family, and, after an interval of troubled wanderings and painful privations, they settled in Fez, where they found the Almohades equally powerful and equally vindictive.  Maimon and his son were compelled to assume the outward garb of Mohammedanism for a period of five years.  From Fez the family emigrated in 1165 to Palestine, and, after a long period of anxiety, Moses Maimonides settled in Egypt, in Fostat, or Old Cairo.

In Egypt, another son of Maimon, David, traded in precious stones, and supported his learned brother.  When David was lost at sea, Maimonides earned a living as a physician.  His whole day was occupied in his profession, yet he contrived to work at his books during the greater part of the night.  His minor works would alone have brought their author fame.  His first great work was completed in 1168.  It was a Commentary on the Mishnah, and was written in Arabic.  But Maimonides’ reputation rests mainly on two books, the one written for the many, the other for the few.  The former is his “Strong Hand” (Yad Hachazaka), the latter his “Guide of the Perplexed” (Moreh Nebuchim).

The “Strong Hand” was a gigantic undertaking.  In its fourteen books Maimonides presented a clearly-arranged and clearly-worded summary of the Rabbinical Halachah, or Law.  In one sense it is an encyclopedia, but it is an encyclopedia written with style.  For its power to grapple with vast materials, this code has few rivals and no superiors in other literatures.  Maimonides completed its compilation in 1180, having spent ten years over it.  During the whole of that time, he was not only a popular doctor, but also official Rabbi of Cairo.  He received no salary from the community, for he said, “Better one penny earned by the work of one’s hands, than all the revenues of the Prince of the Captivity, if derived from fees for teaching or acting as Rabbi.”  The “Strong Hand,” called also “Deuteronomy” (Mishneh Torah), sealed the reputation of Maimonides for all time.  Maimonides was indeed attacked, first, because he asserted that his work was intended to make a study of the Talmud less necessary, and secondly, because he gave no authorities for his statements, but decided for himself which Talmudical opinions to accept, which to reject.  But the severest scrutiny found few real blemishes and fewer actual mistakes.  “From Moses to Moses there arose none like Moses,” was a saying that expressed the general reverence for Maimonides.  Copies of the book were made everywhere; the Jewish mind became absorbed in it; his fame and his name “rang from Spain to India, from the sources of the Tigris to South Arabia.”  Eulogies were showered on him from all parts of the earth.  And no praise can say more for this marvellous man than the fact that the incense burned at his shrine did not intoxicate him.  His touch became firmer, his step more resolute.  But he went on his way as before, living simply and laboring incessantly, unmoved by the thunders of applause, unaffected by