This same monarch had a confidential domestic who had been long in his service, and for whom the savage Abdalla appeared to entertain some affection. In a moment of good-nature he entreated this aged servant to accept two thousand ducats at his hand and leave his service, lest he should be {220} seized with an irrepressible desire to kill him, as he had so many others. The old man clung to the feet of the king, refused the two thousand ducats, and assured him that he preferred perishing by his hand rather than abandon so beloved a master. Mulei, with some hesitation, consented to retain his aged servant. Some days afterward, impelled by that thirst for blood whose impulses were sometimes uncontrollable, and without the slightest provocation to the deed, the fiendish despot struck the unfortunate man dead at his feet, saying, at the same moment, that he had been a fool not to accept his permission to leave him.
It is painful to relate these shocking details; but they present a true picture of the character of these African sovereigns, while they inspire us with a horror of tyranny, and a veneration for the restraints of civilization and law, so indispensable to the well-being of every community.
D, page 98.
And possessed the united glory of having both enlightened, &c.
Averroes belonged to one of the first families in Cordova. His version of the writings of Aristotle was translated into Latin, and was for a long time the only translation of the works of that author. The other productions of Averroes are still esteemed by the learned. He is justly regarded as the chief of the Arabic philosophers: a class of men not numerous in a nation abounding in prophets and conquerors. The principles he entertained exposed him to much persecution. His indifference to the religious creed of his countrymen excited the enmity of the imans or priests against him, and afforded a pretext for the animosity of all whom his genius inspired with envy. He was accused of heresy before the {221} Emperor of Morocco; and the punishment decreed against him was, that he should do homage at the door of the mosque, while every true Mussulman who came thither to pray for his conversion should spit in his face. He submitted patiently to the humiliating infliction, merely repeating the words Moriatur anima mea morte philosophorum (Let me die the death of a philosopher).
E, page 106.
And broke the chains, &c.
This King of Navarre was Sancho VIII., surnamed the Strong. It was in commemoration of the chains broken by him at the battle of Toloza that Sancho added the chains of gold to the arms of Navarre, which are still to be seen on the field of gules.
F, page 111.
Cousin-german of St. Lewis, &c.