Moses son of Maimon, commonly called Moses Egypticus, because physician to the sultan of Egypt, was a Jewish rabbi, born at Cordova, in Spain, 1131. He opened a school in Egypt, and as his skill, not only in languages, but in all branches of science and of philosophy, was very great, his instructions were attended by numerous and respectable pupils. Thus eminently distinguished as a scholar, as a physician, and also as a divine, so as to be called inferior only to the legislator Moses, he beheld with indifference, and even contempt, the fables and traditions of his countrymen, and applied all the powers of learning, and the vast resources of his mind, in the cause of truth, virtue, and philosophy. Some of his works were written in Arabic, but are extant now in Hebrew only. The most famous of these are his Commentaries on the Misna; Jad, a complete pandect of the Jewish law; More Nevochim, a valuable work, explaining the difficult passages, phrases, parables, and allegories, in Scripture, and several other works. This great and learned man died in Egypt at the age of seventy, and was buried with his nation in the land of Upper Galilee. His death was mourned for three whole days by Jews and Egyptians, and the year in which he died, in respect of his great virtues and learning, was called Lamentum Lamentabile. |