Now as to Santob's relation to Judaism. Doubtless he was a faithful Jew, for the views of life and the world laid down in his poems rest on the Bible, the Talmud, and the Midrash. With the fearlessness of conviction he meets the king and the people, denouncing the follies of both. Some of his romances sound precisely like stories from the Haggada, so skilfully does he clothe his counsel in the gnomic style of the Bible and the Talmud. This characteristic is particularly well shown in his verses on friendship, into which he has woven the phraseology of the Proverbs: "What treasure greater than a friend Who close to us hath grown? Blind fate no bitt'rer lot can send Than bid us walk alone. For solitude doth cause a dearth Of fruitful, blessed thought. The wise would pray to leave this earth, If none their friendship sought. Yet sad though loneliness may be, That friendship surely shun That feigns to love, and inwardly Betrays affections won." The poem closes with a prayer for the king, who certainly could not have taken offense at Santob's frankness: "May God preserve our lord and king With grace omnipotent, Remove from us each evil thing, And blessed peace augment. The nations loyally allied Our empire to exalt, May God, in whom we all confide, From plague keep and assault. If God will answer my request, Then will be paid his due-- Your noble father's last behest-- To Santob, Carrion's Jew." Our troubadour's poetry shows that he was devotedly attached to his prince, enthusiastically loved his country, and was unfalteringly loyal to his faith; that he told the king honest, wholesome truths disguised in verse; that he took no pains to conceal his scorn of those who, with base servility, bowed to the ruling faith, and permitted its yoke to be put upon their necks; that he felt himself the peer of the high in rank, and the wealthy in the goods of this world; that he censured, with incisive criticism, the vices of his Spanish and his Jewish contemporaries--all of which is calculated to inspire us with admiration for the Jewish troubadour, whose manliness enabled him to meet his detractors boldly, as in the verses quoted above: "Because beside a thorn it grows, The rose is not less fair; Though wine from gnarlèd branches flows, 'Tis sweet beyond compare. A Jew true precepts doth apply, Are they therefore less good?"