Arab poetry, we are told, arrived at its highest splendor under
the Ommiades of Spain, who for a long time centred the power and
splendor of the Western Caliphat at Cordova. Most of the sovereigns of
that brilliant line were themselves poets. One of the last of them was
Mahomed ben Abderahman. He led the life of a sybarite in the famous
palace and gardens of Azahara, surrounding himself with all that could
excite the imagination and delight the senses. His palace was the
resort of poets. His vizier, Ibn Zeydun, was called the Horace of
Moslem Spain, from his exquisite verses, which were recited with
enthusiasm even in the saloons of the Eastern Caliphs. The vizier
became passionately enamored of the princess Walada, daughter of
Mahomed. She was the idol of her father's court, a poetess of the
highest order, and renowned for beauty as well as talent. If Ibn
Zeydun was the Horace of Moslem Spain, she was its Sappho. The
princess became the subject of the vizier's most impassioned verses,
especially of a famous risaleh or epistle addressed to her, which
the historian Ash-Shakandi declares has never been equalled for
tenderness and melancholy. Whether the poet was happy in his love, the
authors I have consulted do not say; but one intimates that the
princess was discreet as she was beautiful, and caused many a lover to
sigh in vain. In fact, the reign of love and poetry in the delicious
abode of Zahara, was soon brought to a close by a popular
insurrection.
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