thies, of the Jewish race, in
his statement that the Jewish mind, at its first meeting with Arabic
philosophy, absorbed it as a leaven into its intellectual life. The
product of the assimilation was--as early as the twelfth century, mark
you--a philosophic conception of life, whose broad liberality culminates
in the sentiment expressed by two most eminent thinkers: Christianity
and Islam are the precursors of a world-religion, the preliminary
conditions for the great religious system satisfying all men. Yehuda
Halevi and Moses Maimonides were the philosophers bold enough to utter
this thought of far-reaching significance.

The second efflorescence of Jewish poetry brings forth exotic romances,
satires, verbose hymns, and humorous narrative poems. Such productions
certainly do not justify the application of the epithet "theological" to
Jewish literature. Solomon ben Sakbel composes a satiric romance in the
Makamat[12] form, describing the varied adventures of Asher ben Yehuda,
another Don Quixote; Berachya Hanakdan puts into Hebrew the fables of
AEsop and Lokman, furnishing La Fontaine with some of his material;
Abraham ibn Sahl receives from the Arabs, certainly not noted for
liberality, ten goldpieces for each of his love-songs; Santob de Carrion
is a beloved Spanish bard, bold enough to tell unpleasant truths unto a
king; Joseph ibn Sabara writes a humorous romance; Yehuda Sabbatai, epic
satires, "The War of Wealth and Wisdom," and "A Gift from a Misogynist,"
and unnamed authors, "Truth's Campaign," and "Praise of Women."

A satirist of more than ordinary gifts was the Italian Kalonymos, whose
"Touchstone," like Ibn Chasdai's Makamat, "The Prince and the Dervish,"
has been translated into German. Contemporaneous with them was Suesskind
von Trimberg, the Suabian minnesinger, and Samson Pnie, of Strasburg,
who helped the German poets continue _Parzival_, while later on, in
Italy, Moses Rieti composed "The Paradise" in Hebrew _terza-rima_.

In the decadence of Jewish literature, the most prominent figure is
Immanuel ben Solomon, or Manoello, as the Italians call him. Critics
think him the precursor of Boccaccio, and history knows him as the
friend of Dante, whose _Divina Commedia_ he travestied in Hebrew. The
author of the first Hebrew sonnet and of the first Hebrew novel, he was
a talented writer, but as frivolous as talented.

This is the development of Jewish poetry during its great period. In
other departments of