He wrote a rhymed treatise on
chess in
Catalan, which he begins by referring to the
creation of the world, and exhorts his fellow man to glorify the Creator by the practise of virtue.[5] Favoring chess, the poem opposes all games of chance, particularly card-playing, which, it declares, would ruin all addicted to it. A manuscript copy of the treatise was once held at El Escorial.[6] It was anonymously translated into
Castilian in 1350, under the title Los trabajos de Hercules, y el conde de Lucanor.[3][7]
He appears to have also written Totza'ot Ḥayyim, a collection of short poems published by Menaḥem ben Yehuda de Lonzano in 1618.[4]
Notes
^He is also referred to by variations of Moses Ḥazan (משה חזן), Moses Ḥassan (משה חסן), and Moses Nathan (משה נתן).[1][2][3] Some sources identify Zaragua as the village of
Tàrrega.[2][4]
^
abRoth, Norman (1992). "Jewish Literature in Medieval Spain". In Kabakoff, Jacob (ed.).
Jewish Book Annual. Vol. 50. Jewish Book Council of America. p. 112.
ISBN978-0-914820-15-4.