[1] See below, p. 72, note 5.

[2] _E.g.,_ circumcision.

Yet in Mohammedan Spain religious fervour was not wholly vanished: it
was still to be found among the clergy, and specially among the dwellers
in convents. Monks and nuns, severed from all worldly influences, in the
silence of their cloisters, would read the lives of the Saints[1] of
old, and meditate upon their glorious deeds, and the miracles which
their faith had wrought. They would brood over such texts as, "Ye shall
be brought before rulers and kings for My sake;"[2] and, "Every one who
shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father,
which is in Heaven;"[3] till they brought themselves to believe that it
was their imperative duty to bring themselves before rulers and kings,
and not only to confess Christ, but to revile Mohammed.

[1] See Dozy, ii. 112.

[2] St Mark xiii. 9.

[3] St Matt. x. 32.

However, the reproach of fanatical self-destruction will not apply, as
the apologists of their doings have not failed to point out, to the
first two victims that suffered in this persecution.

Perfectus,[1] a priest of Cordova, who had been brought up in the school
attached to the church of St Acislus, on going out one day to purchase
some necessaries for domestic use, was stopped by some of the Moslems in
the street, and asked to give his opinion of their Prophet. What led
them to make this strange request, we are not told,[2] but stated thus
barely it certainly gives us the impression that it was intended to
bring the priest into trouble. For it was a well-known law in Moslem
countries that if any one cursed a Mohammedan, he was to be scourged,[3]
if he struck him, killed: the latter penalty also awaiting any one who
spoke evil of Mohammed, and extending even to a Mussulman ruler, if he
heard the blasphemy without taking notice of it.[4] Perfectus,
therefore, being aware of this law, gave a cautious[5] answer, declining
to comply with their request until they swore that he should receive no
hurt in consequence of what he might say. On their giving the required
stipulation, he quoted the words, "For there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch
that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect,"[6] and
proceeded to speak of Mohammed in the usual fashion, as a lying impostor
and a dissolute adulterer, concluding with the words, "Thus hath he, the
encourager