pe,
And idle dreams what prophets taught."

Whereupon the Provencals returned:

"Thou fool, I pray thou wilt forbear,
Nor enter on this consecrated ground.
Or trope, or truth--or vision fair,
Or only dream--for thee 'tis too profound."

The homage paid to Maimonides' memory in many instances produced most
extravagant poetry. The following high-flown lines, outraging the canons
of good taste recognized in Hebrew poetry, are supposed to be his
epitaph:

"Here lies a man, yet not a man,
And if a man, conceived by angels,
By human mother only born to light;
Perhaps himself a spirit pure--
Not child by man and woman fostered--
From God above an emanation bright."

Such hyperbole naturally challenged opposition, and Maimonides'
opponents did not hesitate to give voice to their deep indignation, as
in the following:

"Alas! that man should dare
To say, with reckless air,
That Holy Scripture's but a dream of night;
That all we read therein
Has truly never been,
Is naught but sign of meaning recondite.
And when God's wondrous deeds
The haughty scorner reads,
Contemptuous he cries, 'I trust my sight.'"

A cessation of hostilities came only in the fourteenth century. The
"Guide" was then given its due meed of appreciation by the Jews. Later,
Maimonides' memory was held in unbounded reverence, and to-day his
"Guide of the Perplexed" is a manual of religious philosophy treasured
by Judaism.

If we wish once more before parting from this earnest, noble thinker to
review his work and attitude, we can best do it by applying to them the
standard furnished by his own reply to all adverse critics of his
writings: "In brief, such is my disposition. When a thought fills my
mind, though I be able to express it so that only a single man among ten
thousand, a thinker, is satisfied and elevated by it, while the common
crowd condemns it as absurd, I boldly and frankly speak the word that
enlightens the wise, never fearing the censure of the ignorant herd."

This was Maimonides--he of pure thought, of noble purpose; imbued with
enthusiasm for his faith, with love for science; ruled by the loftiest
moral principles; full of disinterested love and the milk of human
kindness in his intercourse with those of other faiths and other views;
an eagle-eyed thinker, in whom were focused and harmoniously blended the
last rays of the declining s