lived, Gabirol remained safe from them and was able to freely immerse himself in study of the Talmud, grammar, geometry, astronomy, and philosophy. However, when Gabirol was seventeen years old, his benefactor was assassinated as the result of a political conspiracy, and by 1045 Gabirol found himself compelled to leave Zaragoza. He was then sponsored by no less than the grand vizier and top general to the kings of Granada, Samuel ibn Naghrillah (Shmuel HaNaggid). Gabirol made ibn Naghrillah an object of praise in his poetry until an estrangement arose between them and ibn Naghrillah became the butt of Gabirol's bitterest irony. It seems Gabirol never married, and that he spent the remainder of his life wandering. Gabirol had become an accomplished poet and philosopher at an early age: By age 17, he had composed five of his known poems, one an azhara ("I am the master, and Song is my slave") enumerating all 613 commandments of Judaism. At age 17, he composed a 200-verse elegy for his friend Yekutiel and four other notable elegies to mourn the death of Hai Gaon. By age 19, he had composed a 400-verse alphabetical and acrostic poem teaching the rules of Hebrew grammar. By age 23 or 25, he had composed, in Arabic, "Improvement of the Moral Qualities" (, translated into Hebrew by Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon as At around age 25, or not, he may have composed his collection of proverbs Mivchar Pninim (lit. "Choice of Pearls"), although scholars are divided on his authorship. At around age 28, or not, he composed his philosophical work Fons Vitæ. As mentioned above, the conflicting accounts of Gabirol's death have him dying either before age 30 or by age 48. The opinion of earliest death, that he died before age 30, is believed to be based upon a misreading of medieval sources. The remaining two opinions are that he died either in 1069 or 1070, or around 1058 in Valencia. As to the circumstances of his death, one legend claims that he was trampled to death by an Arab horseman. A second legend relates that he was murdered by a Muslim poet who was jealous of Gabirol's poetic gifts, and who secretly buried him beneath the roots of a fig tree. The tree bore fruit in abundant quantity and of extraordinary sweetness. Its uniqueness excited attention and provoked an investigation. The resulting inspection of