M A I M O N I D E S. 150 
brew, and in an eafy and elegant ftyle. He likewife ac¬ 
quired a profound knowledge of the medical art, in the 
practice of which he attained the higheft reputation. 
The extraordinary accompliffiments of Maimonides, as 
it not unfrequently the cafe with perfons of fuperior en¬ 
dowments, excited againft him the envy and ill-will of 
fome of his nation at Cordova; whence circumftances 
arofe, which determined him, before he was thirty years 
of age, to quit Spain and remove into Egypt. From his 
reading in this country during the remaining part of his 
life, he is by fome writers called Mofcs /Egyptius ; as he is 
by others named Mofes Cordubenfis, from the place of his 
birth. In Egypt he opened a fchool, to which a number 
of pupils reforted from all parts, and particularly from 
Alexandria and Daniafcus ; who made fuch improvement 
under his inllruCtions, that they proved the means of 
spreading his fame throughout the world. He was alfo 
diftinguiihed by fuch eminent fuccefs in the medical art, 
that he was appointed chief phyfician to Saladin, fultan 
of Egypt. In a letter of his to rabbi Samuel Aben Tyb- 
bon, he has given account of the fervices connected with 
that appointment, and of the manner in which his medical 
practice occupied the reft; of his time, which affords Itrik- 
ing evidence of the great eftiination in which his charac¬ 
ter was held, both at court and by the country in general. 
Tybbon had written to him for his advice on fome du¬ 
bious points, and added, that, when he ffiould have lei- 
fure, it was his intention to pay him a viiit, that they 
might difcufs them more fully in converfation. In his re¬ 
ply Maimonides faid, that nothing could give him greater 
pleafure than the prefence and converfation of his triend ; 
but that he mull add, that he could not encourage him to 
undertake fo long a voyage, with the view of entertain¬ 
ing much perfonal intercourfe with him; for that his time 
was fo fully occupied, that he could fcarcely protnife him 
his company for a tingle hour, either in the day-time or 
at night. “ I live,” laid he, “ in Egypt, at the dittance 
of nearly two fabbath-days’ journey from Cairo, where 
the king refides. On him the duties of my appointment 
require a very regular attendance. I generally vifit him 
every morning ; but, when either he himfelf, or one of 
his children, or of his concubines, is indifpofed, I am not 
allowed to ftir from the palace ; fo that I very often fpend 
the whole of the day at court. Befides, when any one of 
the king’s principal officers is fick, my medical affiftance 
is required. In ihort, I go to Cairo every morning at an 
early hour, and, if I find nothing amil's there, return 
home towards noon. But, when arrived at my houfe, al- 
moft familhed for want of food, I find all the approaches 
to it crowded with Gentiles and Jews, men of rank and 
of the loweft order, judges and tax-gatherers, friends and 
enemies, who have been impatiently waiting my return. 
No fooner have I alighted from my horfe, and walhed my 
hands, than I humbly requeft the indulgence of the mul¬ 
titude till I have appeafed my craving appetite. As foon 
as I have dined, 1 proceed to examine the cafes of my pa¬ 
tients, and to preferibe for them. This employment com¬ 
monly lafts till night, and often till feveral hours after 
dark, when I am fo overcome with the fatigue of hearing, 
ipeaking, and preferibing, that I can fcarcely talk any 
longer, or even keep mylelf awake.” This extraordinary 
man died in Egypt, in the year 1204 of the Chriftian sera, 
in the feventietli year of his age; and was buried, with 
the higheft funeral honours, in the land of Canaan. For 
three whole days did the Jews and the Gentiles bewail his 
death, and they called the year in which it took place 
Lamentum Lamcntabile. When fpeaking of him, the Jews 
frequently make ufe of this proverbial faying ; “ A Mofe 
ad Mo fern, non furrexit ficut Mofes ;” meaning that, from 
the time of Mofes the prophet, no one approached fo 
nearly to him in wifdom and learning, as Mofes the fon 
of Maimon. We ought not to omit mentioning, that he 
is frequently delignated in the writing of the Jews by the 
word Rambam, the confonants of which form the initials 
of the word Rabbi Moles Ben Maimon, 
Notwithftanding his numerous avocations, Maimonides 
found leifure to compofe a variety of works, fome of con- 
fiderable magnitude, which dil'play much profound erudi¬ 
tion, a furprifing extent of reading, great critical ability, 
and a fpirit of liberal and philoiophical enquiry. We 
fhall infert the titles and fubjeCts of the principal of them. 
The firft of his productions, in order of time, was his 
Pirujk Hemijhnak, or Commentary on the Miffina, which 
was begun by him in Spain, in the twenty-third year of 
his age, and finiffied in Egypt, when he was about thirty. 
The objeft of the author was, to give fuch an explanation 
of the Miffina, and fuch a ffiort and eafy interpretation 
of the phrafeology of the Jewiffi doCtors, that the readeff 
may without difficulty underftand the meaning of their 
decifions and conftitutions. It was originally written in 
Arabic, and tranflated into Hebrew by R. Aben Tybbon. 
Copies of the original Arabic were lately to be met with 
in the Vatican, and other public libraries. The belt edi¬ 
tion of it is that publiffied with the Miffina at Amfterdam, 
in 1698, in fixteen volumes folio. The prefaces of Mai¬ 
monides were publiffied in Arabic, but Hebrew letters, by 
Dr. E. Pococke, under the title of Porta Molls, in 1655,. 
quarto, at Oxford. Our author’s next work is entitled,.. 
Jad Chazekeh, or Strong Hand ; it is alfo called Mijhna 
Hatkora, or the Reception of the Law ; and is divided into 
fourteen books, which are fubdivided under various titles.' 
It confifts of a compendium of the Talmud ; and prefents 
us with a complete code of Jewilh, civil, and canon, law,- 
digefted into regular order, and illuftrated with an intel¬ 
ligent commentary, divelfed of the grofs fables of the 
Talmud. It was publiffied by the author, in pure He¬ 
brew, twelve years after the preceding work. The belt 
edition of it is that printed at Amfterdam, by Athias, in 
1702, in four volumes folio. The third great work of 
Maimonides, which was efteemed by himlelf, and is ge¬ 
nerally confidered by others, as the molt important and 
valuable of his productions, is his More Nevochim, or Guide 
to the Perplexed; which was written by him in Arabic, 
when he was about fifty years old, and tranflated into 
Hebrew by Tybbon. It is partly critical, partly philo- 
fophical, and partly theological. Its delign is, to explain' 
the meaning of feveral difficult and obfeure words, phrafes, 
metaphors, parables, allegories, &c. in feripture, which;, 
if interpreted literally, feem to have no meaning at all, 
or at lealt fuch as is very abfurd and irrational 5 and by 
this means to fliow, in oppofition to the fanatical advo¬ 
cates for the fables of the Talmud, that all the precepts 
and inftitutions of the Mofaic religion, inftead of origi¬ 
nating in the mere arbitrary will and pleafure of God, 
were founded in reafon, and capable of being explained 
in a manner confident with his wifdom, juftice, and good- 
nefis. After Tybbon’s tranflation of this work had been* 
received by the Jews in different countries, it excited vio¬ 
lent difputes among them, and occafioned their diviiion- 
into two parties 5 one of which highly commended the 
author’s work, as what was calculated to do- Ivonour to 
religion, and to obviate the objections of unbelievers 5 
while the other party accufed the author of innovation 
and herefy, and were for having his book -condemned, and' 
committed to the flames. In the life of David Kimchi, 
(vol. xi. p. 721.) we have feen to what lengths thefe dis¬ 
putes carried the Jews in France, and the fuccefs of his. 
efforts for terminating them. The tranflation of this 
work was publiflied at Venice, in 1551, in folio j and the 
belt Latin verfion of it is that of John Buxtorf, the younger, 
which was firft publiffied at Bafil, in 1629, in quarto. 
The next important work of Maimonides is his Sepher- 
Hamitzoth, or Book of Commandments, containing an. 
expofition of the precepts of the Mofaic law, both, pofl- 
tive and negative. It was printed, in Hebrew and La¬ 
tin, at Amfterdam,..in 1640, in quarto. The titles of 
our 'author’s other works, which are Itill extant, may 
be feen in Wolfii Biblioth. Hebraea; and the Preface tc, 
Buxtorf ’s Verfion of Mare Nevochim, Bcfn age’s Hiji. Jews y 
\ii. 8. 
main; 
