ars and glory, Abdurrahman died of a paralytic
stroke at Az-zahra, on the second or third of Ramadhan, A.H. 350,
(Oct. 961,) and was succeeded, according to his previous nomination,
by his son Al-hakem II., who assumed on this occasion the title of
Al-mustanser-billah, (one who implores God's assistance.) This prince
has been characterized, by one of the ablest of recent historians,[20]
as "one of those rare beings, who have employed the awful engine of
despotism in promoting the happiness and intelligence of his species;"
and who rivaled, "in his elegant tastes, appetite for knowledge, and
munificent patronage, the best of the Medici:"--nor is this high
praise undeserved. Though he more than once headed his armies in
person, with success, against the Christians and Northmen, and
maintained on public occasions the state and magnificence which had
been introduced by his father, the toils of war and the pomp of
royalty were alike alien to his inclinations, which had been directed
from his earliest years to pursuits of literature and science. The
library which he amassed is said by some writers to have amounted to
the almost incredible number of 400,000 volumes: and such was his
ardour in the collection of books, that even in Persia and other
remote regions, the munificence which he exercised through agents
employed for the purpose, secured him copies of forthcoming works even
before their appearance in their own country. "He made Andalus a great
market for the literary productions of every clime ... so that rich
men in Cordova, however illiterate they might be, rewarded writers and
poets with the greatest munificence, and spared neither trouble nor
expense in forming libraries." Nor were these treasures of literature
idly accumulated, at least by Al-hakem himself; for so vast and
various was his reading, that there was scarcely one of his books (as
we are assured by the historian Ibn'ul-Abbar) which was not enriched
with remarks and annotations from his pen. "In the knowledge
especially of history, biography, and genealogy, he was surpassed by
no living author of his days: and he wrote a voluminous history of
Andalus, in which was displayed such sound criticism, that whatever he
related, as borrowed from more ancient sources, might be implicitly
relied upon."

[20] Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, i. 351.

The reign of Al-hakem was the Augustan age of Andalusian literature;
and besides the numerous learned men who