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98 CRITICAL NOTICES : were made in Arabic characters, and later on an Arabian author wrote a commentary on the 26 Propositions with which Part ii. of the Guide opens. Maimonides communicated the instalments of his work to Aknim as they were composed in detail, and on one occasion does not quite know whether he had despatched the concluding sections of Part i. or not. The importance of Maimonides may be gauged from the exten- sive mythology that has grown up round his name. There is a legend which tells how the boy Moses was a dull and idle child, so slow in learning that Maiinon, his father, in despair drove him from his home. Moses took refuge overnight in the Cordova Synagogue, and lo ! when he awoke in the morning he was another being from the dullest he became the cleverest boy in the town. There is no foundation for this story, but it well typifies the estimates that have been formed of him both by his own and later generations. There is no medium no moderation ; aut CoBsar aut nihil, either greatest or least. His immediate suc- cessors were divided by the question of his merits into violently opposed factions excommunications being freely indulged in by Maimouists and anti-Maimonists alike. The history of Judaism for a considerable period is the history of the Harmonist contro- versy. Hence, quite apart from its philosophical merits, the im- portance of the Guide more than justifies the issue of the present translation. This is not the place to enter into a full account of the author's life. Dr. Friedlaender has collected in his useful Introduction all that is known of the author, and has adduced some new facts and arguments and many fresh interpretations of old materials. On one point I am not quite convinced despite Dr. Friedlsender's powerful advocacy, and that is the alleged apostasy of Maimoni who in common with several of his brethren is asserted by Arabian writers to have been forced to outwardly conform to the Moham- medan religion. This imputation which is not at all a dis- honourable one appears well founded. Aknim, Maimonides's most intimate pupil, is declared to have taken this step by Alkifti, who could have had no object in falsely charging his friend with it. Dr. Friedlaender thinks his view supported by the absence of reference to the supposed lapse of Maimonides during the contro- versy that ensued. But were not many of Maimonides's opponents in the same case as himself? They could not decently blame him for so venial a fault if they had committed it themsel But the whole of Dr. FriedhiMider's discussion of this subject (Introd. xxxiii.-xl.) is both able and original. On only one other point of Maimonides's life will I offer a remark. Prof. Pear in MIND, Vol. viii. 340, explained Spinoza's refusal of a University professorship as due to his sympathy with the Jewish views of life expressed by Maimonides. I have found an even clearer in- dication of the strength of Maimonides's feeling in this direction in a letter dissuading Aknim from abandoning his trade to devote