs they rose renewed and invigorated from their depressed and degraded state $ f " » d he , * ' says one
* We shall find a reason for th > e slanderous attacks of Catholic writers upon this monarch , if we recollect that he was both humane and liberal . He invited back all who had been banished by the injustice of his father , to whom he restored their wealth , their henours and their reputation 5 he boldly denied the authority of the
Roman Pontiff ; he permitted and encouraged the clergy to marry ; in a word , he was a Reformer , born , perhaps , an ag * e too soon . After the repeated calumnies of more than ten centuries , the persevering historical diligence of J > r . Gregorio Mayans has restored to him that fame which is so justly bis . due . Vide Defensa de Witiaa Valencia .
1772 . * fr The Jews were no doufcit much indebted for their extraordinary advance in science , to their Moorish masters , whom , however , they often surpassed . The era
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of jtheir historians , u . who has not heard of | ' jbte gjory , the splendour , ut £ prosperity in whu ^ they Uye ^ i& i ^ gr r ^ orant of tbat w ^ i ich is most notorious . " When the successors of j&lj dtove the Jews from thpijr oriental stations , great numbers fle 4 to Spain ,
where they were most cordially ^ ek earned } and as they brought witlji then ) much Eastern learning , th ^ ir arrival g ^ ve additional splendour to the schools \ yhi h at this period were rising in reputation , and afterwards produced so many illustrious meu , and had so extensive an influence on
rabbinical literature , t Cordoba , % celebrated in ajl time * for itssag ^ s and its heroes , ^ the birthplace of the Seviecas and LucaflH-rcrf Abengrad and Mairnonides—of Zubar , Abulcasem and Avericoes- — -of Juan de Mena , || . Gongpra $ and t !
esof their highest reputation begins with the subjugation of Spain by the Moors 5 it is extended through the reigns of the Caliplus , and decays with the fiaal overthrow of the Mahommedan power . . It ^ ill
be remembered that Spain had become th-c great seat of Arabic learning ; and the extraordinary fact , that Alhacani should hare been able to collect , in the beginning of the tenth century , a library of 600 , 000 volumes , proves the literary spirit of the
ag * e . * Solomon Ben Virga , p . 8 . f The assertion of G . H . ITrsinus , ( An tiq . Heb . Sit . Ac . Cap . 2 , ) that literature expired , and barbarism was finally introduced among the Jews at the destruction of the Pornbedita Academy , is surely unauthorized . It is
^ commemorated by Cicero in his oration for Archias , Cap * 119 . § Cordoba , casa de guerrera gente Y de sabiduria clam fuente . So Gongora :
O siempre g ] onosa patna mm Tanto por pi urn as como por espadas . || I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting Juan de Mena ^ s eulogium on his native place : — de
O flo ^ saber y caballeria , Cordova itiative , tu hi jo perdona Si en los cantares que agora pregena , No divulgare tu sabiduria . Be su ^ ios valieutes h )« . rte pod ria ,
Que fueron espejo ratty maravilloso , Por ser de ti missao sere sospechose , Dir / tn qne los pinto paejar qua debia . Laberiato , ^^ 1 % Qap . xxif . ¦ fli Sfae ^ o ^ pe d * Vegi ^» auiui ^ tad nd «^ iration of Gongora . in hisi L * u rei « V Ajpoia
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The Nmconformisj . No . XL 847
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1819, page 347, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1773/page/3/
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