In the ninth degree, which is the last, the teacher restates all that he has taught up to that time, and on seeing that the disciple understands he removes the last veil, and says to him in substance: All that is said of creation and of a beginning, describes in a simile the origin and changes of matter. An apostle delivers to mankind that which heaven has revealed to him. For the sake of justice and order, he adapts his religion to the needs of the race. When this religion is needed for the general welfare it is binding, but the philosopher is not bound to put it into practice. The philosopher is free, is bound to nothing; knowledge for him is sufficient, since it contains the truth, that towards which he is striving. He should know its whole meaning, all that it binds men to execute, but he need not be subject to vexations, which are not intended for sages. Finally it is explained to the disciple that if word endowed apostles have the mission to uphold order among mankind in general, sages are charged to teach wisdom to individuals. From all that has been preserved by the chroniclers of those days regarding the Assassin kingdom, it is clear that in great part these teachings were borrowed from Greece, Palestine, and Persia. The Fatimid Kalifs of Egypt had many secret agents in Persia and Syria. The Assassins went to Syria about the same time as the Crusaders. In the first year of the XIIth century Jenah-ed-devlet, then Prince of Emesa, died by their daggers while he was hastening to the castle of the Kurds, Hosn Ak Kurd, which the Count of St. Gilles was besieging. He had been attacked four years earlier in his palace by three Persian Assassins, but had succeeded in saving his life. Risvan, the Prince of Aleppo, was suspected of causing this attack. There was reason to suspect him, since he was a bitter enemy of Jenah-ed-devlet, and a friend of the Assassins. Risvan had been won to the Order by one of its agents who was very persuasive; an astrologer and a physician, who had the power to attract by methods of his own, which were separate from those of the Order. Four and twenty days after this unsuccessful attempt, the astrologer died, but his place was soon filled by a goldsmith from Persia named Abu Tahir Essaigh, who roused Risvan to still greater activity. This Prince of Aleppo was hostile to every Crusader, and to his own brother, Dokah, the Prince of Damascus. He was anxious for a new influx of Assassins, since their acts favored his policy. Abul Fettah, the nephew of Hassan Sabah, was at that time Grand Prior in Syria; his chief residence was Sarmin, a fortified place one day’s journey from Aleppo.