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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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