Hafs b Albar the Last of Teh Goths

Ḥafṣ b. Albar: The Last of the Goths?Author(s): D. M. DunlopReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 3/4 (Oct., 1954),pp. 137-151Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25222720 .Accessed: 06/12/2011 04:06

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Hafs b. Albar?the last of the Goths ? By D. M. DUNLOP

IT

is a well-known fact that descendants of the Visigothic kings lived on in Spain under Muslim rule for several centuries. An

important early historian of Muslim Spain, Ibn al-Qutiyah (died

367/977), owes his name?" son of the Gothic woman "?to descent

from the princess Sara, granddaughter of King Witiza, and in his

Iftitdh gives an account of the destinies of several members of the

family.1 The following pages will, I hope, serve to throw light on one

of these and at the same time to clear up a bibliographical problem which has never been properly solved.

Some time ago Miss Catherine Alder, of St. Andrews University, drew my attention to the existence of an Arabic MS. of the Psalter in

the Ambrosian Library, copied by David Colville, who was resident

at the Escorial from 1617 to 1627 and died at Milan in 1629.2 An ap

plication for photostats of the Colville MS. was made to the authorities

of the Ambrosian, and I should like to express grateful thanks for

the prompt and expert manner in which this request was met.

The MS. (no. 86 in Hammer-PurgstalFs list)3 appears to have been

copied by Colville in 1625-6,4 i.e. shortly before he left the Escorial.

As to the original which he used, we may compare the following notice from an old Escorial catalogue, given by Simonet5: Hafs

1 Ta'rikh iflitdl.i al-Andalus, ed. Gayangos, Saavedra and Codera, Madrid, 1868

(reprinted Madrid, 1926), pp. 3-6 = Spanish translation by Ribera, Madrid, 1926,

pp. 1-4. This account is followed by E. Levi-Provencal, Histoire de VEspagne

musxdmane, t. i (Cairo, 1944), p. 252. 2 D. M. Dunlop,

" David Colville, a Successor of Michael Scot," Bulletin of

Hispanic Studies, xxviii (1951), pp. 38-42. 3 "

Catalogo dei Codici arabi, persiani e turchi della Biblioteca Ambrosiana,"

Biblioteca Italiana, xciv (1839), pp. 22-49. Hammer-Purgstall gives the following notice of the MS. (& 120):

" II Salterio di Davide tradotto in mesnevi con versi cho

rimano l'uno col seguente, da un rinegato Ebreo mauritano, come pare : precede una Dissertazione sui salmi del traduttore Hafss Ibno'1-birr el Kuthi: opera

curiosissima, degna di essere specialmente indicata alle Societa bibliche : carta

europea, carattero mauritano. La copia pare essere fatta nell'anno 1616." 4 Indications apparently in Colville's hand at the beginning and end of MS. 5 Iiistoria de los Mozdrabes de Espaila (Memorias de la Real Academia de la

Historia, xiii), Madrid, 1897-1903, p. 770, n. 2. Simonet says that he took the

notice from the catalogue of Alonso del Castillo (sixteenth century), which existed

in the Escorial as MS. H.IV.10 (ibid., p. 724, n. 2). There seems to be no mention

of the work in the old bilingual catalogue published by Morata from MS. H.I.5,

which he apparently identifies with the catalogue mentioned by Simonet

(N. Morata, "

Los fondos arabes primitivos de El Escorial," Al-Andalus, ii,

pp. 87-181, especially pp. 101, 180-1).

JUAS. OCTOBER 1954. 11

138 HAFS B. ALBAR?THE LAST OF THE GOTHS ?

al-Qurtubifi nazm wa-tarjama al-mi'ah wa'l-khamsin mazdmlr Ddud

'alaihi as-saldm wa-fl awwali'l-kitabi'stiftdh 'aid sabil wa'z wa-fl

baddy ah kull mizmdr sharh biylladhi yatabayyanu, i.e. there was at

one time in the Escorial a versified translation of the Psalter by Hafs

" of Cordova ", with a prologue and a commentary at the head

of each psalm. This corresponds very well with what we have in the

Milan MS. Colville's copy is written in the Maghrib! script (O for

J, o for vj, etc.), evidently following his Escorial original, which

at present has been lost sight of, if it did not perish in the great fire of 1671.

The Milan MS. contains, first, a prose introduction to the Psalter

(fols. lb MJb), then a verse introduction (9a-12a), followed by a

versification of 149 or rather 150 psalms (12b-125b). The prose

introduction, which is found hi substantially the same form in MSS.

containing other renderings of the Psalter in Arabic,2 is presumably not by the author of the rest of the contents of the Milan MS.

I am here concerned only with the verse introduction, which is

headed: liMhihi urjuzah Hafs b. Albar al-Quti radiya'lldh (anhu fl tar jamah zubur Ddud an-nabi 'alaihi as-saldm,

" This is the poem in

the rajaz metre of Hafs b. Albar al-Qu^I?may God be pleased with

him?on the translation (sc. made by himself) of the Psalms of David

the prophet?on whom be peace." Albar is undoubtedly Gothic

Alvar,3 Spanish Alvaro, a familiar name in Spanish history. An early bearer of it, Alvarus or Alvaro of Cordova, author of various works

in Latin and a leader of the Mozarab community (died 861 ),4 is

well-known and at first sight seems likely to be intended here. The

similarity of the names, if "

al-Qur^ubl" in the notice of Simonet

is right, is certainly striking. Alvaro of Cordova cannot, however, have been the father of Hafs, author of the Arabic Psalter. This

conclusion seems inescapable in view of a precise date for the com

position of the work of Hafs in the verse prologue, which we may now

1 Strictly speaking, fol. lb is blank and a number of lines aro missing at the4

beginning of the prose introduction. Since there is a note in Latin, presumably by

Colville, on fol. la, wo must assume that the original was also acephalous. Tho

Arabic notice given by Simonet is therefore likely to be, not the original heading of

the work, but a description, written by someone who knew Arabic well (? Alonso

del Castillo, cf. n. 5), when tho MS. was already defective. 2 British Museum, Add. 9060, and Vatican, Ar. 5. 3 W. Meyer-Lilbke, Romanische Namenstudien, I, Sitzungsborichto d. k. Akad. d.

Wissenschaften (phil.-hist. Kl.), B. 149 (Vienna, 1905), p. 8. 4

Floroz, Espaiia Sagrada, xi, p. 30.

HAFS B. ALBAR?THE LAST OF THE GOTHS ? 139

give in extenso. Though somewhat prolix and discursive, it is an

authentic document which, considering the probable origin of the

author, presents considerable interest.

fol. 9a Urjiczah of Hafs b. Albar al-Quti In the name of God, Creator of all, / the One, the Almighty,

the Wonderful, Who brings things into being from nothing, / who gives life

to every living thing !

He is not described nor limited / by that by which the

limited exists, Nor by that which is corporeal or has dimensions / like

something apprehended by the sight! Nor is he as the materialists1 say, / who hold the worst

doctrine of infidelity, Since they have invented a trenchant argument / in regard

to him, and say that it is Nature,

Doing everything independently,2 / without knowledge and

without will, In the manner of the action of the sun's heat / and water in

moisture or dryness,

Or like a man or animals moving, / not knowing how it is done.

10 They profess to deny his limitation, / so they deny his

knowing and willing.

They refuse to describe him with knowledge, / so they describe him with negative characteristics?

Great and exalted is he above their unworthy doctrine / and the absurd inventions of their ignorance !

Yet is he possessed of knowledge and will, / without change and complete in himself,

As the Gospel describes him, / where an explanation and

interpretation are

given.

Section (purpose and method of the translation)

This is an elaborate poem / after the pattern of praise to God

1 Arabic6 "

ahl ad-dahr ", apparently those elsewhere called "

ad-dahriyah ",

e.g. in Spain, in the Reply of tho Qadi Abii'l-Walid al-BajI, ? 18 (D. M. Dunlop, " A Christian Mission to Muslim Spain in the Eleventh Century," Al-Andalus,

xvii, p. 297). 2 Text

" bVl-Wtimadah ". Such forms occasionally occur, e.g. al-ldtakafu* 11

inequality "

in Avempace (Escorial MS. 612, fol. 9a). The technical term is "

ism glmir muhassal "

(cf. A.-M. Goichon, Lexique de la langue philosophique d'ibn Sina (Avicenne), Paris, 1938, no. 299).


In the elaborate utterance which is called / the Psalter of

David?such is its designation. These are psalms sung in the churches, / the sweetest music

that falls upon the ear, fol. 9b More affecting than the song of the singing-women / and

than the affecting strain of the cameleers, And than the complaint of the lute and the reed-pipe* / and

than the different kinds of audition, 20 Which melt the hard, unfeeling heart / and cause the praise

worthy tear to flow, To the number of a hundred and fifty songs, / as it is in

every computation.

Their verses, if beautiful separately, / are rendered more so

by the design of the prophet translated.

They amount to five thousand / five hundred, without

dispute, And are all in the foreign language,2 / in their original, in

an elaborate metre?

A pleasing, regular measure, / understood by the expert in

melodies,

Resembling the rajaz in Arabic, / except for slight differences.

Psalmody involves certain melodies / and certain measures, used in singing.

He who previously translated it (the Psalter) in prose3 /

spoiled its poetry and its interpretation. So that the style of speech became absurd / and the charm

of versified arrangement left it. 30 Since he wished to produce it in Arabic / word for word?

the action of one inexperienced And self-opinionated?he ruined the meanings / through

his ignorance of the laws of the language. He saw himself obliged to transpose / the words, till he

spoiled the interpretation. What he translated was not understood / since its meaning

was not translated,

And what was in the translation was not understood, / from

the absurdity of the artificial meanings.

1 MS. "

al-bara!" ", for which "

al-yara1 "?Dr. H. G. Farmer's correction kindly communicated?is certain.

a Here "

'ajami " = Latin, see below.

3 Hafs hero speaks of one definite previous version (fa-sara man tarjamahu, etc.).


The wording spread abroad in his translation / has neither

consecutiveness nor order,

Neither clarity nor lustre of style, / not even the indis

pensable meaning. One could almost say / that the like of it is not praise at all.

fol. 10a I have found nothing more adapted to its adorning / than to

render it in poetic form After the pattern of its measure in the foreign language, /

alike what is clear and what is obscure and doubtful, 40 According to the rajaz metre with internal rhyme,1 / which

allows clear explanation and interpretation, Since in measure and melody / it is close to some of the

foreigners' metres.

It has three complete feet / in Arabic, and each foot possesses Four syllables when counted, / amounting to twelve in ali.

They are also like this in the foreign language, / being in a

tasteful measure?

Six feet, but these / the measure of the three which have been mentioned,

Since they make one foot two / and of its measure they make two measures.

It is a metre pleasant for singing, / called among the

foreigners yanbaq (iambic). The rajaz measure resembles some of its measure, / except

for slight differences, Since some of it is linked in rhyme / and some of it is

otherwise.2

50 Its beat in correct Arabic / is like its beat in the non-Arabic

language of the foreigners, And its motions upon the tongue / in the measure of both

languages are the same.3

I found what I have translated versified / in it and (to translate) in anything else is impossible.

This is a proof that if it were not / versified in the original, it would not have been versified (sc. in the translation).

1 Text "

ar-rajaz al>mash}ur ", cf. Wright, Arabic Grammar, ii, p. 362A. 2 The contrast is apparently between such verses in the Mozarabie Psalter (see

below) as 70 (71), 11 : Persequimini et conprehendite cum / quia non est qui eripiat eum, or 150, 1 : Laudate dominum in Sanctis eius / laudate eum in firma

mento virtutis eius (" rhymed "), and 149, 6 : Exultabunt sancti in gloria / et letabuntur in cubilibus suis (" unrhymed *').?These examples are from J .P Gilson

The Mozarabie Psalter (Henry Bradshaw Society), London 1905 3 See below.


Yes, and some of it (sc. in the original) is as it has been translated / without the special care of the translator,

Coming out in poetic form / as if it were a measure,

unintentionally. Some of it is difficult and intractable, / needing thought and

interpretation.

I have rendered (it) easy in measure and rhymes, / avoiding alteration and difference,

fol. 10b And he who speaks of necessity / is not as he who speaks from choice.

So if there is here weak poetry, / it is not in ignorance of the fault,

60 But proceeds from the names / which do not admit of

construction,

And the letters which, when they are omitted, / one thinks have been altered or not known,

And their omission is not permissible for us, / since it resembles the action of the incompetent.

I have translated what Yarunum (Jerome) interpreted, / and he is given precedence for his learning?

The interpreter of the Law and the Gospel, / and they serve for text and commentary.

I have translated his words in verse form / in a correct

translation,

Aiming at the meaning, without change / of the plain sense

of the text and without alteration,

Translating letter for letter, / not interpreting it by

changing it, Without addition or subtraction, / except according to the

need of the (Arabic) language. To make the meanings understood / has been the aim of

the translator, 70 Except addition by way of improvement / to give a complete

exposition and explanation, Or, for example, letters to complete the rhyme / which arc

superfluous for the actual meaning, Or again the ascription of glory, when the substance of the

thought is finished / to link up an isolated verse.

It is sometimes permissible in the foreign language *

/ to

transpose what is not susceptible of transposition,

Contrary to what the Arabs say / and their method of

expressing what they mean,

1 As elsewhere in the prologue, Latin is meant as the "

foreign language ".


Since in one language there are things / which have no

name in another,

And every speech, when translated, / becomes different

from its original order. Verbs and significances of the noun are not / like corporeal

bodies and colours,

Whose names do not have another / meaning by which

something else is understood.

But they have different names,1 / which the possessor of

intelligence and knowledge understands, fol. Ila 80 And I have simply translated every word / in its place,

writing (it) in the translation,

Making every expression easy which could / be set down in

its place in verse form.

If the stylists find it frigid / or set it down as defective or

excessive,

I have adopted it (? as I found it) expressed, / since to leave

it was, in my opinion, an alteration.2

I have not been careful herein of ltd', / nor sindd nor iqwdy,3 Since to commit such a fault was, in my opinion, of less

account / than that someone should say, "

It has been

altered,

And he had not translated each letter by its name / and in

its place and the mode of its poetry." This wording is not such as to be admired / for excellence of

construction and versification.

I offer it, but I have simply wanted / to translate the words

which I have translated And the unusual expressions and ideas / and to secure

adequate clarity,

90 So that all of it might be known, / interpreted, and its place described,

Both what of it is evident and clear / and what may be

obscure and dark.

Section (defence against objectors and date of composition)

This is a work which will not know esteem / but only . . .

detraction.

1 Literally,

" are different in their names."

2 The line is defective, and the missing words (indicated by dots elsewhere) have

been supplied by conjecture. 3 lta* is repetition of the same word in the rhyme in the course of a poem ; sinad

is improper change in the vowels of the rhyme ; and iqwa? (MS. ibwa?) is a similar

change, regarded more seriously, cf. Wright, Arabic Grammar, ii, pp. 356-7.


Whoever is ignorant of translation / will treat it as of small

account.

Many a thing whose name is known / and written down with a few letters,

When you wish to explain it, is difficult, / and its letters

become many?and it is in prose.

How then if you want poetry for it / or want to introduce

metre ?

When you see what I have done . . . / almost passes the

mind's comprehension. And in all this I have consulted / leaders whose words I have

trusted.

They have given it their protection and their advocacy / and shown their earnest desire for it.

100 I have consulted about it every learned man among us / and

every trusted man in our religion,

Collecting what I learned in their company, / comparing what I wrote down with them?

fol. lib People who are best in their religion / and a bright light in

the sacred sciences,

Who have rejected the world and are in regard to it / as if

they were dead and had departed from it. All of them have encouraged me to it / and hastened me on

to (complete) it, Since they regarded it as (bringing) a recompense and

requital / and supposed it a treasure laid up for reward

hereafter?

By permission of the best bishop of the Church, / Balans

(Valens), a possessor of high qualities, Most excellent of the bishops who have been / in his age

and in past ages.

I well know that among the ignorant / and among the

obstinate and impossible, Of those whom I have omitted and neglected to consult, /

and those whom I was ignorant of and will not assist, 110 Are people who will ridicule what I have done / and will

delight iu blaming my work. And they at the same time know / that they are hostile

towards me,

And that what I have done is a right thing, / to which men's minds and hearts will assent,

And that in it is instruction for them / and understanding of what was

previously not understood,


And that what I have done, if they had thought of it /

together, and taken trouble and considered

One thing, or had considered separately / and had tried their utmost,

They would have been incapable of it and unable / to do it, if they had taken trouble all their lives.

I mean by those whom I have mentioned every bold spirit / who would reproach the learned?

The envious who is envious of the beautiful, / the deficient

whose deficiency makes him contemptuous, So that he dislikes what is beautiful because of the maker, /

even if the benefit of it comes to him or surrounds him. 120 When a man sells his native plot, it yields no return (?)

x /?

would that every seller in the land were restrained (?)? And whoever hopes for a meed of praise from the envious, /

hopes for what is evidently impossible, fol. 12a As for the good and learned, / whose learning is acknow

ledged, I do not say that they are unable / for what I have done or

would have come short,

Since all of them know what I do not know / and in the

sciences understand what I am ignorant of.

But their minds are occupied / with piety, and they are busy, Thinking that whatever distracts them from prayer / for

a moment is a sinful occupation. It was written in the era of Christ the Lord, / guide of souls

in the right way, And in (the year) nine hundred and eighty-nine. / By the

help of the Lord of might and glory Hafs, God's servant, translated it, / so that it was completed

and its text was correct,

130 Hoping thereby for a reward with the Creator, / and

gratitude and prayers from the reader. Whoever reads our book after us, / when we are gone, say

to him, "

Pray for us," For he in a short time will join / us, (and) is about to come

on to us :

Time passes quickly, / without inclining or returning. Glory be to him ! Who knows his end ? / None but he

knows his termination.

1 MS. apparently "

manbitdhu idh ba'ahu gad ballada ".


It was through him, if there had not been 1 / (anything)

except eternal reward and punishment. So may the Lord make our words / a means of lightening

our sins from us,

And may he not set up what we have said as an opponent / to us, or our learning as judge against us I

We shall have no excuse but shortcoming, / when the

Judgment is established and men dragged thereto. Praise to God, who gives guidance / towards the truth to all

who speak the truth ! 140 Glory be to him ! Glory be to him ! Glory ! / He has justly

ordained all things, and they came into being. His justice is guidance to the good, / as it is disappointment

to the wicked, And he it is whose judgment is not questioned, / nor is

justice anything but what he does.

The rajaz poem of Hafs b. al-Quti is completed. Praise

be to God!

From this long poem it seems clear at least that the translation of

the Psalms which follows was made from the Mozarabie Psalter, here perhaps ascribed to Jerome (63 ff.). The Mozarabie Psalter is

apparently characterized as written (in part, cf. 41) in a measure of

six iambic feet (44 ff.). This is said to correspond to the Arabic

rajaz metre, which is in a sense true :?

Rajaz (mustafHlun, mustafHlun, mustafHlun) : ? ^ _ I ? ^ ?

I ? ^ ?, etc.

Iambic trimeter or senarius :

-~|w~'|-~|v>'""|-'~| ^

~> efc?'

But this is only half the verse. It is difficult to think that the author

or authors of the Mozarabie Psalter operated with a double senarius,

and in fact I have not noticed any of its verses as having this form.2

It is at all events sufficiently clear that the "

foreign language "

('ajaml) several times mentioned as that from which the translation

was made, was Lathi not Hebrew. Further, a somewhat important

point is that this verse rendering of the Psalms in Arabic was not the

first to have been made. There was, sc. in Spain, an earlier prose

translation, evidently from the Mozarabie Psalter, and the reason

1 Tho half-verse appears to be defective (two measures mustafHlun instead of

three). 2 The last half-vorse quoted in n. 2, p. 141, is a senarius.


given by the author for engaging upon his work is the extreme

badness of this prose translation (28 ff.). The author Hafs (129) is very sparing of personal details, but he

gives us the all-important information that his work was composed in the year 989 (128) and

" by permission of Balans (Valens), the

best bishop of the Church "

(106). The date is given in such a way as to be incontrovertible by means of the numeral letters Ta? = 9, Pa' =

80, and Za' ? 900, where Zay is tied down at the end of the

half-verse by the rhyme and cannot be, e.g. Dad = 800. There is

no reason to suppose that it is subject to a deduction of thirty-eight

years for the Spanish era. The tone of the poem precludes the

possibility of a young priest dedicating his work to an ecclesiastical

superior. Bishop Valens and other ecclesiastics are referred to in

terms of cordial respect, but no more. We have to look for the author

as a man of mature years and probably a layman precisely in a.d. 989.

Who then is the author ? It is a curious fact that while this

rendering of the Psalter has been entirely lost sight of?so far as can

be said at present?in the tradition of the Mozarabs, Hafs is

mentioned by name and his work quoted in Jewish literature,

certainly by Moses b. Ezra of Granada (twelfth century), and possibly also by Solomon b. Gabirol (eleventh century). Stehischneider and others1 have pointed out passages in the so-called

Poetica (Kitdb al-MuMdarah) of Moses b. Ezra, where he is cited.

One of these reads, "

Hafs al-Quyi says in his rajaz poem on the

Psalter, and it is the truth :?

Since hi one language there are things which have no name hi

another,

And every speech, when translated, becomes different from its

original order."

These lines are actually from the verse prologue (75-6 above). Moses b. Ezra also quotes from Hafs his verse rendering of Psalm 55,

21, taking occasion to charge him with excessive carelessness if not

here, at least elsewhere.

Stehischneider, who rightly claimed that Hafs had to a certain

extent been disinterred by himself from the Jewish citations,2 and

1 M. Steinschneider, Catalogus Librorum Hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana,

Berlin, 1852-1800, col. 2325; M. Schrcinor, "

Lo Kitab al-Mouhadara do Moiso

b. Ezra," Revue des iStudes Juivcs, t. xxi (1890), p. 100; A. Ncubauor, "

Hafs

al-Qouti," Revue des lfoudcs Juivcs, t. xxx (1895), p. 00. 2 M. Steinschneider, Die arabische Literatur der Juden, Frankfurt, 1902, p. 111.


who returned to the problem of his identity repeatedly during the course of his long life, never succeeded in placing him. When he came nearest to the facts, it was in his well-known work on the

Arabic literature of the Jews.1 But Hafs was not a Jew. Nor was he an Arab or Syrian Christian, as Neubauer said, hi his otherwise

well-informed article,2 which Steinschneider treated with rather less

than fairness. He was a Mozarab, and his nisbah, undoubtedly to be

written al-Qu^I, as appears from its Hebrew 3 as well as Arabic

orthography, means "

the Goth ". It has nothing to do with "

Qout, situee, d'apres Yaqout, dans la province de Balkh", as

Neubauer imagined. The full name is Hafs b. Albar al-Quti, as we

have it in the Milan MS. "

Al-Qurtubl "

in the notice of Simonct may well be not an alternative or additional nisbah, but rather a mistake

for al-Quti (see, however, below). From his name the author of the

Psalter translation is indicated as having affinity with the former

rulers of Spain. We can go further. Ibn al-Qutiyah speaks of Hafs b. Albar, a

descendant of one of the three sons of King Witiza as "

qadi of the

foreigners ",4 apparently in his own time. In the context by " foreigners

" the Christian Mozarabs are meant. Ibn al-Qutiyah

died a.d. 977. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that we have

here a contemporary reference to the author of the Psalter

translation. The dates tally (a.d. 989 for the completion of the

Psalter translation), and the internal evidence of the verse prologue, as already indicated, points to some eminent person as author.

If the identification be allowed, it is perhaps possible to draw some

other conclusions. Of the three sons of Witiza, succession in the

branch of Alamundo (Olmundo) passed early into the female line in

the person of Sara, already mentioned, whose descendants were

Muslims. The descendants of Artabas, another of the brothers, may also have adopted the dominant faith. The name of one of them, Abu Sa'id, reported by Ibn al-Qutiyah,5 is equivocal hi this respect. It was apparently in the family of Komulo, to which Hafs b. Albar

belonged, according to Ibn al-Qutiyah, that the tradition of the

family of Witiza was most fully preserved. If so, it was natural and

1 Loc. cit. 2 Hafs al-Qouti, p. 67. 3 Tho Kitab al-Mufyddarah transcribed in Hebrew letters is hero intended. 4 Ta'rikh if Utah al-Andalus, p. 5 : qddl al-'ajam. 5 Loc. cit.

HAFS B. ALBAR?THE LAST OF THE GOTHS? 14!)

appropriate, for Romulo (Aquila),1 though not the eldest of the three

brothers, was at all events the heir-presumptive of his father.2 We

seem to have an indication of the tenacity with which this branch

clung to their ancestral religion?and at the same time, it has to be

noted, of the tolerance of the conquering race?in the Psalter

translation of 989, which undoubtedly was a congenial task, self

. imposed on the author, Hafs b. Albar. It is in this sense that the

expression "

the last of the Goths ", which I have ventured to use in

the title of this article, seems to be applicable. In the long period of

time?more than 250 years?which had passed since the Conquest, while the other descendants in Andalusia of the Visigothic royal

house, so far as can be seen, had islamized, the family of Romulo

remained Christian. It was, together with the name of Goth, which

as we have seen they seem to have retained, an assertion of

nationality. Ibn al-Qutlyah was to all intents and purposes a Muslim

faqih,3 like Sulaiman b. Aiyub b. Balakayash al-Qutl, d. 377/987, an alleged descendant of Count Julian.4 Surviving members of

Ibn al-Qutlyah's family 5 who doubtless outlived Hafs b. Albar,

were Spanish Arabs, or Spaniards, if one likes, but scarcely Goths.

Hafs was likewise a Spaniard. As the last of the descendants of

the main branch of which a trace seems to have survived, he may also fairly be called

" the last of the Goths ".

We saw above that Hafs, author of the translation of the Psalter, cannot have been the son of Alvaro of Cordova. There appears to be

no reason why he should not have been his grandson. The last part of his name

" Ibn Albar

" need not express the father-son relation

ship, but may be a patronymic, like Ibn al-Qutiyah, Ibn Sa'id, etc.

Alvaro of Cordova explicitly claimed to originate from a northern

nation of classical antiquity, the Getse. It is a reasonable conjecture, in view of his having belonged quite clearly to the highest rank of

Mozarab society, that he was descended from the former rulers of

Spain. It has been stated, indeed, that he was of Jewish descent.

1 For the identity of these names, cf. Simonet, op. cit., p. 12, n. 0. 2 E. Levi-Provoncal, op. cit., p. 6. 3 Cf. the remarks of Ribera, pp. ix ff. of the introduction to his translation of

Ibn al-Qutiyah. 4 Pons Boigues, Hisforiadores y Gedgrafos ardbigo-espafwles, p. 89, cf. E. Levi

Provcncal, op. cit., p. 11, n. 1. 5 Ribera, ibid., p. xxi.

150 HAFS B. ALBAR?THE LAST OF THE CJOTHS ?

This opinion is based on words of his own,1 which seem to refer to

some ancient and improbable family tradition. It can at most be

only partially true. The argument that Alvaro of Cordova was

descended from the Visigothic kings of Spain is greatly strengthened, now that we know from Ibn al-Qutiyah of a member of the house of

Witiza within the same period called Hafs b. Albar (son of Alvaro). If Alvaro of Cordova was in fact the grandfather of Hafs, the nisbah

for the latter given by Simonet (al-Qurtubi) may after all be right and of course Alvaro was himself a descendant of Komulo (Aquila)

heir-presumptive of Visigothic Spain. On this view one can better

understand the precipital, yet rather pathetic pride of Alvaro, when

looking back over more than a thousand years, he speaks of his

ancestry. "

But that you may know who I am, hear Vergil:? The Getae scorn at death and praise the wounds,

and again:? The horse the Getan rides

and the words of the poet:? On this side the Dacian, and on that presses the Getan.

I am, I tell you, of the race whom Alexander declared should be

avoided, whom Pyrrhus feared and Caosar trembled at. Of us too

our own Jerome said :?

He has a horn in front, so keep away." 2

The "

horn in front "

had not saved the Goths 250 years earlier.

In conclusion, I should like to mention a number of citations of "

the book of al-Quti" in an ethical work of Solomon b. Gabirol.

These have been given most fully by Neubauer in the article already referred to.3 They consist of moral maxims, e.g.

" And in the book

of al-Quti he says, Do not forbear to rescue those who are being

dragged to death, to the best of your ability." This particular

example appears at least to echo one of the Proverbs (24, 11), but

1 Epistola, xviii, 5 (Migno, vol. 121, col. 496):

" ego qui et fide et gente (var.

genere) Hebraeus sum." 2 Ejnslola, xx (ibid., col. 514) :

" Sod ut mo qui sum ipso cognoscas, ot amplius

(me) tacendo dovites, Vrrgilium audi : mortem contomnunt laudato vulnoro

Getes. Necnon et illud: Getes, inquit, quo pergit cquo. Undo et illud extat

poctao : Hinc Dacus prcmat, indo Getes occurrat. Ego sum, ego sum, quern Alexander vitandum pronuntiavit, Pyrrhus pertimuit, Caesar exhorruit. De nobis

quoquo et noster Hieronymus dicit: Cornu habet in fronte, longo fuge." I cannot

identify tho first two poetical quotations in Vergil. Tho third ; tLucan, Bellum

Civile, ii, 54. 3 Hafs al-Qouti, pp. 68-9.


others seem to be quite independent. The work from which they are

cited was at all events not a simple verse rendering of the Biblical

book, like the Psalter translation. (There is, I believe, no evidence

that Proverbs was ever in use in Arabic among the Mozarabs.) Hafs b. Albar al-Qutl may well be the author intended by Ibn

Gabirol, but at present this remains unproven.

Hafs b Albar the Last of Teh Goths

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