SCOT TRANSLATES AVERROES 113 



in the great Mosque, and Hakim collected for their use 

 a magnificent library which was said to contain four 

 hundred thousand volumes. Al Mansour, however, 

 who succeeded to Hakim's throne, fell under the 

 influence of orthodox scruples. He burnt much 

 of the great library, and the rest perished at the 

 disastrous sack of Cordova in the following century. 

 The ruin of the Rabbinical academies was com- 

 pleted a little later by the cruel edict of Abd-el- 

 Mumen, who expelled the Jews from his realm. 

 The most famous teachers of Cordova and Lucena 

 then betook themselves to Castile. Alphonso vii. re- 

 ceived them kindly and gave them liberty to settle 

 in his capital. These events took place before 1150, 

 and from that date the ancient schools which had 

 given such fame to Cordova and Lucena became 

 one of the chief attractions of Toledo. 



The sole glory which Cordova still retained in 

 the days when Scot visited it was the memory of 

 departed greatness, and of Averroes, whose fame 

 must yet have endured as a living tradition in the 

 place of his birth and burial. We may therefore 

 believe that it was as a pilgrim to the shrine of that 

 illustrious name that the traveller came hither. 

 As he wandered amid the countless columns of the 

 great Mosque, or stayed his steps by the tomb of 

 Ibn Abbas, he must have found a melancholy 

 pleasure in recalling the mighty past, when these 

 aisles were crowded with eager students and when, 

 still later, the last scion of the Cordovan schools had 

 appeared in the person of the Master whose writ- 

 ings were now the object of so much curiosity. It 

 is quite possible that something of a practical 

 purpose may have combined with these sentiments 



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