=2. Life in Exile.=――Moses ben Maimon was old enough and cultivated enough to take in new impressions, and to benefit by new experiences. For years the family moved about from place to place, since safe ‘cities of refuge’ for Jews at that date were but few and far between. They finally settled down at Fostat, in Egypt, where an elder brother, David, seems to have been the chief bread-winner in the family. David ben Maimon was a dealer in precious stones, and Moses is said by some historians to have helped his brother for a while in the cutting and polishing of these gems. Although other historians vehemently deny that Moses had ever anything to do with trade, yet, knowing the respect in which manual labour is always held by Jews, and how often literary men of the race have been handicraftsmen, there seems, on the face of it, no improbability in the story, and rather a reason for giving credence to it, since all agree that at one period in their lives David ben Maimon took upon himself the care and support of his young brother. But whether Moses ever helped in the workshop or not, it is quite certain that he was no idler. He read and wrote most industriously, and before he was twenty-three he had published a treatise on the Jewish calendar, which shows some considerable knowledge of mathematics, and for years he worked away steadily at the production of a learned commentary on the Mishnah. When the time came for choosing a profession――for again, of course, the Law could not be ‘used as a spade’――Maimonides decided to become a physician. That even did not promise to be a very profitable pursuit, for his services were always at the disposal of the class who could not pay fees, but he took the keenest interest in all his patients, and it was not very long before his skill attracted the notice of influential outsiders. =3. Becomes a Court Physician.=――In the middle of the twelfth century, Saladin, titular sovereign of Syria, was virtual Sultan of Egypt, and was proving himself, in every action, a hero fit for reality as well as for romance. Saladin had many kingly qualities, and not least among them was his aptitude for finding out good men, and honouring them when found. Saladin seems to have heard of Maimonides through his vizier, Alfadhel, who, first knowing the Jewish doctor professionally, had come, as he knew him more intimately, to regard him with great admiration as a friend. The introduction to the Sultan proved very fortunate, in a worldly sense, for Maimonides. He was put on the roll of physicians, which gave him a recognised position in the profession, and, in return for certain fixed hours of attendance at court, a pension was allotted to him. The appointment was made about 1186, when Maimonides was more than fifty years of age, and the most valuable thing about it was the freedom it gave him from money anxieties, which especial worry is quite fatal to the production of good original work.