thorn it grows
The rose is not less fair;
Though wine from gnarled branches flows,
'Tis sweet beyond compare.

The goshawk, know, can soar on high,
Yet low he nests his brood.
A Jew true precepts doth apply,
Are they therefore less good?

Some Jews there are with slavish mind
Who fear, are mute, and meek.
My soul to truth is so inclined
That all I feel I speak.

There often comes a meaning home
Through simple verse and plain,
While in the heavy, bulky tome
We find of truth no grain.

Full oft a man with furrowed front,
Whom grief hath rendered grave,
Whose views of life are honest, blunt,
Both fool is called and knave."

It is surely not unwarranted to assume that from these confessions the
data of Santob's biography may be gathered.

Now as to Santob's relation to Judaism. Doubtless he was a faithful Jew,
for the views of life and the world laid down in his poems rest on the
Bible, the Talmud, and the Midrash. With the fearlessness of conviction
he meets the king and the people, denouncing the follies of both. Some
of his romances sound precisely like stories from the Haggada, so
skilfully does he clothe his counsel in the gnomic style of the Bible
and the Talmud. This characteristic is particularly well shown in his
verses on friendship, into which he has woven the phraseology of the
Proverbs:

"What treasure greater than a friend
Who close to us hath grown?
Blind fate no bitt'rer lot can send
Than bid us walk alone.

For solitude doth cause a dearth
Of fruitful, blessed thought.
The wise would pray to leave this earth,
If none their friendship sought.

Yet sad though loneliness may be,
That friendship surely shun
That feigns to love, and inwardly
Betrays affections won."

The poem closes with a prayer for the king, who certainly could not have
taken offense at Santob's frankness:

"May God preserve our lord and king
With grace omnipotent,
Remove from us each evil thing,
And blessed peace augment.

The nations loyally allied
Our empire to exalt,
May God, in whom we all confide,
From plague keep and assault.

If God will answer my request,
Then will be paid his due--
Your noble father's last behest--
To Santob, Carrion's Jew."

Our troubadour's poetry shows that he was devo