Marcus Annæus Lucanus, or Lucan, was born in Cordova in the year A.D. 38 or 39. He was the nephew of Seneca, and his father was a public servant held in esteem in the city. Our data for a biography of Lucanus are very scanty. He wrote poems before he left Cordova, and encouraged the writing of Latin verse among the Spanish residents. His great work, the _Pharsalia_, was left unfinished. Lucan was lauded by Tacitus as a poet. He went to Rome, and it is recorded that he vanquished Nero in one of the poetical tournaments in which that monarch delighted. The egotistic emperor never forgave Lucan for beating him in this literary contest. He vindictively forbade the poet to write any more poems or to recite to audiences. We need not be surprised that the aggrieved poet rebelled against this attempt to utterly silence his song, to deprive him of the exercise of his art, and to crush him. Lucan was aroused. He became one of the conspirators of Piso, and plotted against the power of Nero. When he was arrested, and offered pardon if he would name his accomplices in the plot, Lucan falsely accused his mother Atilia of complicity. This cowardly resort was, however, of no avail. He was not spared by the vengeful Nero, who gave the poet his choice of death. Lucan chose the usual Roman mode of opening a vein in a bath. He is said to have recited one of his poems as he died. Ibn-Roshid Averroes, the most renowned of the Arabian philosophers, was born in Cordova in A.D. 1120. He came of a high-born family held in honour in the city. His grandfather was a Kadi of Cordova. In his youth Averroes learned law, mathematics, theology, and the practice of medicine. His reputation as a man of erudition and of force of intellect caused Almanzor to grant him privileges. He was appointed Kadi of the city of Seville. The story of the life of Averroes is an example of the eternal conflict between the reformer of thought and morals and the mass of the people of his age. Averroes was misunderstood, impeached as a dangerous heretic, and condemned as an enemy of humanity. The Moors, in spite of their culture, could manifest rank fanaticism when they encountered any teaching that seemed to contradict the writings of the Koran, or the traditional piety. Averroes was a follower of Aristotle, although he remained a Mohammedan, and as the Greek philosophy did not accord completely with the dogmas of Mohammed, the teacher was arraigned as an assailant of religion and a foe to morality. His ostracism was thorough. The noble man was pelted with stones by boys in the street, and scorned by the whole city.