SKETCH OF AVERROES. 407 



being master of the Melekitic law, was appointed cadi of Seville in 

 the year 1169, and for a quarter of a century occupied his time in 

 similar offices in Cordova, Seville, and Morocco, belonging at the same 

 time to the court of the reigning monarch Jusuf Almansur, who, it is 

 said, was fond of engaging him in philosophic discussions in relation 

 to the Islam faith. 



The profound acquirements which he had made in all departments 

 of learning, and particularly in scholastic philosophy, by which the 

 name of Averroes had become famous, eventually resulted in his almost 

 total ruin. He was accused of heresy, and his teachings were declared 

 to be inimical to Moslem faith. 



The charges were signed by a hundred witnesses, who testified 

 that they had listened to heresies uttered from his own lips. The Ca- 

 liph's fears of the populace, in a matter so vital to their religious 

 belief, overpowered his love for Averroes, and drove him to rigid 

 measures. He confiscated his property, deprived him of honors, offices, 

 and emoluments, and banished him to a place outside the walls of Cor- 

 dova, there to dwell with the Jews and other outcasts in the suburbs. 

 Africanus goes on to say that the boys used to watch the opportunity 

 of his going up to the city, at the hour of prayers, to pelt him with 

 mud and stones. Such was the force of the fanatical indignation 

 against poor Averroes, that everywhere he was subjected to the jeers 

 and insults of a bigoted populace. All this occurred about the year 

 1195, at which time a general effort was made to destroy all liberal 

 culture in Andalusia, reserving only such practical branches as would 

 prove most useful to the people, including medicine, surgery, mathe- 

 matics, and astronomy. 



From all these misfortunes, ignominy, and degradation he at length 

 escaped, and betook himself to Fez, whither he was soon pursued, ar- 

 rested, and committed to prison. The royal council could not agree 

 concerning the issue of his fate. Instant death was demanded by some, 

 while others insisted on permitting him to live, and extorting from him 

 a public recantation of his errors. The final decision was that he 

 should be led out bareheaded, at the hour of prayer, and placed on the 

 upper step at the entrance of the mosque, that every one as he passed in 

 might have an opportunity of showing his holy wrath and indignation 

 by spitting in the heretic's face. It is said that this contemptible 

 treatment was submitted to with stoical indifference. When the ser- 

 vice was ended, the judge and officers of the court came forward and 

 listened to a public confession of his alleged heresies. Averroes was 

 then permitted to return to Cordova, where he entered in privacy, and 

 remained in poverty, rags, and wretchedness ; scorned, neglected, with 

 none for associates but the most degraded classes of society. Great, 

 indeed, was the fall of Averroes ! The limbo of Dante must at last 

 have proved to him a paradise indeed ! 



This poor philosopher had not yet reached the end of his eventful 



