Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/444

300 300 THE SPANISH ARABS. PART Omeyades, escaping into Spain, established there the '- kingdom of Cordova, and imported along with him the fondness for luxury and letters, that had begun to display itself in the capitals of the east. His munificent spirit descended upon his successors ; and, on the breaking up of the empire, the various capitals, Seville, Murcia, Malaga, Granada, and others, which rose upon its ruins, became the cen- tres of so many intellectual systems, that continued to emit a steady lustre through the clouds and dark- ness of succeeding centuries. The period of this literary civilization, reached far into the fourteenth century, and thus, embracing an interval of six hundred years, may be said to have exceeded in duration that of any other literature ancient or modern. circum- There were several auspicious circumstances in stances fa- _ ^ _ vorabietoit. ^jjg couditlou of thc Spanish Arabs, which distin- guished them from their Mahometan brethren. The temperate climate of Spain was far more propitious to robustness and elasticity of intellect than the sultry regions of Arabia and Africa. Its long line of coast and convenient havens opened to it an enlarged commerce. Its number of rival states encouraged a generous emulation, like that which glowed in ancient Greece and modern Italy; and was infinitely more favorable to the developement of the mental powers than the far-extended and sluggish empires of Asia. Lastly, a familiar inter- course with the Europeans served to mitigate in the Spanish Arabs some of the more degrading superstitions incident to their religion, and to im-