Page:Zawis and Kunigunde (1895).djvu/201

 Zawis resolved to avail himself of the mediation of Solomon, Don Abraham, and his brother Witek in the negotiation he had just commenced with Ladislaus of Hungary forthe hand of his youngest sister Judith. This princess had entered a convent; but as in the case of Otakar, the vows assumed presented no obstacle to an offer of marriage from so distinguished a suitor. It was known also at that period that Ladislaus suffered from a cutaneous affection, then extremely common, for which local practitioners could suggest no cure, especially as the study of medicine had beer severly proscribed under ban of the kingdom as well as the church. Ladislaus exhibited an irritability of temper, and impatience of contradiction that rendered him easily influenced by appeals to excess of severity. For this reason Solomonm Don Abraham and Witek determined to assume all their dignity. No other men in Europe could command more courtly demeanor, more royal self-carriage, and more diplomatic learning and address. Abraham, himself a member of one of the most cultivated and exalted reigning families, who had augmented the splendor of Cordova; Solomon, a rabbi of the rabbis, of the school that had shed infinite luster on the science of Spain; and Witek, a knight unstained in honor, and not surpassed in grave discourse even by his brother, formed an embassy by whose presence Ladislaus felt himself abashed. The foremost position