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BOOK XXIII.

GOLDEN AGE OF JUDAISM.

The Jews under the Caliphs-Rise of Karaism-Kingdom of Khozar Jews under the Byzantine Empire-Jews Breakers of Images-Jews of Italy--Jews under Charlemagne and Louis the Debonnaire-Agobard, Bishop of Lyons-Jews in Spain-High State of LiteratureMoses Maimonides.

We enter upon a period which we shall venture to denominate the Golden Age of the modern Jews. To them the Moslem crescent was as a star, which seemed to sooth to peace the troubled waters on which they had been so long agitated. Throughout the dominions of the caliphs, in the East, in Africa, and in Spain; in the Byzantine empire; in the dominions of those great sovereigns, Charlemagne, his predecessor and successor, who, under Divine Providence, restored vigour and solidity to the Christian empire of the West, and enabled it to repel the yet unexhausted inroads of Mahometanism; every where we behold the Jews, not only pursuing unmolested their lucrative and enterprising traffic, not merely merchants of splendour and opulence, but suddenly emerging to offices of dignity and trust, administering the finances of Christian and Mahometan kingdoms, and travelling as ambassadors between mighty sovereigns. This golden age was of very different duration in different parts of the world; in the East it was before long interrupted by their own civil dissensions, and by a spirit of persecution which seized the Moslemite sovereigns. In the Byzantine empire, we are greatly in want of authentic information, both concerning the period in question, and that which followed it. In the west of Europe, it was soon succeeded by an age of iron. In Spain, the

daylight endured the longest-to set in deep and total darkness.

The religious persecutions of the Jews by the Mahometans were confined within the borders of Arabia. The prophet was content with enforcing uniformity of worship within the sacred peninsula which gave him birth, and where the holy cities of Mecca and Medina were not to be profaned by the unclean footstep of an unbeliever; or rather his im mediate successors rose, or degenerated, shall we say, from stern fanatics to ambitious conquerors. "The Koran or the sword" was still the battle cry; but whoever would submit to the dominion of the triumphant caliph, or render himself useful in the extension of his conquests, might easily evade the recognition of the Prophet's title. The Jews had little reason to regret, or rather had ample cause to triumph, in the ruin of their former masters-though, doubtless, in the general plunder their wealth did not escape, yet here, as in the north, they would not scruple to make up their losses, by following in the train of the yet fierce and uncivilized conqueror, and, by making use of their superior judgment or command of money, to drive a lucrative bargain with the plunderer. Whenever a commissariat was wanting to the disorganized hordes, which followed the crescent with irresistible valour, the corn-ships or caravans of the Jews would follow in the wake of the fleet or army. At the capture of Rhodes, the cele brated fallen Colossus, which once bestrode the har bour of that city, one of the wonders of the world, was sold to a Jew of Emesa, who is reported to have loaded nine hundred camels with the metal. The greater and more certain emoluments of the mercantile life would lead the Jews to addict themselves more and more to traffic, and to abandon the cultivation of the soil, which they had hitherto pursued in many places-for as the Moslemite sovereigns levied a disproportioned tribute on the

A. c. 634-644.] JEWS UNDER THE CALIPHS 221

believer and the unbeliever, the former paying only a tenth, the latter a fifth, or even a third, of the produce, the Jew would readily cede his land, which remunerated him so ill, for trade which offered at least the chance of rapid wealth.

When the caliphs began to delegate to others the sword of conquest or extermination, and to establish themselves in the splendid state of peaceful sovereigns, the Jews were equally useful in teaching these stern barbarians the arts and luxuries of civilized life. The Hebrew literature was admirably adapted to the kindred taste of the Arabians. The extravagant legends of the Talmud would harmonize with their bold poetical spirit; their picturesque apologues were probably the form of instruction in which the Arab tribes had ever delighted to listen to moral wisdom; even the nicety of their verbal disputes would not be without charm to their masters, who soon began to pay attention to the polish of their own rich and copious language. Already in the time of Omar, the second caliph, and his successor Abdalmelech, a trust of great importance, the coinage, had been committed to the care of a Jew. Either shocked that faithful Moslemites should use moncy stamped with an image, or eager to assume that distinction of sovereignty, the uttering coin, the caliph instructed the Jew to substitute the emphatic sentence, say there is one God, one." The traffic of the Jews would disseminate that coin which their

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art had enabled them to provide. The caliph readily acknowledged, as his vassal, the Prince of the Captivity, who maintained his state as representative of the Jewish community: probably through him the tribute was levied on his brethren. A singular story is told of Omar the Second, which illustrates the high degree of credit which the Jews were permitted to attain in the court of the caliphs. Omar, a secret follower of Ali, whose name was still cursed in the mosques, was anxious to reconcile his

people to the name of the Prophet's vicar upon earth. An innocent comedy was got up in his court, in which a Jew played a principal part. The Jew came boldly forward, while the throne was encircled by the splendid retinue of courtiers and people, and asked in marriage the daughter of the caliph. Omar calmly answered, “How can I give my daughter in marriage to a man of another faith?" "Did not Mahomet," rejoined the Jew, "give his daughter in marriage to Ali ?" "That is another case," said the caliph, "for Ali was a Moslemite, and the Commander of the Faithful." "Why, then," rejoined the Jew, "if Ali was one of the faithful, do ye curse him in your mosques?" The caliph turned to the courtiers and said, “Answer ye the Jew!" Along silence followed, broken at length by the caliph, who arose, and declared the curse to be rejected as impious, and ordered these words to be substituted in the prayer:-"Forgive us, Lord, our sins, and forgive all who have the same faith with us." At a later period, A. C. 753, under Abu Giafar Almansor, we find the Jews intrusted with the office of exacting a heavy mulct laid upon the Christians. Under this fostering government the schools flourished; those in Sura and Pumbeditha were crowded with hearers: the Gaonim, or the Illustrious, were at the height of their fame; they formed a sort of senate, and while the Prince of the Captivity maintained the sovereign executive power, they assumed the legislative. Their reign was for the most part undisturbed, though sometimes a rapacious caliph, or an overzealous iman, might make them feel that the sword of any still hung over them, and that the fire of zealous Islamism was not yet burned out. Giafar the Great is reported to have framed an edicts to force Jews and Christians to embrace Islamism. The long and unaccustomed interval of peace, and the free intercourse with their enlightened masters, introduced a spirit of bold inquiry, which threatened,

even at this zenith of its power, to shake the dominion of the Rabbins to its basis. The Karaites, the Protestants of Judaism, who perhaps had never entirely been extinct, began to grow again into a formidable sect. The older Karaites (it is quite uncertain when they assumed the name) probably fell into disrepute through the abuse of their doctrines by the unpopular Sadducees. After the fall of Jerusalem, Pharisaism,-under its more regular and organized form, Rabbinism,-obscured her once dangerous rival; the Sadducean doctrine was probably too loosely rooted in the heart to withstand the hour of trial; the present world presented such a scene of interminable dreariness to those who denied a world to come, that we cannot wonder if their creed refused to support them, when the first obstinacy of resistance had worn away. The Sadducees dwindled into an unnoticed sect; and, though the worst part of their doctrines might retain a secret hold on the hearts of the unprincipled, it could no longer balance the prevailing power of Pharisaism, which was the main support both of the spiritual and temporal throne-the sole acknowledged doctrine of the national universities. Karaism was revived in its purer form, rejecting entirely the authority of tradition, and resting its whole faith on the letter of the written Law; the Cabala, the Mischna, the Gemara-all Talmudic lore-the Karaites threw indignantly aside. The Luther of this reformation, which perhaps was not less rapidly diffused for its similarity to the simpler creed of Islamism, was named Anan, who, with his son Saul, revolted from Rabbinism. What is known concerning the lives of these men, rests chiefly on the authority of the Rabbins, and must be received with the same mistrust as the accounts of our own Reformers from the writings of their adversaries. In a contest for the succession to the Princedom of the Captivity, or to some other high office, Anan was