Maimonides, in his supposed reply to the Prince, played upon the word _Chamor_, the Hebrew word for _ass_, the name of a Hivite prince mentioned in the Bible: "High rank, I wot, we proudly claim When sprung from noble ancestor; Henceforth my mule a _prince_ I'll name Since once a prince was called _Chamor_." It seems altogether certain that this polemic rhyming is the fabrication of a later day, for we know that the controversies about Maimonides' opinions in Spain and Provence broke out only after his death, when his chief work had spread far and wide in its Hebrew translation. The following stanza passed from mouth to mouth in northern France: "Be silent, 'Guide,' from further speech refrain! Thus truth to us was never brought. Accursed who says that Holy Writ's a trope, And idle dreams what prophets taught." Whereupon the Provençals returned: "Thou fool, I pray thou wilt forbear, Nor enter on this consecrated ground. Or trope, or truth--or vision fair, Or only dream--for thee 'tis too profound." The homage paid to Maimonides' memory in many instances produced most extravagant poetry. The following high-flown lines, outraging the canons of good taste recognized in Hebrew poetry, are supposed to be his epitaph: "Here lies a man, yet not a man, And if a man, conceived by angels, By human mother only born to light; Perhaps himself a spirit pure-- Not child by man and woman fostered-- From God above an emanation bright." Such hyperbole naturally challenged opposition, and Maimonides' opponents did not hesitate to give voice to their deep indignation, as in the following: "Alas! that man should dare To say, with reckless air, That Holy Scripture's but a dream of night; That all we read therein Has truly never been, Is naught but sign of meaning recondite. And when God's wondrous deeds The haughty scorner reads, Contemptuous he cries, 'I trust my sight.'" A cessation of hostilities came only in the fourteenth century. The "Guide" was then given its due meed of appreciation by the Jews. Later, Maimonides' memory was held in unbounded reverence, and to-day his "Guide of the Perplexed" is a manual of religious philosophy treasured by Judaism. If we wish once more before parting from this earnest, noble thinker to review his work and attitude, we can best do it by applying to them the standard furnished by his own reply to all adverse critics of his writings: "In brief, such is my disposition. When a thought fills my mind, though I be able to express it so that only a single man among ten thousand, a thinker, is satisfied and elevated by it, while the common crowd condemns it as absurd, I boldly and frankly speak the word that enlightens the wise, never fearing the censure of the ignorant herd."