AVERROES, one of the most subtle philosophers that ever appeared among the Arabians, flourished at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth century. He was the son of the high-priest and chief judge of Cordoba in Spain; and, educated in the university of Morocco, he studied natural philosophy, medicine, mathematics, law, and divinity. He died at Morocco in the year 1206. He was excessively fat, though he ate but once a day. He spent all his nights in the study of philosophy, and when he felt fatigued, amused himself with reading poetry or history. He was extremely fond of Aristotle's works, and wrote commentaries on them; whence he was styled
is the commentator by way of eminence. He likewise wrote a work on the whole art of physic, besides many amatory verses; but when he grew old, he very wisely threw these last into the fire.