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part10-第2部分

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soon followed her lord to the tomb。 On one of the stones of a small

arch; beside his sepulchre; is the following simple inscription:

〃Hic jacet Maria Palacin; uxor Munonis Sancij De Finojosa〃: 〃Here lies

Maria Palacin; wife of Munio Sancho de Hinojosa。〃

  The legend of Don Munio Sancho does not conclude with his death。

On the same day on which the battle took place on the plain of

Salmanara; a chaplain of the Holy Temple at Jerusalem; while

standing at the outer gate; beheld a train of Christian cavaliers

advancing; as if in pilgrimage。 The chaplain was a native of Spain;

and as the pilgrims approached; he knew the foremost to be Don Munio

Sancho de Hinojosa; with whom he had been well acquainted in former

times。 Hastening to the patriarch; he told him of the honorable rank

of the pilgrims at the gate。 The patriarch; therefore; went forth with

a grand procession of priests and monks; and received the pilgrims

with all due honor。 There were seventy cavaliers; beside their leader;

all stark and lofty warriors。 They carried their helmets in their

hands; and their faces were deadly pale。 They greeted no one; nor

looked either to the right or to the left; but entered the chapel; and

kneeling before the sepulchre of our Saviour; performed their

orisons in silence。 When they had concluded; they rose as if to

depart; and the patriarch and his attendants advanced to speak to

them; but they were no more to be seen。 Every one marvelled what could

be the meaning of this prodigy。 The patriarch carefully noted down the

day; and sent to Castile to learn tidings of Don Munio Sancho de

Hinojosa。 He received for reply; that on the very day specified;

that worthy knight; with seventy of his followers; had been slain in

battle。 These; therefore; must have been the blessed spirits of

those Christian warriors; come to fulfil their vow of pilgrimage to

the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem。 Such was Castilian faith; in the

olden time; which kept its word; even beyond the grave。

  If any one should doubt of the miraculous apparition of these

phantom knights; let him consult the History of the Kings of Castile

and Leon; by the learned and pious Fray Prudencio de Sandoval;

bishop of Pamplona; where he will find it recorded in the History of

King Don Alonzo VI; on the hundred and second page。 It is too precious

a legend; to be lightly abandoned to the doubter。

              Poets and Poetry of Moslem Andalus。



  DURING the latter part of my sojourn in the Alhambra I was more than

once visited by the Moor of Tetuan; with whom I took great pleasure in

rambling through the halls and courts; and getting him to explain to

me the Arabic inscriptions。 He endeavored to do so faithfully; but;

though he succeeded in giving me the thought; he despaired of

imparting an idea of the grace and beauty of the language。 The aroma

of the poetry; said he; is all lost in translation。 Enough was

imparted; however; to increase the stock of my delightful associations

with this extraordinary pile。 Perhaps there never was a monument

more characteristic of an age and people than the Alhambra; a rugged

fortress without; a voluptuous palace within; war frowning from its

battlements; poetry breathing throughout the fairy architecture of its

halls。 One is irresistibly transported in imagination to those times

when Moslem Spain was a region of light amid Christian; yet

benighted Europe… externally a warrior power fighting for existence;

internally a realm devoted to literature; science; and the arts; where

philosophy was cultivated with passion; though wrought up into

subtleties and refinements; and where the luxuries of sense were

transcended by those of thought and imagination。

  Arab poetry; we are told; arrived at its highest splendor under

the Ommiades of Spain; who for a long time centred the power and

splendor of the Western Caliphat at Cordova。 Most of the sovereigns of

that brilliant line were themselves poets。 One of the last of them was

Mahomed ben Abderahman。 He led the life of a sybarite in the famous

palace and gardens of Azahara; surrounding himself with all that could

excite the imagination and delight the senses。 His palace was the

resort of poets。 His vizier; Ibn Zeydun; was called the Horace of

Moslem Spain; from his exquisite verses; which were recited with

enthusiasm even in the saloons of the Eastern Caliphs。 The vizier

became passionately enamored of the princess Walada; daughter of

Mahomed。 She was the idol of her father's court; a poetess of the

highest order; and renowned for beauty as well as talent。 If Ibn

Zeydun was the Horace of Moslem Spain; she was its Sappho。 The

princess became the subject of the vizier's most impassioned verses;

especially of a famous risaleh or epistle addressed to her; which

the historian Ash…Shakandi declares has never been equalled for

tenderness and melancholy。 Whether the poet was happy in his love; the

authors I have consulted do not say; but one intimates that the

princess was discreet as she was beautiful; and caused many a lover to

sigh in vain。 In fact; the reign of love and poetry in the delicious

abode of Zahara; was soon brought to a close by a popular

insurrection。 Mahomed with his family took refuge in the fortress of

Ucles; near Toledo; where he was treacherously poisoned by the

Alcayde; and thus perished one of the last of the Ommiades。

  The downfall of that brilliant dynasty; which had concentrated every

thing at Cordova; was favorable to the general literature of Morisco

Spain。

  〃After the breaking of the necklace and the scattering of its

pearls;〃 says Ash…Shakandi; 〃the kings of small states divided among

themselves the patrimony of the Beni Ommiah。〃

  They vied with each other in filling their capitals with poets and

learned men; and rewarded them with boundless prodigality。 Such were

the Moorish kings of Seville of the illustrious line of the Beni

Abbad; 〃with whom;〃 says the same writer; 〃resided fruit and

palm…trees and pomegranates; who became the centre of eloquence in

prose and verse; every day of whose reign was a solemn festivity;

whose history abounds in generous actions and heroic deeds; that

will last through surrounding ages and live for ever in the memory

of man!〃

  No place; however; profited more in point of civilization and

refinement by the downfall of the Western Caliphat than Granada。 It

succeeded to Cordova in splendor; while it surpassed it in romantic

beauty of situation。 The amenity of its climate; where the ardent

heats of a southern summer were tempered by breezes from snow…clad

mountains; the voluptuous repose of its valleys and the bosky

luxuriance of its groves and gardens all awakened sensations of

delight; and disposed the mind to love and poetry。 Hence the great

number of amatory poets that flourished in Granada。 Hence those

amorous canticles breathing of love and war; and wreathing

chivalrous grace round the stern exercise of arms。 Those ballads which

still form the pride and delight of Spanish literature are but the

echoes of amatory and chivalric lays which once delighted the Moslem

courts of Andalus; and in which a modern historian of Granada pretends

to find the origin of the rima Castellana and the type of the 〃gay

science〃 of the troubadours。

  Poetry was cultivated in Granada by both sexes。 〃Had Allah;〃 says

Ash…Shakandi; 〃bestowed no other boon on Granada than that of making

it the birth…place of so many poetesses; that alone would be

sufficient for its glory。〃

  Among the most famous of these was Hafsah; renowned; says the old

chronicler; for beauty; talents; nobility; and wealth。 We have a

mere relic of her poetry in some verses; addressed to her lover;

Ahmed; recalling an evening passed together in the garden of Maumal。

  〃Allah has given us a happy night; such as he never vouchsafes to

the wicked and the ignoble。 We have beheld the cypresses of Maumal

gently bowing their heads before the mountain breeze… the sweet

perfumed breeze that smelt of gillyflowers: the dove murmured her love

among the trees; the sweet basil inclined its boughs to the limpid

brook。〃

  The garden of Maumal was famous among the Moors for its rivulets;

its fountains; its flowers; and above all; its cypresses。 It had its

name from a vizier of Abdallah; grandson of Aben Habuz; and Sultan

of Granada。 Under the administration of this vizier many of the

noblest public works were executed。 He constructed an aqueduct by

which water was brought from the mountains of Alfacar to irrigate

the hills and orchards north of the city。 He planted a public walk

with cypress…trees; and 〃made delicious gardens for the solace of

the melancholy Moors。〃 〃The name of Maumal;〃 says Alcantara; 〃ought to

be preserved in Granada in letters of gold。〃 Perhaps it is as well

preserved by being associated with the garden he planted; and by being

mentioned in the verses of Hafsah。 How often does a casual word from a

poet confer immortality!

  Perhaps the reader may be curious to learn something of the story of

Hafsah and her lover; thus connected with one of the beautiful

localities of Granada。 The following are all the particulars I have

been able to rescue out of the darkness and oblivion which have

settled upon the brightest names and geniuses of Moslem Spain:

  Ahmed and Hafsah flourished in the sixth century of the Hegira;

the twelfth of the Christian Era。 Ahmed was the son of the Alcayde

of Alcala la Real。 His father designed him for public and military

life and would have made him his lieutenant; but the youth was of a

poetical temperament; and preferred a life of lettered ease in the

delightful abodes of Granada。 Here he surrounded himself by objects of

taste in the arts; and by the works of the learned; he divided his

time between study and social enjoyment。 He was fond of the sports

of the field; and kept horses; hawks; and hounds。 He devoted himself

to literature; became renowned for
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