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PREVIOUS CHAPTER - NEXT CHAPTER - HELP - GR VIDEOS - GR YOUTUBE - TWITTER - SD1 YOUTUBE  CHAPTER - The learned Selden has given the history of transubstantiation in a comprehensive and pithy sentence: “This opinion is only rhetoric turned into logic,” (his Works, vol. iii. p. 2037, in his Table-Talk.) Nec intelligunt homines ineptissimi, quod si sentire simulacra et moveri possent, adoratura hominem fuissent a quo sunt expolita. (Divin. Institut. l. ii. c. 2.) Lactantius is the last, as well as the most eloquent, of the Latin apologists. Their raillery of idols attacks not only the object, but the form and matter. See Irenaeus, Epiphanius, and Augustin, (Basnage, Hist. des Eglises Reformees, tom. ii. p. 1313.) This Gnostic practice has a singular affinity with the private worship of Alexander Severus, (Lampridius, c. 29. Lardner, Heathen Testimonies, vol. iii. p. 34.) See this History, vol. ii. p. 261; vol. ii. p. 434; vol. iii. p. 158 - 163. Ouj ga Venet.) Il seroit peut-etre a-propos de ne point souffrir d’images de la Trinite ou de la Divinite; les defenseurs les plus zeles des images ayant condamne celles-ci, et le concile de Trente ne parlant que des images de Jesus Christ et des Saints, (Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 154.) This general history of images is drawn from the xxiid book of the Hist. des Eglises Reformees of Basnage, tom. ii. p. 1310 - 1337. He was a Protestant, but of a manly spirit; and on this head the Protestants are so notoriously in the right, that they can venture to be impartial. See the perplexity of poor Friar Pagi, Critica, tom. i. p. 42. After removing some rubbish of miracle and inconsistency, it may be allowed, that as late as the year 300, Paneas in Palestine was decorated with a bronze statue, representing a grave personage wrapped in a cloak, with a grateful or suppliant female kneeling before him, and that an inscription — tw|~ Sw~thri tw|~ eujerge>th was perhaps inscribed on the pedestal. By the Christians, this group was foolishly explained of their founder and the poor woman whom he had cured of the bloody flux, (Euseb. vii. 18, Philostorg. vii. 3, etc.) M. de Beausobre more reasonably conjectures the philosopher Apollonius, or the emperor Vespasian: in the latter supposition, the female is a city, a province, or perhaps the queen Berenice, (Bibliotheque Germanique, tom. xiii. p. 1 - 92.) Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. i. c. 13. The learned Assemannus has brought up the collateral aid of three Syrians, St. Ephrem, Josua Stylites, and James bishop of Sarug; but I do not find any notice of the Syriac original or the archives of Edessa, (Bibliot. Orient. tom. i. p. 318, 420, 554;) their vague belief is probably derived from the Greeks. The evidence for these epistles is stated and rejected by the candid Lardner, (Heathen Testimonies, vol. i. p. 297 - 309.) Among the herd of bigots who are forcibly driven from this convenient, but untenable, post, I am ashamed, with the Grabes, Caves, Tillemonts, etc., to discover Mr. Addison, an English gentleman, (his Works, vol. i. p. 528, Baskerville’s edition;) but his superficial tract on the Christian religion owes its credit to his name, his style, and the interested applause of our clergy. From the silence of James of Sarug, (Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. p. 289, 318,) and the testimony of Evagrius, (Hist. Eccles. l. iv. c. 27,) I conclude that this fable was invented between the years 521 and 594, most probably after the siege of Edessa in 540, (Asseman. tom. i. p. 416. Procopius, de Bell. Persic. l. ii.) It is the sword and buckler of, Gregory II., (in Epist. i. ad. Leon. Isaur. Concil. tom. viii. p. 656, 657,) of John Damascenus, (Opera, tom. i. p. 281, edit. Lequien,) and of the second Nicene Council, (Actio v. p. 1030.) The most perfect edition may be found in Cedrenus, (Compend. p. 175 - 178.) /Aceiropoi>htov. See Ducange, in Gloss. Graec. et Lat. The subject is treated with equal learning and bigotry by the Jesuit Gretser, (Syntagma de Imaginibus non Manu factis, ad calcem Codini de Officiis, p. 289 - 330,) the ass, or rather the fox, of Ingoldstadt, (see the Scaligerana;) with equal reason and wit by the Protestant Beausobre, in the ironical controversy which he has spread through many volumes of the Bibliotheque Germanique, (tom. xviii. p. 1 - 50, xx. p. 27 - 68, xxv. p. 1 - 36, xxvii. p. 85 - 118, xxviii. p. 1 - 33, xxxi. p. 111 - 148, xxxii. p. 75 - 107, xxxiv. p. 67 - 96.) Theophylact Simocatta (l. ii. c. 3, p. 34, l. iii. c. 1, p. 63) celebrates it; yet it was no more than a copy, since he adds ajrce>tupon ga A.D. 588 No. 11. See, in the genuine or supposed works of John Damascenus, two passages on the Virgin and St. Luke, which have not been noticed by Gretser, nor consequently by Beausobre, (Opera Joh. Damascen. tom. i. p. 618, 631.) “Your scandalous figures stand quite out from the canvass: they are as bad as a group of statues!” It was thus that the ignorance and bigotry of a Greek priest applauded the pictures of Titian, which he had ordered, and refused to accept. By Cedrenus, Zonaras, Glycas, and Manasses, the origin of the Aconoclcasts is imprinted to the caliph Yezid and two Jews, who promised the empire to Leo; and the reproaches of these hostile sectaries are turned into an absurd conspiracy for restoring the purity of the Christian worship, (see Spanheim, Hist. Imag. c. 2.) Yezid, ninth caliph of the race of the Ommiadae, caused all the images in Syria to be destroyed about the year 719; hence the orthodox reproaches the sectaries with following the example of the Saracens and the Jews Fragm. Mon. Johan. Jerosylym. Script. Byzant. vol. xvi. p. 235. Hist. des Repub. Ital. par M. Sismondi, vol. i. p. 126. - G. See Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 267,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 201,) and Abulfeda, (Annal. Moslem. p. 264,), and the criticisms of Pagi, (tom. iii. A.D. 944.) The prudent Franciscan refuses to determine whether the image of Edessa now reposes at Rome or Genoa; but its repose is inglorious, and this ancient object of worship is no longer famous or fashionable. /Armeni>oiv kai< /Alamanoi~v ejp i]shv hJ tw~n aJgi>wn eijko>nwn prosku>nhsiv ajphgo>reutai (Nicetas, l. ii. p. 258.) The Armenian churches are still content with the Cross, (Missions du Levant, tom. iii. p. 148;) but surely the superstitious Greek is unjust to the superstition of the Germans of the xiith century. Our original, but not impartial, monuments of the Iconoclasts must be drawn from the Acts of the Councils, tom. viii. and ix. Collect. Labbe, edit. Venet. and the historical writings of Theophanes, Nicephorus, Manasses, Cedrenus, Zonoras, etc. Of the modern Catholics, Baronius, Pagi, Natalis Alexander, (Hist. Eccles. Seculum viii. and ix.,) and Maimbourg, (Hist. des Iconoclasts,) have treated the subject with learning, passion, and credulity. The Protestant labors of Frederick Spanheim (Historia Imaginum restituta) and James Basnage (Hist. des Eglises Reformees, tom. ii. l. xxiiii. p. 1339 - 1385) are cast into the Iconoclast scale. With this mutual aid, and opposite tendency, it is easy for us to poise the balance with philosophic indifference. Compare Schlosser, Geschichte der Bilder-sturmender Kaiser, Frankfurt am- Main 1812 a book of research and impartiality - M. Some flowers of rhetoric are Su>nodon para>nomon kai< a]qeon, and the bishops toi~v mataio>frosin . By Damascenus is styled a]kurov kai< a]dektov , (Opera, tom. i. p. 623.) Spanheim’s Apology for the Synod of Constantinople (p. 171, etc.) is worked up with truth and ingenuity, from such materials as he could find in the Nicene Acts, (p. 1046, etc.) The witty John of Damascus converts (ejpisko>touv into ejpisko>touv) it into slaves of their belly, etc. Opera, tom. i. p. He is accused of proscribing the title of saint; styling the Virgin, Mother of Christ; comparing her after her delivery to an empty purse of Arianism, Nestorianism, etc. In his defense, Spanheim (c. iv. p. 207) is somewhat embarrassed between the interest of a Protestant and the duty of an orthodox divine. The holy confessor Theophanes approves the principle of their rebellion, qei>w| kinou>menoi zh>lw| (p. 339.) Gregory II. (in Epist. i. ad Imp. Leon. Concil. tom. viii. p. 661, 664) applauds the zeal of the Byzantine women who killed the Imperial officers. John, or Mansur, was a noble Christian of Damascus, who held a considerable office in the service of the caliph. His zeal in the cause of images exposed him to the resentment and treachery of the Greek emperor; and on the suspicion of a treasonable correspondence, he was deprived of his right hand, which was miraculously restored by the Virgin. After this deliverance, he resigned his office, distributed his wealth, and buried himself in the monastery of St. Sabas, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. The legend is famous; but his learned editor, Father Lequien, has a unluckily proved that St. John Damascenus was already a monk before the Iconoclast dispute, (Opera, tom. i. Vit. St. Joan. Damascen. p. 10 - 13, et Notas ad loc.) After sending Leo to the devil, he introduces his heir, to< miaro Bellarmin. de Romano Pontifice, l. v. c. 8: mulctavit eum parte imperii.
Sigonius, de Regno Italiae, l. iii. Opera, tom. ii. p. 169. Yet such is the change of Italy, that Sigonius is corrected by the editor of Milan, Philipus Argelatus, a Bolognese, and subject of the pope. Quod si Christiani olim non deposuerunt Neronem aut Julianum, id fuit quia deerant vires temporales Christianis, (honest Bellarmine, de Rom.
Pont. l. v. c. 7.) Cardinal Perron adds a distinction more honorable to the first Christians, but not more satisfactory to modern princes - the treason of heretics and apostates, who break their oath, belie their coin, and renounce their allegiance to Christ and his vicar, (Perroniana, p. 89.) Take, as a specimen, the cautious Basnage (Hist. d’Eglise, p. 1350, 1351) and the vehement Spanheim, (Hist. Imaginum,) who, with a hundred more, tread in the footsteps of the centuriators of Magdeburgh. See Launoy, (Opera, tom. v. pars ii. epist. vii. 7, p. 456 - 474,) Natalis Alexander, (Hist. Nov. Testamenti, secul. viii. dissert. i. p. 92 - 98,) Pagi, (Critica, tom. iii. p. 215, 216,) and Giannone, (Istoria Civile Napoli, tom. i. p. 317 - 320,) a disciple of the Gallican school In the field of controversy I always pity the moderate party, who stand on the open middle ground exposed to the fire of both sides. They appeal to Paul Warnefrid, or Diaconus, (de Gestis Langobard. l. vi. c. 49, p. 506, 507, in Script. Ital. Muratori, tom. i. pars i.,) and the nominal Anastasius, (de Vit. Pont. in Muratori, tom. iii. pars i.
Gregorius II. p. 154. Gregorius III. p. 158. Zacharias, p. 161.
Stephanus III. p. 165. Paulus, p. 172. Stephanus IV. p. 174. Hadrianus, p. 179. Leo III. p. 195.) Yet I may remark, that the true Anastasius (Hist. Eccles. p. 134, edit. Reg.) and the Historia Miscella, (l. xxi. p. 151, in tom. i. Script. Ital.,) both of the ixth century, translate and approve the Greek text of Theophanes. With some minute difference, the most learned critics, Lucas Holstenius, Schelestrate, Ciampini, Bianchini, Muratori, (Prolegomena ad tom. iii. pars i.,) are agreed that the Liber Pontificalis was composed and continued by the apostolic librarians and notaries of the viiith and ixth centuries; and that the last and smallest part is the work of Anastasius, whose name it bears. The style is barbarous, the narrative partial, the details are trifling - yet it must be read as a curious and authentic record of the times. The epistles of the popes are dispersed in the volumes of Councils. The two epistles of Gregory II. have been preserved in the Acta of the Nicene Council, (tom. viii. p. 651 - 674.) They are without a date, which is variously fixed, by Baronius in the year 726, by Muratori (Annali d’Italia, tom. vi. p. 120) in 729, and by Pagi in 730. Such is the force of prejudice, that some papists have praised the good sense and moderation of these letters.
Ei]kosi te>ssara sta>dia uJpocwrh>sei oJ /Arciereu Ital. tom. ii. para i. p. 481.) For the sins of Cato or Tully Minos might have imposed as a fit penance the daily perusal of this barbarous passage. Yet this contumelious sentence, quoted by Robertson (Charles V note 2) as well as Gibbon, was applied by the angry bishop to the Byzantine Romans, whom, indeed, he admits to be the genuine descendants of Romulus. - M. Pipino regi Francorum, omnis senatus, atque universa populi generalitas a Deo servatae Romanae urbis. Codex Carolin. epist. 36, in Script. Ital. tom. iii. pars ii. p. 160. The names of senatus and senator were never totally extinct, (Dissert. Chorograph. p. 216, 217;) but in the middle ages they signified little more than nobiles, optimates, etc., (Ducange, Gloss. Latin.) See Muratori, Antiquit. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. ii. Dissertat xxvii. p. 548. On one of these coins we read Hadrianus Papa (A.D. 772;) on the reverse, Vict. Ddnn. with the word Conob, which the Pere Joubert (Science des Medailles, tom. ii. p. 42) explains by Constantinopoli Officina B (secunda.) See West’s Dissertation on the Olympic Games, (Pindar. vol. ii. p. 32- 36, edition in 12mo.,) and the judicious reflections of Polybius (tom. i. l. iv. p. 466, edit Gronov.) The speech of Gregory to the Lombard is finely composed by Sigonius, (de Regno Italiae, l. iii. Opera, tom. ii. p. 173,) who imitates the license and the spirit of Sallust or Livy. The Venetian historians, John Sagorninus, (Chron. Venet. p. 13,) and the doge Andrew Dandolo, (Scriptores Rer. Ital. tom. xii. p. 135,) have preserved this epistle of Gregory. The loss and recovery of Ravenna are mentioned by Paulus Diaconus, (de Gest. Langobard, l. vi. c. 42, 54, in Script. Ital. tom. i. pars i. p. 506, 508;) but our chronologists, Pagi, Muratori, etc., cannot ascertain the date or circumstances The option will depend on the various readings of the Mss. of Anastasius - deceperat, or decerpserat, (Script. Ital. tom. iii. pars i. p. 167.) The Codex Carolinus is a collection of the epistles of the popes to Charles Martel, (whom they style Subregulus,) Pepin, and Charlemagne, as far as the year 791, when it was formed by the last of these princes. His original and authentic Ms. (Bibliothecae Cubicularis) is now in the Imperial library of Vienna, and has been published by Lambecius and Muratori, (Script. Rerum Ital. tom. iii. pars ii. p. 75, etc.) Gregory I. had been dead above a century; read Gregory III. - M See this most extraordinary letter in the Codex Carolinus, epist iii. p. 92. The enemies of the popes have charged them with fraud and blasphemy; yet they surely meant to persuade rather than deceive. This introduction of the dead, or of immortals, was familiar to the ancient orators, though it is executed on this occasion in the rude fashion of the age. Except in the divorce of the daughter of Desiderius, whom Charlemagne repudiated sine aliquo crimine. Pope Stephen IV. had most furiously opposed the alliance of a noble Frank - cum perfida, horrida nec dicenda, foetentissima natione Longobardorum - to whom he imputes the first stain of leprosy, (Cod. Carolin. epist. 45, p. 178, 179.) Another reason against the marriage was the existence of a first wife, (Muratori, Annali d’Italia, tom. vi. p. 232, 233, 236, 237.) But Charlemagne indulged himself in the freedom of polygamy or concubinage. Of fifteen months. James, Life of Charlemagne, p. 187. - M. See the Annali d’Italia of Muratori, tom. vi., and the three first Dissertations of his Antiquitates Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. i. Besides the common historians, three French critics, Launoy, (Opera, tom. v. pars ii. l. vii. epist. 9, p. 477-487,) Pagi, (Critica, A.D. 751, No. 1-6, A.D. 752, No. 1-10,) and Natalis Alexander, (Hist. Novi Testamenti, dissertat, ii. p. 96-107,) have treated this subject of the deposition of Childeric with learning and attention, but with a strong bias to save the independence of the crown. Yet they are hard pressed by the texts which they produce of Eginhard, Theophanes, and the old annals, Laureshamenses, Fuldenses, Loisielani Not absolutely for the first time. On a less conspicuous theater it had been used, in the vith and viith centuries, by the provincial bishops of Britain and Spain. The royal unction of Constantinople was borrowed from the Latins in the last age of the empire. Constantine Manasses mentions that of Charlemagne as a foreign, Jewish, incomprehensible ceremony. See Selden’s Titles of Honor, in his Works, vol. iii. part i. p. 234-249. See Eginhard, in Vita Caroli Magni, c. i. p. 9, etc., c. iii. p. 24. Childeric was deposed - jussu, the Carlovingians were established - auctoritate, Pontificis Romani. Launoy, etc., pretend that these strong words are susceptible of a very soft interpretation. Be it so; yet Eginhard understood the world, the court, and the Latin language. For the title and powers of patrician of Rome, see Ducange, (Gloss.
Latin. tom. v. p. 149-151,) Pagi, (Critica, A.D. 740, No. 6-11,) Muratori, (Annali d’Italia, tom. vi. p. 308-329,) and St. Marc, (Abrege Chronologique d’Italie, tom. i. p. 379-382.) Of these the Franciscan Pagi is the most disposed to make the patrician a lieutenant of the church, rather than of the empire. The papal advocates can soften the symbolic meaning of the banner and the keys; but the style of ad regnum dimisimus, or direximus, (Codex Carolin. epist. i. tom. iii. pars ii. p. 76,) seems to allow of no palliation or escape. In the Ms. of the Vienna library, they read, instead of regnum, rogum, prayer or request (see Ducange;) and the royalty of Charles Martel is subverted by this important correction, (Catalani, in his Critical Prefaces, Annali d’Italia, tom. xvii. p. 95-99.) In the authentic narrative of this reception, the Liber Pontificalis observes - obviam illi ejus sanctitas dirigens venerabiles cruces, id est signa; sicut mos est ad exarchum, aut patricium suscipiendum, sum cum ingenti honore suscipi fecit, (tom. iii. pars i. p. 185.) Paulus Diaconus, who wrote before the empire of Charlemagne describes Rome as his subject city - vestrae civitates (ad Pompeium Festum) suis addidit sceptris, (de Metensis Ecclesiae Episcopis.) Some Carlovingian medals, struck at Rome, have engaged Le Blanc to write an elaborate, though partial, dissertation on their authority at Rome, both as patricians and emperors, (Amsterdam, 1692, in 4to.) Mosheim (Institution, Hist. Eccles. p. 263) weighs this donation with fair and deliberate prudence. The original act has never been produced; but the Liber Pontificalis represents, (p. 171,) and the Codex Carolinus supposes, this ample gift. Both are contemporary records and the latter is the more authentic, since it has been preserved, not in the Papal, but the Imperial, library. Between the exorbitant claims, and narrow concessions, of interest and prejudice, from which even Muratori (Antiquitat. tom. i. p. 63-68) is not exempt, I have been guided, in the limits of the Exarchate and Pentapolis, by the Dissertatio Chorographica Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. x. p. 160-180. Spoletini deprecati sunt, ut eos in servitio B. Petri receperet et more Romanorum tonsurari faceret, (Anastasius, p. 185.) Yet it may be a question whether they gave their own persons or their country. The policy and donations of Charlemagne are carefully examined by St.
Marc, (Abrege, tom. i. p. 390-408,) who has well studied the Codex Carolinus. I believe, with him, that they were only verbal. The most ancient act of donation that pretends to be extant, is that of the emperor Lewis the Pious, (Sigonius, de Regno Italiae, l. iv. Opera, tom. ii. p. 267-270.) Its authenticity, or at least its integrity, are much questioned, (Pagi, A.D. 817, No. 7, etc. Muratori, Annali, tom. vi. p. 432, etc. Dissertat. Chorographica, p. 33, 34;) but I see no reasonable objection to these princes so freely disposing of what was not their own. Charlemagne solicited and obtained from the proprietor, Hadrian I., the mosaics of the palace of Ravenna, for the decoration of Aix-la- Chapelle, (Cod. Carolin. epist. 67, p. 223.) The popes often complain of the usurpations of Leo of Ravenna, (Codex Carolin, epist. 51, 52, 53, p. 200-205.) Sir corpus St. Andreae fratris germani St. Petri hic humasset, nequaquam nos Romani pontifices sic subjugassent, (Agnellus, Liber Pontificalis, in Scriptores Rerum Ital. tom. ii. pars. i. p. 107.) Piissimo Constantino magno, per ejus largitatem S. R. Ecclesia elevata et exaltata est, et potestatem in his Hesperiae partibus largiri olignatus est .... Quia ecce novus Constantinus his temporibus, etc., (Codex Carolin. epist. 49, in tom. iii. part ii. p. 195.) Pagi (Critica, A.D. 324, No. 16) ascribes them to an impostor of the viiith century, who borrowed the name of St. Isidore: his humble title of Peccator was ignorantly, but aptly, turned into Mercator: his merchandise was indeed profitable, and a few sheets of paper were sold for much wealth and power. Fabricius (Bibliot. Graec. tom. vi. p. 4-7) has enumerated the several editions of this Act, in Greek and Latin. The copy which Laurentius Valla recites and refutes, appears to be taken either from the spurious Acts of St. Silvester or from Gratian’s Decree, to which, according to him and others, it has been surreptitiously tacked. In the year 1059, it was believed (was it believed?) by Pope Leo IX.
Cardinal Peter Damianus, etc. Muratori places (Annali d’Italia, tom. ix. p. 23, 24) the fictitious donations of Lewis the Pious, the Othos, etc., de Donatione Constantini. See a Dissertation of Natalis Alexander, seculum iv. diss. 25, p. 335-350. See a large account of the controversy (A.D. 1105) which arose from a private lawsuit, in the Chronicon Farsense, (Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. ii. pars ii. p. 637, etc.,) a copious extract from the archives of that Benedictine abbey. They were formerly accessible to curious foreigners, (Le Blanc and Mabillon,) and would have enriched the first volume of the Historia Monastica Italiae of Quirini. But they are now imprisoned (Muratori, Scriptores R. I. tom. ii. pars ii. p. 269) by the timid policy of the court of Rome; and the future cardinal yielded to the voice of authority and the whispers of ambition, (Quirini, Comment. pars ii. p. 123-136.) I have read in the collection of Schardius (de Potestate Imperiali Ecclesiastica, p. 734-780) this animated discourse, which was composed by the author, A.D. 1440, six years after the flight of Pope Eugenius IV. It is a most vehement party pamphlet: Valla justifies and animates the revolt of the Romans, and would even approve the use of a dagger against their sacerdotal tyrant. Such a critic might expect the persecution of the clergy; yet he made his peace, and is buried in the Lateran, (Bayle, Dictionnaire Critique, Valla; Vossius, de Historicis Latinis, p. 580.) See Guicciardini, a servant of the popes, in that long and valuable digression, which has resumed its place in the last edition, correctly published from the author’s Ms. and printed in four volumes in quarto, under the name of Friburgo, 1775, (Istoria d’Italia, tom. i. p. 385-395.) The Paladin Astolpho found it in the moon, among the things that were lost upon earth, (Orlando Furioso, xxxiv. 80.) Di vari fiore ad un grand monte passa, Ch’ebbe gia buono odore, or puzza forte:
Questo era il dono (se pero dir lece) Che Constantino al buon Silvestro fece.
Yet this incomparable poem has been approved by a bull of Leo X. See Baronius, A.D. 324, No. 117-123, A.D. 1191, No. 51, etc. The cardinal wishes to suppose that Rome was offered by Constantine, and refused by Silvester. The act of donation he considers strangely enough, as a forgery of the Greeks. Baronius n’en dit guerres contre; encore en a-t’il trop dit, et l’on vouloit sans moi, (Cardinal du Perron,) qui l’empechai, censurer cette partie de son histoire. J’en devisai un jour avec le Pape, et il ne me repondit autre chose “che volete? i Canonici la tengono,” il le disoit en riant, (Perroniana, p. 77.) The remaining history of images, from Irene to Theodora, is collected, for the Catholics, by Baronius and Pagi, (A.D. 780-840.) Natalis Alexander, (Hist. N. T. seculum viii. Panoplia adversus Haereticos p. 118- 178,) and Dupin, (Bibliot. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 136-154;) for the Protestants, by Spanheim, (Hist. Imag. p. 305-639.) Basnage, (Hist. de l’Eglise, tom. i. p. 556-572, tom. ii. p. 1362-1385,) and Mosheim, (Institut. Hist. Eccles. secul. viii. et ix.) The Protestants, except Mosheim, are soured with controversy; but the Catholics, except Dupin, are inflamed by the fury and superstition of the monks; and even Le Beau, (Hist. du Bas Empire,) a gentleman and a scholar, is infected by the odious contagion. See the Acts, in Greek and Latin, of the second Council of Nice, with a number of relative pieces, in the viiith volume of the Councils, p. 645- 1600. A faithful version, with some critical notes, would provoke, in different readers, a sigh or a smile. The pope’s legates were casual messengers, two priests without any special commission, and who were disavowed on their return. Some vagabond monks were persuaded by the Catholics to represent the Oriental patriarchs. This curious anecdote is revealed by Theodore Studites, (epist. i. 38, in Sirmond. Opp. tom. v. p. 1319,) one of the warmest Iconoclasts of the age. Sumfe>rei de> soi mh< katalipei~n ejn th|~ po>lei tau>th| pornei~on eijv oJ mh< eijse>lqh|v h\ i[na ajrnh>sh| to< prosku>nein to Franckfurd.) A polemic must be hard-hearted indeed, who does not pity the efforts of Baronius, Pagi, Alexander, Maimbourg, etc., to elude this unlucky sentence. Theophanes (p. 343) specifies those of Sicily and Calabria, which yielded an annual rent of three talents and a half of gold, (perhaps 7000l. sterling.) Liutprand more pompously enumerates the patrimonies of the Roman church in Greece, Judaea, Persia, Mesopotamia Babylonia, Egypt, and Libya, which were detained by the injustice of the Greek emperor, (Legat. ad Nicephorum, in Script.
Rerum Italica rum, tom. ii. pars i. p. 481.) The great diocese of the Eastern Illyricum, with Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, (Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. p. 145: ) by the confession of the Greeks, the patriarch of Constantinople had detached from Rome the metropolitans of Thessalonica, Athens Corinth, Nicopolis, and Patrae, (Luc. Holsten. Geograph. Sacra, p. 22) and his spiritual conquests extended to Naples and Amalphi (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. i. p. 517-524, Pagi, A. D 780, No. 11.) In hoc ostenditur, quia ex uno capitulo ab errore reversis, in aliis duobus, in eodem (was it the same?) permaneant errore .... de diocessi S. R. E. seu de patrimoniis iterum increpantes commonemus, ut si ea restituere noluerit hereticum eum pro hujusmodi errore perseverantia decernemus, (Epist. Hadrian. Papae ad Carolum Magnum, in Concil. tom. viii. p. 1598;) to which he adds a reason, most directly opposite to his conduct, that he preferred the salvation of souls and rule of faith to the goods of this transitory world. Fontanini considers the emperors as no more than the advocates of the church, (advocatus et defensor S. R. E. See Ducange, Gloss Lat. tom. i. p. 297.) His antagonist Muratori reduces the popes to be no more than the exarchs of the emperor. In the more equitable view of Mosheim, (Institut. Hist. Eccles. p. 264, 265,) they held Rome under the empire as the most honorable species of fief or benefice - premuntur nocte caliginosa! His merits and hopes are summed up in an epitaph of thirty-eightverses, of which Charlemagne declares himself the author, (Concil. tom. viii. p. 520.) Post patrem lacrymans Carolus haec carmina scripsi.
Tu mihi dulcis amor, te modo plango pater Nomina jungo simul titulis, clarissime, nostra Adrianus, Carolus, rex ego, tuque pater.
The poetry might be supplied by Alcuin; but the tears, the most glorious tribute, can only belong to Charlemagne. Every new pope is admonished - “Sancte Pater, non videbis annos Petri,” twenty-five years. On the whole series the average is about eight years - a short hope for an ambitious cardinal. The assurance of Anastasius (tom. iii. pars i. p. 197, 198) is supported by the credulity of some French annalists; but Eginhard, and other writers of the same age, are more natural and sincere. “Unus ei oculus paullulum est laesus,” says John the deacon of Naples, (Vit. Episcop.
Napol. in Scriptores Muratori, tom. i. pars ii. p. 312.) Theodolphus, a contemporary bishop of Orleans, observes with prudence (l. iii. carm. 3.) Reddita sunt? mirum est: mirum est auferre nequtsse.
Est tamen in dubio, hinc mirer an inde magis. Twice, at the request of Hadrian and Leo, he appeared at Rome, - longa tunica et chlamyde amictus, et calceamentis quoque Romano more formatis. Eginhard (c. xxiii. p. 109 - 113) describes, like Suetonius the simplicity of his dress, so popular in the nation, that when Charles the Bald returned to France in a foreign habit, the patriotic dogs barked at the apostate, (Gaillard, Vie de Charlemagne, tom. iv. p. 109.) See Anastasius (p. 199) and Eginhard, (c.xxviii. p. 124 - 128.) The unction is mentioned by Theophanes, (p. 399,) the oath by Sigonius, (from the Ordo Romanus,) and the Pope’s adoration more antiquorum principum, by the Annales Bertiniani, (Script. Murator. tom. ii. pars ii. p. 505.) This great event of the translation or restoration of the empire is related and discussed by Natalis Alexander, (secul. ix. dissert. i. p. 390 - 397,) Pagi, (tom. iii. p. 418,) Muratori, (Annali d’Italia, tom. vi. p. 339 - 352,) Sigonius, (de Regno Italiae, l. iv. Opp. tom. ii. p. 247 - 251,) Spanheim, (de ficta Translatione Imperii,) Giannone, (tom. i. p. 395 - 405,) St. Marc, (Abrege Chronologique, tom. i. p. 438 - 450,) Gaillard, (Hist. de Charlemagne, tom. ii. p. 386 - 446.) Almost all these moderns have some religious or national bias. By Mably, (Observations sur l’Histoire de France,) Voltaire, (Histoire Generale,) Robertson, (History of Charles V.,) and Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxxi. c. 18.) In the year 1782, M. Gaillard published his Histoire de Charlemagne, (in 4 vols. in 12mo.,) which I have freely and profitably used. The author is a man of sense and humanity; and his work is labored with industry and elegance. But I have likewise examined the original monuments of the reigns of Pepin and Charlemagne, in the 5th volume of the Historians of France. The vision of Weltin, composed by a monk, eleven years after the death of Charlemagne, shows him in purgatory, with a vulture, who is perpetually gnawing the guilty member, while the rest of his body, the emblem of his virtues, is sound and perfect, (see Gaillard tom. ii. p. - 360.) The marriage of Eginhard with Imma, daughter of Charlemagne, is, in my opinion, sufficiently refuted by the probum and suspicio that sullied these fair damsels, without excepting his own wife, (c. xix. p. 98 - 100, cum Notis Schmincke.) The husband must have been too strong for the historian. This charge of incest, as Mr. Hallam justly observes, “seems to have originated in a misinterpreted passage of Eginhard.” Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol.i. p. 16. - M. Besides the massacres and transmigrations, the pain of death was pronounced against the following crimes: 1. The refusal of baptism. 2.
The false pretense of baptism. 3. A relapse to idolatry. 4. The murder of a priest or bishop. 5. Human sacrifices. 6. Eating meat in Lent. But every crime might be expiated by baptism or penance, (Gaillard, tom. ii. p. 241 - 247;) and the Christian Saxons became the friends and equals of the Franks, (Struv. Corpus Hist. Germanicae, p.133.) M. Guizot (Cours d’Histoire Moderne, p. 270, 273) has compiled the following statement of Charlemagne’s military campaigns: - 1. Against the Aquitanians. 18. “ the Saxons. 5. “ the Lombards. 7. “ the Arabs in Spain. 1. “ the Thuringians. 4. “ the Avars. 2. “ the Bretons. 1. “ the Bavarians. 4. “ the Slaves beyond the Elbe 5. “ the Saracens in Italy. 3. “ the Danes. 2. “ the Greeks. ___ 53 total. - M. In this action the famous Rutland, Rolando, Orlando, was slain - cum compluribus aliis. See the truth in Eginhard, (c. 9, p. 51 - 56,) and the fable in an ingenious Supplement of M. Gaillard, (tom. iii. p. 474.) The Spaniards are too proud of a victory, which history ascribes to the Gascons, and romance to the Saracens. In fact, it was a sudden onset of the Gascons, assisted by the Beaure mountaineers, and possibly a few Navarrese. - M. Yet Schmidt, from the best authorities, represents the interior disorders and oppression of his reign, (Hist. des Allemands, tom. ii. p. 45 - 49.) Omnis homo ex sua proprietate legitimam decimam ad ecclesiam conferat. Experimento enim didicimus, in anno, quo illa valida fames irrepsit, ebullire vacuas annonas a daemonibus devoratas, et voces exprobationis auditas. Such is the decree and assertion of the great Council of Frankfort, (canon xxv. tom. ix. p. 105.) Both Selden (Hist. of Tithes; Works, vol. iii. part ii. p. 1146) and Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xxxi. c. 12) represent Charlemagne as the first legal author of tithes. Such obligations have country gentlemen to his memory! Eginhard (c. 25, p. 119) clearly affirms, tentabat et scribere ... sed parum prospere successit labor praeposterus et sero inchoatus. The moderns have perverted and corrected this obvious meaning, and the title of M. Gaillard’s dissertation (tom. iii. p. 247 - 260) betrays his partiality. Note: This point has been contested; but Mr. Hallam and Monsieur Sismondl concur with Gibbon. See Middle Ages, iii. Histoire de Francais, tom. ii. p. 318. The sensible observations of the latter are quoted in the Quarterly Review, vol. xlviii. p. 451. Fleury, I may add, quotes from Mabillon a remarkable evidence that Charlemagne “had a mark to himself like an honest, plain-dealing man.”
Ibid. - M. See Gaillard, tom. iii. p. 138 - 176, and Schmidt, tom. ii. p. 121 - 129. M. Gaillard (tom. iii. p. 372) fixes the true stature of Charlemagne (see a Dissertation of Marquard Freher ad calcem Eginhart, p. 220, etc.) at five feet nine inches of French, about six feet one inch and a fourth English, measure. The romance writers have increased it to eight feet, and the giant was endowed with matchless strength and appetite: at a single stroke of his good sword Joyeuse, he cut asunder a horseman and his horse; at a single repast, he devoured a goose, two fowls, a quarter of mutton, etc. See the concise, but correct and original, work of D’Anville, (Etats Formes en Europe apres la Chute de l’Empire Romain en Occident, Paris, 1771, in 4to.,) whose map includes the empire of Charlemagne; the different parts are illustrated, by Valesius (Notitia Galliacum) for France, Beretti (Dissertatio Chorographica) for Italy, De Marca (Marca Hispanica) for Spain. For the middle geography of Germany, I confess myself poor and destitute. After a brief relation of his wars and conquests, (Vit. Carol. c. 5 - 14,) Eginhard recapitulates, in a few words, (c. 15,) the countries subject to his empire. Struvius, (Corpus Hist. German. p. 118 - 149) was inserted in his Notes the texts of the old Chronicles. On a charter granted to the monastery of Alaon (A.D. 845) by Charles the Bald, which deduces this royal pedigree. I doubt whether some subsequent links of the ixth and xth centuries are equally firm; yet the whole is approved and defended by M. Gaillard, (tom. ii. p.60 - 81, - 206,) who affirms that the family of Montesquiou (not of the President de Montesquieu) is descended, in the female line, from Clotaire and Clovis - an innocent pretension! The governors or counts of the Spanish march revolted from Charles the Simple about the year 900; and a poor pittance, the Rousillon, has been recovered in 1642 by the kings of France, (Longuerue, Description de la France, tom i. p. 220 - 222.) Yet the Rousillon contains 188,900 subjects, and annually pays 2,600,000 livres, (Necker, Administration des Finances, tom. i. p. 278, 279;) more people, perhaps, and doubtless more money than the march of Charlemagne. Schmidt, Hist. des Allemands, tom. ii. p. 200, etc. See Giannone, tom. i. p 374, 375, and the Annals of Muratori. Quot praelia in eo gesta! quantum sanguinis effusum sit! Testatur vacua omni habitatione Pannonia, et locus in quo regia Cagani fuit ita desertus, ut ne vestigium quidem humanae habitationis appareat. Tota in hoc bello Hunnorum nobilitas periit, tota gloria decidit, omnis pecunia et congesti ex longo tempore thesauri direpti sunt. Eginhard, cxiii. The junction of the Rhine and Danube was undertaken only for the service of the Pannonian war, (Gaillard, Vie de Charlemagne, tom. ii. p. 312-315.) The canal, which would have been only two leagues in length, and of which some traces are still extant in Swabia, was interrupted by excessive rains, military avocations, and superstitious fears, (Schaepflin, Hist. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xviii. p. 256. Molimina fluviorum, etc., jungendorum, p. 59-62.) I should doubt this in the time of Charlemagne, even if the term “expended” were substituted for “wasted.” - M. See Eginhard, c. 16, and Gaillard, tom. ii. p. 361 - 385, who mentions, with a loose reference, the intercourse of Charlemagne and Egbert, the emperor’s gift of his own sword, and the modest answer of his Saxon disciple. The anecdote, if genuine, would have adorned our English histories. The correspondence is mentioned only in the French annals, and the Orientals are ignorant of the caliph’s friendship for the Christian dog - a polite appellation, which Harun bestows on the emperor of the Greeks. Had he the choice? M. Guizot has eloquently described the position of Charlemagne towards the Saxons. Il y fit face par le conquete; la guerre defensive prit la forme offensive: il transporta la lutte sur le territoire des peuples qui voulaient envahir le sien: il travailla a asservir les races etrangeres, et extirper les croyances ennemies. De la son mode de gouvernement et la fondation de son empire: la guerre offensive et la conquete voulaient cette vaste et redoutable unite. Compare observations in the Quarterly Review, vol. xlviii., and James’s Life of Charlemagne. - M. Gaillard, tom. ii. p. 361 - 365, 471 - 476, 492. I have borrowed his judicious remarks on Charlemagne’s plan of conquest, and the judicious distinction of his enemies of the first and the second enceinte, (tom. ii. p. 184, 509, etc.) Thegan, the biographer of Lewis, relates this coronation: and Baronius has honestly transcribed it, (A.D. 813, No. 13, etc. See Gaillard, tom. ii. p. 506, 507, 508,) howsoever adverse to the claims of the popes. For the series of the Carlovingians, see the historians of France, Italy, and Germany; Pfeffel, Schmidt, Velly, Muratori, and even Voltaire, whose pictures are sometimes just, and always pleasing. He was the son of Otho, the son of Ludolph, in whose favor the Duchy of Saxony had been instituted, A.D. 858. Ruotgerus, the biographer of a St. Bruno, (Bibliot. Bunavianae Catalog. tom. iii. vol. ii. p. 679,) gives a splendid character of his family. Atavorum atavi usque ad hominum memoriam omnes nobilissimi; nullus in eorum stirpe ignotus, nullus degener facile reperitur, (apud Struvium, Corp. Hist. German. p. 216.) Yet Gundling (in Henrico Aucupe) is not satisfied of his descent from Witikind. See the treatise of Conringius, (de Finibus Imperii Germanici, Francofurt. 1680, in 4to.: ) he rejects the extravagant and improper scale of the Roman and Carlovingian empires, and discusses with moderation the rights of Germany, her vassals, and her neighbors. The power of custom forces me to number Conrad I. and Henry I., the Fowler, in the list of emperors, a title which was never assumed by those kings of Germany. The Italians, Muratori for instance, are more scrupulous and correct, and only reckon the princes who have been crowned at Rome. Invidiam tamen suscepti nominis (C. P. imperatoribus super hoc indignantibus) magna tulit patientia, vicitque eorum contumaciam ... mittendo ad eos crebras legationes, et in epistolis fratres eos appellando. Eginhard, c. 28, p. 128. Perhaps it was on their account that, like Augustus, he affected some reluctance to receive the empire. Theophanes speaks of the coronation and unction of Charles Ka>roulov (Chronograph. p. 399,) and of his treaty of marriage with Irene, (p. 402,) which is unknown to the Latins. Gaillard relates his transactions with the Greek empire, (tom. ii. p. 446 - 468.) Gaillard very properly observes, that this pageant was a farce suitable to children only; but that it was indeed represented in the presence, and for the benefit, of children of a larger growth. Compare, in the original texts collected by Pagi, (tom. iii. A.D. 812, No. 7, A.D. 824, No. 10, etc.,) the contrast of Charlemagne and his son; to the former the ambassadors of Michael (who were indeed disavowed) more suo, id est lingua Graeca laudes dixerunt, imperatorem eum et Basile>a appellantes; to the latter, Vocato imperatori Francorum, etc. See the epistle, in Paralipomena, of the anonymous writer of Salerno, (Script. Ital. tom. ii. pars ii. p. 243 - 254, c. 93 - 107,) whom Baronius (A.D. 871, No. 51 - 71) mistook for Erchempert, when he transcribed it in his Annals. Ipse enim vos, non imperatorem, id est Basile>a sua lingua, sed ob indignationem, Rh~ga id est regem nostra vocabat, Liutprand, in Legat. in Script. Ital. tom. ii. pars i. p. 479. The pope had exhorted Nicephorus, emperor of the Greeks, to make peace with Otho, the august emperor of the Romans - quae inscriptio secundum Graecos peccatoria et temeraria ... imperatorem inquiunt, universalem, Romanorum, Augustum, magnum, solum, Nicephorum, (p. 486.) The origin and progress of the title of cardinal may be found in Themassin, (Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. p. 1261 - 1298,) Muratori, (Antiquitat. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. vi. Dissert. lxi. p. 159 - 182,) and Mosheim, (Institut. Hist. Eccles. p. 345 - 347,) who accurately remarks the form and changes of the election. The cardinal-bishops so highly exalted by Peter Damianus, are sunk to a level with the rest of the sacred college. Firmiter jurantes, nunquam se papam electuros aut audinaturos, praeter consensum et electionem Othonis et filii sui. (Liutprand, l. vi. c. 6, p. 472.) This important concession may either supply or confirm the decree of the clergy and people of Rome, so fiercely rejected by Baronius, Pagi, and Muratori, (A.D. 964,) and so well defended and explained by St. Marc, (Abrege, tom. ii. p. 808 - 816, tom. iv. p. 1167 - 1185.) Consult the historical critic, and the Annals of Muratori, for for the election and confirmation of each pope. The oppression and vices of the Roman church, in the xth century, are strongly painted in the history and legation of Liutprand, (see p. 440, 450, 471 - 476, 479, etc.;) and it is whimsical enough to observe Muratori tempering the invectives of Baronius against the popes. But these popes had been chosen, not by the cardinals, but by lay-patrons. The time of Pope Joan (papissa Joanna) is placed somewhat earlier than Theodora or Marozia; and the two years of her imaginary reign are forcibly inserted between Leo IV. and Benedict III. But the contemporary Anastasius indissolubly links the death of Leo and the elevation of Benedict, (illico, mox, p. 247;) and the accurate chronology of Pagi, Muratori, and Leibnitz, fixes both events to the year 857. The advocates for Pope Joan produce one hundred and fifty witnesses, or rather echoes, of the xivth, xvth, and xvith centuries. They bear testimony against themselves and the legend, by multiplying the proof that so curious a story must have been repeated by writers of every description to whom it was known. On those of the ixth and xth centuries, the recent event would have flashed with a double force.
Would Photius have spared such a reproach? Could Liutprand have missed such scandal? It is scarcely worth while to discuss the various readings of Martinus Polonus, Sigeber of Gamblours, or even Marianus Scotus; but a most palpable forgery is the passage of Pope Joan, which has been foisted into some Mss. and editions of the Roman Anastasius. As false, it deserves that name; but I would not pronounce it incredible.
Suppose a famous French chevalier of our own times to have been born in Italy, and educated in the church, instead of the army: her merit or fortune might have raised her to St. Peter’s chair; her amours would have been natural: her delivery in the streets unlucky, but not improbable. Till the reformation the tale was repeated and believed without offense: and Joan’s female statue long occupied her place among the popes in the cathedral of Sienna, (Pagi, Critica, tom. iii. p. 624 - 626.) She has been annihilated by two learned Protestants, Blondel and Bayle, (Dictionnaire Critique, Papesse, Polonus, Blondel;) but their brethren were scandalized by this equitable and generous criticism. Spanheim and Lenfant attempt to save this poor engine of controversy, and even Mosheim condescends to cherish some doubt and suspicion, (p. 289.) John XI. was the son of her husband Alberic, not of her lover, Pope Sergius III., as Muratori has distinctly proved, Ann. ad ann. 911, tom. p. 268. Her grandson Octavian, otherwise called John XII., was pope; but a great-grandson cannot be discovered in any of the succeeding popes; nor does our historian himself, in his subsequent narration, (p. 202,) seem to know of one. Hobhouse, Illustrations of Childe Harold, p. 309. - M. Lateranense palatium ... prostibulum meretricum ... Testis omnium gentium, praeterquam Romanorum, absentia mulierum, quae sanctorum apostolorum limina orandi gratia timent visere, cum nonnullas ante dies paucos, hunc audierint conjugatas, viduas, virgines vi oppressisse, (Liutprand, Hist. l. vi. c. 6, p. 471. See the whole affair of Johu XII., p. 471 - 476.) A new example of the mischief of equivocation is the beneficium (Ducange, tom. i. p. 617, etc.,) which the pope conferred on the emperor Frederic I., since the Latin word may signify either a legal fief, or a simple favor, an obligation, (we want the word bienfait.) (See Schmidt, Hist. des Allemands, tom. iii. p. 393 - 408. Pfeffel, Abrege Chronologique, tom. i. p. 229, 296, 317, 324, 420, 430, 500, 505, 509, etc.) For the history of the emperors in Rome and Italy, see Sigonius, de Regno Italiae, Opp. tom. ii., with the Notes of Saxius, and the Annals of Muratori, who might refer more distinctly to the authors of his great collection. See the Dissertations of Le Blanc at the end of his treatise des Monnoyes de France, in which he produces some Roman coins of the French emperors. Romanorum aliquando servi, scilicet Burgundiones, Romanis imperent? .... Romanae urbis dignitas ad tantam est stultitiam ducta, ut meretricum etiam imperio pareat? (Liutprand, l. iii. c. 12, p. 450.)
Sigonius (l. vi. p. 400) positively affirms the renovation of the consulship; but in the old writers Albericus is more frequently styled princeps Romanorum. Ditmar, p. 354, apud Schmidt, tom. iii. p. 439. This bloody feast is described in Leonine verse in the Pantheon of Godfrey of Viterbo, (Script. Ital. tom. vii. p. 436, 437,) who flourished towards the end of the xiith century, (Fabricius Bibliot. Latin. Med. et Infimi Aevi, tom. iii. p. 69, edit. Mansi;) but his evidence, which imposed on Sigonius, is reasonably suspected by Muratori (Annali, tom. viii. p. 177.) The Marquis Maffei’s gallery contained a medal with Imp. Caes August. P. P. Crescentius. Hence Hobhouse infers that he affected the empire. Hobhouse, Illustrations of Childe Harold, p. 252. - M. The coronation of the emperor, and some original ceremonies of the xth century are preserved in the Panegyric on Berengarius, (Script. Ital. tom. ii. pars i. p. 405 - 414,) illustrated by the Notes of Hadrian Valesius and Leibnitz. Sigonius has related the whole process of the Roman expedition, in good Latin, but with some errors of time and fact, (l. vii. p. 441 - 446.) In a quarrel at the coronation of Conrad II. Muratori takes leave to observe - doveano ben essere allora, indisciplinati, Barbari, e bestials Tedeschi. Annal. tom. viii. p. 368. After boiling away the flesh. The caldrons for that purpose were a necessary piece of travelling furniture; and a German who was using it for his brother, promised it to a friend, after it should have been employed for himself, (Schmidt, tom. iii. p. 423, 424.) The same author observes that the whole Saxon line was extinguished in Italy, (tom. ii. p. 440.) Compare Sismondi, Histoire des Republiques Italiannes. Hallam Middle Ages. Raumer, Geschichte der Hohenstauffen. Savigny, Geschichte des Romischen Rechts, vol. iii. p. 19 with the authors quoted. - M. Otho, bishop of Frisingen, has left an important passage on the Italian cities, (l. ii. c. 13, in Script. Ital. tom. vi. p. 707 - 710: ) and the rise, progress, and government of these republics are perfectly illustrated by Muratori, (Antiquitat. Ital. Medii Aevi, tom. iv. dissert xlv. - lii. p. 1 - 675. Annal. tom. viii. ix. x.) For these titles, see Selden, (Titles of Honor, vol. iii. part 1 p. 488.)
Ducange, (Gloss. Latin. tom. ii. p. 140, tom. vi. p. 776,) and St. Marc, (Abrege Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 719.) The Lombards invented and used the carocium, a standard planted on a car or wagon, drawn by a team of oxen, (Ducange, tom. ii. p. 194, 195.
Muratori Antiquitat tom. ii. dis. xxvi. p. 489 - 493.) Gunther Ligurinus, l. viii. 584, et seq., apud Schmidt, tom. iii. p. 399. Solus imperator faciem suam firmavit ut petram, (Burcard. de Excidio Mediolani, Script. Ital. tom. vi. p. 917.) This volume of Muratori contains the originals of the history of Frederic the First, which must be compared with due regard to the circumstances and prejudices of each German or Lombard writer. Von Raumer has traced the fortunes of the Swabian house in one of the ablest historical works of modern times.
He may be compared with the spirited and independent Sismondi. - M. For the history of Frederic II. and the house of Swabia at Naples, see Giannone, Istoria Civile, tom. ii. l. xiv. - xix. In the immense labyrinth of the jus publicum of Germany, I must either quote one writer or a thousand; and I had rather trust to one faithful guide, than transcribe, on credit, a multitude of names and passages.
That guide is M. Pfeffel, the author of the best legal and constitutional history that I know of any country, (Nouvel Abrege Chronologique de l’Histoire et du Droit public Allemagne; Paris, 1776, 2 vols. in 4to.) His learning and judgment have discerned the most interesting facts; his simple brevity comprises them in a narrow space. His chronological order distributes them under the proper dates; and an elaborate index collects them under their respective heads. To this work, in a less perfect state, Dr. Robertson was gratefully indebted for that masterly sketch which traces even the modern changes of the Germanic body.
The Corpus Historiae Germanicae of Struvius has been likewise consulted, the more usefully, as that huge compilation is fortified in every page with the original texts. For the rise and progress of the Hanseatic League, consult the authoritative history by Sartorius; Geschichte des Hanseatischen Bandes & Theile, Gottingen, 1802. New and improved edition by Lappenberg Elamburg, 1830. The original Hanseatic League comprehended Cologne and many of the great cities in the Netherlands and on the Rhine. - M. Yet, personally, Charles IV. must not be considered as a Barbarian.
After his education at Paris, he recovered the use of the Bohemian, his native, idiom; and the emperor conversed and wrote with equal facility in French, Latin, Italian, and German, (Struvius, p. 615, 616.) Petrarch always represents him as a polite and learned prince. Besides the German and Italian historians, the expedition of Charles IV. is painted in lively and original colors in the curious Memoires sur la Vie de Petrarque, tom. iii. p. 376 - 430, by the Abbe de Sade, whose prolixity has never been blamed by any reader of taste and curiosity. See the whole ceremony in Struvius, p. The republic of Europe, with the pope and emperor at its head, was never represented with more dignity than in the council of Constance.
See Lenfant’s History of that assembly. Gravina, Origines Juris Civilis, p. 108. Six thousand urns have been discovered of the slaves and freedmen of Augustus and Livia. So minute was the division of office, that one slave was appointed to weigh the wool which was spun by the empress’s maids, another for the care of her lap-dog, etc., (Camera Sepolchrale, by Bianchini. Extract of his work in the Bibliotheque Italique, tom. iv. p. 175. His Eloge, by Fontenelle, tom. vi. p. 356.) But these servants were of the same rank, and possibly not more numerous than those of Pollio or Lentulus. They only prove the general riches of the city.
CHAPTER - As in this and the following chapter I shall display much Arabic learning, I must profess my total ignorance of the Oriental tongues, and my gratitude to the learned interpreters, who have transfused their science into the Latin, French, and English languages. Their collections, versions, and histories, I shall occasionally notice. The geographers of Arabia may be divided into three classes: 1. The Greeks and Latins, whose progressive knowledge may be traced in Agatharcides, (de Mari Rubro, in Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom. i.,) Diodorus Siculus, (tom. i. l. ii. p. 159 - 167, l. iii. p. 211 - 216, edit.
Wesseling,) Strabo, (l. xvi. p. 1112 - 1114, from Eratosthenes, p. - 1132, from Artemidorus,) Dionysius, (Periegesis, 927 - 969,) Pliny, (Hist. Natur. v. 12, vi. 32,) and Ptolemy, (Descript. et Tabulae Urbium, in Hudson, tom. iii.) 2. The Arabic writers, who have treated the subject with the zeal of patriotism or devotion: the extracts of Pocock (Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 125 - 128) from the Geography of the Sherif al Edrissi, render us still more dissatisfied with the version or abridgment (p. 24 - 27, 44 - 56, 108, etc., 119, etc.) which the Maronites have published under the absurd title of Geographia Nubiensis, (Paris, 1619;) but the Latin and French translators, Greaves (in Hudson, tom. iii.) and Galland, (Voyage de la Palestine par La Roque, p. 265 - 346,) have opened to us the Arabia of Abulfeda, the most copious and correct account of the peninsula, which may be enriched, however, from the Bibliotheque Orientale of D’Herbelot, p. 120, et alibi passim. 3. The European travelers; among whom Shaw (p. 438 - 455) and Niebuhr (Description, 1773; Voyages, tom. i. 1776) deserve an honorable distinction: Busching (Geographie par Berenger, tom. viii. p. 416 - 510) has compiled with judgment, and D’Anville’s Maps (Orbis Veteribus Notus, and 1re Partie de l’Asie) should lie before the reader, with his Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 208 - 231.
Note: Of modern travelers may be mentioned the adventurer who called himself Ali Bey; but above all, the intelligent, the enterprising the accurate Burckhardt. - M. Abulfed. Descript. Arabiae, p. 1. D’Anville, l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 19, 20. It was in this place, the paradise or garden of a satrap, that Xenophon and the Greeks first passed the Euphrates, (Anabasis, l. i. c. 10, p. 29, edit. Wells.) Reland has proved, with much superfluous learning, 1. That our Red Sea (the Arabian Gulf) is no more than a part of the Mare Rubrum, which was extended to the indefinite space of the Indian Ocean. 2. That the synonymous words, e]ruqrov, aijqi>oy allude to the color of the blacks or negroes, (Dissert Miscell. tom. i. p. 59 - 117.) In the thirty days, or stations, between Cairo and Mecca, there are fifteen destitute of good water. See the route of the Hadjees, in Shaw’s Travels, p. 477. The aromatics, especially the thus, or frankincense, of Arabia, occupy the xiith book of Pliny. Our great poet (Paradise Lost, l. iv.) introduces, in a simile, the spicy odors that are blown by the north- east wind from the Sabaean coast: - Many a league, Pleased with the grateful scent, old Ocean smiles. (Plin. Hist. Natur. xii. 42.) Agatharcides affirms, that lumps of pure gold were found, from the size of an olive to that of a nut; that iron was twice, and silver ten times, the value of gold, (de Mari Rubro, p. 60.) These real or imaginary treasures are vanished; and no gold mines are at present known in Arabia, (Niebuhr, Description, p. 124.) A brilliant passage in the geographical poem of Dionysius Periegetes embodies the notions of the ancients on the wealth and fertility of Yemen. Greek mythology, and the traditions of the “gorgeous east,” of India as well as Arabia, are mingled together in indiscriminate splendor. Compare on the southern coast of Arabia, the recent travels of Lieut. Wellsted - M. Consult, peruse, and study the Specimen Hostoriae Arabum of Pocock, (Oxon. 1650, in 4to.) The thirty pages of text and version are extracted from the Dynasties of Gregory Abulpharagius, which Pocock afterwards translated, (Oxon. 1663, in 4to.;) the three hundred and fifty- eight notes form a classic and original work on the Arabian antiquities. Arrian remarks the Icthyophagi of the coast of Hejez, (Periplus Maris Erythraei, p. 12,) and beyond Aden, (p. 15.) It seems probable that the shores of the Red Sea (in the largest sense) were occupied by these savages in the time, perhaps, of Cyrus; but I can hardly believe that any cannibals were left among the savages in the reign of Justinian. (Procop. de Bell. Persic. l. i. c. 19.) See the Specimen Historiae Arabum of Pocock, p. 2, 5, 86, etc. The journey of M. d’Arvieux, in 1664, to the camp of the emir of Mount Carmel, (Voyage de la Palestine, Amsterdam, 1718,) exhibits a pleasing and original picture of the life of the Bedoweens, which may be illustrated from Niebuhr (Description de l’Arabie, p. 327 - 344) and Volney, (tom. i. p. 343 - 385,) the last and most judicious of our Syrian travelers. Read (it is no unpleasing task) the incomparable articles of the Horse and the Camel, in the Natural History of M. de Buffon. For the Arabian horses, see D’Arvieux (p. 159 - 173) and Niebuhr, (p. 142 - 144.) At the end of the xiiith century, the horses of Neged were esteemed sure-footed, those of Yemen strong and serviceable, those of Hejaz most noble. The horses of Europe, the tenth and last class, were generally despised as having too much body and too little spirit, (D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 339: ) their strength was requisite to bear the weight of the knight and his armor Qui carnibus camelorum vesci solent odii tenaces sunt, was the opinion of an Arabian physician, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 88.) Mahomet himself, who was fond of milk, prefers the cow, and does not even mention the camel; but the diet of Mecca and Medina was already more luxurious, (Gagnier Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 404.) Yet Marcian of Heraclea (in Periplo, p. 16, in tom. i. Hudson, Minor.
Geograph.) reckons one hundred and sixty-four towns in Arabia Felix.
The size of the towns might be small - the faith of the writer might be large. It is compared by Abulfeda (in Hudson, tom. ii. p. 54) to Damascus, and is still the residence of the Iman of Yemen, (Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. i. p. 331 - 342.) Saana is twenty-four parasangs from Dafar, (Abulfeda, p. 51,) and sixty-eight from Aden, (p. 53.) Pocock, Specimen, p. 57. Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 52. Meriaba, or Merab, six miles in circumference, was destroyed by the legions of Augustus, (Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 32,) and had not revived in the xivth century, (Abulfed. Descript. Arab. p. 58.) See note 2 to chap. i. The destruction of Meriaba by the Romans is doubtful. The town never recovered the inundation which took place from the bursting of a large reservoir of water - an event of great importance in the Arabian annals, and discussed at considerable length by modern Orientalists. - M. The name of city, Medina, was appropriated, kat ejxo>chn to Yatreb. (the Iatrippa of the Greeks,) the seat of the prophet. The distances from Medina are reckoned by Abulfeda in stations, or days’ journey of a caravan, (p. 15: ) to Bahrein, xv.; to Bassora, xviii.; to Cufah, xx.; to Damascus or Palestine, xx.; to Cairo, xxv.; to Mecca. x.; from Mecca to Saana, (p. 52,) or Aden, xxx.; to Cairo, xxxi. days, or 412 hours, (Shaw’s Travels, p. 477;) which, according to the estimate of D’Anville, (Mesures Itineraires, p. 99,) allows about twenty-five English miles for a day’s journey. From the land of frankincense (Hadramaut, in Yemen, between Aden and Cape Fartasch) to Gaza in Syria, Pliny (Hist. Nat. xii. 32) computes lxv. mansions of camels.
These measures may assist fancy and elucidate facts. Our notions of Mecca must be drawn from the Arabians, (D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 368 - 371. Pocock, Specimen, p. 125 - 128.
Abulfeda, p. 11 - 40.) As no unbeliever is permitted to enter the city, our travelers are silent; and the short hints of Thevenot (Voyages du Levant, part i. p. 490) are taken from the suspicious mouth of an African renegado. Some Persians counted 6000 houses, (Chardin. tom. iv. p. 167.) Even in the time of Gibbon, Mecca had not been so inaccessible to Europeans. It had been visited by Ludovico Barthema, and by one Joseph Pitts, of Exeter, who was taken prisoner by the Moors, and forcibly converted to Mahometanism. His volume is a curious, though plain, account of his sufferings and travels. Since that time Mecca has been entered, and the ceremonies witnessed, by Dr.
Seetzen, whose papers were unfortunately lost; by the Spaniard, who called himself Ali Bey; and, lastly, by Burckhardt, whose description leaves nothing wanting to satisfy the curiosity. - M. Strabo, l. xvi. p. 1110. See one of these salt houses near Bassora, in D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 6. Mirum dictu ex innumeris populis pars aequa in commerciis aut in latrociniis degit, (Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 32.) See Sale’s Koran, Sura. cvi. p. 503. Pocock, Specimen, p. 2. D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 361.
Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet, p. 5. Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 72, 120, 126, etc. A nameless doctor (Universal Hist. vol. xx. octavo edition) has formally demonstrated the truth of Christianity by the independence of the Arabs. A critic, besides the exceptions of fact, might dispute the meaning of the text (Gen. xvi. 12,) the extent of the application, and the foundation of the pedigree. See note 3 to chap. xlvi. The atter point is probably the least contestable of the three. - M. It was subdued, A.D. 1173, by a brother of the great Saladin, who founded a dynasty of Curds or Ayoubites, (Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 425. D’Herbelot, p. 477.) By the lieutenant of Soliman I. (A.D. 1538) and Selim II., (1568.) See Cantemir’s Hist. of the Othman Empire, p. 201, 221. The pacha, who resided at Saana, commanded twenty-one beys; but no revenue was ever remitted to the Porte, (Marsigli, Stato Militare dell’ Imperio Ottomanno, p. 124,) and the Turks were expelled about the year 1630, (Niebuhr, p. 167, 168.) Of the Roman province, under the name of Arabia and the third Palestine, the principal cities were Bostra and Petra, which dated their aera from the year 105, when they were subdued by Palma, a lieutenant of Trajan, (Dion. Cassius, l. lxviii.) Petra was the capital of the Nabathaeans; whose name is derived from the eldest of the sons of Ismael, (Gen. xxv. 12, etc., with the Commentaries of Jerom, Le Clerc, and Calmet.) Justinian relinquished a palm country of ten days’ journey to the south of Aelah, (Procop. de Bell. Persic. l. i. c. 19,) and the Romans maintained a centurion and a custom-house, (Arrian in Periplo Maris Erythraei, p. 11, in Hudson, tom. i.,) at a place le>ukh kw>mh (Pagus Albus, Hawara) in the territory of Medina, (D’Anville, Memoire sur l’Egypte, p. 243.) These real possessions, and some naval inroads of Trajan, (Peripl. p. 14, 15,) are magnified by history and medals into the Roman conquest of Arabia. On the ruins of Petra, see the travels of Messrs. Irby and Mangles, and of Leon de Laborde. - M. Niebuhr (Description de l’Arabie, p. 302, 303, 329 - 331) affords the most recent and authentic intelligence of the Turkish empire in Arabia.
Niebuhr’s, notwithstanding the multitude of later travelers, maintains its ground, as the classical work on Arabia. - M. Diodorus Siculus (tom. ii. l. xix. p. 390 - 393, edit. Wesseling) has clearly exposed the freedom of the Nabathaean Arabs, who resisted the arms of Antigonus and his son. Strabo, l. xvi. p. 1127 - 1129. Plin. Hist. Natur. vi. 32. Aelius Gallus landed near Medina, and marched near a thousand miles into the part of Yemen between Mareb and the Ocean. The non ante devictis Sabeae regibus, (Od. i. 29,) and the intacti Arabum thesanri (Od. iii. 24) of Horace, attest the virgin purity of Arabia. See the imperfect history of Yemen in Pocock, Specimen, p. 55 - 66, of Hira, p. 66 - 74, of Gassan, p. 75 - 78, as far as it could be known or preserved in the time of ignorance. Compare the Hist. Yemanae, published by Johannsen at Bonn 1880 particularly the translator’s preface. - M. The Sarakhnika< fu~la tau~ta, kai< to< plei~ston aujtw~n ejrhmono>moi kai< ajde>spotoi are described by Menander, (Excerpt.
Legation p. 149,) Procopius, (de Bell. Persic. l. i. c. 17, 19, l. ii. c. 10,) and, in the most lively colors, by Ammianus Marcellinus, (l. xiv. c. 4,) who had spoken of them as early as the reign of Marcus. The name which, used by Ptolemy and Pliny in a more confined, by Ammianus and Procopius in a larger, sense, has been derived, ridiculously, from Sarah, the wife of Abraham, obscurely from the village of Saraka, meta< tou This origin of the Hycsos, though probable, is by no means so certain here is some reason for supposing them Scythians. - M Or, according to another account, 1200, (D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 75: ) the two historians who wrote of the Ayam al Arab, the battles of the Arabs, lived in the 9th and 10th century. The famous war of Dahes and Gabrah was occasioned by two horses, lasted forty years, and ended in a proverb, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 48.) The modern theory and practice of the Arabs in the revenge of murder are described by Niebuhr, (Description, p. 26 - 31.) The harsher features of antiquity may be traced in the Koran, c. 2, p. 20, c. 17, p. 230, with Sale’s Observations. Procopius (de Bell. Persic. l. i. c. 16) places the two holy months about the summer solstice. The Arabians consecrate four months of the year - the first, seventh, eleventh, and twelfth; and pretend, that in a long series of ages the truce was infringed only four or six times, (Sale’s Preliminary Discourse, p. 147 - 150, and Notes on the ixth chapter of the Koran, p. 154, etc. Casiri, Bibliot. Hispano-Arabica, tom. ii. p. 20, 21.) Arrian, in the second century, remarks (in Periplo Maris Erythraei, p. 12) the partial or total difference of the dialects of the Arabs. Their language and letters are copiously treated by Pocock, (Specimen, p. 150 - 154,) Casiri, (Bibliot. Hispano-Arabica, tom. i. p. 1, 83, 292, tom. ii. p. 25, etc.,) and Niebuhr, (Description de l’Arabie, p. 72 - 36) I pass slightly; I am not fond of repeating words like a parrot. A familiar tale in Voltaire’s Zadig (le Chien et le Cheval) is related, to prove the natural sagacity of the Arabs, (D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 120, 121. Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 37 - 46: ) but D’Arvieux, or rather La Roque, (Voyage de Palestine, p. 92,) denies the boasted superiority of the Bedoweens. The one hundred and sixtynine sentences of Ali (translated by Ockley, London, 1718) afford a just and favorable specimen of Arabian wit. Compare the Arabic proverbs translated by Burckhardt. London. 1830 - M. Pocock (Specimen, p. 158 - 161) and Casiri (Bibliot. Hispano- Arabica, tom. i. p. 48, 84, etc., 119, tom. ii. p. 17, etc.) speak of the Arabian poets before Mahomet; the seven poems of the Caaba have been published in English by Sir William Jones; but his honorable mission to India has deprived us of his own notes, far more interesting than the obscure and obsolete text. Sale’s Preliminary Discourse, p. 29, D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 458. Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 118. Caab and Hesnus (Pocock, Specimen, p. 43, 46, 48) were likewise conspicuous for their liberality; and the latter is elegantly praised by an Arabian poet: “Videbis eum cum accesseris exultantem, ac si dares illi quod ab illo petis.” See the translation of the amusing Persian romance of Hatim Tai, by Duncan Forbes, Esq., among the works published by the Oriental Translation Fund. - M. Whatever can now be known of the idolatry of the ancient Arabians may be found in Pocock, (Specimen, p. 89 - 136, 163, 164.) His profound erudition is more clearly and concisely interpreted by Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 14 - 24;) and Assemanni (Bibliot. Orient tom. iv. p. 580 - 590) has added some valuable remarks. /Iero Forster would place it as far north as Moiiah. I am not quite satisfied that this will agree with the whole description of Diodorus - M. 1845. Pocock, Specimen, p. 60, 61. From the death of Mahomet we ascend to 68, from his birth to 129, years before the Christian aera. The veil or curtain, which is now of silk and gold, was no more than a piece of Egyptian linen, (Abulfeda, in Vit. Mohammed. c. 6, p. 14.) The original plan of the Caaba (which is servilely copied in Sale, the Universal History, etc.) was a Turkish draught, which Reland (de Religione Mohammedica, p. 113 - 123) has corrected and explained from the best authorities. For the description and legend of the Caaba, consult Pocock, (Specimen, p. 115 - 122,) the Bibliotheque Orientale of D’Herbelot, (Caaba, Hagir, Zemzem, etc.,) and Sale (Preliminary Discourse, p. 114 - 122.) Cosa, the fifth ancestor of Mahomet, must have usurped the Caaba A.D. 440; but the story is differently told by Jannabi, (Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 65 - 69,) and by Abulfeda, (in Vit. Moham. c. 6, p. 13.) In the second century, Maximus of Tyre attributes to the Arabs the worship of a stone, /Ara>zioi se>zousi me Praep. Evangel. l. i. p. 37. Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 54 - 56.) The two horrid subjects /Androqusi>a, Paidoqusi>a are accurately discussed by the learned Sir John Marsham, (Canon. Chron. p. 76 - 78, 301 - 304.) Sanchoniatho derives the Phoenician sacrifices from the example of Chronus; but we are ignorant whether Chronus lived before, or after, Abraham, or indeed whether he lived at all. Kat ejto U. C. 657, had been finally abolished. Dumaetha, Daumat al Gendai, is noticed by Ptolemy (Tabul. p. 37, Arabia, p. 9 - 29) and Abulfeda, (p. 57,) and may be found in D’Anville’s maps, in the mid-desert between Chaibar and Tadmor. Prcoopius, (de Bell. Persico, l. i. c. 28,) Evagrius, (l. vi. c. 21,) and Pocock, (Specimen, p. 72, 86,) attest the human sacrifices of the Arabs in the vith century. The danger and escape of Abdallah is a tradition rather than a fact, (Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 82 - 84.) Suillis carnibus abstinent, says Solinus, (Polyhistor. c. 33,) who copies Pliny (l. viii. c. 68) in the strange supposition, that hogs can not live in Arabia. The Egyptians were actuated by a natural and superstitious horror for that unclean beast, (Marsham, Canon. p. 205.) The old Arabians likewise practiced, post coitum, the rite of ablution, (Herodot. l. i. c. 80,) which is sanctified by the Mahometan law, (Reland, p. 75, etc., Chardin, or rather the Mollah of Shah Abbas, tom. iv. p. 71, etc.) The Mahometan doctors are not fond of the subject; yet they hold circumcision necessary to salvation, and even pretend that Mahomet was miraculously born without a foreskin, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 319, 320. Sale’s Preliminary Discourse, p. 106, 107.) Diodorus Siculus (tom. i. l. ii. p. 142 - 145) has cast on their religion the curious but superficial glance of a Greek. Their astronomy would be far more valuable: they had looked through the telescope of reason, since they could doubt whether the sun were in the number of the planets or of the fixed stars. Simplicius, (who quotes Porphyry,) de Coelo, l. ii. com. xlvi p. 123, lin. 18, apud Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 474, who doubts the fact, because it is adverse to his systems. The earliest date of the Chaldaean observations is the year 2234 before Christ. After the conquest of Babylon by Alexander, they were communicated at the request of Aristotle, to the astronomer Hipparchus. What a moment in the annals of science! Pocock, (Specimen, p. 138 - 146,) Hottinger, (Hist. Orient. p. 162 - 203,) Hyde, (de Religione Vet. Persarum, p. 124, 128, etc.,) D’Herbelot, (Sabi, p. 725, 726,) and Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 14, 15,) rather excite than gratify our curiosity; and the last of these writers confounds Sabianism with the primitive religion of the Arabs. D’Anville (l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 130 - 137) will fix the position of these ambiguous Christians; Assemannus (Bibliot. Oriental. tom. iv. p. 607 - 614) may explain their tenets. But it is a slippery task to ascertain the creed of an ignorant people afraid and ashamed to disclose their secret traditions. The Codex Nasiraeus, their sacred book, has been published by Norberg whose researches contain almost all that is known of this singular people. But their origin is almost as obscure as ever: if ancient, their creed has been so corrupted with mysticism and Mahometanism, that its native lineaments are very indistinct. - M. The Magi were fixed in the province of B hrein, (Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 114,) and mingled with the old Arabians, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 146 - 150.) The state of the Jews and Christians in Arabia is described by Pocock from Sharestani, etc., (Specimen, p. 60, 134, etc.,) Hottinger, (Hist.
Orient. p. 212 - 238,) D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 474 - 476,) Basnage, (Hist. des Juifs, tom. vii. p. 185, tom. viii. p. 280,) and Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 22, etc., 33, etc.) In their offerings, it was a maxim to defraud God for the profit of the idol, not a more potent, but a more irritable, patron, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 108, 109.) Our versions now extant, whether Jewish or Christian, appear more recent than the Koran; but the existence of a prior translation may be fairly inferred, - 1. From the perpetual practice of the synagogue of expounding the Hebrew lesson by a paraphrase in the vulgar tongue of the country; 2. From the analogy of the Armenian, Persian, Aethiopic versions, expressly quoted by the fathers of the fifth century, who assert that the Scriptures were translated into all the Barbaric languages, (Walton, Prolegomena ad Biblia Polyglot, p. 34, 93 - 97.
Simon, Hist. Critique du V. et du N. Testament, tom. i. p. 180, 181, 282 - 286, 293, 305, 306, tom. iv. p. 206.) In eo conveniunt omnes, ut plebeio vilique genere ortum, etc, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient. p. 136.) Yet Theophanes, the most ancient of the Greeks, and the father of many a lie, confesses that Mahomet was of the race of Ismael, ejk mia~v genikwta>thv fulh~v (Chronograph. p. 277.) Abulfeda (in Vit. Mohammed. c. 1, 2) and Gagnier (Vie de Mahomet, p. 25 - 97) describe the popular and approved genealogy of the prophet. At Mecca, I would not dispute its authenticity: at Lausanne, I will venture to observe, 1. That from Ismael to Mahomet, a period of 2500 years, they reckon thirty, instead of seventy five, generations: 2.
That the modern Bedoweens are ignorant of their history, and careless of their pedigree, (Voyage de D’Arvieux p. 100, 103.) The most orthodox Mahometans only reckon back the ancestry of the prophet for twenty generations, to Adnan. Weil, Mohammed der Prophet, p. 1. - M. 1845. The seed of this history, or fable, is contained in the cvth chapter of the Koran; and Gagnier (in Praefat. ad Vit. Moham. p. 18, etc.) has translated the historical narrative of Abulfeda, which may be illustrated from D’Herbelot (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 12) and Pocock, (Specimen, p. 64.) Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 48) calls it a lie of the coinage of Mahomet; but Sale, (Koran, p. 501 - 503,) who is half a Mussulman, attacks the inconsistent faith of the Doctor for believing the miracles of the Delphic Apollo. Maracci (Alcoran, tom. i. part ii. p. 14, tom. ii. p. 823) ascribes the miracle to the devil, and extorts from the Mahometans the confession, that God would not have defended against the Christians the idols of the Caaba. Dr. Weil says that the small-pox broke out in the army of Abrahah, but he does not give his authority, p. 10. - M. 1845. Amina, or Emina, was of Jewish birth. V. Hammer, Geschichte der Assass. p. 10. - M. The safest aeras of Abulfeda, (in Vit. c. i. p. 2,) of Alexander, or the Greeks, 882, of Bocht Naser, or Nabonassar, 1316, equally lead us to the year 569. The old Arabian calendar is too dark and uncertain to support the Benedictines, (Art. de Verifer les Dates, p. 15,) who, from the day of the month and week, deduce a new mode of calculation, and remove the birth of Mahomet to the year of Christ 570, the 10th of November. Yet this date would agree with the year 882 of the Greeks, which is assigned by Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 5) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 101, and Errata, Pocock’s version.) While we refine our chronology, it is possible that the illiterate prophet was ignorant of his own age. Dr. Weil decides on A.D. 571. Mahomet died in 632, aged 63; but the Arabs reckoned his life by lunar years, which reduces his life nearly to 61 (p. 21.) - M. I copy the honorable testimony of Abu Taleb to his family and nephew.
Laus Dei, qui nos a stirpe Abrahami et semine Ismaelis constituit, et nobis regionem sacram dedit, et nos judices hominibus statuit. Porro Mohammed filius Abdollahi nepotis mei (nepos meus) quo cum ex aequo librabitur e Koraishidis quispiam cui non praeponderaturus est, bonitate et excellentia, et intellectu et gloria, et acumine etsi opum inops fuerit, (et certe opes umbra transiens sunt et depositum quod reddi debet,) desiderio Chadijae filiae Chowailedi tenetur, et illa vicissim ipsius, quicquid autem dotis vice petieritis, ego in me suscipiam, (Pocock, Specimen, e septima parte libri Ebn Hamduni.) The private life of Mahomet, from his birth to his mission, is preserved by Abulfeda, (in Vit. c. 3 - 7,) and the Arabian writers of genuine or apocryphal note, who are alleged by Hottinger, (Hist. Orient. p. 204 - 211) Maracci, (tom. i. p. 10 - 14,) and Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 97 - 134.) Abulfeda, in Vit. c. lxv. lxvi. Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. - 289. The best traditions of the person and conversation of the prophet are derived from Ayesha, Ali, and Abu Horaira, (Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 267. Ockley’s Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 149,) surnamed the Father of a Cat, who died in the year 59 of the Hegira. Compare, likewise, the new Life of Mahomet (Mohammed der prophet) by Dr.
Weil, (Stuttgart, 1843.) Dr. Weil has a new tradition, that Mahomet was at one time a shepherd. This assimilation to the life of Moses, instead of giving probability to the story, as Dr. Weil suggests, makes it more suspicious. Note, p. 34. - M. 1845. Those who believe that Mahomet could read or write are incapable of reading what is written with another pen, in the Suras, or chapters of the Koran, vii. xxix. xcvi. These texts, and the tradition of the Sonna, are admitted, without doubt, by Abulfeda, (in Vit. vii.,) Gagnier, (Not. ad Abulfed. p. 15,) Pocock, (Specimen, p. 151,) Reland, (de Religione Mohammedica, p. 236,) and Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 42.) Mr.
White, almost alone, denies the ignorance, to accuse the imposture, of the prophet. His arguments are far from satisfactory. Two short trading journeys to the fairs of Syria were surely not sufficient to infuse a science so rare among the citizens of Mecca: it was not in the cool, deliberate act of treaty, that Mahomet would have dropped the mask; nor can any conclusion be drawn from the words of disease and delirium. The lettered youth, before he aspired to the prophetic character, must have often exercised, in private life, the arts of reading and writing; and his first converts, of his own family, would have been the first to detect and upbraid his scandalous hypocrisy, (White’s Sermons, p. 203, 204, Notes, p. xxxvi. - xxxviii.) (Academ. des Inscript. I. p. 295) has observed that the text of the seveth Sura implies that Mahomet could read, the tradition alone denies it, and, according to Dr. Weil, (p. 46,) there is another reading of the tradition, that “he could not read well.” Dr. Weil is not quite so successful in explaining away Sura xxix. It means, he thinks that he had not read any books, from which he could have borrowed. - M. 1845. The count de Boulainvilliers (Vie de Mahomet, p. 202 - 228) leads his Arabian pupil, like the Telemachus of Fenelon, or the Cyrus of Ramsay.
His journey to the court of Persia is probably a fiction nor can I trace the origin of his exclamation, “Les Grecs sont pour tant des hommes.”
The two Syrian journeys are expressed by almost all the Arabian writers, both Mahometans and Christians, (Gagnier Abulfed. p. 10.) I am not at leisure to pursue the fables or conjectures which name the strangers accused or suspected by the infidels of Mecca, (Koran, c. 16, p. 223, c. 35, p. 297, with Sale’s Remarks. Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet, p. 22 - 27. Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. p. 11, 74. Maracci, tom. ii. p. 400.) Even Prideaux has observed, that the transaction must have been secret, and that the scene lay in the heart of Arabia. Abulfeda in Vit. c. 7, p. 15. Gagnier, tom. i. p. 133, 135. The situation of Mount Hera is remarked by Abulfeda (Geograph. Arab p. 4.) Yet Mahomet had never read of the cave of Egeria, ubi nocturnae Numa constituebat amicae, of the Idaean Mount, where Minos conversed with Jove, etc. Koran, c. 9, p. 153. Al Beidawi, and the other commentators quoted by Sale, adhere to the charge; but I do not understand that it is colored by the most obscure or absurd tradition of the Talmud. Hottinger, Hist. Orient. p. 225 - 228. The Collyridian heresy was carried from Thrace to Arabia by some women, and the name was borrowed from ko>lluriv the cake, which they offered to the goddess.
This example, that of Beryllus bishop of Bostra, (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. vi. c. 33,) and several others, may excuse the reproach, Arabia haerese haersewn ferax. The three gods in the Koran (c. 4, p. 81, c. 5, p. 92) are obviously directed against our Catholic mystery: but the Arabic commentators understand them of the Father, the Son, and the Virgin Mary, an heretical Trinity, maintained, as it is said, by some Barbarians at the Council of Nice, (Eutych. Annal. tom. i. p. 440.) But the existence of the Marianites is denied by the candid Beausobre, (Hist. de Manicheisme, tom. i. p. 532;) and he derives the mistake from the word Roxah, the Holy Ghost, which in some Oriental tongues is of the feminine gender, and is figuratively styled the mother of Christ in the Gospel of the Nazarenes. This train of thought is philosophically exemplified in the character of Abraham, who opposed in Chaldaea the first introduction of idolatry, (Koran, c. 6, p. 106. D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 13.) See the Koran, particularly the second, (p. 30,) the fifty-seventh, (p. 437,) the fifty-eighth (p. 441) chapters, which proclaim the omnipotence of the Creator. The most orthodox creeds are translated by Pocock, (Specimen, p. 274, 284 - 292,) Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. lxxxii. - xcv.,) Reland, (de Religion. Moham. l. i. p. 7 - 13,) and Chardin, (Voyages en Perse, tom. iv. p. 4 - 28.) The great truth, that God is without similitude, is foolishly criticized by Maracci, (Alcoran, tom. i. part iii. p. 87 - 94,) because he made man after his own image. Reland, de Relig. Moham. l. i. p. 17 - 47. Sale’s Preliminary Discourse, p. 73 - 76. Voyage de Chardin, tom. iv. p. 28 - 37, and 37 - 47, for the Persian addition, “Ali is the vicar of God!” Yet the precise number of the prophets is not an article of faith. For the apocryphal books of Adam, see Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphus V. T. p. 27 - 29; of Seth, p. 154 - 157; of Enoch, p. 160 - 219. But the book of Enoch is consecrated, in some measure, by the quotation of the apostle St. Jude; and a long legendary fragment is alleged by Syncellus and Scaliger. The whole book has since been recovered in the Ethiopic language, - and has been edited and translated by Archbishop Lawrence, Oxford, 1881 - M. The seven precepts of Noah are explained by Marsham, (Canon Chronicus, p. 154 - 180,) who adopts, on this occasion, the learning and credulity of Selden. The articles of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc., in the Bibliotheque of D’Herbelot, are gayly bedecked with the fanciful legends of the Mahometans, who have built on the groundwork of Scripture and the Talmud. Koran, c. 7, p. 128, etc., c. 10, p. 173, etc. D’Herbelot, p. 647, etc. Koran, c. 3, p. 40, c. 4. p. 80. D’Herbelot, p. 399, etc. See the Gospel of St. Thomas, or of the Infancy, in the Codex Apocryphus N. T. of Fabricius, who collects the various testimonies concerning it, (p. 128 - 158.) It was published in Greek by Cotelier, and in Arabic by Sike, who thinks our present copy more recent than Mahomet. Yet his quotations agree with the original about the speech of Christ in his cradle, his living birds of clay, etc. (Sike, c. i. p. 168, 169, c. 36, p. 198, 199, c. 46, p. 206. Cotelier, c. 2, p. 160, 161.) It is darkly hinted in the Koran, (c. 3, p. 39,) and more clearly explained by the tradition of the Sonnites, (Sale’s Note, and Maracci, tom. ii. p. 112.) In the xiith century, the immaculate conception was condemned by St. Bernard as a presumptuous novelty, (Fra Paolo, Istoria del Concilio di Trento, l. ii.) See the Koran, c. 3, v. 53, and c. 4, v. 156, of Maracci’s edition. Deus est praestantissimus dolose agentium (an odd praise) ... nec crucifixerunt eum, sed objecta est eis similitudo; an expression that may suit with the system of the Docetes; but the commentators believe (Maracci, tom. ii. p. 113 - 115, 173. Sale, p. 42, 43, 79) that another man, a friend or an enemy, was crucified in the likeness of Jesus; a fable which they had read in the Gospel of St. Barnabus, and which had been started as early as the time of Irenaeus, by some Ebionite heretics, (Beausobre, Hist. du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 25, Mosheim. de Reb.
Christ. p. 353.) This charge is obscurely urged in the Koran, (c. 3, p. 45;) but neither Mahomet, nor his followers, are sufficiently versed in languages and criticism to give any weight or color to their suspicions. Yet the Arians and Nestorians could relate some stories, and the illiterate prophet might listen to the bold assertions of the Manichaeans. See Beausobre, tom. i. p. 291 - 305. Among the prophecies of the Old and New Testament, which are perverted by the fraud or ignorance of the Mussulmans, they apply to the prophet the promise of the Paraclete, or Comforter, which had been already usurped by the Montanists and Manichaeans, (Beausobre, Hist.
Critique du Manicheisme, tom. i. p. 263, etc.;) and the easy change of letters perikluto Mohammed. p. 32 - 45. Sale, Preliminary Discourse, p. 58 - 70. Koran, c. 17, v. 89. In Sale, p. 235, 236. In Maracci, p. 410. Compare Von Hammer Geschichte der Assassinen p. 11. - M. Yet a sect of Arabians was persuaded, that it might be equalled or surpassed by a human pen, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 221, etc.;) and Maracci (the polemic is too hard for the translator) derides the rhyming affectation of the most applauded passage, (tom. i. part ii. p. 69 - 75.) Colloquia (whether real or fabulous) in media Arabia atque ab Arabibus habita, (Lowth, de Poesi Hebraeorum. Praelect. xxxii. xxxiii. xxxiv, with his German editor, Michaelis, Epimetron iv.) Yet Michaelis (p. 671 - 673) has detected many Egyptian images, the elephantiasis, papyrus, Nile, crocodile, etc. The language is ambiguously styled Arabico-Hebraea. The resemblance of the sister dialects was much more visible in their childhood, than in their mature age, (Michaelis, p. 682. Schultens, in Praefat. Job.) Note: The age of the book of Job is still and probably will still be disputed. Rosenmuller thus states his own opinion: “Certe serioribus reipublicae temporibus assignandum esse librum, suadere videtur ad Chaldaismum vergens sermo.” Yet the observations of Kosegarten, which Rosenmuller has given in a note, and common reason, suggest that this Chaldaism may be the native form of a much earlier dialect; or the Chaldaic may have adopted the poetical archaisms of a dialect, differing from, but not less ancient than, the Hebrew. See Rosenmuller, Proleg. on Job, p. 41. The poetry appears to me to belong to a much earlier period. - M. Ali Bochari died A. H. 224. See D’Herbelot, p. 208, 416, 827.
Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. c. 19, p. 33. See, more remarkably, Koran, c. 2, 6, 12, 13, 17. Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 18, 19) has confounded the impostor. Maracci, with a more learned apparatus, has shown that the passages which deny his miracles are clear and positive, (Alcoran, tom. i. part ii. p. 7 - 12,) and those which seem to assert them are ambiguous and insufficient, (p. - 22.) See the Specimen Hist. Arabum, the text of Abulpharagius, p. 17, the notes of Pocock, p. 187 - 190. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 76, 77. Voyages de Chardin, tom. iv. p. 200 - 203. Maracci (Alcoran, tom. i. p. 22 - 64) has most laboriously collected and confuted the miracles and prophecies of Mahomet, which, according to some writers, amount to three thousand. The nocturnal journey is circumstantially related by Abulfeda (in Vit.
Mohammed, c. 19, p. 33,) who wishes to think it a vision; by Prideaux, (p. 31 - 40,) who aggravates the absurdities; and by Gagnier (tom. i. p. 252 - 343,) who declares, from the zealous Al Jannabi, that to deny this journey, is to disbelieve the Koran. Yet the Koran without naming either heaven, or Jerusalem, or Mecca, has only dropped a mysterious hint: Laus illi qui transtulit servum suum ab oratorio Haram ad oratorium remotissimum, (Koran, c. 17, v. 1; in Maracci, tom. ii. p. 407; for Sale’s version is more licentious.) A slender basis for the aerial structure of tradition. In the prophetic style, which uses the present or past for the future, Mahomet had said, Appropinquavit hora, et scissa est luna, (Koran, c. 54, v. 1; in Maracci, tom. ii. p. 688.) This figure of rhetoric has been converted into a fact, which is said to be attested by the most respectable eye-witnesses, (Maracci, tom. ii. p. 690.) The festival is still celebrated by the Persians, (Chardin, tom. iv. p. 201;) and the legend is tediously spun out by Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 183 - 234,) on the faith, as it should seem, of the credulous Al Jannabi. Yet a Mahometan doctor has arraigned the credit of the principal witness, (apud Pocock, Specimen, p. 187;) the best interpreters are content with the simple sense of the Koran. (Al Beidawi, apud Hottinger, Hist.
Orient. l. ii. p. 302;) and the silence of Abulfeda is worthy of a prince and a philosopher. Compare Hamaker Notes to Inc. Auct. Lib. de Exped. Memphides, p. 62 - M. Abulpharagius, in Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 17; and his scepticism is justified in the notes of Pocock, p. 190 - 194, from the purest authorities. The most authentic account of these precepts, pilgrimage, prayer, fasting, alms, and ablutions, is extracted from the Persian and Arabian theologians by Maracci, (Prodrom. part iv. p. 9 - 24,) Reland, (in his excellent treatise de Religione Mohammedica, Utrecht, 1717, p. 67 - 123,) and Chardin, (Voyages in Perse, tom. iv. p. 47 - 195.) Marace is a partial accuser; but the jeweller, Chardin, had the eyes of a philosopher; and Reland, a judicious student, had traveled over the East in his closet at Utrecht. The xivth letter of Tournefort (Voyage du Levont, tom. ii. p. 325 - 360, in octavo) describes what he had seen of the religion of the Turks. Such is Mahometanism beyond the precincts of the Holy City. But Mahomet retained, and the Koran sanctions, (Sale’s Koran, c. 5, in inlt. c. 22, vol. ii. p. 171, 172,) the sacrifice of sheep and camels (probably according to the old Arabian rites) at Mecca; and the pilgrims complete their ceremonial with sacrifices, sometimes as numerous and costly as those of King Solomon. Compare note, vol. iv. c. xxiii. p. 96, and Forster’s Mahometanism Unveiled, vol. i. p. 420. This author quotes the questionable authority of Benjamin of Tudela, for the sacrifice of a camel by the caliph at Bosra; but sacrifice undoubtedly forms no part of the ordinary Mahometan ritual; nor will the sanctity of the caliph, as the earthly representative of the prophet, bear any close analogy to the priesthood of the Mosaic or Gentila religions. - M. Mahomet (Sale’s Koran, c. 9, p. 153) reproaches the Christians with taking their priests and monks for their lords, besides God. Yet Maracci (Prodromus, part iii. p. 69, 70) excuses the worship, especially of the pope, and quotes, from the Koran itself, the case of Eblis, or Satan, who was cast from heaven for refusing to adore Adam. Koran, c. 5, p. 94, and Sale’s note, which refers to the authority of Jallaloddin and Al Beidawi. D’Herbelot declares, that Mahomet condemned la vie religieuse; and that the first swarms of fakirs, dervises, etc., did not appear till after the year 300 of the Hegira, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 292, 718.) See the double prohibition, (Koran, c. 2, p. 25, c. 5, p. 94;) the one in the style of a legislator, the other in that of a fanatic. The public and private motives of Mahomet are investigated by Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 62 - 64) and Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 124.) The jealousy of Maracci (Prodromus, part iv. p. 33) prompts him to enumerate the more liberal alms of the Catholics of Rome. Fifteen great hospitals are open to many thousand patients and pilgrims; fifteen hundred maidens are annually portioned; fifty-six charity schools are founded for both sexes; one hundred and twenty confraternities relieve the wants of their brethren, etc. The benevolence of London is still more extensive; but I am afraid that much more is to be ascribed to the humanity, than to the religion, of the people. See Herodotus (l. ii. c. 123) and our learned countryman Sir John Marsham, (Canon. Chronicus, p. 46.) The &Adhv same writer (p. 254 - 274) is an elaborate sketch of the infernal regions, as they were painted by the fancy of the Egyptians and Greeks, of the poets and philosophers of antiquity. The Koran (c. 2, p. 259, etc.; of Sale, p. 32; of Maracci, p. 97) relates an ingenious miracle, which satisfied the curiosity, and confirmed the faith, of Abraham. The candid Reland has demonstrated, that Mahomet damns all unbelievers, (de Religion. Moham. p. 128 - 142;) that devils will not be finally saved, (p. 196 - 199;) that paradise will not solely consist of corporeal delights, (p. 199 - 205;) and that women’s souls are immortal. (p. 205 - 209.) A Beidawi, apud Sale. Koran, c. 9, p. 164. The refusal to pray for an unbelieving kindred is justified, according to Mahomet, by the duty of a prophet, and the example of Abraham, who reprobated his own father as an enemy of God. Yet Abraham (he adds, c. 9, v. 116. Maracci, tom. ii. p. 317) fuit sane pius, mitis. For the day of judgment, hell, paradise, etc., consult the Koran, (c. 2, v. 25, c. 56, 78, etc.;) with Maracci’s virulent, but learned, refutation, (in his notes, and in the Prodromus, part iv. p. 78, 120, 122, etc.;) D’Herbelot, (Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 368, 375;) Reland, (p. 47 - 61;) and Sale, (p. 76 - 103.) The original ideas of the Magi are darkly and doubtfully explored by their apologist, Dr. Hyde, (Hist. Religionis Persarum, c. 33, p. 402 - 412, Oxon. 1760.) In the article of Mahomet, Bayle has shown how indifferently wit and philosophy supply the absence of genuine information. Before I enter on the history of the prophet, it is incumbent on me to produce my evidence. The Latin, French, and English versions of the Koran are preceded by historical discourses, and the three translators, Maracci, (tom. i. p. 10 - 32,) Savary, (tom. i. p. 1 - 248,) and Sale, (Preliminary Discourse, p. 33 - 56,) had accurately studied the language and character of their author. Two professed Lives of Mahomet have been composed by Dr. Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, seventh edition, London, 1718, in octavo) and the count de Boulainvilliers, (Vie de Mahomed, Londres, 1730, in octavo: ) but the adverse wish of finding an impostor or a hero, has too often corrupted the learning of the doctor and the ingenuity of the count. The article in D’Herbelot (Bibliot. Orient. p. 598 - 603) is chiefly drawn from Novairi and Mirkond; but the best and most authentic of our guides is M. Gagnier, a Frenchman by birth, and professor at Oxford of the Oriental tongues.
In two elaborate works, (Ismael Abulfeda de Vita et Rebus gestis Mohammedis, etc. Latine vertit, Praefatione et Notis illustravit Johannes Gagnier, Oxon. 1723, in folio. La Vie de Mahomet traduite et compilee de l’Alcoran, des Traditions Authentiques de la Sonna et des meilleurs Auteurs Arabes; Amsterdam, 1748, 3 vols. in 12mo.,) he has interpreted, illustrated, and supplied the Arabic text of Abulfeda and Al Jannabi; the first, an enlightened prince who reigned at Hamah, in Syria, A.D. 1310 - 1332, (see Gagnier Praefat. ad Abulfed.;) the second, a credulous doctor, who visited Mecca A.D. 1556. (D’Herbelot, p. 397. Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 209, 210.) These are my general vouchers, and the inquisitive reader may follow the order of time, and the division of chapters. Yet I must observe that both Abulfeda and Al Jannabi are modern historians, and that they cannot appeal to any writers of the first century of the Hegira. Note: A new Life, by Dr. Weil, (Stuttgart. 1843,) has added some few traditions unknown in Europe. Of Dr. Weil’s Arabic scholarship, which professes to correct many errors in Gagnier, in Maracci, and in M. von Hammer, I am no judge. But it is remarkable that he does not seem acquainted with the passage of Tabari, translated by Colonel Vans Kennedy, in the Bombay Transactions, (vol. iii.,) the earliest and most important addition made to the traditionary Life of Mahomet. I am inclined to think Colonel Vans Kennedy’s appreciation of the prophet’s character, which may be overlooked in a criticism on Voltaire’s Mahomet, the most just which I have ever read. The work of Dr. Weil appears to me most valuable in its dissection and chronological view of the Koran. - M. After the Greeks, Prideaux (p. 8) discloses the secret doubts of the wife of Mahomet. As if he had been a privy counsellor of the prophet, Boulainvilliers (p. 272, etc.) unfolds the sublime and patriotic views of Cadijah and the first disciples. Vezirus, portitor, bajulus, onus ferens; and this plebeian name was transferred by an apt metaphor to the pillars of the state, (Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. p. 19.) I endeavor to preserve the Arabian idiom, as far as I can feel it myself in a Latin or French translation. The passages of the Koran in behalf of toleration are strong and numerous: c. 2, v. 257, c. 16, 129, c. 17, 54, c. 45, 15, c. 50, 39, c. 88, 21, etc., with the notes of Maracci and Sale. This character alone may generally decide the doubts of the learned, whether a chapter was revealed at Mecca or Medina. See the Koran, (passim, and especially c. 7, p. 123, 124, etc.,) and the tradition of the Arabs, (Pocock, Specimen, p. 35 - 37.) The caverns of the tribe of Thamud, fit for men of the ordinary stature, were shown in the midway between Medina and Damascus. (Abulfed Arabiae Descript. p. 43, 44,) and may be probably ascribed to the Throglodytes of the primitive world, (Michaelis, ad Lowth de Poesi Hebraeor. p. - 134. Recherches sur les Egyptiens, tom. ii. p. 48, etc.) In the time of Job, the crime of impiety was punished by the Arabian magistrate, (c. 21, v. 26, 27, 28.) I blush for a respectable prelate (de Poesi Hebraeorum, p. 650, 651, edit. Michaelis; and letter of a late professor in the university of Oxford, p. 15 - 53,) who justifies and applauds this patriarchal inquisition. D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 445. He quotes a particular history of the flight of Mahomet. The Hegira was instituted by Omar, the second caliph, in imitation of the aera of the martyrs of the Christians, (D’Herbelot, p. 444;) and properly commenced sixty-eight days before the flight of Mahomet, with the first of Moharren, or first day of that Arabian year which coincides with Friday, July 16th, A.D. 622, (Abulfeda, Vit Moham, c. 22, 23, p. 45 - 50; and Greaves’s edition of Ullug Beg’s Epochae Arabum, etc., c. 1, p. 8, 10, etc.) Note: Chronologists dispute between the 15th and 16th of July. St. Martin inclines to the 8th, ch. xi. p. 70. - M. Mahomet’s life, from his mission to the Hegira, may be found in Abulfeda (p. 14 - 45) and Gagnier, (tom. i. p. 134 - 251, 342 - 383.)
The legend from p. 187 - 234 is vouched by Al Jannabi, and disdained by Abulfeda. The triple inauguration of Mahomet is described by Abulfeda (p. 30, 33, 40, 86) and Gagnier, (tom. i. p. 342, etc., 349, etc., tom. ii. p. etc.) Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 44) reviles the wickedness of the impostor, who despoiled two poor orphans, the sons of a carpenter; a reproach which he drew from the Disputatio contra Saracenos, composed in Arabic before the year 1130; but the honest Gagnier (ad Abulfed. p. 53) has shown that they were deceived by the word Al Nagjar, which signifies, in this place, not an obscure trade, but a noble tribe of Arabs. The desolate state of the ground is described by Abulfeda; and his worthy interpreter has proved, from Al Bochari, the offer of a price; from Al Jannabi, the fair purchase; and from Ahmeq Ben Joseph, the payment of the money by the generous Abubeker On these grounds the prophet must be honorably acquitted. Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 246, 324) describes the seal and pulpit, as two venerable relics of the apostle of God; and the portrait of his court is taken from Abulfeda, (c. 44, p. 85.) The viiith and ixth chapters of the Koran are the loudest and most vehement; and Maracci (Prodromus, part iv. p. 59 - 64) has inveighed with more justice than discretion against the double dealing of the impostor. The xth and xxth chapters of Deuteronomy, with the practical comments of Joshua, David, etc., are read with more awe than satisfaction by the pious Christians of the present age. But the bishops, as well as the rabbis of former times, have beat the drum-ecclesiastic with pleasure and success. (Sale’s Preliminary Discourse, p. 142, 143.) The editor’s opinions on this subject may be read in the History of the Jews vol. i. p. 137. - M Abulfeda, in Vit. Moham. p. 156. The private arsenal of the apostle consisted of nine swords, three lances, seven pikes or half-pikes, a quiver and three bows, seven cuirasses, three shields, and two helmets, (Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 328 - 334,) with a large white standard, a black banner, (p. 335,) twenty horses, (p. 322, etc.) Two of his martial sayings are recorded by tradition, (Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 88, 334.) The whole subject de jure belli Mohammedanorum is exhausted in a separate dissertation by the learned Reland, (Dissertationes Miscellaneae, tom. iii. Dissertat. x. p. 3 - 53.) The doctrine of absolute predestination, on which few religions can reproach each other, is sternly exposed in the Koran, (c. 3, p. 52, 53, c. 4, p. 70, etc., with the notes of Sale, and c. 17, p. 413, with those of Maracci.) Reland (de Relig. Moham. p. 61 - 64) and Sale (Prelim.
Discourse, p. 103) represent the opinions of the doctors, and our modern travelers the confidence, the fading confidence, of the Turks Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 9) allows him seventy or eighty horse; and on two other occasions, prior to the battle of Ohud, he enlists a body of thirty (p. 10) and of 500 (p. 66) troopers. Yet the Mussulmans, in the field of Ohud, had no more than two horses, according to the better sense of Abulfeda, (in Vit. Moham. c. xxxi. p. 65.) In the Stony province, the camels were numerous; but the horse appears to have been less numerous than in the Happy or the Desert Arabia. Bedder Houneene, twenty miles from Medina, and forty from Mecca, is on the high road of the caravan of Egypt; and the pilgrims annually commemorate the prophet’s victory by illuminations, rockets, etc.
Shaw’s Travels, p. 477. The place to which Mahomet retired during the action is styled by Gagnier (in Abulfeda, c. 27, p. 58. Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 30, 33) Umbraculum, une loge de bois avec une porte. The same Arabic word is rendered by Reiske (Annales Moslemici Abulfedae, p. 23) by Solium, Suggestus editior; and the difference is of the utmost moment for the honor both of the interpreter and of the hero. I am sorry to observe the pride and acrimony with which Reiske chastises his fellow-laborer.
Saepi sic vertit, ut integrae paginae nequeant nisi una litura corrigi Arabice non satis callebat, et carebat judicio critico. J. J. Reiske, Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalisae Tabulas, p. 228, ad calcero Abulfedae Syriae Tabulae; Lipsiae, 1766, in 4to. The loose expressions of the Koran (c. 3, p. 124, 125, c. 8, p. 9) allow the commentators to fluctuate between the numbers of 1000, 3000, or 9000 angels; and the smallest of these might suffice for the slaughter of seventy of the Koreish, (Maracci, Alcoran, tom. ii. p. 131.) Yet the same scholiasts confess that this angelic band was not visible to any mortal eye, (Maracci, p. 297.) They refine on the words (c. 8, 16) “not thou, but God,” etc. (D’Herbelot. Bibliot. Orientale p. 600, 601.) Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 47. In the iiid chapter of the Koran, (p. 50 - 53, with Sale’s notes, the prophet alleges some poor excuses for the defeat of Ohud. Note: Dr.
Weil has added some curious circumstances, which he gives as on good traditional authority, on the rescue of Mahomet. The prophet was attacked by Ubeijj Ibn Challaf, whom he struck on the neck with a mortal wound. This was the only time, it is added, that Mahomet personally engaged in battle. (p. 128.) - M. 1845. For the detail of the three Koreish wars, of Beder, of Ohud, and of the ditch, peruse Abulfeda, (p. 56 - 61, 64 - 69, 73 - 77,) Gagnier (tom. i. p. 23 - 45, 70 - 96, 120 - 139,) with the proper articles of D’Herbelot, and the abridgments of Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 6, 7) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 102.) The wars of Mahomet against the Jewish tribes of Kainoka, the Nadhirites, Koraidha, and Chaibar, are related by Abulfeda (p. 61, 71, 77, 87, etc.) and Gagnier, (tom. ii. p. 61 - 65, 107 - 112, 139 - 148, 268 - 294.) Abu Rafe, the servant of Mahomet, is said to affirm that he himself, and seven other men, afterwards tried, without success, to move the same gate from the ground, (Abulfeda, p. 90.) Abu Rafe was an eyewitness, but who will be witness for Abu Rafe? The banishment of the Jews is attested by Elmacin (Hist. Saracen, p. 9) and the great Al Zabari, (Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 285.) Yet Niebuhr (Description de l’Arabie, (p. 324) believes that the Jewish religion, and Karaite sect, are still professed by the tribe of Chaibar; and that, in the plunder of the caravans, the disciples of Moses are the confederates of those of Mahomet. The successive steps of the reduction of Mecca are related by Abulfeda (p. 84 - 87, 97 - 100, 102 - 111) and Gagnier, (tom. ii. p. 202 - 245, 309 - 322, tom. iii. p. 1 - 58,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 8, 9, 10,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 103.) This peaceful entrance into Mecca took place, according to the treaty the following year. Weil, p. 202 - M. 1845. After the conquest of Mecca, the Mahomet of Voltaire imagines and perpetuates the most horrid crimes. The poet confesses, that he is not supported by the truth of history, and can only allege, que celui qui fait la guerre a sa patrie au nom de Dieu, est capable de tout, (Oeuvres de Voltaire, tom. xv. p. 282.) The maxim is neither charitable nor philosophic; and some reverence is surely due to the fame of heroes and the religion of nations. I am informed that a Turkish ambassador at Paris was much scandalized at the representation of this tragedy. The Mahometan doctors still dispute, whether Mecca was reduced by force or consent, (Abulfeda, p. 107, et Gagnier ad locum;) and this verbal controversy is of as much moment as our own about William the Conqueror. In excluding the Christians from the peninsula of Arabia, the province of Hejaz, or the navigation of the Red Sea, Chardin (Voyages en Perse, tom. iv. p. 166) and Reland (Dissertat. Miscell. tom. iii. p. 61) are more rigid than the Mussulmans themselves. The Christians are received without scruple into the ports of Mocha, and even of Gedda; and it is only the city and precincts of Mecca that are inaccessible to the profane, (Niebuhr, Description de l’Arabie, p. 308, 309, Voyage en Arabie, tom. i. p. 205, 248, etc.) Abulfeda, p. 112 - 115. Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 67 - 88. D’Herbelot, Mohammed. The siege of Tayef, division of the spoil, etc., are related by Abulfeda (p. 117 - 123) and Gagnier, (tom. iii. p. 88 - 111.) It is Al Jannabi who mentions the engines and engineers of the tribe of Daws. The fertile spot of Tayef was supposed to be a piece of the land of Syria detached and dropped in the general deluge The last conquests and pilgrimage of Mahomet are contained in Abulfeda, (p. 121, 133,) Gagnier, (tom. iii. p. 119 - 219,) Elmacin, (p. 10, 11,) Abulpharagius, (p. 103.) The ixth of the Hegira was styled the Year of Embassies, (Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. p. 121.) Compare the bigoted Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 232 - 255) with the no less bigoted Greeks, Theophanes, (p. 276 - 227,) Zonaras (tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 86,) and Cedrenus, (p. 421.) For the battle of Muta, and its consequences, see Abulfeda (p 100 - 102) and Gagnier, (tom. ii. p. 327 - 343.) Ca>ledov o\n le>gousi ma>cairan tou ~Qeou~. To console the afflicted relatives of his kinsman Jauffer, he (Mahomet) represented that, in Paradise, in exchange for the arms which he had lost, he had been furnished with a pair of wings, resplendent with the blushing glories of the ruby, and with which he was become the inseparable companion of the archangal Gabriel, in his volitations through the regions of eternal bliss. Hence, in the catalogue of the martyrs, he has been denominated Jauffer teyaur, the winged Jauffer.
Price, Chronological Retrospect of Mohammedan History, vol. i. p. 5. - M. The expedition of Tabuc is recorded by our ordinary historians Abulfeda (Vit. Moham. p. 123 - 127) and Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 147 - 163: ) but we have the advantage of appealing to the original evidence of the Koran, (c. 9, p. 154, 165,) with Sale’s learned and rational notes. The Diploma securitatis Ailensibus is attested by Ahmed Ben Joseph, and the author Libri Splendorum, (Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfe dam, p. 125;) but Abulfeda himself, as well as Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 11,) though he owns Mahomet’s regard for the Christians, (p 13,) only mentions peace and tribute. In the year 1630, Sionita published at Paris the text and version of Mahomet’s patent in favor of the Christians; which was admitted and reprobated by the opposite taste of Salmasius and Grotius, (Bayle, Mahomet, Rem. Aa.) Hottinger doubts of its authenticity, (Hist. Orient. p. 237;) Renaudot urges the consent of the Mohametans, (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 169;) but Mosheim (Hist.
Eccles. p. 244) shows the futility of their opinion and inclines to believe it spurious. Yet Abulpharagius quotes the impostor’s treaty with the Nestorian patriarch, (Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 418;) but Abulpharagius was primate of the Jacobites. The epilepsy, or falling-sickness, of Mahomet is asserted by Theophanes, Zonaras, and the rest of the Greeks; and is greedily swallowed by the gross bigotry of Hottinger, (Hist. Orient. p. 10, 11,) Prideaux, (Life of Mahomet, p. 12,) and Maracci, (tom. ii. Alcoran, p. 762, 763.) The titles (the wrapped-up, the covered) of two chapters of the Koran, (73, 74) can hardly be strained to such an interpretation: the silence, the ignorance of the Mahometan commentators, is more conclusive than the most peremptory denial; and the charitable side is espoused by Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens, tom. i. p. 301,) Gagnier, (ad Abulfedam, p. 9. Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 118,) and Sale, (Koran, p. 469 - 474.) Dr Weil believes in the epilepsy, and adduces strong evidence for it; and surely it may be believed, in perfect charity; and that the prophet’s visions were connected, as they appear to have been, with these fits. I have little doubt that he saw and believed these visions, and visions they were. Weil, p. 43. - M. 1845. This poison (more ignominious since it was offered as a test of his prophetic knowledge) is frankly confessed by his zealous votaries, Abulfeda (p. 92) and Al Jannabi, (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 286 - 288.) Major Price, who writes with the authority of one widely conversant with the original sources of Eastern knowledge, and in a very candid tone, takes a very different view of the prophet’s death. “In tracing the circumstances of Mahommed’s illness, we look in vain for any proofs of that meek and heroic firmness which might be expected to dignify and embellish the last moments of the apostle of God. On some occasions he betrayed such want of fortitude, such marks of childish impatience, as are in general to be found in men only of the most ordinary stamp; and such as extorted from his wife Ayesha, in particular, the sarcastic remark, that in herself, or any of her family, a similar demeanor would long since have incurred his severe displeasure. * * * He said that the acuteness and violence of his sufferings were necessarily in the proportion of those honors with which it had ever pleased the hand of Omnipotence to distinguish its peculiar favorites Price, vol. i. p. 13. - M The Greeks and Latins have invented and propagated the vulgar and ridiculous story, that Mahomet’s iron tomb is suspended in the air at Mecca, sh~ma metewrizo>menon (Laonicus Chalcondyles, de Rebus Turcicis, l. iii. p. 66,) by the action of equal and potent loadstones, (Dictionnaire de Bayle, Mahomet, Rem. Ee. Ff.) Without any philosophical inquiries, it may suffice, that, 1. The prophet was not buried at Mecca; and, 2. That his tomb at Medina, which has been visited by millions, is placed on the ground, (Reland, de Relig. Moham. l. ii. c. 19, p. 209 - 211. Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 263 - 268.) Note: According to the testimony of all the Eastern authors, Mahomet died on Monday the 12th Reby 1st, in the year 11 of the Hegira, which answers in reality to the 8th June, 632, of J. C. We find in Ockley (Hist. of Saracens) that it was on Monday the 6th June, 632.
This is a mistake; for the 6th June of that year was a Saturday, not a Monday; the 8th June, therefore, was a Monday. It is easy to discover that the lunar year, in this calculation has been confounded with the solar. St. Martin vol. xi. p. 186. - M. Al Jannabi enumerates (Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 372 - 391) the multifarious duties of a pilgrim who visits the tombs of the prophet and his companions; and the learned casuist decides, that this act of devotion is nearest in obligation and merit to a divine precept. The doctors are divided which, of Mecca or Medina, be the most excellent, (p. 391 - 394.) The last sickness, death, and burial of Mahomet, are described by Abulfeda and Gagnier, (Vit. Moham. p. 133 - 142. Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 220 - 271.) The most private and interesting circumstances were originally received from Ayesha, Ali, the sons of Abbas, etc.; and as they dwelt at Medina, and survived the prophet many years, they might repeat the pious tale to a second or third generation of pilgrims. The Christians, rashly enough, have assigned to Mahomet a tame pigeon, that seemed to descend from heaven and whisper in his ear. As this pretended miracle is urged by Grotius, (de Veritate Religionis Christianae,) his Arabic translator, the learned Pocock, inquired of him the names of his authors; and Grotius confessed, that it is unknown to the Mahometans themselves. Lest it should provoke their indignation and laughter, the pious lie is suppressed in the Arabic version; but it has maintained an edifying place in the numerous editions of the Latin text, (Pocock, Specimen, Hist. Arabum, p. 186, 187. Reland, de Religion.
Moham. l. ii. c. 39, p. 259 - 262.) /Emoi< de< tou~to> ejstin ejk paido Stephan.) are beyond the reach of human foresight; and the divine inspiration of, Daimo>nion the philosopher is clearly taught in the Memorabilia of Xenophon. The ideas of the most rational Platonists are expressed by Cicero, (de Divinat. i. 54,) and in the xivth and xvth Dissertations of Maximus of Tyre, (p. 153 - 172, edit. Davis.) In some passage of his voluminous writings, Voltaire compares the prophet, in his old age, to a fakir, “qui detache la chaine de son cou pour en donner sur les oreilles a ses confreres.” Gagnier relates, with the same impartial pen, this humane law of the prophet, and the murders of Caab, and Sophian, which he prompted and approved, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 69, 97, 208.) For the domestic life of Mahomet, consult Gagnier, and the corresponding chapters of Abulfeda; for his diet, (tom. iii. p. 285 - 288;) his children, (p. 189, 289;) his wives, (p. 290 - 303;) his marriage with Zeineb, (tom. ii. p. 152 - 160;) his amour with Mary, (p. 303 - 309;) the false accusation of Ayesha, (p. 186 - 199.) The most original evidence of the three last transactions is contained in the xxivth, xxxiiid, and lxvith chapters of the Koran, with Sale’s Commentary.
Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 80 - 90) and Maracci (Prodrom.
Alcoran, part iv. p. 49 - 59) have maliciously exaggerated the frailties of Mahomet. Incredibile est quo ardore apud eos in Venerem uterque solvitur sexus, (Ammian. Marcellin. l. xiv. c. 4.) Sale (Preliminary Discourse, p. 133 - 137) has recapitulated the laws of marriage, divorce, etc.; and the curious reader of Selden’s Uror Hebraica will recognize many Jewish ordinances. In a memorable case, the Caliph Omar decided that all presumptive evidence was of no avail; and that all the four witnesses must have actually seen stylum in pyxide, (Abulfedae Annales Moslemici, p. 71, vers. Reiske.) Sibi robur ad generationem, quantum triginta viri habent, inesse jacteret: ita ut unica hora posset undecim foeminis satisfacere, ut ex Arabum libris refert Stus. Petrus Paschasius, c. 2., (Maracci, Prodromus Alcoran, p. iv. p. 55. See likewise Observations de Belon, l. iii. c. 10, fol. 179, recto.) Al Jannabi (Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 287) records his own testimony, that he surpassed all men in conjugal vigor; and Abulfeda mentions the exclamation of Ali, who washed the body after his death, “O propheta, certe penis tuus coelum versus erectus est,” in Vit. Mohammed, p. 140. I borrow the style of a father of the church, ejnaqleu>wn /Hraklh~v triskaide>katon a+qlon (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 108.) The common and most glorious legend includes, in a single night the fifty victories of Hercules over the virgin daughters of Thestius, (Diodor. Sicul. tom. i. l. iv. p. 274. Pausanias, l. ix. p. 763. Statius Sylv. l. i. eleg. iii. v. 42.) But Athenaeus allows seven nights, (Deipnosophist, l. xiii. p. 556,) and Apollodorus fifty, for this arduous achievement of Hercules, who was then no more than eighteen years of age, (Bibliot. l. ii. c. 4, p. 111, cum notis Heyne, part i. p. 332.) Abulfeda in Vit. Moham. p. 12, 13, 16, 17, cum Notis Gagnier This outline of the Arabian history is drawn from the Bibliotheque Orientale of D’Herbelot, (under the names of Aboubecre, Omar Othman, Ali, etc.;) from the Annals of Abulfeda, Abulpharagius, and Elmacin, (under the proper years of the Hegira,) and especially from Ockley’s History of the Saracens, (vol. i. p. 1 - 10, 115 - 122, 229, 249, 363 - 372, 378 - 391, and almost the whole of the second volume.) Yet we should weigh with caution the traditions of the hostile sects; a stream which becomes still more muddy as it flows farther from the source. Sir John Chardin has too faithfully copied the fables and errors of the modern Persians, (Voyages, tom. ii. p. 235 - 250, etc.) Ockley (at the end of his second volume) has given an English version of 169 sentences, which he ascribes, with some hesitation, to Ali, the son of Abu Taleb. His preface is colored by the enthusiasm of a translator; yet these sentences delineate a characteristic, though dark, picture of human life. Gibbon wrote chiefly from the Arabic or Sunnite account of these transactions, the only sources accessible at the time when he composed his History. Major Price, writing from Persian authorities, affords us the advantage of comparing throughout what may be fairly considered the Shiite Version. The glory of Ali is the constant burden of their strain. He was destined, and, according to some accounts, designated, for the caliphate by the prophet; but while the others were fiercely pushing their own interests, Ali was watching the remains of Mahomet with pious fidelity. His disinterested magnanimity, on each separate occasion, declined the scepter, and gave the noble example of obedience to the appointed caliph. He is described, in retirement, on the throne, and in the field of battle, as transcendently pious, magnanimous, valiant, and humane. He lost his empire through his excess of virtue and love for the faithful his life through his confidence in God, and submission to the decrees of fate. Compare the curious account of this apathy in Price, chapter ii. It is to be regretted, I must add, that Major Price has contented himself with quoting the names of the Persian works which he follows, without any account of their character, age, and authority. - M. Abubeker, the father of the virgin Ayesha. St. Martin, vol. XL, p. 88 - M. Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 5, 6,) from an Arabian Ms., represents Ayesha as adverse to the substitution of her father in the place of the apostle. This fact, so improbable in itself, is unnoticed by Abulfeda, Al Jannabi, and Al Bochari, the last of whom quotes the tradition of Ayesha herself, (Vit. Mohammed, p. 136 Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 236.) Particularly by his friend and cousin Abdallah, the son of Abbas, who died A.D. 687, with the title of grand doctor of the Moslems. In Abulfeda he recapitulates the important occasions in which Ali had neglected his salutary advice, (p. 76, vers. Reiske;) and concludes, (p. 85,) O princeps fidelium, absque controversia tu quidem vere fortis es, at inops boni consilii, et rerum gerendarum parum callens. I suspect that the two seniors (Abulpharagius, p. 115. Ockley, tom. i. p. 371,) may signify not two actual counsellors, but his two predecessors, Abubeker and Omar. The schism of the Persians is explained by all our travelers of the last century, especially in the iid and ivth volumes of their master, Chardin.
Niebuhr, though of inferior merit, has the advantage of writing so late as the year 1764, (Voyages en Arabie, etc., tom. ii. p. 208 - 233,) since the ineffectual attempt of Nadir Shah to change the religion of the nation, (see his Persian History translated into French by Sir William Jones, tom. ii. p. 5, 6, 47, 48, 144 - 155.) Omar is the name of the devil; his murderer is a saint. When the Persians shoot with the bow, they frequently cry, “May this arrow go to the heart of Omar!” (Voyages de Chardin, tom. ii. p 239, 240, 259, etc.) This gradation of merit is distinctly marked in a creed illustrated by Reland, (de Relig. Mohamm. l. i. p. 37;) and a Sonnite argument inserted by Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens, tom. ii. p. 230.) The practice of cursing the memory of Ali was abolished, after forty years, by the Ommiades themselves, (D’Herbelot, p. 690;) and there are few among the Turks who presume to revile him as an infidel, (Voyages de Chardin, tom. iv. p. 46.) Compare Price, p. 180. - M. Ali had determined to supersede all the lieutenants in the different provinces. Price, p. 191. Compare, on the conduct of Telha and Zobeir, p. 193 - M. See the very curious circumstances which took place before and during her flight. Price, p. 196. - M. The reluctance of Ali to shed the blood of true believers is strikingly described by Major Price’s Persian historians. Price, p. 222. - M. See (in Price) the singular adventures of Zobeir. He was murdered after having abandoned the army of the insurgents. Telha was about to do the same, when his leg was pierced with an arrow by one of his own party The wound was mortal. Price, p. 222. - M. According to Price, two hundred and eighty of the Benni Beianziel alone lost a right hand in this service, (p. 225.) - M She was escorted by a guard of females disguised as soldiers. When she discovered this, Ayesha was as much gratified by the delicacy of the arrangement, as she had been offended by the familiar approach of so many men. Price, p. 229. - M. The plain of Siffin is determined by D’Anville (l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 29) to be the Campus Barbaricus of Procopius. The Shiite authors have preserved a noble instance of Ali’s magnanimity. The superior generalship of Moawiyah had cut off the army of Ali from the Euphrates; his soldiers were perishing from want of water. Ali sent a message to his rival to request free access to the river, declaring that under the same circumstances he would not allow any of the faithful, though his adversaries, to perish from thirst. After some debate, Moawiyah determined to avail himself of the advantage of his situation, and to reject the demand of Ali. The soldiers of Ali became desperate; forced their way through that part of the hostile army which commanded the river, and in their turn entirely cut off the troops of Moawiyah from the water. Moawiyah was reduced to make the same supplication to Ali. The generous caliph instantly complied; and both armies, with their cattle enjoyed free and unmolested access to the river. Price, vol. i. p. 268, 272 - M. His son Hassan was recognized as caliph in Arabia and Irak; but voluntarily abdicated the throne, after six or seven months, in favor of Moawiyah St. Martin, vol. xi. p 375. - M. Abulfeda, a moderate Sonnite, relates the different opinions concerning the burial of Ali, but adopts the sepulcher of Cufa, hodie fama numeroque religiose frequentantium celebratum. This number is reckoned by Niebuhr to amount annually to 2000 of the dead, and of the living, (tom. ii. p. 208, 209.) All the tyrants of Persia, from Adhad el Dowlat (A.D. 977, D’Herbelot, p. 58, 59, 95) to Nadir Shah, (A.D. 1743, Hist. de Nadir Shah, tom. ii. p. 155,) have enriched the tomb of Ali with the spoils of the people. The dome is copper, with a bright and massy gilding, which glitters to the sun at the distance of many a mile. The city of Meshed Ali, five or six miles from the ruins of Cufa, and one hundred and twenty to the south of Bagdad, is of the size and form of the modern Jerusalem. Meshed Hosein, larger and more populous, is at the distance of thirty miles. I borrow, on this occasion, the strong sense and expression of Tacitus, (Hist. i. 4: ) Evulgato imperii arcano posse imperatorem alni quam Romae fieri. According to Major Price’s authorities a much longer time elapsed (p. 198 etc.) - M. I have abridged the interesting narrative of Ockley, (tom. ii. p. 170 - 231.) It is long and minute: but the pathetic, almost always, consists in the detail of little circumstances. The account of Hosein’s death, in the Persian Tarikh Tebry, is much longer; in some circumstances, more pathetic, than that of Ockley, followed by Gibbon. His family, after his defenders were all slain, perished in succession before his eyes.
They had been cut off from the water, and suffered all the agonies of thirst. His eldest son, Ally Akbar, after ten different assaults on the enemy, in each of which he slew two or three, complained bitterly of his sufferings from heat and thirst. “His father arose, and introducing his own tongue within the parched lips of his favorite child, thus endeavored to alleviate his sufferings by the only means of which his enemies had not yet been able to deprive him.” Ally was slain and cut to pieces in his sight: this wrung from him his first and only cry; then it was that his sister Zeyneb rushed from the tent. The rest, including his nephew, fell in succession. Hosein’s horse was wounded - he fell to the ground. The hour of prayer, between noon and sunset, had arrived; the Imaun began the religious duties: - as Hosein prayed, he heard the cries of his infant child Abdallah, only twelve months old. The child was, at his desire, placed on his bosom: as he wept over it, it was transfixed by an arrow. Hosein dragged himself to the Euphrates: as he slaked his burning thirst, his mouth was pierced by an arrow: he drank his own blood. Wounded in four-and-thirty places, he still gallantly resisted. A soldier named Zeraiah gave the fatal wound: his head was cut off by Ziliousheng. Price, p. 402, 410. - M. Niebuhr the Dane (Voyages en Arabie, etc., tom. ii. p. 208, etc.) is, perhaps, the only European traveler who has dared to visit Meshed Ali and Meshed Hosein. The two sepulchres are in the hands of the Turks, who tolerate and tax the devotion of the Persian heretics. The festival of the death of Hosein is amply described by Sir John Chardin, a traveler whom I have often praised. The general article of Imam, in D’Herbelot’s Bibliotheque, will indicate the succession; and the lives of the twelve are given under their respective names. The name of Antichrist may seem ridiculous, but the Mahometans have liberally borrowed the fables of every religion, (Sale’s Preliminary Discourse, p. 80, 82.) In the royal stable of Ispahan, two horses were always kept saddled, one for the Mahadi himself, the other for his lieutenant, Jesus the son of Mary. In the year of the Hegira 200, (A.D. 815.) See D’Herbelot, p. 146 D’Herbelot, p. 342. The enemies of the Fatimites disgraced them by a Jewish origin. Yet they accurately deduced their genealogy from Jaafar, the sixth Imam; and the impartial Abulfeda allows (Annal. Moslem. p. 230) that they were owned by many, qui absque controversia genuini sunt Alidarum, homines propaginum suae gentis exacte callentes. He quotes some lines from the celebrated Scherif or Rahdi, Egone humilitatem induam in terris hostium? (I suspect him to be an Edrissite of Sicily,) cum in Aegypto sit Chalifa de gente Alii, quocum ego communem habeo patrem et vindicem. The kings of Persia in the last century are descended from Sheik Sefi, a saint of the xivth century, and through him, from Moussa Cassem, the son of Hosein, the son of Ali, (Olearius, p. 957. Chardin, tom. iii. p. 288.) But I cannot trace the intermediate degrees in any genuine or fabulous pedigree. If they were truly Fatimites, they might draw their origin from the princes of Mazanderan, who reigned in the ixth century, (D’Herbelot, p. 96.) The present state of the family of Mahomet and Ali is most accurately described by Demetrius Cantemir (Hist. of the Othmae Empire, p. 94) and Niebuhr, (Description de l’Arabie, p. 9 - 16, 317 etc.) It is much to be lamented, that the Danish traveler was unable to purchase the chronicles of Arabia. The writers of the Modern Universal History (vols. i. and ii.) have compiled, in 850 folio pages, the life of Mahomet and the annals of the caliphs. They enjoyed the advantage of reading, and sometimes correcting, the Arabic text; yet, notwithstanding their high-sounding boasts, I cannot find, after the conclusion of my work, that they have afforded me much (if any) additional information. The dull mass is not quickened by a spark of philosophy or taste; and the compilers indulge the criticism of acrimonious bigotry against Boulainvilliers, Sale, Gagnier, and all who have treated Mahomet with favor, or even justice.
CHAPTER - See the description of the city and country of Al Yamanah, in Abulfeda, Descript. Arabiae, p. 60, 61. In the xiiith century, there were some ruins, and a few palms; but in the present century, the same ground is occupied by the visions and arms of a modern prophet, whose tenets are imperfectly known, (Niebuhr, Description de l’Arabie, p. 296 - 302.) This extraordinary woman was a Christian; she was at the head of a numerous and flourishing sect; Moseilama professed to recognize her inspiration. In a personal interview he proposed their marriage and the union of their sects. The handsome person, the impassioned eloquence, and the arts of Moseilama, triumphed over the virtue of the prophetesa who was rejected with scorn by her lover, and by her notorious unchastity ost her influence with her own followers. Gibbon, with that propensity too common, especially in his later volumes, has selected only the grosser part of this singular adventure. - M. The first salutation may be transcribed, but cannot be translated. It was thus that Moseilama said or sung: - Surge tandem itaque strenue permolenda; nam stratus tibi thorus est.
Aut in propatulo tentorio si velis, aut in abditiore cubiculo si malis; Aut supinam te humi exporrectam fustigabo, si velis, aut si malis manibus pedibusque nixam Aut si velis ejus (Priapi) gemino triente aut si malis totus veniam.
Imo, totus venito, O Apostole Dei, clamabat foemina. Id ipsum, dicebat Moseilama, mihi quoque suggessit Deus.
The prophetess Segjah, after the fall of her lover, returned to idolatry; but under the reign of Moawiyah, she became a Mussulman, and died at Bassora, (Abulfeda, Annal. vers. Reiske, p. 63.) See this text, which demonstrates a God from the work of generation, in Abulpharagius (Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 13, and Dynast. p. 103) and Abulfeda, (Annal. p. 63.) Compare a long account of this battle in Price, p. 42. - M. In Arabic, “successors.” V. Hammer Geschichte der Assas. p. 14 - M. His reign in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 251. Elmacin, p. 18. Abulpharagius, p. 108. Abulfeda, p. 60. D’Herbelot, p. 58. His reign in Eutychius, p. 264. Elmacin, p. 24. Abulpharagius, p. 110.
Abulfeda, p. 66. D’Herbelot, p. 686. His reign in Eutychius, p. 323. Elmacin, p. 36. Abulpharagius, p. 115.
Abulfeda, p. 75. D’Herbelot, p. 695. His reign in Eutychius, p. 343. Elmacin, p. 51. Abulpharagius, p. 117.
Abulfeda, p. 83. D’Herbelot, p. 89. His reign in Eutychius, p. 344. Elmacin, p. 54. Abulpharagius, p. 123.
Abulfeda, p. 101. D’Herbelot, p. 586. Their reigns in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 360 - 395. Elmacin, p. 59 - 108.
Abulpharagius, Dynast. ix. p. 124 - 139. Abulfeda, p. 111 - 141.
D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 691, and the particular articles of the Ommiades. For the 7th and 8th century, we have scarcely any original evidence of the Byzantine historians, except the chronicles of Theophanes (Theophanis Confessoris Chronographia, Gr. et Lat. cum notis Jacobi Goar. Paris, 1665, in folio) and the Abridgment of Nicephorus, (Nicephori Patriarchae C. P. Breviarium Historicum, Gr. et Lat. Paris, 1648, in folio,) who both lived in the beginning of the ixth century, (see Hanckius de Scriptor. Byzant. p. 200 - 246.) Their contemporary, Photius, does not seem to be more opulent. After praising the style of Nicephorus, he adds, Kai< o[lwv pollou>v ejsti tw~n pro< aujtou~ ajpokrupto>menov th~|de th~v iJstori>av th|~ suggrafh|~ and only complains of his extreme brevity, (Phot. Bibliot. Cod. lxvi. p. 100.)
Some additions may be gleaned from the more recent histories of Cedrenus and Zonaras of the xiith century. Tabari, or Al Tabari, a native of Taborestan, a famous Imam of Bagdad, and the Livy of the Arabians, finished his general history in the year of the Hegira 302, (A.D. 914.) At the request of his friends, he reduced a work of 30,000 sheets to a more reasonable size. But his Arabic original is known only by the Persian and Turkish versions. The Saracenic history of Ebn Amid, or Elmacin, is said to be an abridgment of the great Tabari, (Ockley’s Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. preface, p. xxxix. and list of authors, D’Herbelot, p. 866, 870, 1014.) Besides the list of authors framed by Prideaux, (Life of Mahomet, p. 179 - 189,) Ockley, (at the end of his second volume,) and Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Gengiscan, p. 525 - 550,) we find in the Bibliotheque Orientale Tarikh, a catalogue of two or three hundred histories or chronicles of the East, of which not more than three or four are older than Tabari. A lively sketch of Oriental literature is given by Reiske, (in his Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalifae librum memorialem ad calcem Abulfedae Tabulae Syriae, Lipsiae, 1776;) but his project and the French version of Petit de la Croix (Hist. de Timur Bec, tom. i. preface, p. xlv.) have fallen to the ground. The particular historians and geographers will be occasionally introduced. The four following titles represent the Annals which have guided me in this general narrative. 1. Annales Eutychii, Patriarchoe Alexandrini, ab Edwardo Pocockio, Oxon. 1656, 2 vols. in 4to. A pompous edition of an indifferent author, translated by Pocock to gratify the Presbyterian prejudices of his friend Selden. 2. Historia Saracenica Georgii Elmacini, opera et studio Thomae Erpenii, in 4to., Lugd. Batavorum, 1625. He is said to have hastily translated a corrupt Ms., and his version is often deficient in style and sense. 3. Historia compendiosa Dynastiarum a Gregorio Abulpharagio, interprete Edwardo Pocockio, in 4to., Oxon. 1663. More useful for the literary than the civil history of the East. 4. Abulfedoe Annales Moslemici ad Ann. Hegiroe ccccvi. a Jo. Jac. Reiske, in 4to., Lipsioe, 1754. The best of our chronicles, both for the original and version, yet how far below the name of Abulfeda! We know that he wrote at Hamah in the xivth century. The three former were Christians of the xth, xiith, and xiiith centuries; the two first, natives of Egypt; a Melchite patriarch, and a Jacobite scribe. M. D. Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. pref. p. xix. xx.) has characterized, with truth and knowledge, the two sorts of Arabian historians - the dry annalist, and the tumid and flowery orator. Bibliotheque Orientale, par M. D’Herbelot, in folio, Paris, 1697. For the character of the respectable author, consult his friend Thevenot, (Voyages du Levant, part i. chap. 1.) His work is an agreeable miscellany, which must gratify every taste; but I never can digest the alphabetical order; and I find him more satisfactory in the Persian than the Arabic history. The recent supplement from the papers of Mm.
Visdelou, and Galland, (in folio, La Haye, 1779,) is of a different cast, a medley of tales, proverbs, and Chinese antiquities. Pocock will explain the chronology, (Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 66 - 74,) and D’Anville the geography, (l’Euphrate, et le Tigre, p. 125,) of the dynasty of the Almondars. The English scholar understood more Arabic than the mufti of Aleppo, (Ockley, vol. ii. p. 34: ) the French geographer is equally at home in every age and every climate of the world. Eichhorn and Silvestre de Sacy have written on the obscure history of the Mondars. - M. Fecit et Chaled plurima in hoc anno praelia, in quibus vicerunt Muslimi, et infidelium immensa multitudine occisa spolia infinita et innumera sunt nacti, (Hist. Saracenica, p. 20.) The Christian annalist slides into the national and compendious term of infidels, and I often adopt (I hope without scandal) this characteristic mode of expression. Compare throughout Malcolm, vol. ii. p. 136. - M. A cycle of 120 years, the end of which an intercalary month of 30 days supplied the use of our Bissextile, and restored the integrity of the solar year. In a great revolution of 1440 years this intercalation was successively removed from the first to the twelfth month; but Hyde and Freret are involved in a profound controversy, whether the twelve, or only eight of these changes were accomplished before the aera of Yezdegerd, which is unanimously fixed to the 16th of June, A.D. 632.
How laboriously does the curious spirit of Europe explore the darkest and most distant antiquities! (Hyde de Religione Persarum, c. 14 - 18, p. 181 - 211. Freret in the Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xvi. p. 233 - 267.) Nine days after the death of Mahomet (7th June, A.D. 632) we find the aera of Yezdegerd, (16th June, A.D. 632,) and his accession cannot be postponed beyond the end of the first year. His predecessors could not therefore resist the arms of the caliph Omar; and these unquestionable dates overthrow the thoughtless chronology of Abulpharagius. See Ockley’s Hist. of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 130. The Rezont Uzzuffa (Price, p. 105) has a strange account of an embassy to Yezdegerd. The Oriental historians take great delight in these embassies, which give them an opportunity of displaying their Asiatic eloquence - M. Cadesia, says the Nubian geographer, (p. 121,) is in margine solitudinis, 61 leagues from Bagdad, and two stations from Cufa. Otter (Voyage, tom. i. p. 163) reckons 15 leagues, and observes, that the place is supplied with dates and water. The day of cormorants, or according to another reading the day of reinforcements. It was the night which was called the night of snarling.
Price, p. 114. - M. According to Malcolm’s authorities, only three thousand; but he adds “This is the report of Mahomedan historians, who have a great disposition of the wonderful, in relating the first actions of the faithful” Vol. i. p. 39. - M. Atrox, contumax, plus semel renovatum, are the well-chosen expressions of the translator of Abulfeda, (Reiske, p. 69.) D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 297, 348. The reader may satisfy himself on the subject of Bassora by consulting the following writers: Geograph, Nubiens. p. 121. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 192. D’Anville, l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 130, 133, 145. Raynal, Hist. Philosophique des deux Indes, tom. ii. p. 92 - 100. Voyages di Pietro della Valle, tom. iv. p. 370 - 391. De Tavernier, tom. i. p. 240 - 247. De Thevenot, tom. ii. p. 545 - 584. D Otter, tom. ii. p. 45 - 78. De Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 172 - 199. Mente vix potest numerove comprehendi quanta spolia nostris cesserint. Abulfeda, p. 69. Yet I still suspect, that the extravagant numbers of Elmacin may be the error, not of the text, but of the version. The best translators from the Greek, for instance, I find to be very poor arithmeticians The Persian authorities of Price (p. 122) make the booty worth three hundred and thirty millions sterling! - M The camphire-tree grows in China and Japan; but many hundred weight of those meaner sorts are exchanged for a single pound of the more precious gum of Borneo and Sumatra, (Raynal, Hist. Philosoph. tom. i. p. 362 - 365. Dictionnaire d’Hist. Naturelle par Bomare Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary.) These may be the islands of the first climate from whence the Arabians imported their camphire (Geograph. Nub. p. 34, 35. D’Herbelot, p. 232.) Compare Price, p. 122. - M. See Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 376, 377. I may credit the fact, without believing the prophecy. The most considerable ruins of Assyria are the tower of Belus, at Babylon, and the hall of Chosroes, at Ctesiphon: they have been visited by that vain and curious traveler Pietro della Valle, (tom. i. p. 713 - 718, 731 - 735.) The best modern account is that of Claudius Rich Esq.
Two Memoirs of Babylon. London, 1818. - M. Consult the article of Coufah in the Bibliotheque of D’Herbelot ( p. 277, 278,) and the second volume of Ockley’s History, particularly p. 40 and 153. See the article of Nehavend, in D’Herbelot, p. 667, 668; and Voyages en Turquie et en Perse, par Otter, tom. i. 191. Malcolm vol. i. p. 141. - M. Ockley (Hist. of Saracens, vol. i. p. 230) translates in the same manner three thousand million of ducats. See Forster's Mahometanism Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 462; who makes this innocent doubt of Gibbon, in which, is to the amount of the plunder, I venture to concur, a grave charge of inaccuracy and disrespect to the memory of Erpenius. It is in such a style of ignorance and wonder that the Athenian orator describes the Arctic conquests of Alexander, who never advanced beyond the shores of the Caspian. /Ale>xandrov e]xw th~v a]rktou kai< th~v oijkoume>nhv, ojli>gou dei~n pa>shv meqeisth>kei Aeschines contra Ctesiphontem, tom. iii. p. 554, edit. Graec. Orator. Reiske. This memorable cause was pleaded at Athens, Olymp. cxii. 3, (before Christ 330,) in the autumn, (Taylor, praefat. p. 370, etc.,) about a year after the battle of Arbela; and Alexander, in the pursuit of Darius, was marching towards Hyrcania and Bactriana. We are indebted for this curious particular to the Dynasties of Abulpharagius, p. 116; but it is needless to prove the identity of Estachar and Persepolis, (D’Herbelot, p. 327;) and still more needless to copy the drawings and descriptions of Sir John Chardin, or Corneillo le Bruyn. After the conquest of Persia, Theophanes adds, auJtw|~ de< tw|~ cro>nw| ejke>leusen Ou]marov ajnagrafh~nai pa~san th Nubiens. p. 138,) Abulfeda, (Descript. Chorasan. in Hudson, tom. iii. p. 23,) Abulghazi Khan, who reigned on their banks, (Hist. Genealogique des Tatars, p. 32, 57, 766,) and the Turkish Geographer, a MS. in the king of France’s library, (Examen Critique des Historiens d’Alexandre, p. 194 - 360.) The territory of Fergana is described by Abulfeda, p. 76, 77. Eo redegit angustiarum eundem regem exsulem, ut Turcici regis, et Sogdiani, et Sinensis, auxilia missis literis imploraret, (Abulfed. Annal. p. 74) The connection of the Persian and Chinese history is illustrated by Freret (Mem. de l’Academie, tom. xvi. p. 245 - 255) and De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 54 - 59,) and for the geography of the borders, tom. ii. p. 1 - 43. Hist. Sinica, p. 41 - 46, in the iiid part of the Relations Curieuses of Thevenot. I have endeavored to harmonize the various narratives of Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 37,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 116,) Abulfeda, (Annal. p. 74, 79,) and D’Herbelot, (p. 485.) The end of Yezdegerd, was not only unfortunate but obscure. The account of Yezdegerd’s death in the Habeib ‘usseyr and Rouzut uzzuffa (Price, p. 162) is much more probable. On the demand of the few dhirems, he offered to the miller his sword, and royal girdle, of inesturable value. This awoke the cupidity of the miller, who murdered him, and threw the body into the stream. - M. Firouz died leaving a son called Ni-ni-cha by the Chinese, probably Narses. Yezdegerd had two sons, Firouz and Bahram St. Martin, vol. xi. p. 318. - M. The two daughters of Yezdegerd married Hassan, the son of Ali, and Mohammed, the son of Abubeker; and the first of these was the father of a numerous progeny. The daughter of Phirouz became the wife of the caliph Walid, and their son Yezid derived his genuine or fabulous descent from the Chosroes of Persia, the Caesars of Rome, and the Chagans of the Turks or Avars, (D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orientale, p. 96, 487.) It was valued at 2000 pieces of gold, and was the prize of Obeidollah, the son of Ziyad, a name afterwards infamous by the murder of Hosein, (Ockley’s History of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 142, 143,) His brother Salem was accompanied by his wife, the first Arabian woman (A.D. 680) who passed the Oxus: she borrowed, or rather stole, the crown and jewels of the princess of the Sogdians, (p. 231, 232.) A part of Abulfeda’s geography is translated by Greaves, inserted in Hudson’s collection of the minor geographers, (tom. iii.,) and entitled Descriptio Chorasmiae et Mawaralnahroe, id est, regionum extra fluvium, Oxum, p. 80. The name of Transoxiana, softer in sound, equivalent in sense, is aptly used by Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Gengiscan, etc.,) and some modern Orientalists, but they are mistaken in ascribing it to the writers of antiquity. The conquests of Catibah are faintly marked by Elmacin, (Hist.
Saracen. p. 84,) D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. Catbah, Samarcand Valid.,) and De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 58, 59.) The manuscripts Arabian and Persian writers in the royal library contain very circumstantial details on the contest between the Persians and Arabians. M. St. Martin declined this addition to the work of Le Beau, as extending to too great a length. St. Martin vol. xi. p. 320. - M. A curious description of Samarcand is inserted in the Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, tom. i. p. 208, etc. The librarian Casiri (tom. ii. 9) relates, from credible testimony, that paper was first imported from China to Samarcand, A. H. 30, and invented, or rather introduced, at Mecca, A. H. 88. The Escurial library contains paper Mss. as old as the ivth or vth century of the Hegira. A separate history of the conquest of Syria has been composed by Al Wakidi, cadi of Bagdad, who was born A.D. 748, and died A.D. 822; he likewise wrote the conquest of Egypt, of Diarbekir, etc. Above the meagre and recent chronicles of the Arabians, Al Wakidi has the double merit of antiquity and copiousness. His tales and traditions afford an artless picture of the men and the times. Yet his narrative is too often defective, trifling, and improbable. Till something better shall be found, his learned and spiritual interpreter (Ockley, in his History of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 21 - 342) will not deserve the petulant animadversion of Reiske, (Prodidagmata ad Magji Chalifae Tabulas, p. 236.) I am sorry to think that the labors of Ockley were consummated in a jail, (see his two prefaces to the 1st A.D. 1708, to the 2d, 1718, with the list of authors at the end.) M. Hamaker has clearly shown that neither of these works can be inscribed to Al Wakidi: they are not older than the end of the xith century or later than the middle of the xivth.
Praefat. in Inc. Auct. LIb. de Expugnatione Memphidis, c. ix. x. - M. The instructions, etc., of the Syrian war are described by Al Wakidi and Ockley, tom. i. p. 22 - 27, etc. In the sequel it is necessary to contract, and needless to quote, their circumstantial narrative. My obligations to others shall be noticed. Notwithstanding this precept, M. Pauw (Recherches sur les Egyptiens, tom. ii. p. 192, edit. Lausanne) represents the Bedoweens as the implacable enemies of the Christian monks. For my own part, I am more inclined to suspect the avarice of the Arabian robbers, and the prejudices of the German philosopher. Several modern travelers (Mr.
Fazakerley, in Walpole’s Travels in the East, vol. xi. 371) give very amusing accounts of the terms on which the monks of Mount Sinai live with the neighboring Bedoweens. Such, probably, was their relative state in older times, wherever the Arab retained his Bedoween habits. - M. Even in the seventh century, the monks were generally laymen: ‘hey wore their hair long and dishevelled, and shaved their heads when they were ordained priests. The circular tonsure was sacred and mysterious; it was the crown of thorns; but it was likewise a royal diadem, and every priest was a king, etc., (Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. p. 721 - 758, especially p. 737, 738.) This sanguinary order is not contained in Weil’s version of Abu Bekr’s address. He merely says, “If ye meet men who have shaven crowns, and wear the rest of their hair in long tresses, touch them only with the flat of the saber, and so go your ways in the name of God.” Vol i. p. 10. — S. “Huic Arabia est conserta, ex alio latere Nabathaeis contigua; opima varietate commerciorum, castrisque oppleta validis et castellis, quae ad repellendos gentium vicinarum excursus, solicitudo pervigil veterum per opportunos saltus erexit et cantos.” Ammian. Marcellin. xiv. 8; Reland, Palestin. tom. i. p. 85, 86. With Gerasa and Philadelphia, Ammianus praises the fortifications of Bosra, [murorum] “firmitate cautissimas.” They deserved the same praise in the time of Abulfeda (Tabul. Syriae, p. 99), who describes this city, the metropolis of Haw-ran (Auranitis), four days’ journey from Damascus. The Hebrew etymology I learn from Reland, Palestin. tom. ii. p. 666. According to Weil, the contingent brought by Chaled to the assistance of Abu Obeidah was nine thousand men. The same author is of opinion that Bosra had been taken, and the battle of Aiznadin won, before the arrival of Chaled. Vol. i. p. 40. — S. The apostle of a desert and an army was obliged to allow this ready succedaneum for water (Koran, ch. iii. p. 66; ch. v. p. 83); but the Arabian and Persin casuists have embarrassed his free permission with many niceties and distinctions (Reland, De Relig. Mohammed. l. i. p. 82, 83; Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tom. iv). The bells rung ! Ockley, vol. i. p. 38. Yet I much doubt whether this expression can be justified by the text of Al Wakidi, or the practice of the times. “Ad Graecos,” says the, learned Ducange (Glossar. med. et infim. Graecitat. tom. i. p. 774) “campanarum usus serius transit et etiamnum rarissimus est.” The oldest example which he can find in the Byzantine writers is of the year 1040; but the Venetians pretend that they introduced bells at Constantinople in the ninth century. Mr.
Forster remarks that Al Wackidi’s mention of bells in the churches of Bosra is confirmed by the articles of Jerusalem, which Mr. Forster calls a contemporary document, one of which expressly stipulates that “the Christians should not ring, but only toll, their bells.” Mahometanism Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 461. — S. Damascus is amply described by the Shefir al Edrisi (Geograph. Nub. p. 116, 117), and his translator, Sionita (Appendix, ch. 4); Abulfeda (Tabula Syriae, p. 100); Schultens (Index Geograph. ad Vit. Saladin.); D’Herbelot (Biblioth. Orient. p. 291); Therenot (Voyage du Levant, part i. p. 688-698); Maundrell (Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 122-130); and Pocock (Description of the Earst, vol. ii. p. 117-127). “Nobilissima civitas,” says Justin. According to the Oriental traditions, it was older than Abraham or Semiramis. Joseph. Antiq. Jud. 1. i.c. [section 4], 7 [section 2], p. 24, 29, edit. Hayercamp. Justin. xxxvi. 2. Edei ga These splendid epithets are occasioned by the figs of Damascus, of which the author sends a hundred to his friend Serapion, and this rhetorical theme is inserted by Petavius, Spanheim, etc. (p. 390-396), among the genuine epistles of Julian. How could they overlook that the writer is an inhabitant of Damascus (he thrice affirms that this peculiar fig grows only par j hJmi~n ), a city which Julian never entered or approached? Voltaire, who casts a keen and lively glance over the surface of history, has been struck with the resemblance of the first Moslems and the heroes of the Iliad — the siege of Troy and that of Damascus (Hist.
Generale, tom. i. p. 348). These words are a text of the Koran, ch. ix. 32, lxi. 8. Like our fanatics of the last century, the Moslems, on every familiar or important occasion, spoke the language of their Scriptures — a style more natural in their mouths than the Hebrew idiom, transplanted into the climate and dialect of Britain. The name of Werdan is unknown to Theophanes; and though it might belong to an Armenian chief, has very little of a Greek aspect or sound.
If the Byzantine historians have mangled the Oriental names, the Arabs, in this instance, likewise have taken ample revenge on their enemies. In transposing the Greek character from right to left, might they not: produce, from the familiar appellation of Andrew , something like the anagram Werdan ? Mr. Forster calls attention to Gibbon’s strange proceeding in substituting the English word Andrew for the Greek jAndre>av , and he affirms that the name Werdan was common among the Greeks of that period. Ockley, Hist. of the Saracens, i. p. 306-7, mentions another Werdan, a Greek, and the slave of Amrou, the Conqueror of Egypt; and a third is mentioned in Elmacin, Hist. Sarac. p. 29. Mahometanism Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 462. The name is probably of Armenian origin. — S. The exact site of Aiznadin is uncertain, but it probably lay between Ramla and Beit Djibrin, the ancient Beto-Gabra, in the south of Palestine. Weil, vol. i. p. 40, note. — S. Vanity prompted the Arabs to believe that Thomas was the son-in-law of the emperor. We know the children of Heraclius by his two wives; and his august daughter would not have married in exile at Damascus (see Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 118, 119). Had he been less religious, I might only suspect the legitimacy of the damsel. A1 Wakidi (Ockley, p. 101) says, “with poisoned arrows;” but this savage invention is so repugnant to the practice of the Greeks and Romans, that I must suspect on this occasion the malevolent credulity of the Saracens. Abulfeda allows only seventy days for the siege of Damascus (Annal.
Moslem. p. 67, vers. Reiske); but Elmacin, who mentions this opinion, prolongs the term to six months, and notices the use of balistae by the Saracens (Hist. Saracen. p. 25, 32). Even this longer period is insufficient to fill the interval between the battle of Aiznadin (July, A.D. 633) and the accession of Omar (24th July, A.D. 634), to whose reign the conquest of Damascus is unanimously ascribed (A1 Wakidi, apud Ockley, vol. i. p. 115; Abulpharagius, Dynast. p. 112, vers. Pocock).
Perhaps, as in the Trojan war, the operations were interrupted by excursions and detachments till the last seventy days of the siege.
According to Dr. Weil, the chronology of these events is as follows:
The. battle of Aiznadin was fought on the 30th July, 634 (not 633, as mentioned by Gibbon). This was followed by the battle of the Yermuk, which was about coincident with Abu Bekr’s death — the latter event having taken place on the 22d August, 634 (not the 23d, as hitherto recorded by all European writers), and the battle on the following day.
Damascus was captured in January, 635. Clinton (Fast. Rom. vol. ii. p. 173), following Ockley, places the capture of Damascus on the same day as Abu Bekr died. It will be observed that Gibbon places the battle of the Yermuk two years after the fall of Damascus, viz., in November, 636 (infra, p. 332). In this he seems to have followed Theophanes, who placed that event two years too late. That author himself, however, mentions (vol. i. p. 518) that the siege of Damascus was a consequence of the battle of the Yermuk, which latter event he places on Tuesday, the 23d of July or August, the MSS. yawing between Iouli>ou and Aouv . But we know from Mussulman writers that the battle in question about coincided with Abu Bekr’s death; and the 23d of August, 634, was really a Tuesday, whilst the 23d of July was a Saturday; and in and 636 neither the 23d July nor 23d August fell on a Tuesday. The error of Theophanes arose as follows: he rightly places Mahomet’s death in the fourth Indiction, which commences with September, 631; but he begins the reign of Abu Bekr with the following year, assigns to it a period of two years and a half. and places Omar’s accession in the year 6126, instead of 6125, which begins with September, 634. To complete his error, following apparently other Arabian traditions which place the battle of the Yermuk in the fifteenth year of the Hegira, he places that event at the end of Omar’s reign, in. stead of the beginning.
Weil, vol. i. p. 40, note; and p. 45-48, and note — S. It appears from Abulfeda (p. 125) and Elmacin (p. 32) that this distinction of the two parts of Damascus was long remembered, though not always respected, by the Mahometan sovereigns. See likewise Eutychias (Annal. tom. ii. p. 379, 380, 383). On the fate of these lovers, whom he names Phocyas and Eudocia, Mr.
Hughes has built the Siege of Damascus, one of our most popular tragedies, and which possesses the rare merit of blending nature and history, the manners of the times and the feelings, of file heart. The foolish delicacy of the players compelled him to soften the guilt of the hero and the despair of the heroine. Instead of a base renegado, Phocyas serves the Arabs as an honorable ally; instead of prompting their pursuit, he flies to the succor of his countrymen, and, after killing Caled and Derar, is himself mortally wounded, and expires in the presence of Eudocia, who professes her resolution to take the veil at Constantinople. A frigid catastrophe! The towns of Gabala and Laodicea, which the Arabs passed, still exist in a state of decay (Maundrell, p. 11, 12; Pocock, vol. ii. p. 13). Had not the Christians been overtaken, they must have crossed the Orontes on some bridge in the sixteen miles between Antioch and the sea, and might have rejoined the highroad of Constantinople at Alexandria. The Itineraries will represent the directions and distances (p. 146,148, 581,582 edit. Wesseling). Dair Abil Kodos. After retrenching the last word, the epithet, holy, I discover the Abila of Lysanias between Damascus and Heliopolis: the name (Abil signifies a vineyard) concurs with the situation to justify my conjecture, (Reland, Palestin. tom. i. p 317, tom. ii. p. 526, 527.) I am bolder than Mr. Ockley, (vol. i. p. 164,) who dares not insert this figurative expression in the text, though he observes in a marginal note, that the Arabians often borrow their similes from that useful and familiar animal. The reindeer may be equally famous in the songs of the Laplanders. We hear the tecbir; so the Arabs call Their shout of onset, when with loud appeal They challenge heaven, as if demanding conquest.
This word, so formidable in their holy wars, is a verb active, (says Ockley in his index,) of the second conjugation, from Kabbara, which signifies saying Alla Acbar, God is most mighty! In the Geography of Abulfeda, the description of Syria, his native country, is the most interesting and authentic portion. It was published in Arabic and Latin, Lipsiae, 1766, in quarto, with the learned notes of Kochler and Reiske, and some extracts of geography and natural history from Ibn Ol Wardii. Among the modern travels, Pocock’s Description of the East (of Syria and Mesopotamia, vol. ii. p. 88 - 209) is a work of superior learning and dignity; but the author too often confounds what he had seen and what he had read. The praises of Dionysius are just and lively. Kai< th Nam diffusa solo latus explicat; ac subit auras Turribus in coelum nitentibus: incola claris Cor studiis acuit Denique flammicomo devoti pectora soli Vitam agitant. Libanus frondosa cacumina turget.
Et tamen his certant celsi fastigia templi.
These verses of the Latin version of Rufus Avienus are wanting in the Greek original of Dionysius; and since they are likewise unnoticed by Eustathius, I must, with Fabricius, (Bibliot. Latin. tom. iii. p. 153, edit.
Ernesti,) and against Salmasius, (ad Vopiscum, p. 366, 367, in Hist.
August.,) ascribed them to the fancy, rather than the Mss., of Avienus. I am much better satisfied with Maundrell’s slight octavo, (Journey, p. 134 - 139), than with the pompous folio of Dr. Pocock, (Description of the East, vol. ii. p. 106 - 113;) but every preceding account is eclipsed by the magnificent description and drawings of Mm. Dawkins and Wood, who have transported into England the ruins of Pamyra and Baalbec. The Orientals explain the prodigy by a never-failing expedient. The edifices of Baalbec were constructed by the fairies or the genii, Hist. de Timour Bec, tom. iii. l. v. c. 23, p. 311, 312. Voyage d’Otter, tom. i. p. 83.) With less absurdity, but with equal ignorance, Abulfeda and Ibn Chaukel ascribe them to the Sabaeans or Aadites Non sunt in omni Syria aedificia magnificentiora his, (Tabula Syria p. 108.) I have read somewhere in Tacitus, or Grotius, Subjectos habent tanquam suos, viles tanquam alienos. Some Greek officers ravished the wife, and murdered the child, of their Syrian landlord; and Manuel smiled at his undutiful complaint. See Reland, Palestin. tom. i. p. 272, 283, tom. ii. p. 773, 775. This learned professor was equal to the task of describing the Holy Land, since he was alike conversant with Greek and Latin, with Hebrew and Arabian literature. The Yermuk, or Hieromax, is noticed by Cellarius (Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 392) and D’Anville, (Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 185.) The Arabs, and even Abulfeda himself, do not seem to recognize the scene of their victory. Compare Price, p. 79. The army of the Romans is swoller to 400,000 men of which 70,000 perished. - M. These women were of the tribe of the Hamyarites, who derived their origin from the ancient Amalekites. Their females were accustomed to ride on horseback, and to fight like the Amazons of old, (Ockley, vol. i. p. 67.) We killed of them, says Abu Obeidah to the caliph, one hundred and fifty thousand, and made prisoners forty thousand, (Ockley vol. i. p. 241.) As I cannot doubt his veracity, nor believe his computation, I must suspect that the Arabic historians indulge themselves in the practice of comparing speeches and letters for their heroes. After deploring the sins of the Christians, Theophanes, adds, (Chronograph. p. 276,) ajne>sth oJ ejrhmiko It is now in the midst of the city, of no strength with a single gate; the circuit is about 500 or 600 paces, and the ditch half full of stagnant water, (Voyages de Tavernier, tom. i. p. 149 Pocock, vol. ii. part i. p. 150.) The fortresses of the East are contemptible to a European eye. The date of the conquest of Antioch by the Arabs is of some importance. By comparing the years of the world in the chronography of Theophanes with the years of the Hegira in the history of Elmacin, we shall determine, that it was taken between January 23d and September 1st of the year of Christ 638, (Pagi, Critica, in Baron.
Annal. tom. ii. p. 812, 813.) Al Wakidi (Ockley, vol. i. p. 314) assigns that event to Tuesday, August 21st, an inconsistent date; since Easter fell that year on April 5th, the 21st of August must have been a Friday, (see the Tables of the Art de Verifier les Dates.) His bounteous edict, which tempted the grateful city to assume the victory of Pharsalia for a perpetual era, is given ejn jAntiocei>a| th+| mhtropo>lei iJera~| kai< ajsu>lw| kai< aujtono>mw| kai< prokaqeme>nh th~v ajnatolh~v. John Malala, in Chron. p. 91, edit. Venet. We may distinguish his authentic information of domestic facts from his gross ignorance of general history. See Ockley, (vol. i. p. 308, 312,) who laughs at the credulity of his author. When Heraclius bade farewell to Syria, Vale Syria et ultimum vale, he prophesied that the Romans should never reenter the province till the birth of an inauspicious child, the future scourge of the empire.
Abulfeda, p. 68. I am perfectly ignorant of the mystic sense, or nonsense, of this prediction. In the loose and obscure chronology of the times, I am guided by an authentic record, (in the book of ceremonies of Constantine Porphyrogenitus,) which certifies that, June 4, A.D. 638, the emperor crowned his younger son Heraclius, in the presence of his eldest, Constantine, and in the palace of Constantinople; that January 1, A.D. 639, the royal procession visited the great church, and on the 4th of the same month, the hippodrome. Sixty-five years before Christ, Syria Pontusque monumenta sunt Cn.
Pompeii virtutis, (Vell. Patercul. ii. 38,) rather of his fortune and power: he adjudged Syria to be a Roman province, and the last of the Seleucides were incapable of drawing a sword in the defense of their patrimony (see the original texts collected by Usher, Annal. p. 420) Abulfeda, Annal. Moslem. p. 73. Mahomet could artfully vary the praises of his disciples. Of Omar he was accustomed to say, that if a prophet could arise after himself, it would be Omar; and that in a general calamity, Omar would be accepted by the divine justice, (Ockley, vol. i. p. 221.) Khaled, according to the Rouzont Uzzuffa, (Price, p. 90,) after having been deprived of his ample share of the plunder of Syria by the jealousy of Omar, died, possessed only of his horse, his arms, and a single slave.
Yet Omar was obliged to acknowledge to his lamenting parent. that never mother had produced a son like Khaled. - M. Al Wakidi had likewise written a history of the conquest of Diarbekir, or Mesopotamia, (Ockley, at the end of the iid vol.,) which our interpreters do not appear to have seen. The Chronicle of Dionysius of Telmar, the Jacobite patriarch, records the taking of Edessa A.D. 637, and of Dara A.D. 641, (Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 103;) and the attentive may glean some doubtful information from the Chronography of Theophanes, (p. 285 - 287.) Most of the towns of Mesopotamia yielded by surrender, (Abulpharag. p. 112.) It has been published in Arabic by M. Ewald St. Martin, vol. xi p 248; but its authenticity is doubted. - M. He dreamed that he was at Thessalonica, a harmless and unmeaning vision; but his soothsayer, or his cowardice, understood the sure omen of a defeat concealed in that inauspicious word, Q Yet the resemblance is still more in the situation, than in the characters, of the men. Al Wakidi had likewise composed a separate history of the conquest of Egypt, which Mr. Ockley could never procure; and his own inquiries (vol. i. 344 - 362) have added very little to the original text of Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 296 - 323, vers. Pocock,) the Melchite patriarch of Alexandria, who lived three hundred years after the revolution. Strabo, an accurate and attentive spectator, observes of Heliopolis, nuni< me Peter’s day, (June 29.) A register of thirty successive years marks the greatest height of the waters between July 25 and August 18, (Maillet, Description de l’Egypte, lettre xi. p. 67, etc. Pocock’s Description of the East, vol. i. p. 200. Shaw’s Travels, p. 383.) Murtadi, Merveilles de l’Egypte, 243, 259. He expatiates on the subject with the zeal and minuteness of a citizen and a bigot, and his local traditions have a strong air of truth and accuracy. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 233. The position of New and of Old Cairo is well known, and has been often described. Two writers, who were intimately acquainted with ancient and modern Egypt, have fixed, after a learned inquiry, the city of Memphis at Gizeh, directly opposite the Old Cairo, (Sicard, Nouveaux Memoires des Missions du Levant, tom. vi. p. 5, 6. Shaw’s Observations and Travels, p. 296 - 304.) Yet we may not disregard the authority or the arguments of Pocock, (vol. i. p. 25 - 41,) Niebuhr, (Voyage, tom. i. p. 77 - 106,) and above all, of D’Anville, (Description de l’Egypte, p. 111, 112, 130 - 149,) who have removed Memphis towards the village of Mohannah, some miles farther to the south. In their heat, the disputants have forgot that the ample space of a metropolis covers and annihilates the far greater part of the controversy. See Herodotus, l. iii. c. 27, 28, 29. Aelian, Hist. Var. l. iv. c. 8. Suidas in, tom. ii. p. 774. Diodor. Sicul. tom. ii. l. xvii. p. 197, edit. Wesseling.
Tw~n Persw~n hjsezhko>twn eijv a< iJera> Says the last of these historians. Mokawkas sent the prophet two Coptic damsels, with two maids and one eunuch, an alabaster vase, an ingot of pure gold, oil, honey, and the finest white linen of Egypt, with a horse, a mule, and an ass, distinguished by their respective qualifications. The embassy of Mahomet was despatched from Medina in the seventh year of the Hegira, (A.D. 628.) See Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 255, 256, 303,) from Al Jannabi. The praefecture of Egypt, and the conduct of the war, had been trusted by Heraclius to the patriarch Cyrus, (Theophan. p. 280, 281.) “In Spain,” said James II., “do you not consult your priests?” “We do,” replied the Catholic ambassador, “and our affairs succeed accordingly.”
I know not how to relate the plans of Cyrus, of paying tribute without impairing the revenue, and of converting Omar by his marriage with the Emperor’s daughter, (Nicephor. Breviar. p. 17, 18.) See the life of Benjamin, in Renaudot, (Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 156 - 172,) who has enriched the conquest of Egypt with some facts from the Arabic text of Severus the Jacobite historian The local description of Alexandria is perfectly ascertained by the master hand of the first of geographers, (D’Anville, Memoire sur l’Egypte, p. 52 - 63;) but we may borrow the eyes of the modern travelers, more especially of Thevenot, (Voyage au Levant, part i. p. 381 - 395,) Pocock, (vol. i. p. 2 - 13,) and Niebuhr, (Voyage en Arabie, tom. i. p. 34 - 43.) Of the two modern rivals, Savary and Volmey, the one may amuse, the other will instruct. Both Eutychius (Annal. tom. ii. p. 319) and Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 28) concur in fixing the taking of Alexandria to Friday of the new moon of Moharram of the twentieth year of the Hegira, (December 22, A.D. 640.) In reckoning backwards fourteen months spent before Alexandria, seven months before Babylon, etc., Amrou might have invaded Egypt about the end of the year 638; but we are assured that he entered the country the 12th of Bayni, 6th of June, (Murtadi, Merveilles de l’Egypte, p. 164. Severus, apud Renaudot, p. 162.) The Saracen, and afterwards Lewis IX. of France, halted at Pelusium, or Damietta, during the season of the inundation of the Nile. Eutych. Annal. tom. ii. p. 316, 319. Notwithstanding some inconsistencies of Theophanes and Cedrenus, the accuracy of Pagi (Critica, tom. ii. p. 824) has extracted from Nicephorus and the Chronicon Orientale the true date of the death of Heraclius, February 11th, A.D. 641, fifty days after the loss of Alexandria. A fourth of that time was sufficient to convey the intelligence. Many treatises of this lover of labor (filo>ponov ) are still extant, but for readers of the present age, the printed and unpublished are nearly in the same predicament. Moses and Aristotle are the chief objects of his verbose commentaries, one of which is dated as early as May 10th, A.D. 617, (Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. ix. p. 458 - 468.) A modern, (John Le Clerc,) who sometimes assumed the same name was equal to old Philoponus in diligence, and far superior in good sense and real knowledge. Abulpharag. Dynast. p. 114, vers. Pocock. Audi quid factum sit et mirare. It would be endless to enumerate the moderns who have wondered and believed, but I may distinguish with honor the rational scepticism of Renaudot, (Hist. Alex. Patriarch, p. 170: ) historia ... habet aliquid a]piston ut Arabibus familiare est. Since this period several new Mahometan authorities have been adduced to support the authority of Abulpharagius. That of, I.
Abdollatiph by Professor White: II. Of Makrizi; I have seen a Ms. extract from this writer: III. Of Ibn Chaledun: and after them Hadschi Chalfa. See Von Hammer, Geschichte der Assassinen, p. 17. Reinhard, in a German Dissertation, printed at Gottingen, 1792, and St. Croix, (Magasin Encyclop. tom. iv. p. 433,) have examined the question.
Among Oriental scholars, Professor White, M. St. Martin, Von Hammer. and Silv. de Sacy, consider the fact of the burning the library, by the command of Omar, beyond question. Compare St. Martin’s note. vol. xi. p. 296. A Mahometan writer brings a similar charge against the Crusaders. The library of Tripoli is said to have contained the incredible number of three millions of volumes. On the capture of the city, Count Bertram of St. Giles, entering the first room, which contained nothing but the Koran, ordered the whole to be burnt, as the works of the false prophet of Arabia. See Wilken. Gesch der Kreux zuge, vol. ii. p. 211. - M. This curious anecdote will be vainly sought in the annals of Eutychius, and the Saracenic history of Elmacin. The silence of Abulfeda, Murtadi, and a crowd of Moslems, is less conclusive from their ignorance of Christian literature. See Reland, de Jure Militari Mohammedanorum, in his iiid volume of Dissertations, p. 37. The reason for not burning the religious books of the Jews or Christians, is derived from the respect that is due to the name of God. Consult the collections of Frensheim (Supplement. Livian, c. 12, 43) and Usher, (Anal. p. 469.) Livy himself had styled the Alexandrian library, elegantiae regum curaeque egregium opus; a liberal encomium, for which he is pertly criticized by the narrow stoicism of Seneca, (De Tranquillitate Animi, c. 9,) whose wisdom, on this occasion, deviates into nonsense. See this History, vol. iii. p. 146. Aulus Gellius, (Noctes Atticae, vi. 17,) Ammianus Marcellinua, (xxii. 16,) and Orosius, (l. vi. c. 15.) They all speak in the past tense, and the words of Ammianus are remarkably strong: fuerunt Bibliothecae innumerabiles; et loquitum monumentorum veterum concinens fides, etc. Renaudot answers for versions of the Bible, Hexapla, Catenoe Patrum, Commentaries, etc., (p. 170.) Our Alexandrian Ms., if it came from Egypt, and not from Constantinople or Mount Athos, (Wetstein, Prolegom. ad N. T. p. 8, etc.,) might possibly be among them. I have often perused with pleasure a chapter of Quintilian, (Institut.
Orator. x. i.,) in which that judicious critic enumerates and appreciates the series of Greek and Latin classics. Such as Galen, Pliny, Aristotle, etc. On this subject Wotton (Reflections on Ancient and Modern Learning, p. 85 - 95) argues, with solid sense, against the lively exotic fancies of Sir William Temple. The contempt of the Greeks for Barbaric science would scarcely admit the Indian or Aethiopic books into the library of Alexandria; nor is it proved that philosophy has sustained any real loss from their exclusion. This curious and authentic intelligence of Murtadi (p. 284 - 289) has not been discovered either by Mr. Ockley, or by the self- sufficient compilers of the Modern Universal History. Eutychius, Annal. tom. ii. p. 320. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 35. Many learned men have doubted the existence of a communication by water between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean by the Nile. Yet the fact is positively asserted by the ancients. Diodorus Siculus (l. i. p. 33) speaks of it in the most distinct manner as existing in his time. So, also, Strabo, (l. xvii. p. 805.) Pliny (vol. vi. p. 29) says that the canal which united the two seas was navigable, (alveus navigabilis.) The indications furnished by Ptolemy and by the Arabic historian, Makrisi, show that works were executed under the reign of Hadrian to repair the canal and extend the navigation; it then received the name of the River of Trajan Lucian, (in his Pseudomantis, p. 44,) says that he went by water from Alexandria to Clysma, on the Red Sea. Testimonies of the 6th and of the 8th century show that the communication was not interrupted at that time. See the French translation of Strabo, vol. v. p. 382. St.
Martin vol. xi. p. 299. - M. On these obscure canals, the reader may try to satisfy himself from D’Anville, (Mem. sur l’Egypte, p. 108 - 110, 124, 132,) and a learned thesis, maintained and printed at Strasburg in the year 1770, (Jungendorum marium fluviorumque molimina, p. 39 - 47, 68 - 70.)
Even the supine Turks have agitated the old project of joining the two seas. (Memoires du Baron de Tott, tom. iv.) A small volume, des Merveilles, etc., de l’Egypte, composed in the xiiith century by Murtadi of Cairo, and translated from an Arabic Ms. of Cardinal Mazarin, was published by Pierre Vatier, Paris, 1666. The antiquities of Egypt are wild and legendary; but the writer deserves credit and esteem for his account of the conquest and geography of his native country, (see the correspondence of Amrou and Omar, p. 279 - 289.) In a twenty years’ residence at Cairo, the consul Maillet had contemplated that varying scene, the Nile, (lettre ii. particularly p. 70, 75;) the fertility of the land, (lettre ix.) From a college at Cambridge, the poetic eye of Gray had seen the same objects with a keener glance: — What wonder in the sultry climes that spread, Where Nile, redundant o’er his summer bed, From his broad bosom life and verdure flings, And broods o’er Egypt with his watery wings:
If with adventurous oar, and ready sail, The dusky people drive before the gale:
Or on frail floats to neighboring cities ride, That rise and glitter o’er the ambient tide. (Mason’s Works and Memoirs of Gray, p. 199, 200.) Murtadi, p. 164 - 167. The reader will not easily credit a human sacrifice under the Christian emperors, or a miracle of the successors of Mahomet. Maillet, Description de l’Egypte, p. 22. He mentions this number as the common opinion; and adds, that the generality of these villages contain two or three thousand persons, and that many of them are more populous than our large cities. Eutych. Annal. tom. ii. p. 308, 311. The twenty millions are computed from the following data: one twelfth of mankind above sixty, one third below sixteen, the proportion of men to women as seventeen or sixteen, (Recherches sur la Population de la France, p. 71, 72.) The president Goguet (Origine des Arts, etc., tom. iii. p. 26, etc.) Bestows twenty-seven millions on ancient Egypt, because the seventeen hundred companions of Sesostris were born on the same day. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 218; and this gross lump is swallowed without scruple by D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 1031,) Ar. buthnot, (Tables of Ancient Coins, p. 262,) and De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. p. 135.) They might allege the not less extravagant liberality of Appian in favor of the Ptolemies (in praefat.) of seventy four myriads, 740,000 talents, an annual income of 185, or near 300 millions of pounds sterling, according as we reckon by the Egyptian or the Alexandrian talent, (Bernard, de Ponderibus Antiq. p. 186.) See the measurement of D’Anville, (Mem. sur l’Egypte, p. 23, etc.)
After some peevish cavils, M. Pauw (Recherches sur les Egyptiens, tom. i. p. 118 - 121) can only enlarge his reckoning to 2250 square leagues. Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexand. p. 334, who calls the common reading or version of Elmacin, error librarii. His own emendation, of 4,300,000 pieces, in the ixth century, maintains a probable medium between the 3,000,000 which the Arabs acquired by the conquest of Egypt, idem, p. 168.) and the 2,400,000 which the sultan of Constantinople levied in the last century, (Pietro della Valle, tom. i. p. 352 Thevenot, part i. p. 824.) Pauw (Recherches, tom. ii. p. 365 - 373) gradually raises the revenue of the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, and the Caesars, from six to fifteen millions of German crowns. The list of Schultens (Index Geograph. ad calcem Vit. Saladin. p. 5) contains 2396 places; that of D’Anville, (Mem. sur l’Egypte, p. 29,) from the divan of Cairo, enumerates 2696. See Maillet, (Description de l’Egypte, p. 28,) who seems to argue with candor and judgment. I am much better satisfied with the observations than with the reading of the French consul. He was ignorant of Greek and Latin literature, and his fancy is too much delighted with the fictions of the Arabs. Their best knowledge is collected by Abulfeda, (Descript. Aegypt. Arab. et Lat. a Joh. David Michaelis, Gottingae, in 4to., 1776;) and in two recent voyages into Egypt, we are amused by Savary, and instructed by Volney. I wish the latter could travel over the globe. My conquest of Africa is drawn from two French interpreters of Arabic literature, Cardonne (Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne sous la Domination des Arabes, tom. i. p. 8 - 55) and Otter, (Hist. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxi. p. 111 - 125, and 136.) They derive their principal information from Novairi, who composed, A.D. 1331 an Encyclopaedia in more than twenty volumes. The five general parts successively treat of, 1. Physics; 2. Man; 3. Animals; 4. Plants; and, 5. History; and the African affairs are discussed in the vith chapter of the vth section of this last part, (Reiske, Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalifae Tabulas, p. 232 - 234.) Among the older historians who are quoted by Navairi we may distinguish the original narrative of a soldier who led the van of the Moslems. See the history of Abdallah, in Abulfeda (Vit. Mohammed. p. 108) and Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. 45 - 48.) The province and city of Tripoli are described by Leo Africanus (in Navigatione et Viaggi di Ramusio, tom. i. Venetia, 1550, fol. 76, verso) and Marmol, (Description de l’Afrique, tom. ii. p. 562.) The first of these writers was a Moor, a scholar, and a traveler, who composed or translated his African geography in a state of captivity at Rome, where he had assumed the name and religion of Pope Leo X. In a similar captivity among the Moors, the Spaniard Marmol, a soldier of Charles V., compiled his Description of Africa, translated by D’Ablancourt into French, (Paris, 1667, 3 vols. in 4to.) Marmol had read and seen, but he is destitute of the curious and extensive observation which abounds in the original work of Leo the African. Theophanes, who mentions the defeat, rather than the death, of Gregory. He brands the praefect with the name of Tu>rannov : he had probably assumed the purple, (Chronograph. p. 285.) See in Ockley (Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 45) the death of Zobeir, which was honored with the tears of Ali, against whom he had rebelled.
His valor at the siege of Babylon, if indeed it be the same person, is mentioned by Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 308) Shaw’s Travels, p. 118, 119. Mimica emptio, says Abulfeda, erat haec, et mira donatio; quandoquidem Othman, ejus nomine nummos ex aerario prius ablatos aerario praestabat, (Annal. Moslem. p. 78.) Elmacin (in his cloudy version, p. 39) seems to report the same job. When the Arabs be sieged the palace of Othman, it stood high in their catalogue of grievances. Theophan. Chronograph. p. 235 edit. Paris. His chronology is loose and inaccurate. jEpestra>teusan Sarakhnoi< th~n jAfrikh>n, kai< sumza>lontev tw~| tura>nnw| Grhgori>w| tou>ton pre>pousi, kai< tou Gregorius was surprised and slain in a tent at some distance from the troops; and the latter became disheartened by the death of their leader.
In the division of the booty, his daughter fell to the lot of a native of Medina; and in order to escape the horrors of slavery, sought death by throwing herself from a camel on her road to that city. Weil, vol. i. p. 161. — S. Theophanes (in Chronograph. p. 293 [vol. i. p. 539]) inserts the vague rumors that might reach Constantinople of the Western conquests of the Arabs; and I learn from Paul Warnefield, Deacon of Aquileia (De Gestis Langobard. 1. v. c. 13), that at this time they sent a fleet from Alexandria into the Sicilian and African seas. See Novairi (apud Otter, p. 118), Leo Africanus (fol. 81, verso ), who reckons only “Cinque citta e infinite casale,” Marmol (Description de l’Afiique, tom. iii. p. 33), and Shaw (Travels, p. 57, 65-68). Leo African. fol. 58, verso 59, recto ; Marmol, tom. ii. p. 415; Shaw, p. 43. Leo African. fol. 52; Marmol, tom. ii. p. 228. “Regio ignobilis, et vix quicquam illustre sortita, parvis oppidis habitatur, parva flumina emittit, solo quam viris melior, et segnitie gentis obscura.” Pomponius Mela, i. 5; iii. 10. Mela deserves the more credit, since his own Phoenician ancestors had migrated from Tingitana to Spain (see, in ii. 6, a passage of that geographer so cruelly tortured by Salmasius, Isaac Vossius, and the most virulent of critics, James Gronovius). He lived at the time of the final reduction of that country by the Emperor Claudius; yet, almost thirty years afterwards, Pliny (Hist. Nat. v. i.) complains of his authors, too lazy to inquire, too proud to confess their ignorance of that wild and remote province. The foolish fashion of this citron-wood prevailed at Rome among the men, as much as the taste for pearls among the women. A round board or table, four or five feet in diameter, sold for the price of an estate (“latifundii taxatione”), eight, ten, or twelve thousand pounds sterling (Plin. Hist. Natur. xiii. 29). I conceive that I must not confound the tree citrus with that of the fruit citrum . But I am not botanist enough to define the former (it is like the wild cypress) by the vulgar or Linnaean name; nor will I decide whether the citrum be the orange or the lemon.
Salmasius appears to exhaust the subject, but he too often involves himself in the web of his disorderly erudition (Plinian. Exercitat. tom. ii. p. 666, etc.). Gitrum was not the fruit, but the wood of the tree. — S Leo African. fol. 16, verso . Marmol, tom. ii. p. 28. This province, the first scene of the exploits and greatness of the cherifs , is often mentioned in the curious history of that dynasty at the end of the third volume of Marmol, Description de l’Afrique. The third volume of the Recherches Historiques sur les Maures (lately published at Paris)illustrates the history and geography of the kingdoms; of Fez and Morocco. Otter (p. 119) has given the strong tone of fanaticism to this exclamation, which Cardonne (p. 37) has softened to a pious wish of preaching the Koran. Yet they had both the same text of Novairi before their eyes. Well rejects this story about Akbah and the extent of his conquests, and con. tends that his expedition has been confounded with the subsequent one of Musa. Akbah never penetrated so far as Tangier, which was first token by Musa in the caliphate of Welid; and the Sus has probably been confounded with the province of the same name, which was entered by him. Vol. i. p. 288 seq., and 514. — S. The foundation of Cairoan is mentioned by Ockley (Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 129, 130); and the situation, mosque, etc., of the city are described by Leo Africanus (fol. 75), Marmol (tom. ii. p. 532), and Shaw (p. 115). Cairoan had been founded by Moawiyah Ibn Hudeidj, Akbah’s predecessor. But Akbah, not liking the situation, removed the colony to the wooded plain in which it now lies. Weil, vol. i. p. 286. — S. A portentous, though frequent, mistake has been the confounding, from a slight similitude of name, the Cyrene of the Greeks and the Cairoan of the Arabs, two cities which are separated by an interval of a thousand miles along the seacoast. The great Thuanus has not escaped this fault, the less excusable as it is connected with a formal and elaborate description of Africa (Historiar. 1. vii. c.2, in tom. i. p. 240, edit. Buckley). Besides tile Arabic chronicles of Abulfeda, Elmacin, and Abulpharagius, under the seventy-third year of the Hegira, we may consult D’Herbelot (Biblioth. Orient. p. 7) and Ockley (Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 339-349). The latter has given the last and pathetic dialogue between Abdallah and his mother; but he has forgot a physical effect of her grief for his death, the return, at the age of ninety, and fatal consequences, of her menses . Aeo>ntiov — a[panta ta< JRwmai`ka< ejxw>plise plo>i`ma, strathgo>n te ejp j aujtoi~v jIwa>nnhn to Exercit. tom. i. p. 228). The former of the accounts, which gives years before Christ, is more consistent with the well-weighed testimony of Velleius Paterculus; but the latter is preferred by our chronologist (Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 398) as more agreeable to the Hebrew and Tyrian annals. Leo African. fol. 71, verso ; 72, recto . Marmol, tom. ii. p. 445-447.
Shaw, p. 80. The history, of the word Barbar may be classed under four periods. The first book of Leo Africanus, and the observations of Dr. Shaw (p. 220, 223, 227, 247, etc.), will throw some light on the roving tribes of Barbary, of Arabian or Moorish descent. But Shaw had seen these savages with distant terror; and Leo, a captive in the Vatican, appears to have lost more of his Arabic than he could acquire of Greek or Roman learning. Many of his gross mistakes might be detected in the first period of the Mahometan history. ft558a In a conference with a prince of the Greeks, Amrou observed that their religion was different; upon which score it was lawful for brothers to quarrel Ockley’s History of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 328. Abulfeda, Annul. Moslem. p. 78, vers. Reiske. The name of Andalusia is applied by the Arabs not only to the modern province, but to the whole peninsula of Spain (Geograph. Nub. p. 151; Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. p. 114, 115). The etymology has been most improbably deduced from Vandalusia, country of the Vandals (D’Anville, Etats de l’Europe, p. 146, 147, etc.). But the Handalusia of Casiri, which signifies, in Arabic, the region of the evening, of the West, in a word, the Hesperia of the Greeks, is perfectly apposite (Biblioth. Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 327, etc.). The fall and resurrection of the Gothic monarchy are related by Mariana (tom. i. p. 238-260; 1. vi. c. 19-26; 1. vii. c. 1, 2). That historian has infused into his noble work (Historiae de Rebus Hispaniae, libri xxx.; Hagae Comitum 1733, in four volumes in folio, with the Continuation of Miniana) the style and spirit of a Roman classic; and, after the twelfth century, his knowledge and judgment may be safely trusted. But the Jesuit is not exempt from the prejudices of his order; he adopts and adorns, like his rival Buchanan, the most absurd of the national legends; he is too careless of criticism and chronology, and supplies, from a lively fancy, the chasms of historical evidence.
These chasms are large and frequent; Roderic, Archbishop of Toledo, the father of the Spanish history, lived five hundred years after the conquest of the Arabs; and the more early accounts are comprised in some meager lines of the blind chronicles of Isidore of Badajoz (Pacensis) and of Alphonso III., King of Leon, which I have seen only in the annals of Pagi. “Le viol” (says Voltaire) “est aussi difficile a faire qu’a. prouver. Des Eveques se seroient-ils ligues pour une fille?” (Hist. Generale, c. xxvi.)
His argument is not logically conclusive. Respecting this story, see Mr. Hallam’s remarks, “Hist. of the Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 61, 10th edit. — S. In the story of Cava, Mariana (1. vi. c. 21, p. 241,242) seems to vie with the Lucretia of Livy. Like the ancients, he seldom quotes; and the oldest testimony of Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 713, No. 19), that of Lucas Tudensis, a Gallician deacon of the thirteenth century, only says, “Cava quam pro concubina utebatur.” The Orientals, Elmacin, Abulpharagius, Abulfeda, pass over the conquest of Spain in silence, or with a single word. The text of Novairi, and the other Arabian writers, is represented, though with some foreign alloy, by M. de Cardonne (Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne sous la Domination des Arabes, Paris, 1765, 3 vols. in 12 mo, tom. i. p. 55- 114:), and more concisely by M. de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 34:7-350). The librarian of the Escurial has not satisfied my hopes: yet he appears to have searched with diligence his broken materials; and the history of the conquest is illustrated by some valuable fragments of the genuine Razis (who wrote at Corduba, A.D. 300), of Ben Hazil, etc.
See Biblioth. Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 32, 105, 106, 182, 252, 319- 332. On this occasion the industry of Pagi has been aided by the Arabic learning of his friend the Abbe de Longuerue, and to their joint labors I am deeply indebted. On the conquest of Spain by the Arabs the reader may consult Conde, Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en Espafia, Madrid, 1820, 1821, of which an abridgment in French has been published by Marles, Paris, 1825. Some valuable information will also be found in the translation of the Arabic work of Al-Makkari, by Pascual de Gayangos, published by the Oriental Translation Fund, under the title of “The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain,” London, 1840. Gayangos remarks that Conde’s work is far from fulfilling the expectations of the learned. — S. A mistake of Roderic of Toledo, in comparing the lunar years of the Hegira with the Julian years of the era, has determined Baronius, Mariana, and the crowd of Spanish historians to place the first invasion in the year 713, and the battle of Xeres in November, 714. This anachronism of three years has been detected by the more correct industry of modem chronologists, above all, of Pagi (Critica, tom. iii. p. 169, 171-174:), who have restored the genuine date of the revolution.
At the present time an Arabian scholar, like Cardonne, who adopts the ancient error (tom. i. p. 75), is inexcusably ignorant or careless. The Era of Caesar, which in Spain was in legal and popular use till the fourteenth century, begins thirty-eight years before the birth of Christ. I would refer the origin to the general peace by sea and land, which confirmed the power and partition of the Triumvirs (Dion Cassius, 1. xlviii, p. 547, 553 [c. 28 and 36]. Appian de Bell. Civil. 1. v. [c. 72] p. 1034, edit. fol.). Spain was a province of Caesar Octavian; and Tarragona, which raised the first temple to Augustus (Tacit. Annul. i. 78), might borrow from the Orientals this mode of flattery. The road, the country, the old castle of Count Julian, and the superstitious belief of the Spaniards of hidden treasures, etc., are described by Pere Labat (Voyages en Espagne et en Italic, tom. i. p. 207-217) with his usual pleasantry. The Nubian Geographer (p. 154) explains the topography of the war; but it is highly incredible that the lieutenant of Musa should execute the desperate and useless measure of burning his ships. ft569a The Arabian traditions that give the highest number mention 90,000, whilst others mention only 70,000, or even 40,000. The Christian army may be safely estimated at double the Mahometan. Weil, vol. i. p. 520. — S. Xeres (the Roman colony of Asta Regia)is only two leagues from Cadiz. In the sixteenth century it was a granary of corn; and the wine of Xeres is familiar to the nations of Europe (Lud. Nonii Hispania, c. 13, p. 54-56, a work of correct and concise knowledge; D’Anville, Etats de l’Europe, etc., p. 154:). “Id sane infortunii regibus pedem ex acie referentibus saepe contingit.”
Ben Hazil of Granada, in Biblioth. Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 327.
Some credulous Spaniards believe that King Roderic, or Rodrigo, escaped to a hermit’s cell; and others, that ha was cast alive into a tub full of serpents, from whence he exclaimed, with a lamentable voice, “They devout-the part with which I have so grievously sinned. (Don Quixote, part ii. 1. iii c.i.) The direct road from Corduba to Toledo was measured by Mr.
Swinburne’s mules in 72 1/2 hours; but a larger computation must be adopted for the slow and devious marches of an army. The Arabs traversed the province of La Mancha, which the pen of Cervantes has transformed into classic ground to the readers of every nation. The antiquities of Toledo, Urbs Parva in the Punic wars, Urbs Regia in the sixth century, are briefly described by Nonius (Hispania, c. 59, p. 181-186). He borrows from Roderic the fatale palatium of Moorish portraits, but modestly insinuates that it was no more than a Roman amphitheater. In the Historia Arabum (c. 9, p. 17, ad calcem Elmacin), Roderic of Toledo describes the emerald tables, and inserts the name of Medinat Almeyda, in Arabic words and letters. He appears to be conversant with the Mahometan writers; but I cannot agree with M. de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 350), that he had read and transcribed Novairi; because he was dead a hundred years before Novairi composed his history. This mistake is founded on a still grosser error.
M. de Guignes confounds the historian Roderic Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo in the thirteenth century, with Cardinal Ximenes, who governed Spain in the beginning of the sixteenth, and was the subject, not the author, of historical compositions. Tarik might have inscribed on the last rock the boast of Regnard and his companions in their Lapland journey: “Hic tandem stetimus, nobis ubi defuit orbis.” Such was the argument of the traitor Oppas, and every chief to whom it was addressed did not answer with the spirit of Pelagius: “Omnis Hispania dudum sub uno regimine Gothorum, omnis exercitus Hispaniae in uno congregatus Ismaelitarum non valuit sustinere impetum.” Chron. Alphonsi Regis, apud Pagi, tom. iii. p. 177. The revival of the Gothic kingdom in the Asturias is distinctly though concisely noticed by D’Anville (Etats de l’Europe, p, 159). The revival of the Gothic kingdom in the Asturias is distinctly though concisely noticed by D’Anville (Etats de l’Europe, p, 159). The honorable relics of the Cantabrian war (Dion Cassius, l. liii p. 720) were planted in this metropolis of Lusitania, perhaps of Spain, (submittit cui tota suos Hispania fasces.) Nonius (Hispania, c. 31, p. 106 - 110) enumerates the ancient structures, but concludes with a sigh: Urbs haec olim nobilissima ad magnam incolarum infrequentiam delapsa est, et praeter priscae claritatis ruinas nihil ostendit. Both the interpreters of Novairi, De Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 349) and Cardonne, (Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, tom. i. p. 93, 94, 104, 135,) lead Musa into the Narbonnese Gaul. But I find no mention of this enterprise, either in Roderic of Toledo, or the Mss. of the Escurial, and the invasion of the Saracens is postponed by a French chronicle till the ixth year after the conquest of Spain, A.D. 721, (Pagi, Critica, tom. iii. p. 177, 195. Historians of France, tom. iii.) I much question whether Musa ever passed the Pyrenees. Four hundred years after Theodemir, his territories of Murcia and Carthagena retain in the Nubian geographer Edrisi (p, 154, 161) the name of Tadmir, (D’Anville, Etats de l’Europe, p. 156. Pagi, tom. iii. p. 174.) In the present decay of Spanish agriculture, Mr. Swinburne (Travels into Spain, p. 119) surveyed with pleasure the delicious valley from Murcia to Orihuela, four leagues and a half of the finest corn pulse, lucerne, oranges, etc. Gibbon has made eight cities: in Conde’s translation Bigera does not appear. - M. See the treaty in Arabic and Latin, in the Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 105, 106. It is signed the 4th of the month of Regeb, A. H. 94, the 5th of April, A.D. 713; a date which seems to prolong the resistance of Theodemir, and the government of Musa. From the history of Sandoval, p. 87. Fleury (Hist. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 261) has given the substance of another treaty concluded A Ae. C. 782, A.D. 734, between an Arabian chief and the Goths and Romans, of the territory of Conimbra in Portugal. The tax of the churches is fixed at twenty-five pounds of gold; of the monasteries, fifty; of the cathedrals, one hundred; the Christians are judged by their count, but in capital cases he must consult the alcaide. The church doors must be shut, and they must respect the name of Mahomet. I have not the original before me; it would confirm or destroy a dark suspicion, that the piece has been forged to introduce the immunity of a neighboring convent. This design, which is attested by several Arabian historians, (Cardonne, tom. i. p. 95, 96,) may be compared with that of Mithridates, to march from the Crimaea to Rome; or with that of Caesar, to conquer the East, and return home by the North; and all three are perhaps surpassed by the real and successful enterprise of Hannibal. I much regret our loss, or my ignorance, of two Arabic works of the viiith century, a Life of Musa, and a poem on the exploits of Tarik. Of these authentic pieces, the former was composed by a grandson of Musa, who had escaped from the massacre of his kindred; the latter, by the vizier of the first Abdalrahman, caliph of Spain, who might have conversed with some of the veterans of the conqueror, (Bibliot.
Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 36, 139.) Bibliot. Arab. Hispana, tom. ii. p. 32, 252. The former of these quotations is taken from a Biographia Hispanica, by an Arabian of Valentia, (see the copious Extracts of Casiri, tom. ii. p. 30 - 121;) and the latter from a general Chronology of the Caliphs, and of the African and Spanish Dynasties, with a particular History of the kingdom of Grenada, of which Casiri has given almost an entire version, (Bibliot.
Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 177 - 319.) The author, Ebn Khateb, a native of Grenada, and a contemporary of Novairi and Abulfeda, (born A.D. 1313, died A.D. 1374,) was an historian, geographer, physician, poet, etc., (tom. ii. p. 71, 72.) Cardonne, Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, tom. i. p. 116, 117. A copious treatise of husbandry, by an Arabian of Seville, in the xiith century, is in the Escurial library, and Casiri had some thoughts of translating it. He gives a list of the authors quoted, Arabs as well as Greeks, Latins, etc.; but it is much if the Andalusian saw these strangers through the medium of his countryman Columella, (Casiri, Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom. i. p. 323 - 338.) Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 104. Casiri translates the original testimony of the historian Rasis, as it is alleged in the Arabic Biographia Hispanica, pars ix. But I am most exceedingly surprised at the address, Principibus caeterisque Christianis, Hispanis suis Castellae.
The name of Castellae was unknown in the viiith century; the kingdom was not erected till the year 1022, a hundred years after the time of Rasis, (Bibliot. tom. ii. p. 330,) and the appellation was always expressive, not of a tributary province, but of a line of castles independent of the Moorish yoke, (D’Anville, Etats de l’Europe, p. - 170.) Had Casiri been a critic, he would have cleared a difficulty, perhaps of his own making. Cardonne, tom. i. p. 337, 338. He computes the revenue at 130,000,000 of French livres. The entire picture of peace and prosperity relieves the bloody uniformity of the Moorish annals. I am happy enough to possess a splendid and interesting work which has only been distributed in presents by the court of Madrid Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis, opera et studio Michaelis Casiri, Syro Maronitoe. Matriti, in folio, tomus prior, 1760, tomus posterior, 1770.
The execution of this work does honor to the Spanish press; the Mss., to the number of MDCCCLI., are judiciously classed by the editor, and his copious extracts throw some light on the Mahometan literature and history of Spain. These relics are now secure, but the task has been supinely delayed, till, in the year 1671, a fire consumed the greatest part of the Escurial library, rich in the spoils of Grenada and Morocco.
Compare the valuable work of Conde, Historia de la Dominacion de las Arabes en Espana. Madrid, 1820. - M. The Harbii, as they are styled, qui tolerari nequeunt, are, 1. Those who, besides God, worship the sun, moon, or idols. 2. Atheists, Utrique, quamdiu princeps aliquis inter Mohammedanos superest, oppugnari debent donec religionem amplectantur, nec requies iis concedenda est, nec pretium acceptandum pro obtinenda conscientiae libertate, (Reland, Dissertat. x. de Jure Militari Mohammedan. tom. iii. p. 14;) a rigid theory! The distinction between a proscribed and a tolerated sect, between the Harbii and the people of the Book, the believers in some divine revelation, is correctly defined in the conversation of the caliph Al Mamum with the idolaters or Sabaeans of Charrae, (Hottinger, Hist.
Orient. p. 107, 108.) The Zend or Pazend, the bible of the Ghebers, is reckoned by themselves, or at least by the Mahometans, among the ten books which Abraham received from heaven; and their religion is honorably styled the religion of Abraham, (D’Herblot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 701; Hyde, de Religione veterum Persarum, c, iii. p. 27, 28, etc.) I much fear that we do not possess any pure and free description of the system of Zoroaster. Dr. Prideaux (Connection, vol. i. p. 300, octavo) adopts the opinion, that he had been the slave and scholar of some Jewish prophet in the captivity of Babylon. Perhaps the Persians, who have been the masters of the Jews, would assert the honor, a poor honor, of being their masters. Whatever the real age of the Zendavesta, published by Anquetil du Perron, whether of the time of Ardeschir Babeghan, according to Mr. Erskine, or of much higher antiquity, it may be considered, I conceive, both a “pure and a free,” though imperfect, description of Zoroastrianism; particularly with the illustrations of the original translator, and of the German Kleuker - M. The Arabian Nights, a faithful and amusing picture of the Oriental world, represent in the most odious colors of the Magians, or worshippers of fire, to whom they attribute the annual sacrifice of a Mussulman. The religion of Zoroaster has not the least affinity with that of the Hindoos, yet they are often confounded by the Mahometans; and the sword of Timour was sharpened by this mistake, (Hist. de Timour Bec, par Cherefeddin Ali Yezdi, l. v. Vie de Mahomet, par Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 114, 115.) Hae tres sectae, Judaei, Christiani, et qui inter Persas Magorum institutis addicti sunt, kat j ejxoch>n, populi libri dicuntur, (Reland, Dissertat. tom. iii. p. 15.) The caliph Al Mamun confirms this honorable distinction in favor of the three sects, with the vague and equivocal religion of the Sabaeans, under which the ancient polytheists of Charrae were allowed to shelter their idolatrous worship, (Hottinger, Hist.
Orient p. 167, 168.) This singular story is related by D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p 448, 449,) on the faith of Khondemir, and by Mirchond himself, (Hist priorum Regum Persarum, etc., p. 9, 10, not. p. 88, 89.) Mirchond, (Mohammed Emir Khoondah Shah,) a native of Herat, composed in the Persian language a general history of the East, from the creation to the year of the Hegira 875, (A.D. 1471.) In the year (A.D. 1498) the historian obtained the command of a princely library, and his applauded work, in seven or twelve parts, was abbreviated in three volumes by his son Khondemir, A. H. 927, A.D. 1520. The two writers, most accurately distinguished by Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Genghizcan, p.537, 538, 544, 545,) are loosely confounded by D’Herbelot, (p. 358, 410, 994, 995: ) but his numerous extracts, under the improper name of Khondemir, belong to the father rather than the son. The historian of Genghizcan refers to a Ms. of Mirchond, which he received from the hands of his friend D’Herbelot himself. A curious fragment (the Taherian and Soffarian Dynasties) has been lately published in Persic and Latin, (Viennae, 1782, in 4to., cum notis Bernard de Jenisch;) and the editor allows us to hope for a continuation of Mirchond. Quo testimonio boni se quidpiam praestitisse opinabantur. Yet Mirchond must have condemned their zeal, since he approved the legal toleration of the Magi, cui (the fire temple) peracto singulis annis censu uti sacra Mohammedis lege cautum, ab omnibus molestiis ac oneribus libero esse licuit. The last Magian of name and power appears to be Mardavige the Dilemite, who, in the beginning of the 10th century, reigned in the northern provinces of Persia, near the Caspian Sea, (D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 355.) But his soldiers and successors, the Bowides either professed or embraced the Mahometan faith; and under their dynasty (A.D. 933 - 1020) I should say the fall of the religion of Zoroaster. The present state of the Ghebers in Persia is taken from Sir John Chardin, not indeed the most learned, but the most judicious and inquisitive of our modern travelers, (Voyages en Perse, tom. ii. p. 109, 179 - 187, in 4to.) His brethren, Pietro della Valle, Olearius, Thevenot, Tavernier, etc., whom I have fruitlessly searched, had neither eyes nor attention for this interesting people. The letter of Abdoulrahman, governor or tyrant of Africa, to the caliph Aboul Abbas, the first of the Abbassides, is dated A. H. 132 Cardonne, Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, tom. i. p. 168.) Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 66. Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 287, 288. Among the Epistles of the Popes, see Leo IX. epist. 3; Gregor. VII. l. i. epist. 22, 23, l. iii. epist. 19, 20, 21; and the criticisms of Pagi, (tom. iv. A.D. 1053, No. 14, A.D. 1073, No. 13,) who investigates the name and family of the Moorish prince, with whom the proudest of the Roman pontiffs so politely corresponds. Mozarabes, or Mostarabes, adscititii , as it is interpreted in Latin, (Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 39, 40. Bibliot. Arabico- Hispana, tom. ii. p. 18.) The Mozarabic liturgy, the ancient ritual of the church of Toledo, has been attacked by the popes, and exposed to the doubtful trials of the sword and of fire, (Marian. Hist. Hispan. tom. i. l. ix. c. 18, p. 378.) It was, or rather it is, in the Latin tongue; yet in the xith century it was found necessary (A. Ae. C. 1687, A.D. 1039) to transcribe an Arabic version of the canons of the councils of Spain, (Bibliot. Arab. Hisp. tom. i. p. 547,) for the use of the bishops and clergy in the Moorish kingdoms. About the middle of the xth century, the clergy of Cordova was reproached with this criminal compliance, by the intrepid envoy of the Emperor Otho I., (Vit. Johan. Gorz, in Secul. Benedict. V. No. 115, apud Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 91.) Pagi, Critica, tom. iv. A.D. 1149, No. 8, 9. He justly observes, that when Seville, etc., were retaken by Ferdinand of Castille, no Christians, except captives, were found in the place; and that the Mozarabic churches of Africa and Spain, described by James a Vitriaco, A.D. 1218, (Hist. Hierosol. c. 80, p. 1095, in Gest. Dei per Francos,) are copied from some older book. I shall add, that the date of the Hegira 677 (A.D. 1278) must apply to the copy, not the composition, of a treatise of a jurisprudence, which states the civil rights of the Christians of Cordova, (Bibliot. Arab. Hisp. tom. i. p. 471;) and that the Jews were the only dissenters whom Abul Waled, king of Grenada, (A.D. 1313,) could either discountenance or tolerate, (tom. ii. p. 288.) Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 288. Leo Africanus would have flattered his Roman masters, could he have discovered any latent relics of the Christianity of Africa. Absit (said the Catholic to the vizier of Bagdad) ut pari loco habeas Nestorianos, quorum praeter Arabas nullus alius rex est, et Graecos quorum reges amovendo Arabibus bello non desistunt, etc. See in the Collections of Assemannus (Bibliot. Orient. tom. iv. p. 94 - 101) the state of the Nestorians under the caliphs. That of the Jacobites is more concisely exposed in the Preliminary Dissertation of the second volume of Assemannus. Eutych. Annal. tom. ii. p. 384, 387, 388. Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch.
Alex. p. 205, 206, 257, 332. A taint of the Monothelite heresy might render the first of these Greek patriarchs less loyal to the emperors and less obnoxious to the Arabs. Motadhed, who reigned from A.D. 892 to 902. The Magians still held their name and rank among the religions of the empire, (Assemanni, Bibliot. Orient. tom. iv. p. 97.) Reland explains the general restraints of the Mahometan policy and jurisprudence, (Dissertat. tom. iii. p. 16 - 20.) The oppressive edicts of the caliph Motawakkel, (A.D. 847 - 861,) which are still in force, are noticed by Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 448,) and D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 640.) A persecution of the caliph Omar II. is related, and most probably magnified, by the Greek Theophanes (Chron p. 334.) The martyrs of Cordova (A.D. 850, etc.) are commemorated and justified by St. Eulogius, who at length fell a victim himself. A synod, convened by the caliph, ambiguously censured their rashness. The moderate Fleury cannot reconcile their conduct with the discipline of antiquity, toutefois l’autorite de l’eglise, etc. (Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. x. p. 415 - 522, particularly p. 451, 508, 509.) Their authentic acts throw a strong, though transient, light on the Spanish church in the ixth century. See the article Eslamiah , (as we say Christendom,) in the Bibliotheque Orientale, (p. 325.) This chart of the Mahometan world is suited by the author, Ebn Alwardi, to the year of the Hegira 385 (A.D. 995.) Since that time, the losses in Spain have been overbalanced by the conquests in India, Tartary, and the European Turkey. The Arabic of the Koran is taught as a dead language in the college of Mecca. By the Danish traveler, this ancient idiom is compared to the Latin; the vulgar tongue of Hejaz and Yemen to the Italian; and the Arabian dialects of Syria, Egypt, Africa, etc., to the Provencal, Spanish, and Portuguese, (Niebuhr, Description de l’Arabie, p. 74, etc.)
CHAPTER - Theophanes places the seven years of the siege of Constantinople in the year of our Christian aera, 673 (of the Alexandrian 665, Sept. 1,) and the peace of the Saracens, four years afterwards; a glaring inconsistency! which Petavius, Goar, and Pagi, (Critica, tom. iv. p. 63, 64,) have struggled to remove. Of the Arabians, the Hegira 52 (A.D. 672, January 8) is assigned by Elmacin, the year 48 (A.D. 688, Feb. 20) by Abulfeda, whose testimony I esteem the most convenient and credible. For this first siege of Constantinople, see Nicephorus, (Breviar. p. 21, 22;) Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 294;) Cedrenus, (Compend. p. 437;) Zonaras, (Hist. tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 89;) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 56, 57;) Abulfeda, (Annal. Moslem. p. 107, 108, vers. Reiske;) D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. Constantinah;) Ockley’s History of the Saracens, vol. ii. p. 127, 128. The state and defense of the Dardanelles is exposed in the Memoirs of the Baron de Tott, (tom. iii. p. 39 - 97,) who was sent to fortify them against the Russians. From a principal actor, I should have expected more accurate details; but he seems to write for the amusement, rather than the instruction, of his reader. Perhaps, on the approach of the enemy, the minister of Constantine was occupied, like that of Mustapha, in finding two Canary birds who should sing precisely the same note. Demetrius Cantemir’s Hist. of the Othman Empire, p. 105, 106.
Rycaut’s State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 10, 11. Voyages of Thevenot, part i. p. 189. The Christians, who suppose that the martyr Abu Ayub is vulgarly confounded with the patriarch Job, betray their own ignorance rather than that of the Turks. Theophanes, though a Greek, deserves credit for these tributes, (Chronograph. p. 295, 296, 300, 301,) which are confirmed, with some variation, by the Arabic History of Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 128, vers. Pocock.) The censure of Theophanes is just and pointed, th Besides our printed authors, he draws his materials from the Arabic Mss. of Oxford, which he would have more deeply searched had he been confined to the Bodleian library instead of the city jail a fate how unworthy of the man and of his country! Elmacin, who dates the first coinage A. H. 76, A.D. 695, five or six years later than the Greek historians, has compared the weight of the best or common gold dinar to the drachm or dirhem of Egypt, (p. 77,) which may be equal to two pennies (48 grains) of our Troy weight, (Hooper’s Inquiry into Ancient Measures, p. 24 - 36,) and equivalent to eight shillings of our sterling money. From the same Elmacin and the Arabian physicians, some dinars as high as two dirhems, as low as half a dirhem, may be deduced. The piece of silver was the dirhem, both in value and weight; but an old, though fair coin, struck at Waset, A. H. 88, and preserved in the Bodleian library, wants four grains of the Cairo standard, (see the Modern Universal History, tom. i. p. 548 of the French translation.) See, also, in the Journal Asiatique, tom. ii. p. 257, et seq., a paper of M. Silvestre de Sacy, entitled Des Monnaies des Khalifes avant l’An 75 de l’Hegire. See, also the translation of a German paper on the Arabic medals of the Chosroes, by M. Fraehn. in the same Journal Asiatique tom. iv. p. 331 - 347. St. Martin, vol. xii. p. 19 - M. Kai< ejkw>luse gra>fesqai JEllhnisto tou Theophan. Chronograph. p. 314. This defect, if it really existed, must have stimulated the ingenuity of the Arabs to invent or borrow. According to a new, though probable, notion, maintained by M de Villoison, (Anecdota Graeca, tom. ii. p. 152 - 157,) our ciphers are not of Indian or Arabic invention. They were used by the Greek and Latin arithmeticians long before the age of Boethius. After the extinction of science in the West, they were adopted by the Arabic versions from the original Mss., and restored to the Latins about the xith century. Note:
Compare, on the Introduction of the Arabic numerals, Hallam’s Introduction to the Literature of Europe, p. 150, note, and the authors quoted therein. - M. In the division of the Themes, or provinces described by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, (de Thematibus, l. i. p. 9, 10,) the Obsequium, a Latin appellation of the army and palace, was the fourth in the public order.
Nice was the metropolis, and its jurisdiction extended from the Hellespont over the adjacent parts of Bithynia and Phrygia, (see the two maps prefixed by Delisle to the Imperium Orientale of Banduri.) Compare page 274. It is singular that Gibbon should thus contradict himself in a few pages. By his own account this was the second time. - M. The account of this siege in the Tarikh Tebry is a very unfavorable specimen of Asiatic history, full of absurd fables, and written with total ignorance of the circumstances of time and place. Price, vol. i. p. 498 - M. The caliph had emptied two baskets of eggs and of figs, which he swallowed alternately, and the repast was concluded with marrow and sugar. In one of his pilgrimages to Mecca, Soliman ate, at a single meal, seventy pomegranates, a kid, six fowls, and a huge quantity of the grapes of Tayef. If the bill of fare be correct, we must admire the appetite, rather than the luxury, of the sovereign of Asia, (Abulfeda, Annal. Moslem. p. 126.) Note: The Tarikh Tebry ascribes the death of Soliman to a pleurisy. The same gross gluttony in which Soliman indulged, though not fatal to the life, interfered with the military duties, of his brother Moslemah. Price, vol. i. p. 511. - M. Major Price’s estimate of Omar’s character is much more favorable.
Among a race of sanguinary tyrants, Omar was just and humane. His virtues as well as his bigotry were active. - M. See the article of Omar Ben Abdalaziz, in the Bibliotheque Orientale, (p. 689, 690,) praeferens, says Elmacin, (p. 91,) religionem suam rebus suis mundanis. He was so desirous of being with God, that he would not have anointed his ear (his own saying) to obtain a perfect cure of his last malady. The caliph had only one shirt, and in an age of luxury, his annual expense was no more than two drachms, (Abulpharagius, p. 131.) Haud diu gavisus eo principe fuit urbis Muslemus, (Abulfeda, p. 127.) Both Nicephorus and Theophanes agree that the siege of Constantinople was raised the 15th of August, (A.D. 718;) but as the former, our best witness, affirms that it continued thirteen months, the latter must be mistaken in supposing that it began on the same day of the preceding year. I do not find that Pagi has remarked this inconsistency. The Tarikh Tebry embellishes the retreat of Moslemah with some extraordinary and incredible circumstances. Price, p. 514. - M. In the second siege of Constantinople, I have followed Nicephorus, (Brev. p. 33 - 36,) Theophanes, (Chronograph, p. 324 - 334,) Cedrenus, (Compend. p. 449 - 452,) Zonaras, (tom. ii. p. 98 - 102,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen, p. 88,) Abulfeda, (Annal. Moslem. p. 126,) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 130,) the most satisfactory of the Arabs. Our sure and indefatigable guide in the middle ages and Byzantine history, Charles du Fresne du Cange, has treated in several places of the Greek fire, and his collections leave few gleanings behind. See particularly Glossar. Med. et Infim. Graecitat. p. 1275, sub voce.
Glossar. Med. et Infim. Latinitat. Ignis Groecus. Observations sur Villehardouin, p. 305, 306. Observations sur Joinville, p. 71, 72. Theophanes styles him, ajrcitektw>n (p. 295.) Cedrenus (p. 437) brings this artist from (the ruins of) Heliopolis in Egypt; and chemistry was indeed the peculiar science of the Egyptians. The naphtha, the oleum incendiarium of the history of Jerusalem, (Gest. Dei per Francos, p. 1167,) the Oriental fountain of James de Vitry, (l. iii. c. 84,) is introduced on slight evidence and strong probability. Cinanmus (l. vi. p. 165) calls the Greek fire: and the naphtha is known to abound between the Tigris and the Caspian Sea.
According to Pliny, (Hist. Natur. ii. 109,) it was subservient to the revenge of Medea, and in either etymology, (Procop. de Bell. Gothic. l. iv. c. 11,) may fairly signify this liquid bitumen. It is remarkable that the Syrian historian Michel gives the name of naphtha to the newlyinvented Greek fire, which seems to indicate that this substance formed the base of the destructive compound. St. Martin, tom. xi. p. 420. - M. On the different sorts of oils and bitumens, see Dr. Watson’s (the present bishop of Llandaff’s) Chemical Essays, vol. iii. essay i., a classic book, the best adapted to infuse the taste and knowledge of chemistry.
The less perfect ideas of the ancients may be found in Strabo (Geograph. l. xvi. p. 1078) and Pliny, (Hist. Natur. ii. 108, 109.) Huic (Naphthae) magna cognatio est ignium, transiliuntque protinus in eam undecunque visam. Of our travelers I am best pleased with Otter, (tom. i. p. 153, 158.) Anna Comnena has partly drawn aside the curtain. JApo< th~v peu>khv, kai< a]llwn tinw~n toiou>twn de>ndrwn ajeiqa>lwn suna>getai da>kruon a]kauston. Tou~to meta< Qei>ou trizo>menon ejmza>lletai eijv aujli>skiouv kala>mwn, kai< ejmfu>satai para< tou~ pai>zoutov lazrw| kai< sunecai~ pneu>mati (Alexiad. l. xiii. p. 383.) Elsewhere (l. xi. p. 336) she mentions the property of burning, kata< to< prane The Moslems are silent or concise in the account of their losses; but M Cardonne (tom. i. p. 129, 130, 131) has given a pure and simple account of all that he could collect from Ibn Halikan, Hidjazi, and an anonymous writer. The texts of the chronicles of France, and lives of saints, are inserted in the Collection of Bouquet, (tom. iii.,) and the Annals of Pagi, who (tom. iii. under the proper years) has restored the chronology, which is anticipated six years in the Annals of Baronius.
The Dictionary of Bayle (Abderame and Munuza) has more merit for lively reflection than original research. Eginhart, de Vita Caroli Magni, c. ii. p. 13 - 78, edit. Schmink, Utrecht, 1711. Some modern critics accuse the minister of Charlemagne of exaggerating the weakness of the Merovingians; but the general outline is just, and the French reader will forever repeat the beautiful lines of Boileau’s Lutrin. Mamaccae, on the Oyse, between Compiegne and Noyon, which Eginhart calls perparvi reditus villam, (see the notes, and the map of ancient France for Dom. Bouquet’s Collection.) Compendium, or Compiegne, was a palace of more dignity, (Hadrian. Valesii Notitia Galliarum, p. 152,) and that laughing philosopher, the Abbe Galliani, (Dialogues sur le Commerce des Bleds,) may truly affirm, that it was the residence of the rois tres Chretiens en tres chevelus. Even before that colony, A. U. C. 630, (Velleius Patercul. i. 15,) In the time of Polybius, (Hist. l. iii. p. 265, edit. Gronov.) Narbonne was a Celtic town of the first eminence, and one of the most northern places of the known world, (D’Anville, Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, p. 473.) With regard to the sanctuary of St. Martin of Tours, Roderic Ximenes accuses the Saracens of the deed. Turonis civitatem, ecclesiam et palatia vastatione et incendio simili diruit et consumpsit. The continuator of Fredegarius imputes to them no more than the intention.
Ad domum beatissimi Martini evertendam destinant. At Carolus, etc.
The French annalist was more jealous of the honor of the saint. Yet I sincerely doubt whether the Oxford mosch would have produced a volume of controversy so elegant and ingenious as the sermons lately preached by Mr. White, the Arabic professor, at Mr. Bampton’s lecture. His observations on the character and religion of Mahomet are always adapted to his argument, and generally founded in truth and reason. He sustains the part of a lively and eloquent advocate; and sometimes rises to the merit of an historian and philosopher. Gens Austriae membrorum pre-eminentia valida, et gens Germana corde et corpore praestantissima, quasi in ictu oculi, manu ferrea, et pectore arduo, Arabes extinxerunt, (Roderic. Toletan. c. xiv.) These numbers are stated by Paul Warnefrid, the deacon of Aquileia, (de Gestis Langobard. l. vi. p. 921, edit. Grot.,) and Anastasius, the librarian of the Roman church, (in Vit. Gregorii II.,) who tells a miraculous story of three consecrated sponges, which rendered invulnerable the French soldiers, among whom they had been shared It should seem, that in his letters to the pope, Eudes usurped the honor of the victory, from which he is chastised by the French annalists, who, with equal falsehood, accuse him of inviting the Saracens. Narbonne, and the rest of Septimania, was recovered by Pepin the son of Charles Martel, A.D. 755, (Pagi, Critica, tom. iii. p. 300.) Thirtyseven years afterwards, it was pillaged by a sudden inroad of the Arabs, who employed the captives in the construction of the mosch of Cordova, (De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 354.) This pastoral letter, addressed to Lewis the Germanic, the grandson of Charlemagne, and most probably composed by the pen of the artful Hincmar, is dated in the year 858, and signed by the bishops of the provinces of Rheims and Rouen, (Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 741.
Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. x. p. 514 - 516.) Yet Baronius himself, and the French critics, reject with contempt this episcopal fiction. The steed and the saddle which had carried any of his wives were instantly killed or burnt, lest they should afterwards be mounted by a male. Twelve hundred mules or camels were required for his kitchen furniture; and the daily consumption amounted to three thousand cakes, a hundred sheep, besides oxen, poultry, etc., (Abul pharagius, Hist.
Dynast. p. 140.) He is called Abdullah or Abul Abbas in the Tarikh Tebry. Price vol. i. p. 600. Saffah or Saffauh (the Sanguinary) was a name which be required after his bloody reign, (vol. ii. p. 1.) - M. Al Hemar. He had been governor of Mesopotamia, and the Arabic proverb praises the courage of that warlike breed of asses who never fly from an enemy. The surname of Mervan may justify the comparison of Homer, (Iliad, A. 557, etc.,) and both will silence the moderns, who consider the ass as a stupid and ignoble emblem, (D’Herbelot, Bibliot.
Orient. p. 558.) Four several places, all in Egypt, bore the name of Busir, or Busiris, so famous in Greek fable. The first, where Mervan was slain was to the west of the Nile, in the province of Fium, or Arsinoe; the second in the Delta, in the Sebennytic nome; the third near the pyramids; the fourth, which was destroyed by Dioclesian, (see above, vol. ii. p. 130,) in the Thebais. I shall here transcribe a note of the learned and orthodox Michaelis: Videntur in pluribus Aegypti superioris urbibus Busiri Coptoque arma sumpsisse Christiani, libertatemque de religione sentiendi defendisse, sed succubuisse quo in bello Coptus et Busiris diruta, et circa Esnam magna strages edita. Bellum narrant sed causam belli ignorant scriptores Byzantini, alioqui Coptum et Busirim non rebellasse dicturi, sed causam Christianorum suscepturi, (Not. 211, p. 100.) For the geography of the four Busirs, see Abulfeda, (Descript.
Aegypt. p. 9, vers. Michaelis, Gottingae, 1776, in 4to.,) Michaelis, (Not. 122 - 127, p. 58 - 63,) and D’Anville, (Memoire sua l’Egypte, p. 85, 147, 205.) See Abulfeda, (Annal. Moslem. p. 136 - 145,) Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 392, vers. Pocock,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 109 - 121,) Abulpharagius, (Hist. Dynast. p. 134 - 140,) Roderic of Toledo, (Hist.
Arabum, c. xviii. p. 33,) Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 356, 357, who speaks of the Abbassides) and the Bibliotheque of D’Herbelot, in the articles Ommiades, Abbassides, Moervan, Ibrahim, Saffah, Abou Moslem. For the revolution of Spain, consult Roderic of Toledo, (c. xviii. p. 34, etc.,) the Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, (tom. ii. p. 30, 198,) and Cardonne, (Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, tom. i. p. 180 - 197, 205, 272, 323, etc.) I shall not stop to refute the strange errors and fancies of Sir William Temple (his Works, vol. iii. p. 371 - 374, octavo edition) and Voltaire (Histoire Generale, c. xxviii. tom. ii. p. 124, 125, edition de Lausanne) concerning the division of the Saracen empire. The mistakes of Voltaire proceeded from the want of knowledge or reflection; but Sir William was deceived by a Spanish impostor, who has framed an apocryphal history of the conquest of Spain by the Arabs. The geographer D’Anville, (l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 121 - 123,) and the Orientalist D’Herbelot, (Bibliotheque, p. 167, 168,) may suffice for the knowledge of Bagdad. Our travelers, Pietro della Valle, (tom. i. p. 688 - 698,) Tavernier, (tom. i. p. 230 - 238,) Thevenot, (part ii. p. - 212,) Otter, (tom. i. p. 162 - 168,) and Niebuhr, (Voyage en Arabie, tom. ii. p. 239 - 271,) have seen only its decay; and the Nubian geographer, (p. 204,) and the travelling Jew, Benjamin of Tuleda (Itinerarium, p. 112 - 123, a Const. l’Empereur, apud Elzevir, 1633,) are the only writers of my acquaintance, who have known Bagdad under the reign of the Abbassides. The foundations of Bagdad were laid A. H. 145, A.D. 762. Mostasem, the last of the Abbassides, was taken and put to death by the Tartars, A. H. 656, A.D. 1258, the 20th of February. Medinat al Salem, Dar al Salem. Urbs pacis, or, as it is more neatly compounded by the Byzantine writers, Eijrhno>poliv (Irenopolis.)
There is some dispute concerning the etymology of Bagdad, but the first syllable is allowed to signify a garden in the Persian tongue; the garden of Dad, a Christian hermit, whose cell had been the only habitation on the spot. Reliquit in aerario sexcenties millies mille stateres. et quater et vicies millies mille aureos aureos. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 126. I have reckoned the gold pieces at eight shillings, and the proportion to the silver as twelve to one. But I will never answer for the numbers of Erpenius; and the Latins are scarcely above the savages in the language of arithmetic. D’Herbelot, p. 530. Abulfeda, p. 154. Nivem Meccam apportavit, rem ibi aut nunquam aut rarissime visam. Abulfeda (p. 184, 189) describes the splendor and liberality of Almamon. Milton has alluded to this Oriental custom: Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand, Showers on her kings Barbaric pearls and gold. I have used the modern word lottery to express the word of the Roman emperors, which entitled to some prize the person who caught them, as they were thrown among the crowd. When Bell of Antermony (Travels, vol. i. p. 99) accompanied the Russian ambassador to the audience of the unfortunate Shah Hussein of Persia, two lions were introduced, to denote the power of the king over the fiercest animals. Abulfeda, p. 237. D’Herbelot, p. 590. This embassy was received at Bagdad, A. H. 305, A.D. 917. In the passage of Abulfeda, I have used, with some variations, the English translation of the learned and amiable Mr. Harris of Salisbury, (Philological Enquiries p. 363, 364.) Cardonne, Histoire de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, tom. i. p. 330 - 336.
A just idea of the taste and architecture of the Arabians of Spain may be conceived from the description and plates of the Alhambra of Grenada, (Swinburne’s Travels, p. 171 - 188.) Cardonne, tom. i. p. 329, 330. This confession, the complaints of Solomon of the vanity of this world, (read Prior’s verbose but eloquent poem,) and the happy ten days of the emperor Seghed, (Rambler, No. 204, 205,) will be triumphantly quoted by the detractors of human life.
Their expectations are commonly immoderate, their estimates are seldom impartial. If I may speak of myself, (the only person of whom I can speak with certainty,) my happy hours have far exceeded, and far exceed, the scanty numbers of the caliph of Spain; and I shall not scruple to add, that many of them are due to the pleasing labor of the present composition. The Guliston (p. 29) relates the conversation of Mahomet and a physician, (Epistol. Renaudot. in Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. i. p. 814.) The prophet himself was skilled in the art of medicine; and Gagnier (Vie de Mahomet, tom. iii. p. 394 - 405) has given an extract of the aphorisms which are extant under his name. See their curious architecture in Reaumur (Hist. des Insectes, tom. v.
Memoire viii.) These hexagons are closed by a pyramid; the angles of the three sides of a similar pyramid, such as would accomplish the given end with the smallest quantity possible of materials, were determined by a mathematician, at 109 degrees 26 minutes for the larger, 70 degrees 34 minutes for the smaller. The actual measure is 109 degrees 28 minutes, 70 degrees 32 minutes. Yet this perfect harmony raises the work at the expense of the artist he bees are not masters of transcendent geometry. Saed Ebn Ahmed, cadhi of Toledo, who died A. H. 462, A.D. 069, has furnished Abulpharagius (Dynast. p. 160) with this curious passage, as well as with the text of Pocock’s Specimen Historiae Arabum. A number of literary anecdotes of philosophers, physicians, etc., who have flourished under each caliph, form the principal merit of the Dynasties of Abulpharagius. These literary anecdotes are borrowed from the Bibliotheca Arabico- Hispana, (tom. ii. p. 38, 71, 201, 202,) Leo Africanus, (de Arab.
Medicis et Philosophis, in Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. xiii. p. 259 - 293, particularly p. 274,) and Renaudot, (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 274, 275, 536, 537,) besides the chronological remarks of Abulpharagius. The Arabic catalogue of the Escurial will give a just idea of the proportion of the classes. In the library of Cairo, the Mss of astronomy and medicine amounted to 6500, with two fair globes, the one of brass, the other of silver, (Bibliot. Arab. Hisp. tom. i. p. 417.) As, for instance, the fifth, sixth, and seventh books (the eighth is still wanting) of the Conic Sections of Apollonius Pergaeus, which were printed from the Florence Ms. 1661, (Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. ii. p. 559.) Yet the fifth book had been previously restored by the mathematical divination of Viviani, (see his Eloge in Fontenelle, tom. v. p. 59, etc.) The merit of these Arabic versions is freely discussed by Renaudot, (Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. i. p. 812 - 816,) and piously defended by Casiri, (Bibliot. Arab. Hispana, tom. i. p. 238 - 240.) Most of the versions of Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, etc., are ascribed to Honain, a physician of the Nestorian sect, who flourished at Bagdad in the court of the caliphs, and died A.D. 876. He was at the head of a school or manufacture of translations, and the works of his sons and disciples were published under his name. See Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 88, 115, 171 - 174, and apud Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 438,) D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 456,) Asseman. (Bibliot.
Orient. tom. iii. p. 164,) and Casiri, (Bibliot. Arab. Hispana, tom. i. p. 238, etc. 251, 286 - 290, 302, 304, etc.) See Mosheim, Institut. Hist. Eccles. p. 181, 214, 236, 257, 315, 388, 396, 438, etc. The most elegant commentary on the Categories or Predicaments of Aristotle may be found in the Philosophical Arrangements of Mr. James Harris, (London, 1775, in octavo,) who labored to revive the studies of Grecian literature and philosophy. Abulpharagius, Dynast. p. 81, 222. Bibliot. Arab. Hisp. tom. i. p. 370, 371. In quem (says the primate of the Jacobites) si immiserit selector, oceanum hoc in genere (algebrae) inveniet. The time of Diophantus of Alexandria is unknown; but his six books are still extant, and have been illustrated by the Greek Planudes and the Frenchman Meziriac, (Fabric.
Bibliot. Graec. tom. iv. p. 12 - 15.) Abulfeda (Annal. Moslem. p. 210, 211, vers. Reiske) describes this operation according to Ibn Challecan, and the best historians. This degree most accurately contains 200,000 royal or Hashemite cubits which Arabia had derived from the sacred and legal practice both of Palestine and Egypt. This ancient cubit is repeated 400 times in each basis of the great pyramid, and seems to indicate the primitive and universal measures of the East. See the Metrologie of the laborions. M.
Paucton, p. 101 - 195. See the Astronomical Tables of Ulugh Begh, with the preface of Dr.
Hyde in the first volume of his Syntagma Dissertationum, Oxon. 1767. The truth of astrology was allowed by Albumazar, and the best of the Arabian astronomers, who drew their most certain predictions, not from Venus and Mercury, but from Jupiter and the sun, (Abulpharag.
Dynast. p. 161 - 163.) For the state and science of the Persian astronomers, see Chardin, (Voyages en Perse, tom. iii. p. 162 - 203.) Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom. i. p. 438. The original relates a pleasant tale of an ignorant, but harmless, practitioner. In the year 956, Sancho the Fat, king of Leon, was cured by the physicians of Cordova, (Mariana, l. viii. c. 7, tom. i. p. 318.) The school of Salerno, and the introduction of the Arabian sciences into Italy, are discussed with learning and judgment by Muratori (Antiquitat. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. iii. p. 932 - 940) and Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii. p. 119 - 127.) See a good view of the progress of anatomy in Wotton, (Reflections on Ancient and Modern Learning, p. 208 - 256.) His reputation has been unworthily depreciated by the wits in the controversy of Boyle and Bentley. Bibliot. Arab. Hispana, tom. i. p. 275. Al Beithar, of Malaga, their greatest botanist, had traveled into Africa, Persia, and India. Dr. Watson, (Elements of Chemistry, vol. i. p. 17, etc.) allows the original merit of the Arabians. Yet he quotes the modest confession of the famous Geber of the ixth century, (D’Herbelot, p. 387,) that he had drawn most of his science, perhaps the transmutation of metals, from the ancient sages. Whatever might be the origin or extent of their knowledge, the arts of chemistry and alchemy appear to have been known in Egypt at least three hundred years before Mahomet, (Wotton’s Reflections, p. 121 - 133. Pauw, Recherches sur les Egyptiens et les Chinois, tom. i. p. 376 - 429.) Note: Mr. Whewell (Hist. of Inductive Sciences, vol. i. p. 336) rejects the claim of the Arabians as inventors of the science of chemistry. “The formation and realization of the notions of analysis and affinity were important steps in chemical science; which, as I shall hereafter endeavor to show it remained for the chemists of Europe to make at a much later period.” - M. Abulpharagius (Dynast. p. 26, 148) mentions a Syriac version of Homer’s two poems, by Theophilus, a Christian Maronite of Mount Libanus, who professed astronomy at Roha or Edessa towards the end of the viiith century. His work would be a literary curiosity. I have read somewhere, but I do not believe, that Plutarch’s Lives were translated into Turkish for the use of Mahomet the Second. I have perused, with much pleasure, Sir William Jones’s Latin Commentary on Asiatic Poetry, (London, 1774, in octavo,) which was composed in the youth of that wonderful linguist. At present, in the maturity of his taste and judgment, he would perhaps abate of the fervent, and even partial, praise which he has bestowed on the Orientals. Among the Arabian philosophers, Averroes has been accused of despising the religions of the Jews, the Christians, and the Mahometans, (see his article in Bayle’s Dictionary.) Each of these sects would agree, that in two instances out of three, his contempt was reasonable. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque, Orientale, p. 546. Qeo>filov a]topon kri>nav eij th Cedrenus, p. 548, who relates how manfully the emperor refused a mathematician to the instances and offers of the caliph Almamon. This absurd scruple is expressed almost in the same words by the continuator of Theophanes, (Scriptores post Theophanem, p. 118.) See the reign and character of Harun Al Rashid, in the Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 431 - 433, under his proper title; and in the relative articles to which M. D’Herbelot refers. That learned collector has shown much taste in stripping the Oriental chronicles of their instructive and amusing anecdotes. For the situation of Racca, the old Nicephorium, consult D’Anville, (l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 24 - 27.) The Arabian Nights represent Harun al Rashid as almost stationary in Bagdad. He respected the royal seat of the Abbassides: but the vices of the inhabitants had driven him from the city, (Abulfed. Annal. p. 167.) M. de Tournefort, in his coasting voyage from Constantinople to Trebizond, passed a night at Heraclea or Eregri. His eye surveyed the present state, his reading collected the antiquities, of the city (Voyage du Levant, tom. iii. lettre xvi. p. 23 - 35.) We have a separate history of Heraclea in the fragments of Memnon, which are preserved by Photius. The wars of Harun al Rashid against the Roman empire are related by Theophanes, (p. 384, 385, 391, 396, 407, 408.) Zonaras, (tom. iii. l. xv. p. 115, 124,) Cedrenus, (p. 477, 478,) Eutycaius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 407,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 136, 151, 152,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 147, 151,) and Abulfeda, (p. 156, 166 - 168.) The authors from whom I have learned the most of the ancient and modern state of Crete, are Belon, (Observations, etc., c. 3 - 20, Paris, 1555,) Tournefort, (Voyage du Levant, tom. i. lettre ii. et iii.,) and Meursius, (Creta, in his works, tom. iii. p. 343 - 544.) Although Crete is styled by Homer, by Dionysius, I cannot conceive that mountainous island to surpass, or even to equal, in fertility the greater part of Spain. The most authentic and circumstantial intelligence is obtained from the four books of the Continuation of Theophanes, compiled by the pen or the command of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, with the Life of his father Basil, the Macedonian, (Scriptores post Theophanem, p. 1 - 162, a Francisc. Combefis, Paris, 1685.) The loss of Crete and Sicily is related, l. ii. p. 46 - 52. To these we may add the secondary evidence of Joseph Genesius, (l. ii. p. 21, Venet. 1733,) George Cedrenus, (Compend. p. 506 - 508,) and John Scylitzes Curopalata, (apud Baron.
Annal. Eccles. A.D. 827, No. 24, etc.) But the modern Greeks are such notorious plagiaries, that I should only quote a plurality of names. Renaudot (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 251 - 256, 268 - 270) had described the ravages of the Andalusian Arabs in Egypt, but has forgot to connect them with the conquest of Crete. Dhloi~ (says the continuator of Theophanes, l. ii. p. 51.), de< tau~ta safe>stata kai< platikw>teron hJ to>te grafei~sa qeognw>stw| kai< eijv cei~rav ejlqou~sa hJmw~n. This history of the loss of Sicily is no longer extant. Muratori (Annali d’ Italia, tom. vii. p. 719, 721, etc.) has added some circumstances from the Italian chronicles. The splendid and interesting tragedy of Tancrede would adapt itself much better to this epoch, than to the date (A.D. 1005) which Voltaire himself has chosen. But I must gently reproach the poet for infusing into the Greek subjects the spirit of modern knights and ancient republicans. The narrative or lamentation of Theodosius is transcribed and illustrated by Pagi, (Critica, tom. iii. p. 719, etc.) Constantine Porphyrogenitus (in Vit. Basil, c. 69, 70, p. 190 - 192) mentions the loss of Syracuse and the triumph of the demons. The extracts from the Arabic histories of Sicily are given in Abulfeda, (Annal’ Moslem. p. 271 - 273,) and in the first volume of Muratori’s Scriptores Rerum Italicarum. M. de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 363, 364) has added some important facts. One of the most eminent Romans (Gratianus, magister militum et Romani palatii superista) was accused of declaring, Quia Franci nihil nobis boni faciunt, neque adjutorium praebent, sed magis quae nostra sunt violenter tollunt. Quare non advocamus Graecos, et cum eis foedus pacis componentes, Francorum regem et gentem de nostro regno et dominatione expellimus? Anastasius in Leone IV. p. 199. Voltaire (Hist. Generale, tom. ii. c. 38, p. 124) appears to be remarkably struck with the character of Pope Leo IV. I have borrowed his general expression, but the sight of the forum has furnished me with a more distinct and lively image. De Guignes, Hist. Generale des Huns, tom. i. p. 363, 364. Cardonne, Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, sous la Domination des Arabs, tom. ii. p. 24, 25. I observe, and cannot reconcile, the difference of these writers in the succession of the Aglabites. Beretti (Chorographia Italiae Medii Evi, p. 106, 108) has illustrated Centumcellae, Leopolis, Civitas Leonina, and the other places of the Roman duchy. The Arabs and the Greeks are alike silent concerning the invasion of Rome by the Africans. The Latin chronicles do not afford much instruction, (see the Annals of Baronius and Pagi.) Our authentic and contemporary guide for the popes of the ixth century is Anastasius, librarian of the Roman church. His Life of Leo IV, contains twentyfour pages, (p. 175 - 199, edit. Paris;) and if a great part consist of superstitious trifles, we must blame or command his hero, who was much oftener in a church than in a camp. The same number was applied to the following circumstance in the life of Motassem: he was the eight of the Abbassides; he reigned eight years, eight months, and eight days; left eight sons, eight daughters, eight thousand slaves, eight millions of gold. Amorium is seldom mentioned by the old geographers, and to tally forgotten in the Roman Itineraries. After the vith century, it became an episcopal see, and at length the metropolis of the new Galatia, (Carol.
Scto. Paulo, Geograph. Sacra, p. 234.) The city rose again from its ruins, if we should read Ammeria, not Anguria, in the text of the Nubian geographer. (p. 236.) In the East he was styled, Dustuch Many of the prisoners of Amorium were probably among them, but in the same year, (A. H. 231,) the most illustrious of them, the forty two martyrs, were beheaded by the caliph’s order. Constantin. Porphyrogenitus, in Vit. Basil. c. 61, p. 186. These Saracens were indeed treated with peculiar severity as pirates and renegadoes. For Theophilus, Motassem, and the Amorian war, see the Continuator of Theophanes, (l. iii. p. 77 - 84,) Genesius (l. iii. p. 24 - 34.) Cedrenus, (p. 528 - 532,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen, p. 180,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 165, 166,) Abulfeda, (Annal. Moslem. p. 191,) D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 639, 640.) M. de Guignes, who sometimes leaps, and sometimes stumbles, in the gulf between Chinese and Mahometan story, thinks he can see, that these Turks are the Hoei-ke, alias the Kao-tche, or high-wagons; that they were divided into fifteen hordes, from China and Siberia to the dominions of the caliphs and Samanides, etc., (Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. p. 1 - 33, 124 - 131.) He changed the old name of Sumera, or Samara, into the fanciful title of Sermen-rai, that which gives pleasure at first sight, (D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 808. D’Anville, l’Euphrate et le Tigre p. 97, 98.) Take a specimen, the death of the caliph Motaz: Correptum pedibus pertrahunt, et sudibus probe permulcant, et spoliatum laceris vestibus in sole collocant, prae cujus acerrimo aestu pedes alternos attollebat et demittebat. Adstantium aliquis misero colaphos continuo ingerebat, quos ille objectis manibus avertere studebat ..... Quo facto traditus tortori fuit, totoque triduo cibo potuque prohibitus ..... Suffocatus, etc. (Abulfeda, p. 206.) Of the caliph Mohtadi, he says, services ipsi perpetuis ictibus contundebant, testiculosque pedibus conculcabant, (p. 208.) See under the reigns of Motassem, Motawakkel, Montasser, Mostain, Motaz, Mohtadi, and Motamed, in the Bibliotheque of D’Herbelot, and the now familiar Annals of Elmacin, Abulpharagius, and Abulfeda. For the sect of the Carmathians, consult Elmacin, (Hist. Sara cen, p. 219, 224, 229, 231, 238, 241, 243,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 179 - 182,) Abulfeda, (Annal. Moslem. p. 218, 219, etc., 245, 265, 274.) and D’Herbelot, (Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 256 - 258, 635.) I find some inconsistencies of theology and chronology, which it would not be easy nor of much importance to reconcile.
Note: Compare Von Hammer, Geschichte der Assassinen, p. 44, etc. - M. Hyde, Syntagma Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 57, in Hist. Shahiludii. The dynasties of the Arabian empire may be studied in the Annals of Elmacin, Abulpharagius, and Abulfeda, under the proper years, in the dictionary of D’Herbelot, under the proper names. The tables of M. de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i.) exhibit a general chronology of the East, interspersed with some historical anecdotes; but his attachment to national blood has sometimes confounded the order of time and place. The Aglabites and Edrisites are the professed subject of M. de Cardonne, (Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne sous la Domination des Arabes, tom. ii. p. 1 - 63.) To escape the reproach of error, I must criticize the inaccuracies of M. de Guignes (tom. i. p. 359) concerning the Edrisites. 1. The dynasty and city of Fez could not be founded in the year of the Hegira 173, since the founder was a posthumous child of a descendant of Ali, who fled from Mecca in the year 168. 2. This founder, Edris, the son of Edris, instead of living to the improbable age of 120 years, A. H. 313, died A. H. 214, in the prime of manhood. 3. The dynasty ended A. H. 307, twenty-three years sooner than it is fixed by the historian of the Huns. See the accurate Annals of Abulfeda p. 158, 159, 185, 238. The dynasties of the Taherites and Soffarides, with the rise of that of the Samanines, are described in the original history and Latin version of Mirchond: yet the most interesting facts had already been drained by the diligence of M. D’Herbelot. M. de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. p. 124 - 154) has exhausted the Toulunides and Ikshidites of Egypt, and thrown some light on the Carmathians and Hamadanites. Hic est ultimus chalifah qui multum atque saepius pro concione peroraret .... Fuit etiam ultimus qui otium cum eruditis et facetis hominibus fallere hilariterque agere soleret. Ultimus tandem chalifarum cui sumtus, stipendia, reditus, et thesauri, culinae, caeteraque omnis aulica pompa priorum chalifarum ad instar comparata fuerint.
Videbimus enim paullo post quam indignis et servilibius ludibriis exagitati, quam ad humilem fortunam altimumque contemptum abjecti fuerint hi quondam potentissimi totius terrarum Orientalium orbis domini. Abulfed. Annal. Moslem. p. 261. I have given this passage as the manner and tone of Abulfeda, but the cast of Latin eloquence belongs more properly to Reiske. The Arabian historian (p. 255, 257, 261 - 269, 283, etc.) has supplied me with the most interesting facts of this paragraph. Their master, on a similar occasion, showed himself of a more indulgent and tolerating spirit. Ahmed Ebn Hanbal, the head of one of the four orthodox sects, was born at Bagdad A. H. 164, and died there A. H. 241. He fought and suffered in the dispute concerning the creation of the Koran. The office of vizier was superseded by the emir al Omra, Imperator Imperatorum, a title first instituted by Radhi, and which merged at length in the Bowides and Seljukides: vectigalibus, et tributis, et curiis per omnes regiones praefecit, jussitque in omnibus suggestis nominis ejus in concionibus mentionem fieri, (Abulpharagius, Dynart. p 199.) It is likewise mentioned by Elmacin, (p. 254, 255.) Liutprand, whose choleric temper was imbittered by his uneasy situation, suggests the names of reproach and contempt more applicable to Nicephorus than the vain titles of the Greeks, “Ecce venit stella matutina, surgit Eous, reverberat obtutu solis radios, pallida Saracenorum mors, Nicephorus medwn .” Notwithstanding the insinuation of Zonaras,kai< eij mh< etc., (tom. ii. l. xvi. p. 197,) it is an undoubted fact, that Crete was completely and finally subdued by Nicephorus Phocas, (Pagi, Critica, tom. iii. p. 873 - 875. Meursius, Creta, l. iii. c. 7, tom. iii. p. 464, 465.) The Acroases of Theodorus, de expugnatione Cretae, miserable iambics, relate the whole campaign. Whoever would fairly estimate the merit of the poetic deacon, may read the description of the slinging a jackass into the famishing city. The poet is in a transport at the wit of the general, and revels in the luxury of antithesis. Theodori Acroases, lib. iii. 172, in Niebuhr’s Byzant. Hist. - M. A Greek Life of St. Nicon the Armenian was found in the Sforza library, and translated into Latin by the Jesuit Sirmond, for the use of Cardinal Baronius. This contemporary legend casts a ray of light on Crete and Peloponnesus in the 10th century. He found the newlyrecovered island, foedis detestandae Agarenorum superstitionis vestigiis adhuc plenam ac refertam .... but the victorious missionary, perhaps with some carnal aid, ad baptismum omnes veraeque fidei disciplinam pepulit. Ecclesiis per totam insulam aedificatis, etc., (Annal.
Eccles. A.D. 961.) Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 278, 279. Liutprand was disposed to depreciate the Greek power, yet he owns that Nicephorus led against Assyria an army of eighty thousand men. Ducenta fere millia hominum numerabat urbs (Abulfeda, Annal.
Moslem. p. 231) of Mopsuestia, or Masifa, Mampsysta, Mansista, Mamista, as it is corruptly, or perhaps more correctly, styled in the middle ages, (Wesseling, Itinerar. p. 580.) Yet I cannot credit this extreme populousness a few years after the testimony of the Emperor Leo, ouj ga See Abulfeda, Geograph. p. 245, vers. Reiske.) Of the former, Leo observes, urbus munita et illustris; of the latter, clara atque conspicua opibusque et pecore, reliquis ejus provinciis urbibus atque oppidis longe praestans. Ut et Ecbatana pergeret Agarenorumque regiam everteret .... aiunt enim urbium quae usquam sunt ac toto orbe existunt felicissimam esse auroque ditissimam, (Leo Diacon. apud Pagium, tom. iv. p. 34.) This splendid description suits only with Bagdad, and cannot possibly apply either to Hamadan, the true Ecbatana, (D’Anville, Geog. Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 237,) or Tauris, which has been commonly mistaken for that city. The name of Ecbatana, in the same indefinite sense, is transferred by a more classic authority (Cicero pro Lego Manilia, c. 4) to the royal seat of Mithridates, king of Pontus. See the Annals of Elmacin, Abulpharagius, and Abulfeda, from A. H. 351 to A. H. 361; and the reigns of Nicephorus Phocas and John Zimisces, in the Chronicles of Zonaras (tom. ii. l. xvi. p. 199 - l. xvii. 215) and Cedrenus, (Compend. p. 649 - 684.) Their manifold defects are partly supplied by the Ms. history of Leo the deacon, which Pagi obtained from the Benedictines, and has inserted almost entire, in a Latin version, (Critica, tom. iii. p. 873, tom. iv. 37.) The whole original work of Leo the Deacon has been published by Hase, and is inserted in the new edition of the Byzantine historians. M Lassen has added to the Arabian authorities of this period some extracts from Kemaleddin’s account of the treaty for the surrender of Aleppo. - M.
CHAPTER - The epithet of Porfuroge>nhtov, Porphyrogenitus, born in the purple, is elegantly defined by Claudian: - “Ardua privatos nescit fortuna Penates; Et regnum cum luce dedit. Cognata potestas Excepit Tyrio venerabile pignus in ostro.” And Ducange, in his Greek and Latin Glossaries, produces many passages expressive of the same idea. A splendid Ms. of Constantine, de Caeremoniis Aulae et Ecclesiae Byzantinae, wandered from Constantinople to Buda, Frankfort, and Leipsic, where it was published in a splendid edition by Leich and Reiske, (A.D. 1751, in folio,) with such lavish praise as editors never fail to bestow on the worthy or worthless object of their toil. See, in the first volume of Banduri’s Imperium Orientale, Constantinus de Thematibus, p. 1 - 24, de Administrando Imperio, p. 45 - 127, edit.
Venet. The text of the old edition of Meursius is corrected from a Ms. of the royal library of Paris, which Isaac Casaubon had formerly seen, (Epist. ad Polybium, p. 10,) and the sense is illustrated by two maps of William Deslisle, the prince of geographers till the appearance of the greater D’Anville. The Tactics of Leo and Constantine are published with the aid of some new Mss. in the great edition of the works of Meursius, by the learned John Lami, (tom. vi. p. 531 - 920, 1211 - 1417, Florent. 1745,) yet the text is still corrupt and mutilated, the version is still obscure and faulty.
The Imperial library of Vienna would afford some valuable materials to a new editor, (Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. vi. p. 369, 370.) On the subject of the Basilics, Fabricius, (Bibliot. Graec. tom. xii. p. 425 - 514,) and Heineccius, (Hist. Juris Romani, p. 396 - 399,) and Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. i. p. 450 - 458,) as historical civilians, may be usefully consulted: xli. books of this Greek code have been published, with a Latin version, by Charles Annibal Frabrottus, (Paris, 1647,) in seven tomes in folio; iv. other books have been since discovered, and are inserted in Gerard Meerman’s Novus Thesaurus Juris Civ. et Canon. tom. v. Of the whole work, the sixty books, John Leunclavius has printed, (Basil, 1575,) an eclogue or synopsis. The cxiii. novels, or new laws, of Leo, may be found in the Corpus Juris Civilis. I have used the last and best edition of the Geoponics, (by Nicolas Niclas, Leipsic, 1781, 2 vols. in octavo.) I read in the preface, that the same emperor restored the long-forgotten systems of rhetoric and philosophy; and his two books of Hippiatrica, or Horse-physic, were published at Paris, 1530, in folio, (Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. vi. p. 493 - 500.) Of these LIII. books, or titles, only two have been preserved and printed, de Legationibus (by Fulvius Ursinus, Antwerp, 1582, and Daniel Hoeschelius, August. Vindel. 1603) and de Virtutibus et Vitiis, (by Henry Valesius, or de Valois, Paris, 1634.) The life and writings of Simon Metaphrastes are described by Hankius, (de Scriptoribus Byzant. p. 418 - 460.) This biographer of the saints indulged himself in a loose paraphrase of the sense or nonsense of more ancient acts. His Greek rhetoric is again paraphrased in the Latin version of Surius, and scarcely a thread can be now visible of the original texture. According to the first book of the Cyropaedia, professors of tactics, a small part of the science of war, were already instituted in Persia, by which Greece must be understood.
Note: M. Guichardt, author of Memoires Militaires sur les Grecs et sur les Romains. See Gibbon’s Extraits Raisonnees de mes Lectures, Misc.
Works vol. v. p. 219. - M After observing that the demerit of the Cappadocians rose in proportion to their rank and riches, he inserts a more pointed epigram, which is ascribed to Demodocus:
Kappado>knh pot j e]cidna kakh< da>ken, ajlla< kai< aujth< Katqane, geusame>nh a\imatov ijozo>lou.
The sting is precisely the same with the French epigram against Freron:
Un serpent mordit Jean Freron - Eh bien? Le serpent en mourut. But as the Paris wits are seldom read in the Anthology, I should be curious to learn, through what channel it was conveyed for their imitation, (Constantin. Porphyrogen. de Themat. c. ii. Brunck Analect. Graec. tom. ii. p. 56. Brodaei Anthologia, l. ii. p. 244.) The Legatio Liutprandi Episcopi Cremonensis ad Nicephorum Phocam is inserted in Muratori, Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, tom. ii. pars i. See Constantine de Thematibus, in Banduri, tom. i. p. 1 - 30, who owns that the word is oujk palaia>. Qe>ma is used by Maurice (Strata gem. l. ii. c. 2) for a legion, from whence the name was easily transferred to its post or province, (Ducange, Gloss. Graec. tom. i. p. 487-488.) Some etymologies are attempted for the Opiscian, Optimatian, Thracesian, themes. [Agiov pelago Hudson. edit. Casaub. 1251;) a passage which leads Dodwell a weary dance (Geograph, Minor. tom. ii. dissert. vi. p. 170 - 191) to enumerate the inroads of the Sclavi, and to fix the date (A.D. 980) of this petty geographer. Strabon. Geograph. l. viii. p. 562. Pausanius, Graec. Descriptio, l. c 21, p. 264, 265. Pliny, Hist. Natur. l. iv. c. 8. Constantin. de Administrando Imperio, l. ii. c. 50, 51, 52. The rock of Leucate was the southern promontory of his island and diocese. Had he been the exclusive guardian of the Lover’s Leap so well known to the readers of Ovid (Epist. Sappho) and the Spectator, he might have been the richest prelate of the Greek church. Leucatensis mihi juravit episcopus, quotannis ecclesiam suam debere Nicephoro aureos centum persolvere, similiter et ceteras plus minusve secundum vires suos, (Liutprand in Legat. p. 489.) See Constantine, (in Vit. Basil. c. 74, 75, 76, p. 195, 197, in Script. post Theophanem,) who allows himself to use many technical or barbarous words: barbarous, says he. Ducange labors on some: but he was not a weaver. The manufactures of Palermo, as they are described by Hugo Falcandus, (Hist. Sicula in proem. in Muratori Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. v. p. 256,) is a copy of those of Greece. Without transcribing his declamatory sentences, which I have softened in the text, I shall observe, that in this passage the strange word exarentasmata is very properly changed for exanthemata by Carisius, the first editor Falcandus lived about the year 1190. Inde ad interiora Graeciae progressi, Corinthum, Thebas, Athenas, antiqua nobilitate celebres, expugnant; et, maxima ibidem praeda direpta, opifices etiam, qui sericos pannos texere solent, ob ignominiam Imperatoris illius, suique principis gloriam, captivos deducunt. Quos Rogerius, in Palermo Siciliae, metropoli collocans, artem texendi suos edocere praecepit; et exhinc praedicta ars illa, prius a Graecis tantum inter Christianos habita, Romanis patere coepit ingeniis, (Otho Frisingen. de Gestis Frederici I. l. i. c. 33, in Muratori Script. Ital. tom. vi. p. 668.) This exception allows the bishop to celebrate Lisbon and Almeria in sericorum pannorum opificio praenobilissimae, (in Chron. apud Muratori, Annali d’Italia, tom. ix. p. 415.) Nicetas in Manuel, l. ii. c. 8. p. 65. He describes these Greeks as skilled eujhtrio>uv ojqo>nav uJfai>nein, iJstw~| prosane>contav tw~n eJxaui>twn kai< crusopa>stwn stolw~n . Hugo Falcandus styles them nobiles officinas. The Arabs had not introduced silk, though they had planted canes and made sugar in the plain of Palermo. See the Life of Castruccio Casticani, not by Machiavel, but by his more authentic biographer Nicholas Tegrimi. Muratori, who has inserted it in the xith volume of his Scriptores, quotes this curious passage in his Italian Antiquities, (tom. i. dissert. xxv. p. 378.) From the Ms. statutes, as they are quoted by Muratori in his Italian Antiquities, (tom. ii. dissert. xxv. p. 46 - 48.) The broad silk manufacture was established in England in the year 1620, (Anderson’s Chronological Deduction, vol. ii. p. 4: ) but it is to the revocation of the edict of Nantes that we owe the Spitalfields colony. Voyage de Benjamin de Tudele, tom. i. c. 5, p. 44 - 52. The Hebrew text has been translated into French by that marvellous child Baratier, who has added a volume of crude learning. The errors and fictions of the Jewish rabbi are not a sufficient ground to deny the reality of his travels. Note: I am inclined, with Buegnot (Les Juifs d’Occident, part iii. p. 101 et seqq.) and Jost (Geschichte der Israeliter, vol. vi. anhang. p. 376) to consider this work a mere compilation, and to doubt the reality of the travels. - M. See the continuator of Theophanes, (l. iv. p. 107,) Cedremis, (p. 544,) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xvi. p. 157.) Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xvii. p. 225,) instead of pounds, uses the more classic appellation of talents, which, in a literal sense and strict computation, would multiply sixty fold the treasure of Basil. For a copious and minute description of the Imperial palace, see the Constantinop. Christiana (l. ii. c. 4, p. 113 - 123) of Ducange, the Tillemont of the middle ages. Never has laborious Germany produced two antiquarians more laborious and accurate than these two natives of lively France. The Byzantine palace surpasses the Capitol, the palace of Pergamus, the Rufinian wood,(faidro Ducange ad loc.;) and Pachymer often speaks of the me>gav tzaou>v , (l. vii. c. 1, l. xii. c. 30, l. xiii. c. 22.) The Chiaoush basha is now at the head of 700 officers, (Rycaut’s Ottoman Empire, p. 349, octavo edition.) Tagerman is the Arabic name of an interpreter, (D’Herbelot, p. 854, 855;), prw~tov tw~n eJrmhne>wn, ou\v koinw~v ojnoma>zousi dragoma>nouv says Codinus, (c. v. No. 70, p. 67.) See Villehardouin, (No. 96,) Bus, (Epist. iv. p. 338,) and Ducange, (Observations sur Villehardouin, and Gloss. Graec. et Latin) Kono>staulov or konto>staulov, a corruption from the Latin Comes stabuli, or the French Connetable. In a military sense, it was used by the Greeks in the eleventh century, at least as early as in France. It was directly borrowed from the Normans. In the xiith century, Giannone reckons the admiral of Sicily among the great officers. This sketch of honors and offices is drawn from George Cordinus Curopalata, who survived the taking of Constantinople by the Turks: his elaborate, though trifling, work (de Officiis Ecclesiae et Aulae C.
P.) has been illustrated by the notes of Goar, and the three books of Gretser, a learned Jesuit. The respectful salutation of carrying the hand to the mouth, ad os, is the root of the Latin word adoro, adorare. See our learned Selden, (vol. iii. p. 143 - 145, 942,) in his Titles of Honor. It seems, from the 1st book of Herodotus, to be of Persian origin. The two embassies of Liutprand to Constantinople, all that he saw or suffered in the Greek capital, are pleasantly described by himself (Hist. l. vi. c. 1 - 4, p. 469 - 471. Legatio ad Nicephorum Phocam, p. 479 - 489.) Among the amusements of the feast, a boy balanced, on his forehead, a pike, or pole, twenty-four feet long, with a cross bar of two cubits a little below the top. Two boys, naked, though cinctured, (campestrati,) together, and singly, climbed, stood, played, descended, etc., ita me stupidum reddidit: utrum mirabilius nescio, (p. 470.) At another repast a homily of Chrysostom on the Acts of the Apostles was read elata voce non Latine, (p. 483.) Gala is not improbably derived from Cala, or Caloat, in Arabic a robe of honor, (Reiske, Not. in Ceremon. p. 84.) Polucroui>zein is explained, by eujfhmi>zen (Codin, c. 7. Ducange, Gloss. Graec. tom. i. p. 1199.) Konse>rzet De>ouv hjmpe>rioum be>stroum— (Ceremon. c. 75, p. 215.)
The want of the Latin ‘V’ obliged the Greeks to employ their ‘beta’; nor do they regard quantity. Till he recollected the true language, these strange sentences might puzzle a professor. Polucroni>zousi Ba>raggoi, kata< th Uxor mea est, (Sueton. in August. c. 69.) Yet I much question (for I cannot stay to inquire) whether the triumvir ever dared to celebrate his marriage either with Roman or Egyptian rites. Berenicem invitus invitam dimisit, (Suetonius in Tito, c. 7.) Have I observed elsewhere, that this Jewish beauty was at this time above fifty years of age? The judicious Racine has most discreetly suppressed both her age and her country. Constantine was made to praise the eujgenei>a and perifanei>a of the Franks, with whom he claimed a private and public alliance. The French writers (Isaac Casaubon in Dedicat. Polybii) are highly delighted with these compliments. Constantine Porphyrogenitus (de Administrat. Imp. c. 36) exhibits a pedigree and life of the illustrious King Hugo. (perizle>ptou Vhgo Saracenica, l. iii. c. 6. Nestor apud Levesque, tom. ii. p. 112 Pagi, Critica, A.D. 987, No. 6: a singular concourse! Wolodomir and Anne are ranked among the saints of the Russian church. Yet we know his vices, and are ignorant of her virtues. Henricus primus duxit uxorem Scythicam, Russam, filiam regis Jeroslai. An embassy of bishops was sent into Russia, and the father gratanter filiam cum multis donis misit. This event happened in the year 1051. See the passages of the original chronicles in Bouquet’s Historians of France, (tom. xi. p. 29, 159, 161, 319, 384, 481.) Voltaire might wonder at this alliance; but he should not have owned his ignorance of the country, religion, etc., of Jeroslaus - a name so conspicuous in the Russian annals. A constitution of Leo the Philosopher (lxxviii.) ne senatus consulta amplius fiant, speaks the language of naked despotism. ejx ou= to< mo>narcon kra>tov th Miserable amplification, which, by saying too much, says nothing. How much more forcible and instructive would have been the definition of three, or six, or twelve hours! See the Ceremoniale of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, l. ii. c. 44, p. - 192. A critical reader will discern some inconsistencies in different parts of this account; but they are not more obscure or more stubborn than the establishment and effectives, the present and fit for duty, the rank and file and the private, of a modern return, which retain in proper hands the knowledge of these profitable mysteries. See the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters, peri< o[plwn, peri< oJpli>sewv and, peri< gumnasi>av and, in the Tactics of Leo, with the corresponding passages in those of Constantine. They observe th~v ga This extension of the name may be confirmed from Constantine (de Administrando Imperio, l. 2, c. 27, 28) and Eutychius, (Annal. tom. i. p. 55, 56,) who both lived before the Crusades. The testimonies of Abulpharagius (Dynast. p. 69) and Abulfeda (Praefat. ad Geograph.) are more recent On this subject of ecclesiastical and beneficiary discipline, Father Thomassin, (tom. iii. l. i. c. 40, 45, 46, 47) may be usefully consulted.
A general law of Charlemagne exempted the bishops from personal service; but the opposite practice, which prevailed from the ixth to the xvth century, is countenanced by the example or silence of saints and doctors .... You justify your cowardice by the holy canons, says Ratherius of Verona; the canons likewise forbid you to whore, and yet - In the xviiith chapter of his Tactics, the emperor Leo has fairly stated the military vices and virtues of the Franks (whom Meursius ridiculously translates by Galli) and the Lombards or Langobards. See likewise the xxvith Dissertation of Muratori de Antiquitatibus Italiae Medii Aevi. Domini tui milites (says the proud Nicephorus) equitandi ignari pedestris pugnae sunt inscii: scutorum magnitudo, loricarum gravitudo, ensium longitudo galearumque pondus neutra parte pugnare cossinit; ac subridens, impedit, inquit, et eos gastrimargia, hoc est ventris ingluvies, etc. Liutprand in Legat. p. 480 In Saxonia certe scio .... decentius ensibus pugnare quam calanis, et prius mortem obire quam hostibus terga dare, (Liutprand, p 482.) Fraggoi< toi>nun kai< Logi>zardoi lo>gon ejleuqeri>av peri< pollou~ poiou~ntai, ahll j oiJ me Non eadem Gallos similis vel cura remordet:
Vicinas quibus est studium devincere terras, Depressumque larem spoliis hinc inde coactis Sustentare - (Anonym. Carmen Panegyricum de Laudibus Berengarii Augusti, l. n. in Muratori Script. Rerum Italic. tom. ii. pars i. p. 393.) Justinian, says the historian Agathias, (l. v. p. 157,). prw~tov JRwmai>wn aujtokra>twr ojno>mati> te kai< pra>gmati. Yet the specific title of Emperor of the Romans was not used at Constantinople, till it had been claimed by the French and German emperors of old Rome. Constantine Manasses reprobates this design in his barbarous verse:
Th Bibliot. Graec. tom. xii. p. 369.) The Code and Pandects (the latter by Thalelaeus) were translated in the time of Justinian, (p. 358, 366.)
Theophilus one of the original triumvirs, has left an elegant, though diffuse, paraphrase of the Institutes. On the other hand, Julian, antecessor of Constantinople, (A.D. 570,) cxx. Novellas Graecas eleganti Latinitate donavit (Heineccius, Hist. J. R. p. 396) for the use of Italy and Africa. Abulpharagius assigns the viith Dynasty to the Franks or Romans, the viiith to the Greeks, the ixth to the Arabs. A tempore Augusti Caesaris donec imperaret Tiberius Caesar spatio circiter annorum 600 fuerunt Imperatores C. P. Patricii, et praecipua pars exercitus Romani: extra quod, conciliarii, scribae et populus, omnes Graeci fuerunt: deinde regnum etiam Graecanicum factum est, (p. 96, vers. Pocock.) The Christian and ecclesiastical studies of Abulpharagius gave him some advantage over the more ignorant Moslems. Primus ex Graecorum genere in Imperio confirmatus est; or according to another Ms. of Paulus Diaconus, (l. iii. c. 15, p. 443,) in Orasorum Imperio. Quia linguam, mores, vestesque mutastis, putavit Sanctissimus Papa. (an audacious irony,) ita vos (vobis) displicere Romanorum nomen. His nuncios, rogabant Nicephorum Imperatorem Graecorum, ut cum Othone Imperatore Romanorum amicitiam faceret, (Liutprand in Legatione, p. 486.) Note: Sicut et vestem. These words follow in the text of Liutprand, (apud Murat. Script. Ital. tom. ii. p. 486, to which Gibbon refers.) But with some inaccuracy or confusion, which rarely occurs in Gibbon’s references, the rest of the quotation, which as it stands is unintelligible, does not appear - M. By Laonicus Chalcocondyles, who survived the last siege of Constantinople, the account is thus stated, (l. i. p. 3.) Constantine transplanted his Latins of Italy to a Greek city of Thrace: they adopted the language and manners of the natives, who were confounded with them under the name of Romans. The kings of Constantinople, says the historian. ejpi< tw+| sfa~v aujtou Graec. tom. vi. p 366, tom. xii. p. 781.) Qui serant! The ecclesiastical and literary character of Photius is copiously discussed by Hanckius (de Scriptoribus Byzant. p. 269, 396) and Fabricius. Eijv jAssuri>ouv It can only mean Bagdad, the seat of the caliphs and the relation of his embassy might have been curious and instructive. But how did he procure his books? A library so numerous could neither be found at Bagdad, nor transported with his baggage, nor preserved in his memory. Yet the last, however incredible, seems to be affirmed by Photius himself, o[sav aujtw~n hJ mnh>mh die>swze. Camusat (Hist.
Critique des Journaux, p. 87 - 94) gives a good account of the Myriobiblon.. Of these modern Greeks, see the respective articles in the Bibliotheca Graeca of Fabricius - a laborious work, yet susceptible of a better method and many improvements; of Eustathius, (tom. i. p. 289 - 292, 306 - 329,) of the Pselli, (a diatribe of Leo Allatius, ad calcem tom. v., of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, tom. vi. p. 486 - 509) of John Stobaeus, (tom. viii., 665 - 728,) of Suidas, (tom. ix. p. 620 - 827,) John Tzetzes, (tom. xii. p. 245 - 273.) Mr. Harris, in his Philological Arrangements, opus senile, has given a sketch of this Byzantine learning, (p. 287 - 300.) From the obscure and hearsay evidence, Gerard Vossius (de Poetis Graecis, c. 6) and Le Clerc (Bibliotheque Choisie, tom. xix. p. 285) mention a commentary of Michael Psellus on twenty-four plays of Menander, still extant in Ms. at Constantinople. Yet such classic studies seem incompatible with the gravity or dulness of a schoolman, who pored over the categories, (de Psellis, p. 42;) and Michael has probably been confounded with Homerus Sellius, who wrote arguments to the comedies of Menander. In the xth century, Suidas quotes fifty plays, but he often transcribes the old scholiast of Aristophanes. Anna Comnena may boast of her Greek style, (to< JEllhnizein ejv a]kron ejspoudakui~a) and Zonaras her contemporary, but not her flatterer, may add with truth, glw~ttan ei]cein ajkriqw~v Jattiki>zousan. The princess was conversant with the artful dialogues of Plato; and had studied the tetraktu Latin. tom. iii. p. i. p. 345, 346, edit. Basil, 1762.) As St. Bernard of the Latin, so St. John Damascenus in the viiith century is revered as the last father of the Greek, church. Hume’s Essays, vol. i. p. CHAPTER - The errors and virtues of the Paulicians are weighed, with his usual judgment and candor, by the learned Mosheim, (Hist. Ecclesiast. seculum ix. p. 311, etc.) He draws his original intelligence from Photius (contra Manichaeos, l. i.) and Peter Siculus, (Hist. Manichaeorum.)
The first of these accounts has not fallen into my hands; the second, which Mosheim prefers, I have read in a Latin version inserted in the Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, (tom. xvi. p. 754 - 764,) from the edition of the Jesuit Raderus, (Ingolstadii, 1604, in 4to.) Compare Hallam’s Middle Ages, p. 461 - 471. Mr. Hallam justly observes that this chapter “appears to be accurate as well as luminous, and is at least far superior to any modern work on the subject.” - M. In the time of Theodoret, the diocese of Cyrrhus, in Syria, contained eight hundred villages. Of these, two were inhabited by Arians and Eunomians, and eight by Marcionites, whom the laborious bishop reconciled to the Catholic church, (Dupin, Bibliot. Ecclesiastique, tom. iv. p. 81, 82.) Nobis profanis ista (sacra Evangelia) legere non licet sed sacerdotibus duntaxat, was the first scruple of a Catholic when he was advised to read the Bible, (Petr. Sicul. p. 761.) In rejecting the second Epistle of St. Peter, the Paulicians are justified by some of the most respectable of the ancients and moderns, (see Wetstein ad loc., Simon, Hist. Critique du Nouveau Testament, c. 17.)
They likewise overlooked the Apocalypse, (Petr. Sicul. p. 756;) but as such neglect is not imputed as a crime, the Greeks of the ixth century must have been careless of the credit and honor of the Revelations. This contention, which has not escaped the malice of Porphyry, supposes some error and passion in one or both of the apostles. By Chrysostom, Jerome, and Erasmus, it is represented as a sham quarrel a pious fraud, for the benefit of the Gentiles and the correction of the Jews, (Middleton’s Works, vol. ii. p. 1 - 20.) Those who are curious of this heterodox library, may consult the researches of Beausobre, (Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom. i. p. 305 - 437.) Even in Africa, St. Austin could describe the Manichaean books, tam multi, tam grandes, tam pretiosi codices, (contra Faust. xiii. 14;) but he adds, without pity, Incendite omnes illas membranas: and his advice had been rigorously followed. The six capital errors of the Paulicians are defined by Peter (p. 756,) with much prejudice and passion. Primum illorum axioma est, duo rerum esse principia; Deum malum et Deum bonum, aliumque hujus mundi conditorem et princi pem, et alium futuri aevi, (Petr. Sicul. 765.) Two learned critics, Beausobre (Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, l. i. iv. v. vi.) and Mosheim, (Institut. Hist. Eccles. and de Rebus Christianis ante Constantinum, sec. i. ii. iii.,) have labored to explore and discriminate the various systems of the Gnostics on the subject of the two principles. The countries between the Euphrates and the Halys were possessed above 350 years by the Medes (Herodot. l. i. c. 103) and Persians; and the kings of Pontus were of the royal race of the Achaemenides, (Sallust. Fragment. l. iii. with the French supplement and notes of the president de Brosses.) Most probably founded by Pompey after the conquest of Pontus. This Colonia, on the Lycus, above Neo-Caesarea, is named by the Turks Coulei-hisar, or Chonac, a populous town in a strong country, (D’Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 34. Tournefort, Voyage du Levant, tom. iii. lettre xxi. p. 293.) The temple of Bellona, at Comana in Pontus was a powerful and wealthy foundation, and the high priest was respected as the second person in the kingdom. As the sacerdotal office had been occupied by his mother’s family, Strabo (l. xii. p. 809, 835, 836, 837) dwells with peculiar complacency on the temple, the worship, and festival, which was twice celebrated every year. But the Bellona of Pontus had the features and character of the goddess, not of war, but of love. Gregory, bishop of Neo-Caesarea, (A.D. 240 - 265,) surnamed Thaumaturgus, or the Wonder-worker. An hundred years afterwards, the history or romance of his life was composed by Gregory of Nyssa, his namesake and countryman, the brother of the great St. Basil. Hoc caeterum ad sua egregia facinora, divini atque orthodoxi Imperatores addiderunt, ut Manichaeos Montanosque capitali puniri sententia juberent, eorumque libros, quocunque in loco inventi essent, flammis tradi; quod siquis uspiam eosdem occultasse deprehenderetur, hunc eundem mortis poenae addici, ejusque bona in fiscum inferri, (Petr. Sicul. p. 759.) What more could bigotry and persecution desire? It should seem, that the Paulicians allowed themselves some latitude of equivocation and mental reservation; till the Catholics discovered the pressing questions, which reduced them to the alternative of apostasy or martyrdom, (Petr. Sicul. p. 760.) The persecution is told by Petrus Siculus (p. 579 - 763) with satisfaction and pleasantry. Justus justa persolvit. See likewise Cedrenus, (p. 432 - 435.) Petrus Siculus, (p. 763, 764,) the continuator of Theophanes, (l. iv. c. 4, p. 103, 104,) Cedrenus, (p. 541, 542, 545,) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xvi. p. 156,) describe the revolt and exploits of Carbeas and his Paulicians. Otter (Voyage en Turquie et en Perse, tom. ii.) is probably the only Frank who has visited the independent Barbarians of Tephrice now Divrigni, from whom he fortunately escaped in the train of a Turkish officer. In the history of Chrysocheir, Genesius (Chron. p. 67 - 70, edit.
Venet.) has exposed the nakedness of the empire. Constantine Porphyrogenitus (in Vit. Basil. c. 37 - 43, p. 166 - 171) has displayed the glory of his grandfather. Cedrenus (p. 570 - 573) is without their passions or their knowledge. Sunapemara>nqh ta~sa hJ ajnqou~sa th~v Tefrikh~v eujandri>a How elegant is the Greek tongue, even in the mouth of Cedrenus! Copronymus transported his heretics; and thus ejplatu>nqh hJ ai[resiv tw~n Paulikainw~n says Cedrenus, (p. 463,) who has copied the annals of Theophanes. Petrus Siculus, who resided nine months at Tephrice (A.D. 870) for the ransom of captives, (p. 764,) was informed of their intended mission, and addressed his preservative, the Historia Manichaeorum to the new archbishop of the Bulgarians, (p. 754.) The colony of Paulicians and Jacobites transplanted by John Zimisces (A.D. 970) from Armenia to Thrace, is mentioned by Zonaras (tom. ii. l. xvii. p. 209) and Anna Comnena, (Alexiad, l. xiv. p. 450, etc.) The Alexiad of Anna Comnena (l. v. p. 131, l. vi. p. 154, 155, l. xiv. p. 450 - 457, with the Annotations of Ducange) records the transactions of her apostolic father with the Manichaeans, whose abominable heresy she was desirous of refuting. Basil, a monk, and the author of the Bogomiles, a sect of Gnostics, who soon vanished, (Anna Comnena, Alexiad, l. xv. p. 486 - Mosheim, Hist. Ecclesiastica, p. 420.) Matt. Paris, Hist. Major, p. 267. This passage of our English historian is alleged by Ducange in an excellent note on Villehardouin (No. 208,) who found the Paulicians at Philippopolis the friends of the Bulgarians. See Marsigli, Stato Militare dell’ Imperio Ottomano, p. 24. The introduction of the Paulicians into Italy and France is amply discussed by Muratori (Antiquitat. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. v. dissert. lx. p. 81 - 152) and Mosheim, (p. 379 - 382, 419 - 422.) Yet both have overlooked a curious passage of William the Apulian, who clearly describes them in a battle between the Greeks and Normans, A.D. 1040, (in Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom. v. p. 256: ) Cum Graecis aderant quidam, quos pessimus error Fecerat amentes, et ab ipso nomen habebant.
But he is so ignorant of their doctrine as to make them a kind of Sabellians or Patripassians. Bulgari, Boulgres, Bougres, a national appellation, has been applied by the French as a term of reproach to usurers and unnatural sinners. The Paterini, or Patelini, has been made to signify a smooth and flattering hypocrite, such as l’Avocat Patelin of that original and pleasant farce, (Ducange, Gloss. Latinitat. Medii et Infimi Aevi.) The Manichaeans were likewise named Cathari or the pure, by corruption. Gazari, etc. Of the laws, crusade, and persecution against the Albigeois, a just, though general, idea is expressed by Mosheim, (p. 477 - 481.) The detail may be found in the ecclesiastical historians, ancient and modern, Catholics and Protestants; and amongst these Fleury is the most impartial and moderate. The Acts (Liber Sententiarum) of the Inquisition of Tholouse (A.D. 1307 - 1323) have been published by Limborch, (Amstelodami, 1692,) with a previous History of the Inquisition in general. They deserved a more learned and critical editor. As we must not calumniate even Satan, or the Holy Office, I will observe, that of a list of criminals which fills nineteen folio pages, only fifteen men and four women were delivered to the secular arm. The popularity of “Milner’s History of the Church” with some readers, may make it proper to observe, that his attempt to exculpate the Paulicians from the charge of Gnosticism or Manicheism is in direct defiance, if not in ignorance, of all the original authorities. Gibbon himself, it appears, was not acquainted with the work of Photius, “Contra Manicheos Repullulantes,” the first book of which was edited by Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Coisliniana, pars ii. p. 349, 375, the whole by Wolf, in his Anecdota Graeca. Hamburg 1722. Compare a very sensible tract. Letter to Rev. S. R. Maitland, by J G. Dowling, M. A.
London, 1835. - M. The opinions and proceedings of the reformers are exposed in the second part of the general history of Mosheim; but the balance, which he has held with so clear an eye, and so steady a hand, begins to incline in favor of his Lutheran brethren. Under Edward VI. our reformation was more bold and perfect, but in the fundamental articles of the church of England, a strong and explicit declaration against the real presence was obliterated in the original copy, to please the people or the Lutherans, or Queen Elizabeth, (Burnet’s History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 82, 128, 302.) “Had it not been for such men as Luther and myself,” said the fanatic Whiston to Halley the philosopher, “you would now be kneeling before an image of St. Winifred.” The article of Servet in the Dictionnaire Critique of Chauffepie is the best account which I have seen of this shameful transaction. See likewise the Abbe d’Artigny, Nouveaux Memoires d’Histoire, etc., tom. ii. p. 55 - 154. I am more deeply scandalized at the single execution of Servetus, than at the hecatombs which have blazed in the Auto de Fes of Spain and Portugal. 1. The zeal of Calvin seems to have been envenomed by personal malice, and perhaps envy. He accused his adversary before their common enemies, the judges of Vienna, and betrayed, for his destruction, the sacred trust of a private correspondence. 2. The deed of cruelty was not varnished by the pretense of danger to the church or state. In his passage through Geneva, Servetus was a harmless stranger, who neither preached, nor printed, nor made proselytes. 3. A Catholic inquisition yields the same obedience which he requires, but Calvin violated the golden rule of doing as he would be done by; a rule which I read in a moral treatise of Isocrates (in Nicocle, tom. i. p. 93, edit.
Battie) four hundred years before the publication of the Gospel. \A pa>scontev uJf j eJte>rwn ojrgi>zesqe, tau~ta toi~v a]lloiv mh< poiei~te Gibbon has not accurately rendered the sense of this passage, which does not contain the maxim of charity Do unto others as you would they should do unto you, but simply the maxim of justice, Do not to others the which would offend you if they should do it to you. - G. See Burnet, vol. ii. p. 84 - 86. The sense and humanity of the young king were oppressed by the authority of the primate. Erasmus may be considered as the father of rational theology. After a slumber of a hundred years, it was revived by the Arminians of Holland, Grotius, Limborch, and Le Clerc; in England by Chillingworth, the latitudinarians of Cambridge, (Burnet, Hist. of Own Times, vol. i. p. 261 - 268, octavo edition.) Tillotson, Clarke, Hoadley, etc. I am sorry to observe, that the three writers of the last age, by whom the rights of toleration have been so nobly defended, Bayle, Leibnitz, and Locke, are all laymen and philosophers. See the excellent chapter of Sir William Temple on the Religion of the United Provinces. I am not satisfied with Grotius, (de Rebus Belgicis, Annal. l. i. p. 13, 14, edit. in 12mo.,) who approves the Imperial laws of persecution, and only condemns the bloody tribunal of the inquisition. Sir William Blackstone (Commentaries, vol. iv. p. 53, 54) explains the law of England as it was fixed at the Revolution. The exceptions of Papists, and of those who deny the Trinity, would still have a tolerable scope for persecution if the national spirit were not more effectual than a hundred statutes. I shall recommend to public animadversion two passages in Dr.
Priestley, which betray the ultimate tendency of his opinions. At the first of these (Hist. of the Corruptions of Christianity, vol. i. p. 275, 276) the priest, at the second (vol. ii. p. 484) the magistrate, may tremble! There is something ludicrous, if it were not offensive, in Gibbon holding up to “public animadversion” the opinions of any believer in Christianity, however imperfect his creed. The observations which the whole of this passage on the effects of the reformation, in which much truth and justice is mingled with much prejudice, would suggest, could not possibly be compressed into a note; and would indeed embrace the whole religious and irreligious history of the time which has elapsed since Gibbon wrote. - M.
CHAPTER - All the passages of the Byzantine history which relate to the Barbarians are compiled, methodized, and transcribed, in a Latin version, by the laborious John Gotthelf Stritter, in his “Memoriae Populorum, ad Danubium, Pontum Euxinum, Paludem Maeotidem, Caucasum, Mare Caspium, et inde Magis ad Septemtriones incolentium.” Petropoli, 1771 - 1779; in four tomes, or six volumes, in 4to. But the fashion has not enhanced the price of these raw materials. Hist. vol. iv. p. 11. ft901a Theophanes, p. 296 - 299. Anastasius, p. 113. Nicephorus, C. P. p. 22, 23. Theophanes places the old Bulgaria on the banks of the Atell or Volga; but he deprives himself of all geographical credit by discharging that river into the Euxine Sea. Paul. Diacon. de Gestis Langobard. l. v. c. 29, p. 881, 882. The apparent difference between the Lombard historian and the abovementioned Greeks, is easily reconciled by Camillo Pellegrino (de Ducatu Beneventano, dissert. vii. in the Scriptores Rerum Ital. tom. v. p. 186, 187) and Beretti, (Chorograph. Italiae Medii Aevi, p. 273, etc.
This Bulgarian colony was planted in a vacant district of Samnium, and learned the Latin, without forgetting their native language. These provinces of the Greek idiom and empire are assigned to the Bulgarian kingdom in the dispute of ecclesiastical jurisdiction between the patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople, (Baronius, Annal. Eccles.
A.D. 869, No. 75.) The situation and royalty of Lychnidus, or Achrida, are clearly expressed in Cedrenus, (p. 713.) The removal of an archbishop or patriarch from Justinianea prima to Lychnidus, and at length to Ternovo, has produced some perplexity in the ideas or language of the Greeks, (Nicephorus Gregoras, l. ii. c. 2, p. 14, 15. Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. l. i. c. 19, 23;) and a Frenchman (D’Anville) is more accurately skilled in the geography of their own country, (Hist. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxxi.) Chalcocondyles, a competent judge, affirms the identity of the language of the Dalmatians, Bosnians, Servians, Bulgarians, Poles, (de Rebus Turcicis, l. x. p. 283,) and elsewhere of the Bohemians, (l. ii. p. 38.) The same author has marked the separate idiom of the Hungarians.
Note: The Slavonian languages are no doubt Indo-European, though an original branch of that great family, comprehending the various dialects named by Gibbon and others. Shafarik, t. 33. - M. 1845. See the work of John Christopher de Jordan, de Originibus Sclavicis, Vindobonae, 1745, in four parts, or two volumes in folio. His collections and researches are useful to elucidate the antiquities of Bohemia and the adjacent countries; but his plan is narrow, his style barbarous, his criticism shallow, and the Aulic counsellor is not free from the prejudices of a Bohemian. We have at length a profound and satisfactory work on the Slavonian races. Shafarik, Slawische Alterthumer. B. 2, Leipzig, 1843. - M. 1845. Jordan subscribes to the well-known and probable derivation from Slava, laus, gloria, a word of familiar use in the different dialects and parts of speech, and which forms the termination of the most illustrious names, (de Originibus Sclavicis, pars. i. p. 40, pars. iv. p. 101, 102) This conversion of a national into an appellative name appears to have arisen in the viiith century, in the Oriental France, where the princes and bishops were rich in Sclavonian captives, not of the Bohemian, (exclaims Jordan,) but of Sorabian race. From thence the word was extended to the general use, to the modern languages, and even to the style of the last Byzantines, (see the Greek and Latin Glossaries and Ducange.) The confusion Serzloi of the Servians with the Latin Servi, was still more fortunate and familiar, (Constant. Porphyr. de Administrando, Imperio, c. 32, p. 99.) The emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, most accurate for his own times, most fabulous for preceding ages, describes the Sclavonians of Dalmatia, (c. 29 - 36.) See the anonymous Chronicle of the xith century, ascribed to John Sagorninus, (p. 94 - 102,) and that composed in the xivth by the Doge Andrew Dandolo, (Script. Rerum. Ital. tom. xii. p. 227 - 230,) the two oldest monuments of the history of Venice. The first kingdom of the Bulgarians may be found, under the proper dates, in the Annals of Cedrenus and Zonaras. The Byzantine materials are collected by Stritter, (Memoriae Populorum, tom. ii. pars ii. p. - 647;) and the series of their kings is disposed and settled by Ducange, (Fam. Byzant. p. 305 - 318.) Simeonem semi-Graecum esse aiebant, eo quod a pueritia Byzantii Demosthenis rhetoricam et Aristotelis syllogismos didicerat, (Liutprand, l. iii. c. 8.) He says in another place, Simeon, fortis bella tor, Bulgariae praeerat; Christianus, sed vicinis Graecis valde inimicus, (l. i. c. 2.) Rigidum fera dextera cornu Dum tenet, infregit, truncaque a fronte revellit.
Ovid (Metamorph. ix. 1 - 100) has boldly painted the combat of the river god and the hero; the native and the stranger. The ambassador of Otho was provoked by the Greek excuses, cum Christophori filiam Petrus Bulgarorum Vasileus conjugem duceret, Symphona, id est consonantia scripto juramento firmata sunt, ut omnium gentium Apostolis, id est nunciis, penes nos Bulgarorum Apostoli praeponantur, honorentur, diligantur, (Liutprand in Legatione, p. 482.) See the Ceremoniale of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, tom. i. p. 82, tom. ii. p. 429, 430, 434, 435, 443, 444, 446, 447, with the annotations of Reiske. A bishop of Wurtzburgh submitted his opinion to a reverend abbot; but he more gravely decided, that Gog and Magog were the spiritual persecutors of the church; since Gog signifies the root, the pride of the Heresiarchs, and Magog what comes from the root, the propagation of their sects. Yet these men once commanded the respect of mankind, (Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xi. p. 594, etc.) The two national authors, from whom I have derived the mos assistance, are George Pray (Dissertationes and Annales veterum Hun garorum, etc., Vindobonae, 1775, in folio) and Stephen Katona, (Hist.
Critica Ducum et Regum Hungariae Stirpis Arpadianae, Paestini, - 1781, 5 vols. in octavo.) The first embraces a large and often conjectural space; the latter, by his learning, judgment, and perspicuity, deserves the name of a critical historian. Compare Engel Geschichte des Ungrischen Reichs und seiner Neben lander, Halle, 1797, and Mailath, Geschichte der Magyaren, Wien, 1828. In an appendix to the latter work will be found a brief abstract of the speculations (for it is difficult to consider them more) which have been advanced by the learned, on the origin of the Magyar and Hungarian names. Compare vol. vi. p. 35, note. - M. The author of this Chronicle is styled the notary of King Bela. Katona has assigned him to the xiith century, and defends his character against the hypercriticism of Pray. This rude annalist must have transcribed some historical records, since he could affirm with dignity, rejectis falsis fabulis rusticorum, et garrulo cantu joculatorum. In the xvth century, these fables were collected by Thurotzius, and embellished by the Italian Bonfinius. See the Preliminary Discourse in the Hist. Critica Ducum, p. 7 - 33. See Constantine de Administrando Imperio, c. 3, 4, 13, 38 - 42, Katona has nicely fixed the composition of this work to the years 949, 950, 951, (p. 4 - 7.) The critical historian (p. 34 - 107) endeavors to prove the existence, and to relate the actions, of a first duke Almus the father of Arpad, who is tacitly rejected by Constantine. Pray (Dissert. p. 37 - 39, etc.) produces and illustrates the original passages of the Hungarian missionaries, Bonfinius and Aeneas Sylvius. In the deserts to the south-east of Astrakhan have been found the ruins of a city named Madchar, which proves the residence of the Hungarians or Magiar in those regions. Precis de la Geog. Univ. par Malte Brun, vol. i. p. 353. - G. This is contested by Klaproth in his Travels, c. xxi.
Madschar, (he states) in old Tartar, means “stone building.” This was a Tartar city mentioned by the Mahometan writers. - M. Fischer in the Quaestiones Petropolitanae, de Origine Ungrorum, and Pray, Dissertat. i. ii. iii. etc., have drawn up several comparative tables of the Hungarian with the Fennic dialects. The affinity is indeed striking, but the lists are short; the words are purposely chosen; and I read in the learned Bayer, (Comment. Academ. Petropol. tom. x. p. 374,) that although the Hungarian has adopted many Fennic words, (innumeras voces,) it essentially differs toto genio et natura. The connection between the Magyar language and that of the Finns is now almost generally admitted. Klaproth, Asia Polyglotta, p. 188, etc.
Malte Bran, tom. vi. p. 723, etc. - M. In the religion of Turfan, which is clearly and minutely described by the Chinese Geographers, (Gaubil, Hist. du Grand Gengiscan, 13; De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 31, etc.) Hist. Genealogique des Tartars, par Abulghazi Bahadur Khan partie ii. p. 90 - 98. In their journey to Pekin, both Isbrand Ives (Harris’s Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. ii. p. 920, 921) and Bell (Travels, vol. i p. 174) found the Vogulitz in the neighborhood of Tobolsky. By the tortures of the etymological art, Ugur and Vogul are reduced to the same name; the circumjacent mountains really bear the appellation of Ugrian; and of all the Fennic dialects, the Vogulian is the nearest to the Hungarian, (Fischer, Dissert. i. p. 20 - 30. Pray. Dissert. ii. p. 31 - 34.) The eight tribes of the Fennic race are described in the curious work of M. Leveque, (Hist. des Peuples soumis a la Domination de la Russie, tom. ii. p. 361 - 561.) This picture of the Hungarians and Bulgarians is chiefly drawn from the Tactics of Leo, p. 796 - 801, and the Latin Annals, which are alleged by Baronius, Pagi, and Muratori, A.D. 889, etc. Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. v. p. 6, in 12mo. Gustavus Adolphus attempted, without success, to form a regiment of Laplanders. Grotius says of these arctic tribes, arma arcus et pharetra, sed adversus feras, (Annal. l. iv. p. 236;) and attempts, after the manner of Tacitus, to varnish with philosophy their brutal ignorance. Leo has observed, that the government of the Turks was monarchical, and that their punishments were rigorous, (Tactic. p. 896) Rhegino (in Chron. A.D. 889) mentions theft as a capital crime, and his jurisprudence is confirmed by the original code of St. Stephen, (A.D. 1016.) If a slave were guilty, he was chastised, for the first time, with the loss of his nose, or a fine of five heifers; for the second, with the loss of his ears, or a similar fine; for the third, with death; which the freeman did not incur till the fourth offense, as his first penalty was the loss of liberty, (Katona, Hist. Regum Hungar tom. i. p. 231, 232.) See Katona, Hist. Ducum Hungar. p. 321 - 352. Hungarorum gens, cujus omnes fere nationes expertae saevitium etc., is the preface of Liutprand, (l. i. c. 2,) who frequently expatiated on the calamities of his own times. See l. i. c. 5, l. ii. c. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7; l. iii. c. 1, etc., l. v. c. 8, 15, in Legat. p. 485. His colors are glaring but his chronology must be rectified by Pagi and Muratori. The three bloody reigns of Arpad, Zoltan, and Toxus, are critically illustrated by Katona, (Hist. Ducum, etc. p. 107 - 499.) His diligence has searched both natives and foreigners; yet to the deeds of mischief, or glory, I have been able to add the destruction of Bremen, (Adam Bremensis, i. 43.) Muratori has considered with patriotic care the danger and resources of Modena. The citizens besought St. Geminianus, their patron, to avert, by his intercession, the rabies, flagellum, etc. Nunc te rogamus, licet servi pessimi, Ab Ungerorum nos defendas jaculis.
The bishop erected walls for the public defense, not contra dominos serenos, (Antiquitat. Ital. Med. Aevi, tom. i. dissertat. i. p. 21, 22,) and the song of the nightly watch is not without elegance or use, (tom. iii. dis. xl. p. 709.) The Italian annalist has accurately traced the series of their inroads, (Annali d’ Italia, tom. vii. p. 365, 367, 398, 401, 437, 440, tom. viii. p. 19, 41, 52, etc.) Both the Hungarian and Russian annals suppose, that they besieged, or attacked, or insulted Constantinople, (Pray, dissertat. x. p. 239.
Katona, Hist. Ducum, p. 354 - 360;) and the fact is almost confessed by the Byzantine historians, (Leo Grammaticus, p. 506. Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 629: ) yet, however glorious to the nation, it is denied or doubted by the critical historian, and even by the notary of Bela. Their scepticism is meritorious; they could not safely transcribe or believe the rusticorum fabulas: but Katona might have given due attention to the evidence of Liutprand, Bulgarorum gentem atque daecorum tributariam fecerant, (Hist. l. ii. c. 4, p. 435.) — jle>onq j w\v, dhrinqh>thn \Wt o]reov korufh~|si peri< ktame>nhv ejla>foio, ]Amfw peina>onte, me>ga frone>onote ma>cesqon —Iliad, xvi. 756. They are amply and critically discussed by Katona, (Hist. Dacum, p. 360 - 368, 427 - 470.) Liutprand (l. ii. c. 8, 9) is the best evidence for the former, and Witichind (Annal. Saxon. l. iii.) of the latter; but the critical historian will not even overlook the horn of a warrior, which is said to be preserved at Jaz-berid. Hunc vero triumphum, tam laude quam memoria dignum, ad Meresburgum rex in superiori coenaculo domus per zwgrafi>an , Zeus, id est, picturam, notari praecepit, adeo ut rem veram potius quam verisimilem videas: a high encomium, (Liutprand, l. ii. c. 9.) Another palace in Germany had been painted with holy subjects by the order of Charlemagne; and Muratori may justly affirm, nulla saecula fuere in quibus pictores desiderati fuerint, (Antiquitat. Ital. Medii Aevi, tom. ii. dissert. xxiv. p. 360, 361.) Our domestic claims to antiquity of ignorance and original imperfection (Mr. Walpole’s lively words) are of a much more recent date, (Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. p. 2, etc.) See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 929, No. 2 - 5. The lance of Christ is taken from the best evidence, Liutprand, (l. iv. c. 12,) Sigebert, and the Acts of St. Gerard: but the other military relics depend on the faith of the Gesta Anglorum post Bedam, l. ii. c. 8. Katona, Hist. Ducum Hungariae, p. 500, etc. Among these colonies we may distinguish, 1. The Chazars, or Cabari, who joined the Hungarians on their march, (Constant. de Admin. Imp. c. 39, 40, p. 108, 109.) 2. The Jazyges, Moravians, and Siculi, whom they found in the land; the last were perhaps a remnant of the Huns of Attila, and were intrusted with the guard of the borders. 3. The Russians, who, like the Swiss in France, imparted a general name to the royal porters. 4. The Bulgarians, whose chiefs (A.D. 956) were invited, cum magna multitudine Hismahelitarum. Had any of those Sclavonians embraced the Mahometan religion? 5. The Bisseni and Cumans, a mixed multitude of Patzinacites, Uzi, Chazars, etc., who had spread to the Lower Danube. The last colony of 40,000 Cumans, A.D. 1239, was received and converted by the kings of Hungary, who derived from that tribe a new regal appellation, (Pray, Dissert. vi. vii. p. 109 - 173.
Katona, Hist. Ducum, p. 95 - 99, 259 - 264, 476, 479 - 483, etc.) Christiani autem, quorum pars major populi est, qui ex omni parte mundi illuc tracti sunt captivi, etc. Such was the language of Piligrinus, the first missionary who entered Hungary, A.D. 973. Pars major is strong. Hist. Ducum, p. 517. The fideles Teutonici of Geisa are authenticated in old charters: and Katona, with his usual industry, has made a fair estimate of these colonies, which had been so loosely magnified by the Italian Ranzanus, (Hist. Critic. Ducum. p, 667 - 681.) Among the Greeks, this national appellation has a singular form, as an undeclinable word, of which many fanciful etymologies have been suggested. I have perused, with pleasure and profit, a dissertation de Origine Russorum (Comment. Academ. Petropolitanae, tom. viii. p. 388 - 436) by Theophilus Sigefrid Bayer, a learned German, who spent his life and labors in the service of Russia. A geographical tract of D’Anville, de l’Empire de Russie, son Origine, et ses Accroissemens, (Paris, 1772, in 12mo.,) has likewise been of use. The later antiquarians of Russia and Germany appear to aquiesce in the authority of the monk Nestor, the earliest annalist of Russia, who derives the Russians, or Vareques, from Scandinavia. The names of the first founders of the Russian monarchy are Scandinavian or Norman. Their language (according to Const. Porphyrog. de Administrat. Imper. c. 9) differed essentially from the Sclavonian. The author of the Annals of St. Bertin, who first names the Russians (Rhos) in the year 839 of his Annals, assigns them Sweden for their country. So Liutprand calls the Russians the same people as the Normans. The Fins, Laplanders, and Esthonians, call the Swedes, to the present day, Roots, Rootsi, Ruotzi, Rootslaue.
See Thunman, Untersuchungen uber der Geschichte des Estlichen Europaischen Volker, p. 374. Gatterer, Comm. Societ. Regbcient.
Gotting. xiii. p. 126. Schlozer, in his Nestor. Koch. Revolut. de ‘Europe, vol. i. p. 60. Malte-Brun, Geograph. vol. vi. p. 378. - M. See the entire passage (dignum, says Bayer, ut aureis in tabulis rigatur) in the Annales Bertiniani Francorum, (in Script. Ital. Muratori, tom. ii. pars i. p. 525,) A.D. 839, twenty-two years before the aera of Ruric. In the xth century, Liutprand (Hist. l. v. c. 6) speaks of the Russians and Normans as the same Aquilonares homines of a red complexion. My knowledge of these annals is drawn from M. Leveque, Histoire de Russie. Nestor, the first and best of these ancient annalists, was a monk of Kiow, who died in the beginning of the xiith century; but his Chronicle was obscure, till it was published at Petersburgh, 1767, in 4to. Leveque, Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. xvi. Coxe’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 184. The late M. Schlozer has translated and added a commentary to the Annals of Nestor;” and his work is the mine from which henceforth the history of the North must be drawn. - G. Theophil. Sig. Bayer de Varagis, (for the name is differently spelt,) in Comment. Academ. Petropolitanae, tom. iv. p. 275 - 311. Yet, as late as the year 1018, Kiow and Russia were still guarded ex fugitivorum servorum robore, confluentium et maxime Danorum.
Bayer, who quotes (p. 292) the Chronicle of Dithmar of Merseburgh, observes, that it was unusual for the Germans to enlist in a foreign service. Ducange has collected from the original authors the state and history of the Varangi at Constantinople, (Glossar. Med. et Infimae Graecitatis, sub voce. Med. et Infimae Latinitatis, sub voce Vagri. Not. ad Alexiad.
Annae Comnenae, p. 256, 257, 258. Notes sur Villehardouin, p. 296 - 299.) See likewise the annotations of Reiske to the Ceremoniale Aulae Byzant. of Constantine, tom. ii. p. 149, 150. Saxo Grammaticus affirms that they spoke Danish; but Codinus maintains them till the fifteenth century in the use of their native English: Pouxroni>zousi oiJ Ba>raggoi kata< th Academ. Petropol. tom. ix. p. 367 - 422, tom. x. p. 371 - 421,) with the aid of the chronicles and traditions of Russia, Scandinavia, etc. The haughty proverb, “Who can resist God and the great Novogorod?” is applied by M. Leveque (Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 60) even to the times that preceded the reign of Ruric. In the course of his history he frequently celebrates this republic, which was suppressed A.D. 1475, (tom. ii. p. 252 - 266.) That accurate traveler Adam Olearius describes (in 1635) the remains of Novogorod, and the route by sea and land of the Holstein ambassadors, tom. i. p. 123 - 129. In hac magna civitate, quae est caput regni, plus trecentae ecclesiae habentur et nundinae octo, populi etiam ignota manus (Eggehardus ad A.D. 1018, apud Bayer, tom. ix. p. 412.) He likewise quotes (tom. x. p. 397) the words of the Saxon annalist, Cujus (Russioe) metropolis est Chive, aemula sceptri Constantinopolitani, quae est clarissimum decus Graeciae. The fame of Kiow, especially in the xith century, had reached the German and Arabian geographers. In Odorae ostio qua Scythicas alluit paludes, nobilissima civitas Julinum, celeberrimam, Barbaris et Graecis qui sunt in circuitu, praestans stationem, est sane maxima omnium quas Europa claudit civitatum, (Adam Bremensis, Hist. Eccles. p. 19;) a strange exaggeration even in the xith century. The trade of the Baltic, and the Hanseatic League, are carefully treated in Anderson’s Historical Deduction of Commerce; at least, in our language, I am not acquainted with any book so satisfactory. Note: The book of authority is the “Geschichte des Hanseatischen Bundes,” by George Sartorius, Gottingen, 1803, or rather the later edition of that work by M.
Lappenberg, 2 vols. 4to., Hamburgh, 1830. - M. 1845. According to Adam of Bremen, (de Situ Daniae, p. 58,) the old Curland extended eight days’ journey along the coast; and by Peter Teutoburgicus, (p. 68, A.D. 1326,) Memel is defined as the common frontier of Russia, Curland, and Prussia. Aurum ibi plurimum, (says Adam,) divinis auguribus atque necromanticis omnes domus sunt plenae .... a toto orbe ibi responsa petuntur, maxime ab Hispanis (forsan Zupanis, id est regulis Lettoviae) et Graecis. The name of Greeks was applied to the Russians even before their conversion; an imperfect conversion, if they still consulted the wizards of Curland, (Bayer, tom. x. p. 378, 402, etc. Grotius, Prolegomen. ad Hist. Goth. p. 99.) Constantine only reckons seven cataracts, of which he gives the Russian and Sclavonic names; but thirteen are enumerated by the Sieur de Beauplan, a French engineer, who had surveyed the course and navigation of the Dnieper, or Borysthenes, (Description de l’Ukraine, Rouen, 1660, a thin quarto;) but the map is unluckily wanting in my copy. Nestor, apud Leveque, Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 78 - 80. From the Dnieper, or Borysthenes, the Russians went to Black Bulgaria, Chazaria, and Syria. To Syria, how? where? when? The alteration is slight; the position of Suania, between Chazaria and Lazica, is perfectly suitable; and the name was still used in the xith century, (Cedren. tom. ii. p. 770.) The wars of the Russians and Greeks in the ixth, xth, and xith centuries, are related in the Byzantine annals, especially those of Zonaras and Cedrenus; and all their testimonies are collected in the Russica of Stritter, tom. ii. pars ii. p. 939 - 1044. Prosetairisa>menov de< kai< summaciko Academ. Petropol. tom. vi. p. 265 - 391.) After disentangling some chronological intricacies, he fixes it in the years 864 or 865, a date which might have smoothed some doubts and difficulties in the beginning of M. Leveque’s history. When Photius wrote his encyclic epistle on the conversion of the Russians, the miracle was not yet sufficiently ripe; he reproaches the nation as eijv wjmo>that kai< miaifoni>an pa>ntav deute>rouv tatto>menon. Leo Grammaticus, p. 463, 464. Constantini Continuator in Script. post Theophanem, p. 121, 122. Symeon Logothet. p. 445, 446. Georg.
Monach. p. 535, 536. Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 551. Zonaras, tom. ii. p. 162. See Nestor and Nicon, in Leveque’s Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 74 - 80.
Katona (Hist. Ducum, p. 75 - 79) uses his advantage to disprove this Russian victory, which would cloud the siege of Kiow by the Hungarians. Leo Grammaticus, p. 506, 507. Incert. Contin. p. 263, 264 Symeon Logothet. p. 490, 491. Georg. Monach. p. 588, 589. Cedren tom. ii. p. 629. Zonaras, tom. ii. p. 190, 191, and Liutprand, l. v. c. 6, who writes from the narratives of his father-in-law, then ambassador at Constantinople, and corrects the vain exaggeration of the Greeks. I can only appeal to Cedrenus (tom. ii. p. 758, 759) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. p. 253, 254;) but they grow more weighty and credible as they draw near to their own times. Nestor, apud Leveque, Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 87. This brazen statue, which had been brought from Antioch, and was melted down by the Latins, was supposed to represent either Joshua or Bellerophon, an odd dilemma. See Nicetas Choniates, (p. 413, 414,) Codinus, (de Originibus C. P. p. 24,) and the anonymous writer de Antiquitat. C. P. (Banduri, Imp. Orient. tom. i. p. 17, 18,) who lived about the year 1100. They witness the belief of the prophecy the rest is immaterial. The life of Swatoslaus, or Sviatoslaf, or Sphendosthlabus, is extracted from the Russian Chronicles by M. Levesque, (Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 94 - 107.) This resemblance may be clearly seen in the ninth book of the Iliad, (205 - 221,) in the minute detail of the cookery of Achilles. By such a picture, a modern epic poet would disgrace his work, and disgust his reader; but the Greek verses are harmonious - a dead language can seldom appear low or familiar; and at the distance of two thousand seven hundred years, we are amused with the primitive manners of antiquity. This singular epithet is derived from the Armenian language and Tzimiskh>v is interpreted in Greek by mouzaki>tzhv, or moiraki>tzhv .
As I profess myself equally ignorant of these words, I may be indulged in the question in the play, “Pray, which of you is the interpreter?”
From the context, they seem to signify Adolescentulus, (Leo Diacon l. iv. Ms. apud Ducange, Glossar. Graec. p. 1570.) Cerbied. the learned Armenian, gives another derivation. There is a city called Tschemischgaizag, which means a bright or purple sandal, such as women wear in the East. He was called Tschemisch-ghigh, (for so his name is written in Armenian, from this city, his native place.) Hase. Note to Leo Diac. p. 454, in Niebuhr’s Byzant. Hist. - M.. In the Sclavonic tongue, the name of Peristhlaba implied the great or illustrious city, says Anna Comnena, (Alexiad, l. vii. p. 194.) From its position between Mount Haemus and the Lower Danube, it appears to fill the ground, or at least the station, of Marcianopolis. The situation of Durostolus, or Dristra, is well known and conspicuous, (Comment.
Academ. Petropol. tom. ix. p. 415, 416. D’Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 307, 311.) The political management of the Greeks, more especially with the Patzinacites, is explained in the seven first chapters, de Administratione Imperii. In the narrative of this war, Leo the Deacon (apud Pagi, Critica, tom. iv. A.D. 968 - 973) is more authentic and circumstantial than Cedrenus (tom. ii. p. 660 - 683) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. p. 205 - 214.) These declaimers have multiplied to 308,000 and 330,000 men, those Russian forces, of which the contemporary had given a moderate and consistent account. Phot. Epistol. ii. No. 35, p. 58, edit. Montacut. It was unworthy of the learning of the editor to mistake the Russian nation, to< JRw~v for a war-cry of the Bulgarians, nor did it become the enlightened patriarch to accuse the Sclavonian idolaters th~v JEllhnikh~v kai< ajqe>ou du>xhv They were neither Greeks nor Atheists. M. Levesque has extracted, from old chronicles and modern researches, the most satisfactory account of the religion of the Slavi, and the conversion of Russia, (Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 35 - 54, 59, 92, 92, 113 - 121, 124 - 129, 148, 149, etc.) See the Ceremoniale Aulae Byzant. tom. ii. c. 15, p. 343 - 345: the style of Olga, or Elga is jArco>ntissa JRwsi>av. For the chief of Barbarians the Greeks whimsically borrowed the title of an Athenian magistrate, with a female termination, which would have astonished the ear of Demosthenes. See an anonymous fragment published by Banduri, (Imperium Orientale, tom. ii. p. 112, 113, de Conversione Russorum. Cherson, or Corsun, is mentioned by Herberstein (apud Pagi tom. iv. p. 56) as the place of Wolodomir’s baptism and marriage; and both the tradition and the gates are still preserved at Novogorod. Yet an observing traveler transports the brazen gates from Magdeburgh in Germany, (Coxe’s Travels into Russia, etc., vol. i. p. 452;) and quotes an inscription, which seems to justify his opinion. The modern reader must not confound this old Cherson of the Tauric or Crimaean peninsula, with a new city of the same name, which has arisen near the mouth of the Borysthenes, and was lately honored by the memorable interview of the empress of Russia with the emperor of the West. Consult the Latin text, or English version, of Mosheim’s excellent History of the Church, under the first head or section of each of these centuries. In the year 1000, the ambassadors of St. Stephen received from Pope Silvester the title of King of Hungary, with a diadem of Greek workmanship. It had been designed for the duke of Poland: but the Poles, by their own confession, were yet too barbarous to deserve an angelical and apostolical crown. (Katona, Hist. Critic Regum Stirpis Arpadianae, tom. i. p. 1 - 20.) Listen to the exultations of Adam of Bremen, (A.D. 1080,) of which the substance is agreeable to truth: Ecce illa ferocissima Danorum, etc., natio ..... jamdudum novit in Dei laudibus Alleluia resonare ..... Ecce populus ille piraticus ..... suis nunc finibus contentus est. Ecce patria horribilis semper inaccessa propter cultum idolorum ... praedicatores veritatis ubique certatim admittit, etc., etc., (de Situ Daniae, etc., p. 40, 41, edit. Elzevir; a curious and original prospect of the north of Europe, and the introduction of Christianity.) The great princes removed in 1156 from Kiow, which was ruined by the Tartars in 1240. Moscow became the seat of empire in the xivth century. See the 1st and 2d volumes of Levesque’s History, and Mr.
Coxe’s Travels into the North, tom. i. p. 241, etc. The ambassadors of St. Stephen had used the reverential expressions of regnum oblatum, debitam obedientiam, etc., which were most rigorously interpreted by Gregory VII.; and the Hungarian Catholics are distressed between the sanctity of the pope and the independence of the crown, (Katona, Hist. Critica, tom. i. p. 20 - 25, tom. ii. p. 304, 346, 360, etc.)
CHAPTER - For the general history of Italy in the ixth and xth centuries, I may properly refer to the vth, vith, and viith books of Sigonius de Regno Italiae, (in the second volume of his works, Milan, 1732;) the Annals of Baronius, with the criticism of Pagi; the viith and viiith books of the Istoria Civile del Regno di Napoli of Giannone; the viith and viiith volumes (the octavo edition) of the Annali d’ Italia of Muratori, and the 2d volume of the Abrege Chronologique of M. de St. Marc, a work which, under a superficial title, contains much genuine learning and industry. But my long-accustomed reader will give me credit for saying, that I myself have ascended to the fountain head, as often as such ascent could be either profitable or possible; and that I have diligently turned over the originals in the first volumes of Muratori’s great collection of the Scriptores Rerum Italicarum. Camillo Pellegrino, a learned Capuan of the last century, has illustrated the history of the duchy of Beneventum, in his two books Historia Principum Longobardorum, in the Scriptores of Muratori tom. ii. pars i. p. 221 - 345, and tom. v. p 159 - 245. See Constantin. Porphyrogen. de Thematibus, l. ii. c xi. in Vit Basil. c. 55, p. 181. The oriental epistle of the emperor Lewis II. to the emperor Basil, a curious record of the age, was first published by Baronius, (Annal.
Eccles. A.D. 871, No. 51 - 71,) from the Vatican Ms. of Erchempert, or rather of the anonymous historian of Salerno. See an excellent Dissertation de Republica Amalphitana, in the Appendix (p. 1 - 42) of Henry Brencman’s Historia Pandectarum, (Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1722, in 4to.) Your master, says Nicephorus, has given aid and protection prinminibus Capuano et Beneventano, servis meis, quos oppugnare dispono .... Nova (potius nota) res est quod eorum patres et avi nostro Imperio tributa dederunt, (Liutprand, in Legat. p. 484.) Salerno is not mentioned, yet the prince changed his party about the same time, and Camillo Pellegrino (Script. Rer. Ital. tom. ii. pars i. p. 285) has nicely discerned this change in the style of the anonymous Chronicle. On the rational ground of history and language, Liutprand (p. 480) had asserted the Latin claim to Apulia and Calabria. See the Greek and Latin Glossaries of Ducange (catapanus,) and his notes on the Alexias, (p. 275.) Against the contemporary notion, which derives it from juxta omne, he treats it as a corruption of the Latin capitaneus. Yet M. de St. Marc has accurately observed (Abrege Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 924) that in this age the capitanei were not captains, but only nobles of the first rank, the great valvassors of Italy. Ouj mo>non dia< pole>mwn ajkrizw~v tetagme>nwn to< toiou~ton uJph>gage to< e]qnov (the Lombards) ajlla< kai< ajgcinoi>a| crhsa>menov kai< dikaiosu>nh| kai< crhsto>thti ejpiekw~v te toi~v prosercome>noiv prosfero>menov, kai< th Such is the text of Herempert, or Erchempert, according to the two editions of Carraccioli (Rer. Italic. Script. tom. v. p. 23) and of Camillo Pellegrino, tom. ii. pars i. p. 246.) Both were extremely scarce, when they were reprinted by Muratori. Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 874, No. 2) has drawn this story from a Ms. of Erchempert, who died at Capua only fifteen years after the event. But the cardinal was deceived by a false title, and we can only quote the anonymous Chronicle of Salerno, (Paralipomena, c. 110,) composed towards the end of the xth century, and published in the second volume of Muratori’s Collection. See the Dissertations of Camillo Pellegrino, tom. ii. pars i. p. 231 - 281, etc. Constantine Porphyrogenitus (in Vit. Basil. c. 58, p. 183) is the original author of this story. He places it under the reigns of Basil and Lewis II.; yet the reduction of Beneventum by the Greeks is dated A.D. 891, after the decease of both of those princes. In the year 663, the same tragedy is described by Paul the Deacon, (de Gestis Langobard. l. v. c. 7, 8, p. 870, 871, edit. Grot.,) under the walls of the same city of Beneventum. But the actors are different, and the guilt is imputed to the Greeks themselves, which in the Byzantine edition is applied to the Saracens. In the late war in Germany, M.
D’Assas, a French officer of the regiment of Auvergne, is said to have devoted himself in a similar manner. His behavior is the more heroic, as mere silence was required by the enemy who had made him prisoner, (Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XV. c. 33, tom. ix. p. 172.) Theobald, who is styled Heros by Liutprand, was properly duke of Spoleto and marquis of Camerino, from the year 926 to 935. The title and office of marquis (commander of the march or frontier) was introduced into Italy by the French emperors, (Abrege Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 545 - 732 etc.) Liutprand, Hist. l. iv. c. iv. in the Rerum Italic. Script. tom. i. pars i. p. 453, 454. Should the licentiousness of the tale be questioned, I may exclaim, with poor Sterne, that it is hard if I may not transcribe with caution what a bishop could write without scruple What if I had translated, ut viris certetis testiculos amputare, in quibus nostri corporis refocillatio, etc.? The original monuments of the Normans in Italy are collected in the vth volume of Muratori; and among these we may distinguish the poems of William Appulus (p. 245 - 278) and the history of Galfridus (Jeffrey) Malaterra, (p. 537 - 607.) Both were natives of France, but they wrote on the spot, in the age of the first conquerors (before A.D. 1100,) and with the spirit of freemen. It is needless to recapitulate the compilers and critics of Italian history, Sigonius, Baronius, Pagi, Giannone, Muratori, St. Marc, etc., whom I have always consulted, and never copied. M. Goutier d’Arc has discovered a translation of the Chronicle of Aime, monk of Mont Cassino, a contemporary of the first Norman invaders of Italy. He has made use of it in his Histoire des Conquetes des Normands, and added a summary of its contents. This work was quoted by later writers, but was supposed to have been entirely lost. - M. Some of the first converts were baptized ten or twelve times, for the sake of the white garment usually given at this ceremony. At the funeral of Rollo, the gifts to monasteries for the repose of his soul were accompanied by a sacrifice of one hundred captives. But in a generation or two, the national change was pure and general. The Danish language was still spoken by the Normans of Bayeux on the sea-coast, at a time (A.D. 940) when it was already forgotten at Rouen, in the court and capital. Quem (Richard I.) confestim pater Baiocas mittens Botoni militiae suae principi nutriendum tradidit, ut, ibi lingua eruditus Danica, suis exterisque hominibus sciret aperte dare responsa, (Wilhelm. Gemeticensis de Ducibus Normannis, l. iii. c. 8, p. 623, edit. Camden.) Of the vernacular and favorite idiom of William the Conqueror, (A.D. 1035,) Selden (Opera, tom. ii. p. 1640 - 1656) has given a specimen, obsolete and obscure even to antiquarians and lawyers. A band of Normans returning from the Holy Land had rescued the city of Salerno from the attack of a numerous fleet of Saracens. Gainar, the Lombard prince of Salerno wished to retain them in his service and take them into his pay. They answered, “We fight for our religion, and not for money.” Gaimar entreated them to send some Norman knights to his court. This seems to have been the origin of the connection of the Normans with Italy. See Histoire des Conquetes des Normands par Goutier d’Arc, l. i. c. i., Paris, 1830. - M. See Leandro Alberti (Descrizione d’Italia, p. 250) and Baronius, (A.D. 493, No. 43.) If the archangel inherited the temple and oracle, perhaps the cavern, of old Calchas the soothsayer, (Strab. Geograph l. vi. p. 435, 436,) the Catholics (on this occasion) have surpassed the Greeks in the elegance of their superstition. Nine out of ten perished in the field. Chronique d’Aime, tom. i. p. quoted by M Goutier d’Arc, p. 42. - M. See the first book of William Appulus. His words are applicable to every swarm of Barbarians and freebooters: - Si vicinorum quis pernitiosus ad illos Confugiebat eum gratanter suscipiebant:
Moribus et lingua quoscumque venire videbant Informant propria; gens efficiatur ut una.
And elsewhere, of the native adventurers of Normandy: - Pars parat, exiguae vel opes aderant quia nullae:
Pars, quia de magnis majora subire volebant. This account is not accurate. After the retreat of the emperor Henry II. the Normans, united under the command of Rainulf, had taken possession of Aversa, then a small castle in the duchy of Naples. They had been masters of it a few years when Pandulf IV., prince of Capua, found means to take Naples by surprise. Sergius, master of the soldiers, and head of the republic, with the principal citizens, abandoned a city in which he could not behold, without horror, the establishment of a foreign dominion he retired to Aversa; and when, with the assistance of the Greeks and that of the citizens faithful to their country, he had collected money enough to satisfy the rapacity of the Norman adventurers, he advanced at their head to attack the garrison of the prince of Capua, defeated it, and reentered Naples. It was then that he confirmed the Normans in the possession of Aversa and its territory, which he raised into a count’s fief, and granted the investiture to Rainulf. Hist. des Rep. Ital. tom. i. p. Liutprand, in Legatione, p. 485. Pagi has illustrated this event from the Ms. history of the deacon Leo, (tom. iv. A.D. 965, No. 17 - 19.) See the Arabian Chronicle of Sicily, apud Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom. i. p. 253. Jeffrey Malaterra, who relates the Sicilian war, and the conquest of Apulia, (l. i. c. 7, 8, 9, 19.) The same events are described by Cedrenus (tom. ii. p. 741 - 743, 755, 756) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. p. 237, 238;) and the Greeks are so hardened to disgrace, that their narratives are impartial enough. Lydia: consult Constantine de Thematibus, i. 3, 4, with Delisle’s map. Omnes conveniunt; et bis sex nobiliores, Quos genus et gravitas morum decorabat et aetas, Elegere duces. Provectis ad comitatum His alii parent. Comitatus nomen honoris Quo donantur erat. Hi totas undique terras Divisere sibi, ni sors inimica repugnet; Singula proponunt loca quae contingere sorte Cuique duci debent, et quaeque tributa locorum.
And after speaking of Melphi, William Appulus adds, Pro numero comitum bis sex statuere plateas, Atque domus comitum totidem fabricantur in urbe.
Leo Ostiensis (l. ii. c. 67) enumerates the divisions of the Apulian cities, which it is needless to repeat. Gulielm. Appulus, l. ii. c 12, according to the reference of Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii. p. 31,) which I cannot verify in the original. The Apulian praises indeed his validas vires, probitas animi, and vivida virtus; and declares that, had he lived, no poet could have equalled his merits, (l. i. p. 258, l. ii. p. 259.) He was bewailed by the Normans, quippe qui tanti consilii virum, (says Malaterra, l. i. c. 12, p. 552,) tam armis strenuum, tam sibi munificum, affabilem, morigeratum, ulterius se habere diffidebant. The gens astutissima, injuriarum ultrix .... adulari sciens .... eloquentiis inserviens, of Malaterra, (l. i. c. 3, p. 550,) are expressive of the popular and proverbial character of the Normans. The hunting and hawking more properly belong to the descendants of the Norwegian sailors; though they might import from Norway and Iceland the finest casts of falcons. We may compare this portrait with that of William of Malmsbury, (de Gestis Anglorum, l. iii. p. 101, 102,) who appreciates, like a philosophic historian, the vices and virtues of the Saxons and Normans.
England was assuredly a gainer by the conquest. The biographer of St. Leo IX. pours his holy venom on the Normans.
Videns indisciplinatam et alienam gentem Normannorum, crudeli et inaudita rabie, et plusquam Pagana impietate, adversus ecclesias Dei insurgere, passim Christianos trucidare, etc., (Wibert, c. 6.) The honest Apulian (l. ii. p. 259) says calmly of their accuser, Veris commiscens fallacia. The policy of the Greeks, revolt of Maniaces, etc., must be collected from Cedrenus, (tom. ii. p. 757, 758,) William Appulus, (l. i. p 257, 258, l. ii. p. 259,) and the two Chronicles of Bari, by Lupus Protospata, (Muratori, Script. Ital. tom. v. p. 42, 43, 44,) and an anonymous writer, (Antiquitat, Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. i. p 31 - 35.) This last is a fragment of some value. Argyrus received, says the anonymous Chronicle of Bari, Imperial letters, Foederatus et Patriciatus, et Catapani et Vestatus. In his Annals, Muratori (tom. viii. p. 426) very properly reads, or interprets, Sevestatus, the title of Sebastos or Augustus. But in his Antiquities, he was taught by Ducange to make it a palatine office, master of the wardrobe. A Life of St. Leo IX., deeply tinged with the passions and prejudices of the age, has been composed by Wibert, printed at Paris, 1615, in octavo, and since inserted in the Collections of the Bollandists, of Mabillon, and of Muratori. The public and private history of that pope is diligently treated by M. de St. Marc. (Abrege, tom. ii. p. 140 - 210, and p. 25 - 95, second column.) See the expedition of Leo XI. against the Normans. See William Appulus (l. ii. p. 259 - 261) and Jeffrey Malaterra (l. i. c. 13, 14, 15, p. 253.) They are impartial, as the national is counterbalanced by the clerical prejudice Teutonici, quia caesaries et forma decoros Fecerat egregie proceri corporis illos Corpora derident Normannica quae breviora Esse videbantur.
The verses of the Apulian are commonly in this strain, though he heats himself a little in the battle. Two of his similes from hawking and sorcery are descriptive of manners. Several respectable censures or complaints are produced by M. de St.
Marc, (tom. ii. p. 200 - 204.) As Peter Damianus, the oracle of the times, has denied the popes the right of making war, the hermit (lugens eremi incola) is arraigned by the cardinal, and Baronius (Annal. Eccles.
A.D. 1053, No. 10 - 17) most strenuously asserts the two swords of St.
Peter. The origin and nature of the papal investitures are ably discussed by Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii. p. 37 - 49, 57 - 66,) as a lawyer and antiquarian. Yet he vainly strives to reconcile the duties of patriot and Catholic, adopts an empty distinction of “Ecclesia Romana non dedit, sed accepit,” and shrinks from an honest but dangerous confession of the truth. The birth, character, and first actions of Robert Guiscard, may be found in Jeffrey Malaterra, (l. i. c. 3, 4, 11, 16, 17, 18, 38, 39, 40,) William Appulus, (l. ii. p. 260 - 262,) William Gemeticensis, or of Jumieges, (l. xi. c. 30, p. 663, 664, edit. Camden,) and Anna Comnena, (Alexiad, l. i. p. 23 - 27, l. vi. p. 165, 166,) with the annotations of Ducange, (Not. in Alexiad, p. 230 - 232, 320,) who has swept all the French and Latin Chronicles for supplemental intelligence. JO de< JRompe>rtov (a Greek corruption), ou+tov Norma>nnov to< ge>nov, th Ter dejectus equo, ter viribus ipse resumptis Major in arma redit: stimulos furor ipse ministrat.
Ut Leo cum frendens, etc.
Nullus in hoc bello sicuti post bella probatum est Victor vel victus, tam magnos edidit ictus. The Norman writers and editors most conversant with their own idiom interpret Guiscard or Wiscard, by Callidus, a cunning man. The root (wise) is familiar to our ear; and in the old word Wiseacre, I can discern something of a similar sense and termination. It is no bad translation of the surname and character of Robert. The acquisition of the ducal title by Robert Guiscard is a nice and obscure business. With the good advice of Giannone, Muratori, and St.
Marc, I have endeavored to form a consistent and probable narrative. Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 1059, No. 69) has published the original act. He professes to have copied it from the Liber Censuum, a Vatican Ms. Yet a Liber Censuum of the xiith century has been printed by Muratori, (Antiquit. Medii Aevi, tom. v. p. 851 - 908;) and the names of Vatican and Cardinal awaken the suspicions of a Protestant, and even of a philosopher. Read the life of Guiscard in the second and third books of the Apulian, the first and second books of Malaterra. The conquests of Robert Guiscard and Roger I., the exemption of Benevento and the xii provinces of the kingdom, are fairly exposed by Giannone in the second volume of his Istoria Civile, l. ix. x. xi and l. xvii. p. 460 - 470. This modern division was not established before the time of Frederic II. Giannone, (tom. ii. p. 119 - 127,) Muratori, (Antiquitat. Medii Aevi, tom. iii. dissert. xliv. p. 935, 936,) and Tiraboschi, (Istoria della Letteratura Italiana,) have given an historical account of these physicians; their medical knowledge and practice must be left to our physicians. At the end of the Historia Pandectarum of Henry Brenckmann, (Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1722, in 4to.,) the indefatigable author has inserted two dissertations, de Republica Amalphitana, and de Amalphi a Pisanis direpta, which are built on the testimonies of one hundred and forty writers. Yet he has forgotten two most important passages of the embassy of Liutprand, (A.D. 939,) which compare the trade and navigation of Amalphi with that of Venice. Urbs Latii non est hac delitiosior urbe, Frugibus, arboribus, vinoque redundat; et unde Non species muliebris abest probitasque virorum.
Non tibi poma, nuces, non pulchra palatia desunt, Gulielmus Appulus, l. iii. p. Muratori carries their antiquity above the year (1066) of the death of Edward the Confessor, the rex Anglorum to whom they are addressed.
Nor is this date affected by the opinion, or rather mistake, of Pasquier (Recherches de la France, l. vii. c. 2) and Ducange, (Glossar. Latin.)
The practice of rhyming, as early as the viith century, was borrowed from the languages of the North and East, (Muratori, Antiquitat. tom. iii. dissert. xl. p. 686 - 708.) The description of Amalphi, by William the Apulian, (l. iii. p. 267,) contains much truth and some poetry, and the third line may be applied to the sailor’s compass: - Nulla magis locuples argento, vestibus, auro Partibus innumeris: hac plurimus urbe moratur Nauta maris Caelique vias aperire peritus.
Huc et Alexandri diversa feruntur ab urbe Regis, et Antiochi. Gens haec freta plurima transit.
His Arabes, Indi, Siculi nascuntur et Afri.
Haec gens est totum proore nobilitata per orbem, Et mercando forens, et amans mercata referre. Amalfi had only one thousand inhabitants at the commencement of the 18th century, when it was visited by Brenckmann, (Brenckmann de Rep. Amalph. Diss. i. c. 23.) At present it has six or eight thousand Hist. des Rep. tom. i. p. 304. - G. Latrocinio armigerorum suorum in multis sustentabatur, quod quidem ad ejus ignominiam non dicimus; sed ipso ita praecipiente adhuc viliora et reprehensibiliora dicturi sumus ut pluribus patescat, quam laboriose et cum quanta angustia a profunda paupertate ad summum culmen divitiarum vel honoris attigerit. Such is the preface of Malaterra (l. i. c. 25) to the horse-stealing. From the moment (l. i. c. 19) that he has mentioned his patron Roger, the elder brother sinks into the second character. Something similar in Velleius Paterculus may be observed of Augustus and Tiberius. Duo sibi proficua deputans animae scilicet et corporis si terran: Idolis deditam ad cultum divinum revocaret, (Galfrid Malaterra, l. ii. c. 1.)
The conquest of Sicily is related in the three last books, and he himself has given an accurate summary of the chapters, (p. 544 - 546.) See the word Milites in the Latin Glossary of Ducange. Of odd particulars, I learn from Malaterra, that the Arabs had introduced into Sicily the use of camels (l. i. c. 33) and of carrierpigeons, (c. 42;) and that the bite of the tarantula provokes a windy disposition, quae per anum inhoneste crepitando emergit; a symptom most ridiculously felt by the whole Norman army in their camp near Palermo, (c. 36.) I shall add an etymology not unworthy of the xith century: Messana is divided from Messis, the place from whence the harvests of the isle were sent in tribute to Rome, (l. ii. c. 1.) See the capitulation of Palermo in Malaterra, l. ii. c. 45, and Giannone, who remarks the general toleration of the Saracens, (tom ii. p. 72.) John Leo Afer, de Medicis et Philosophus Arabibus, c. 14, apud Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. xiii. p. 278, 279. This philosopher is named Esseriph Essachalli, and he died in Africa, A. H. 516, A.D. 1122. Yet this story bears a strange resemblance to the Sherif al Edrissi, who presented his book (Geographia Nubiensis, see preface p. 88, 90, 170) to Roger, king of Sicily, A. H. 541, A.D. 1153, (D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 786. Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet, p. 188.
Petit de la Croix, Hist. de Gengiscan, p. 535, 536. Casiri, Bibliot. Arab.
Hispan. tom. ii. p. 9 - 13;) and I am afraid of some mistake. Malaterra remarks the foundation of the bishoprics, (l. iv. c. 7,) and produces the original of the bull, (l. iv. c. 29.) Giannone gives a rational idea of this privilege, and the tribunal of the monarchy of Sicily, (tom. ii. p. 95 - 102;) and St. Marc (Abrege, tom. iii. p. 217 - 301, 1st column) labors the case with the diligence of a Sicilian lawyer. In the first expedition of Robert against the Greeks, I follow Anna Comnena, (the ist, iiid, ivth, and vth books of the Alexiad,) William Appulus, (l. ivth and vth, p. 270-275,) and Jeffrey Malaterra, (l. iii. c. 13, 14, 24 - 29, 39.) Their information is contemporary and authentic, but none of them were eye-witnesses of the war. One of them was married to Hugh, the son of Azzo, or Axo, a marquis of Lombardy, rich, powerful, and noble, (Gulielm. Appul. l. iii. p. 267,) in the xith century, and whose ancestors in the xth and ixth are explored by the critical industry of Leibnitz and Muratori. From the two elder sons of the marquis Azzo are derived the illustrious lines of Brunswick and Este. See Muratori, Antichita Estense. Anna Comnena, somewhat too wantonly, praises and bewails that handsome boy, who, after the rupture of his barbaric nuptials, (l. i. p. 23,) was betrothed as her husband; he was a]galma fu>sewv * * * Qeou~ ceirw~n filotiJmma * * * crusou~ ge>nouv a]porron, ect.
Elsewhere she describes the red and white of his skin, his hawk’s eyes, etc., l. iii. p. 71. Anna Comnena, l. i. p. 28, 29. Gulielm. Appul. l. iv p. 271. Galfrid Malaterra, l. iii. c. 13, p. 579, 580. Malaterra is more cautious in his style; but the Apulian is bold and positive. Mentitus se Michaelem Venerata Danais quidam seductor ad illum.
As Gregory VII had believed, Baronius almost alone, recognizes the emperor Michael. (A.D. No. 44.) Ipse armatae militiae non plusquam MCCC milites secum habuisse, ab eis qui eidem negotio interfuerunt attestatur, (Malaterra, l. iii. c. 24, p. 583.) These are the same whom the Apulian (l. iv. p. 273) styles the equestris gens ducis, equites de gente ducis. Eijv tria>konta cila>dav Anna Comnena (Alexias, l. i. p. 37;) and her account tallies with the number and lading of the ships. Ivit in Dyrrachium cum xv. millibus hominum, says the Chronicon Breve Normannicum, (Muratori, Scriptores, tom. v. p. 278.) I have endeavored to reconcile these reckonings. The Itinerary of Jerusalem (p. 609, edit. Wesseling) gives a true and reasonable space of a thousand stadia or one hundred miles which is strangely doubled by Strabo (l. vi. p. 433) and Pliny, (Hist. Natur. iii. 16.) Pliny (Hist. Nat. iii. 6, 16) allows quinquaginta millia for this brevissimus cursus, and agrees with the real distance from Otranto to La Vallona, or Aulon, (D’Anville, Analyse de sa Carte des Cotes de la Grece, etc., p. 3 - 6.) Hermolaus Barbarus, who substitutes centum. (Harduin, Not. lxvi. in Plin. l. iii.,) might have been corrected by every Venetian pilot who had sailed out of the gulf. Infames scopulos Acroceraunia, Horat. carm. i. 3. The praecipitem Africum decertantem Aquilonibus, et rabiem Noti and the monstra natantia of the Adriatic, are somewhat enlarged; but Horace trembling for the life of Virgil, is an interesting moment in the history of poetry and friendship. Tw~n de eijv to Eccles. l. iv. p. 508, l. vii. p. 641) relates their emigration from England, and their service in Greece. See the Apulian, (l. i. p. 256.) The character and the story of these Manichaeans has been the subject of the livth chapter. See the simple and masterly narrative of Caesar himself, (Comment. de Bell. Civil. iii. 41 - 75.) It is a pity that Quintus Icilius (M. Guichard) did not live to analyze these operations, as he has done the campaigns of Africa and Spain. Palla The last is an unlucky word for a female prisoner. Uxor in hoc bello Roberti forte sagitta Quadam laesa fuit: quo vulnere territa nullam.
Dum sperabat opem, se poene subegerat hosti. Apo< th~v JRompertou~ prohghsame>nhv ma>chv ginw>skwn th The supposition of the Apulian (l. v. p. 275) may be excused by the more classic poetry of Virgil, (Aeneid. ii. 197,) Larissaeus Achilles, but it is not justified by the geography of Homer. The tw~n pedi>lwn proa>lmata which encumbered the knights on foot, have been ignorantly translated spurs, (Anna Comnena, Alexias, l. v. p. 140.) Ducange has explained the true sense by a ridiculous and inconvenient fashion, which lasted from the xith to the xvth century.
These peaks, in the form of a scorpion, were sometimes two feet and fastened to the knee with a silver chain. The epistle itself (Alexias, l. iii. p. 93, 94, 95) well deserves to be read.
There is one expression, ajstrope>lekun dedeme>non meta< crusafi>ou which Ducange does not understand. I have endeavored to grope out a tolerable meaning: crusa>fion is a golden crown; ajstrope>lekuv is explained by Simon Portius, (in Lexico Graeco- Barbar.,) bykerauno Alter ad arma ruens armis superatur; et alter Nominis auditi sola formidine cessit.
It is singular enough, that the Apulian, a Latin, should distinguish the Greek as the ruler of the Roman empire, (l. iv. p. 274.) The narrative of Malaterra (l. iii. c. 37, p. 587, 588) is authentic, circumstantial, and fair. Dux ignem exclamans urbe incensa, etc. The Apulian softens the mischief, (inde quibusdam aedibus exustis,) which is again exaggerated in some partial chronicles, (Muratori, Annali, tom. ix. p. 147.) After mentioning this devastation, the Jesuit Donatus (de Roma veteri et nova, l. iv. c. 8, p. 489) prettily adds, Duraret hodieque in Coelio monte, interque ipsum et capitolium, miserabilis facies prostrates urbis, nisi in hortorum vinetorumque amoenitatem Roma resurrexisset, ut perpetua viriditate contegeret vulnera et ruinas suas. The royalty of Robert, either promised or bestowed by the pope, (Anna, l. i. p. 32,) is sufficiently confirmed by the Apulian, (l. iv. p. 270.) Romani regni sibi promisisse coronam Papa ferebatur.
Nor can I understand why Gretser, and the other papal advocates, should be displeased with this new instance of apostolic jurisdiction. See Homer, Iliad, B. (I hate this pedantic mode of quotation by letters of the Greek alphabet) 87, etc. His bees are the image of a disorderly crowd: their discipline and public works seem to be the ideas of a later age, (Virgil. Aeneid. l. i.) Gulielm. Appulus, l. v. p. 276.) The admirable port of Brundusium was double; the outward harbor was a gulf covered by an island, and narrowing by degrees, till it communicated by a small gullet with the inner harbor, which embraced the city on both sides. Caesar and nature have labored for its ruin; and against such agents what are the feeble efforts of the Neapolitan government? (Swinburne’s Travels in the Two Sicilies, vol. i. p. 384 - 390. William of Apulia (l. v. p. 276) describes the victory of the Normans, and forgets the two previous defeats, which are diligently recorded by Anna Comnena, (l. vi. p. 159, 160, 161.) In her turn, she invents or magnifies a fourth action, to give the Venetians revenge and rewards.
Their own feelings were far different, since they deposed their doge, propter excidium stoli, (Dandulus in Chron in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. xii. p. 249.) The most authentic writers, William of Apulia. (l. v. 277,) Jeffrey Malaterra, (l. iii. c. 41, p. 589,) and Romuald of Salerno, (Chron. in Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom. vii.,) are ignorant of this crime, so apparent to our countrymen William of Malmsbury (l. iii. p. 107) and Roger de Hoveden, (p. 710, in Script. post Bedam) and the latter can tell, how the just Alexius married, crowned, and burnt alive, his female accomplice. The English historian is indeed so blind, that he ranks Robert Guiscard, or Wiscard, among the knights of Henry I, who ascended the throne fifteen years after the duke of Apulia’s death. The joyful Anna Comnena scatters some flowers over the grave of an enemy, (Alexiad, l. v. p. 162 - 166;) and his best praise is the esteem and envy of William the Conqueror, the sovereign of his family Graecia (says Malaterra) hostibus recedentibus libera laeta quievit: Apulia tota sive Calabria turbatur. Urbs Venusina nitet tantis decorata sepulchris, is one of the last lines of the Apulian’s poems, (l. v. p. 278.) William of Malmsbury (l. iii. p. 107) inserts an epitaph on Guiscard, which is not worth transcribing. Yet Horace had few obligations to Venusia; he was carried to Rome in his childhood, (Serm. i. 6;) and his repeated allusions to the doubtful limit of Apulia and Lucania (Carm. iii. 4, Serm. ii. I) are unworthy of his age and genius. See Giannone (tom. ii. p. 88 - 93) and the historians of the fire crusade. The reign of Roger, and the Norman kings of Sicily, fills books of the Istoria Civile of Giannone, (tom. ii. l. xi. - xiv. p. 136 - 340,) and is spread over the ixth and xth volumes of the Italian Annals of Muratori.
In the Bibliotheque Italique (tom. i. p. 175 - 122,) I find a useful abstract of Capacelatro, a modern Neapolitan, who has composed, in two volumes, the history of his country from Roger Frederic II. inclusive. According to the testimony of Philistus and Diodorus, the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse could maintain a standing force of 10,000 horse, 100,000 foot, and 400 galleys. Compare Hume, (Essays, vol. i. p. 268, 435,) and his adversary Wallace, (Numbers of Mankind, p. 306, 307.)
The ruins of Agrigentum are the theme of every traveler, D’Orville, Reidesel, Swinburne, etc. A contemporary historian of the acts of Roger from the year 1127 to 1135, founds his title on merit and power, the consent of the barons, and the ancient royalty of Sicily and Palermo, without introducing Pope Anacletus, (Alexand. Coenobii Telesini Abbatis de Rebus gestis Regis Rogerii, lib. iv. in Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom. v. p. 607 - 645) The kings of France, England, Scotland, Castille, Arragon, Navarre, Sweden, Denmark, and Hungary. The three first were more ancient than Charlemagne; the three next were created by their sword; the three last by their baptism; and of these the king of Hungary alone was honored or debased by a papal crown. Fazellus, and a crowd of Sicilians, had imagined a more early and independent coronation, (A.D. 1130, May 1,) which Giannone unwillingly rejects, (tom. ii. p. 137 - 144.) This fiction is disproved by the silence of contemporaries; nor can it be restored by a spurious character of Messina, (Muratori, Annali d’ Italia, tom. ix. p. 340. Pagi, Critica, tom. iv. p. 467, 468.) Roger corrupted the second person of Lothaire’s army, who sounded, or rather cried, a retreat; for the Germans (says Cinnamus, l. iii. c. i. p. 51) are ignorant of the use of trumpets. Most ignorant himself! Note:
Cinnamus says nothing of their ignorance. - M See De Guignes, Hist. Generate des Huns, tom. i. p. 369 - 373 and Cardonne, Hist. de l’Afrique, etc., sous la Domination des Arabes tom. ii. p. 70 - 144. Their common original appears to be Novairi. Tripoli (says the Nubian geographer, or more properly the Sherif al Edrisi) urbs fortis, saxeo muro vallata, sita prope littus maris Hanc expugnavit Rogerius, qui mulieribus captivis ductis, viros pere mit. See the geography of Leo Africanus, (in Ramusio tom. i. fol. 74 verso. fol. 75, recto,) and Shaw’s Travels, (p. 110,) the viith book of Thuanus, and the xith of the Abbe de Vertot. The possession and defense of the place was offered by Charles V. and wisely declined by the knights of Malta. Pagi has accurately marked the African conquests of Roger and his criticism was supplied by his friend the Abbe de Longuerue with some Arabic memorials, (A.D. 1147, No. 26, 27, A.D. 1148, No. 16, A.D. 1153, No. 16.) Appulus et Calaber, Siculus mihi servit et Afer.
A proud inscription, which denotes, that the Norman conquerors were still discriminated from their Christian and Moslem subjects. Hugo Falcandus (Hist. Sicula, in Muratori, Script. tom. vii. p. 270, 271) ascribes these losses to the neglect or treachery of the admiral Majo. The silence of the Sicilian historians, who end too soon, or begin too late, must be supplied by Otho of Frisingen, a German, (de Gestis Frederici I. l. i. c. 33, in Muratori, Script. tom. vi. p. 668,) the Venetian Andrew Dandulus, (Id. tom. xii. p. 282, 283) and the Greek writers Cinnamus (l. iii. c. 2 - 5) and Nicetas, (in Manuel. l. iii. c. 1 - 6.) To this imperfect capture and speedy rescue I apply par j ojli>gon h+kqe tou~ aJlw~nai Cinnamus, l. ii. c. 19, p. 49. Muratori, on tolerable evidence, (Annali d’Italia, tom. ix. p. 420, 421,) laughs at the delicacy of the French, who maintain, marisque nullo impediente periculo ad regnum proprium reversum esse; yet I observe that their advocate, Ducange, is less positive as the commentator on Cinnamus, than as the editor of Joinville. In palatium regium sagittas igneas injecit, says Dandulus; but Nicetas (l. ii. c. 8, p. 66) transforms them,into be>lh ajrgure>ouv e]conta ajtra>ktouv and adds, that Manuel styled this insult paiJgnion and ge>lwta lh|steu>onta. These arrows, by the compiler, Vincent de Beauvais, are again transmuted into gold. For the invasion of Italy, which is almost overlooked by Nicetas see the more polite history of Cinnamus, (l. iv. c. 1 - 15, p. 78 - 101,) who introduces a diffuse narrative by a lofty profession,peri< te Sikeli>av kai< th~v ]Italw~h ejske>pteto gh~v wJv kai< tau>tav JRwmaijoiv ajnasw>saito . The Latin, Otho, (de Gestis Frederici I. l. ii. c. 30, p. 734,) attests the forgery; the Greek, Cinnamus, (l. iv. c. 1, p. 78,) claims a promise of restitution from Conrad and Frederic. An act of fraud is always credible when it is told of the Greeks. Quod Ancontiani Graecum imperium nimis diligerent ... Veneti speciali odio Anconam oderunt. The cause of love, perhaps of envy, were the beneficia, flumen aureum of the emperor; and the Latin narrative is confirmed by Cinnamus, (l. iv. c. 14, p. 98.) Muratori mentions the two sieges of Ancona; the first, in 1167, against Frederic I. in person (Annali, tom. x. p. 39, etc.;) the second, in 1173, against his lieutenant Christian, archbishop of Mentz, a man unworthy of his name and office, (p. 76, etc.) It is of the second siege that we possess an original narrative, which he has published in his great collection, (tom. vi. p. 921 - 946.) We derive this anecdote from an anonymous chronicle of Fossa Nova, published by Muratori, (Script. Ital. tom. vii. p. 874.) The Basi>leion shmei~on Cinnamus (l. iv. c. 14, p. 99) is susceptible of this double sense. A standard is more Latin, an image more Greek. Nihilominus quoque petebat, ut quia occasio justa et tempos opportunum et acceptabile se obtulerant, Romani corona imperii a sancto apostolo sibi redderetur; quoniam non ad Frederici Alemanni, sed ad suum jus asseruit pertinere, (Vit. Alexandri III. a Cardinal.
Arragoniae, in Script. Rerum Ital. tom. iii. par. i. p. 458.) His second embassy was accompanied cum immensa multitudine pecuniarum. Nimis alta et perplexa sunt, (Vit. Alexandri III. p. 460, 461,) says the cautious pope. Mhde Ital. tom. vii. p. 198.) It is whimsical enough, that in the praise of the king of Sicily, Cinnamus (l. iv. c. 13, p. 97, 98) is much warmer and copious than Falcandus, (p. 268, 270.) But the Greek is fond of description, and the Latin historian is not fond of William the Bad. For the epistle of William I. see Cinnamus (l. iv. c. 15, p. 101, 102) and Nicetas, (l. ii. c. 8.) It is difficult to affirm, whether these Greeks deceived themselves, or the public, in these flattering portraits of the grandeur of the empire. I can only quote, of original evidence, the poor chronicles of Sicard of Cremona, (p. 603,) and of Fossa Nova, (p. 875,) as they are published in the viith tome of Muratori’s historians. The king of Sicily sent his troops contra nequitiam Andronici .... ad acquirendum imperium C. P.
They were .... decepti captique, by Isaac. By the failure of Cinnamus to Nicetas (in Andronico, l. . c. 7, 8, 9, l. ii. c. 1, in Isaac Angelo, l. i. c. 1 - 4,) who now becomes a respectable contemporary. As he survived the emperor and the empire, he is above flattery; but the fall of Constantinople exasperated his prejudices against the Latins. For the honor of learning I shall observe that Homer’s great commentator, Eustathias archbishop of Thessalonica, refused to desert his flock. The Historia Sicula of Hugo Falcandus, which properly extends from 1154 to 1169, is inserted in the viiith volume of Muratori’s Collection, (tom. vii. p. 259 - 344,) and preceded by a eloquent preface or epistle, (p. 251 - 258, de Calamitatibus Siciliae.) Falcandus has been styled the Tacitus of Sicily; and, after a just, but immense, abatement, from the ist to the xiith century, from a senator to a monk, I would not strip him of his title: his narrative is rapid and perspicuous, his style bold and elegant, his observation keen; he had studied mankind, and feels like a man. I can only regret the narrow and barren field on which his labors have been cast. The laborious Benedictines (l’Art de verifier les Dates, p. 896) are of opinion, that the true name of Falcandus is Fulcandus, or Foucault.
According to them, Hugues Foucalt, a Frenchman by birth, and at length abbot of St. Denys, had followed into Sicily his patron Stephen de la Perche, uncle to the mother of William II., archbishop of Palermo, and great chancellor of the kingdom. Yet Falcandus has all the feelings of a Sicilian; and the title of Alumnus (which he bestows on himself) appears to indicate that he was born, or at least educated, in the island. Falcand. p. 303. Richard de St. Germano begins his history from the death and praises of William II. After some unmeaning epithets, he thus continues: Legis et justitiae cultus tempore suo vigebat in regno; sua erat quilibet sorte contentus; (were they mortals?) abique pax, ubique securitas, nec latronum metuebat viator insidias, nec maris nauta offendicula piratarum, (Script. Rerum Ital. tom. vii p 939.) Constantia, primis a cunabulis in deliciarun tuarum affluentia diutius educata, tuisque institutis, doctrinus et moribus informata, tandem opibus tuis Barbaros delatura discessit: et nunc cum imgentibus copiis revertitur, ut pulcherrima nutricis ornamenta barbarica foeditate contaminet .... Intuari mihi jam videor turbulentas bar barorum acies .... civitates opulentas et loca diuturna pace florentia, metu concutere, caede vastare, rapinis atterere, et foedare luxuria hinc cives aut gladiis intercepti, aut servitute depressi, virgines constupratae, matronae, etc. Certe si regem non dubiae virtutis elegerint, nec a Saracenis Christiani dissentiant, poterit rex creatus rebus licet quasi desperatis et perditis subvenire, et incursus hostium, si prudenter egerit, propulsare. In Apulis, qui, semper novitate gaudentes, novarum rerum studiis aguntur, nihil arbitror spei aut fiduciae reponendum. Si civium tuorum virtutem et audaciam attendas, .... muriorum etiam ambitum densis turribus circumseptum. Cum erudelitate piratica Theutonum confligat atrocitas, et inter aucbustos lapides, et Aethnae flagrant’s incendia, etc. Eam partem, quam nobilissimarum civitatum fulgor illustrat, quae et toti regno singulari meruit privilegio praeminere, nefarium esset .... vel barbarorum ingressu pollui. I wish to transcribe his florid, but curious, description, of the palace, city, and luxuriant plain of Palermo. Vires non suppetunt, et conatus tuos tam inopia civium, quam paucitas bellatorum elidunt. The Normans and Sicilians appear to be confounded. The testimony of an Englishman, of Roger de Hoveden, (p. 689,) will lightly weigh against the silence of German and Italian history, (Muratori, Annali d’ Italia, tom. x. p. 156.) The priests and pilgrims, who returned from Rome, exalted, by every tale, the omnipotence of the holy father. Ego enim in eo cum Teutonicis manere non debeo, (Caffari, Annal.
Genuenses, in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom vi. p. 367, 368.) For the Saracens of Sicily and Nocera, see the Annals of Muratori, (tom. x. p. 149, and A.D. 1223, 1247,) Giannone, (tom ii. p. 385,) and of the originals, in Muratori’s Collection, Richard de St. Germano, (tom. vii. p. 996,) Matteo Spinelli de Giovenazzo, (tom. vii. p. 1064,) Nicholas de Jamsilla, (tom. x. p. 494,) and Matreo Villani, (tom. xiv l. vii. p. 103.) The last of these insinuates that, in reducing the Saracens of Nocera, Charles II. of Anjou employed rather artifice than violence. It is remarkable that at the same time the tombs of the Roman emperors, even of Constantine himself, were violated and ransacked by their degenerate successor Alexius Comnenus, in order to enable him to pay the “German” tribute exacted by the menaces of the emperor Henry. See the end of the first book of the Life of Alexius, in Nicetas, p. 632, edit. - M. Muratori quotes a passage from Arnold of Lubec, (l. iv. c. 20:) Reperit thesauros absconditos, et omnem lapidum pretiosorum et gemmarum gloriam, ita ut oneratis 160 somariis, gloriose ad terram suam redierit. Roger de Hoveden, who mentions the violation of the royal tombs and corpses, computes the spoil of Salerno at 200,000 ounces of gold, (p. 746.) On these occasions, I am almost tempted to exclaim with the listening maid in La Fontaine, “Je voudrois bien avoir ce qui manque.”
CHAPTER - I am indebted for his character and history to D’Herbelot, (Bibliotheque Orientale, Mahmud, p. 533 - 537,) M. De Guignes, (Histoire des Huns, tom. iii. p. 155 - 173,) and our countryman Colonel Alexander Dow, (vol. i. p. 23 - 83.) In the two first volumes of his History of Hindostan, he styles himself the translator of the Persian Ferishta; but in his florid text, it is not easy to distinguish the version and the original. Note: The European reader now possesses a more accurate version of Ferishta, that of Col. Briggs. Of Col. Dow’s work, Col. Briggs observes, “that the author’s name will be handed down to posterity as one of the earliest and most indefatigable of our Oriental scholars. Instead of confining himself, however, to mere translation, he has filled his work with his own observations, which have been so embodied in the text that Gibbon declares it impossible to distinguish the translator from the original author.” Preface p. vii. - M. The dynasty of the Samanides continued 125 years, A.D. 847 - 999, under ten princes. See their succession and ruin, in the Tables of M. De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 404 - 406.) They were followed by the Gaznevides, A.D. 999 - 1183, (see tom. i. p. 239, 240.) His divisions of nations often disturbs the series of time and place. Gaznah hortos non habet: est emporium et domicilium mercaturae Indicae. Abulfedae Geograph. Reiske, tab. xxiii. p. 349. D’Herbelot, p. 364. It has not been visited by any modern traveler. By the ambassador of the caliph of Bagdad, who employed an Arabian or Chaldaic word that signifies lord and master, (D’Herbelot, p. 825.)
It is interpreted Aujtokra>twr, Basileu Gloss. Graec. et Latin.) labors to find the title of Sultan in the ancient kingdom of Persia: but his proofs are mere shadows; a proper name in the Themes of Constantine, (ii. 11,) an anticipation of Zonaras, etc., and a medal of Kai Khosrou, not (as he believes) the Sassanide of the vith, but the Seljukide of Iconium of the xiiith century, (De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 246.) Ferishta (apud Dow, Hist. of Hindostan, vol. i. p. 49) mentions the report of a gun in the Indian army. But as I am slow in believing this premature (A.D. 1008) use of artillery, I must desire to scrutinize first the text, and then the authority of Ferishta, who lived in the Mogul court in the last century. This passage is differently written in the various manuscripts I have seen; and in some the word tope (gun) has been written for nupth, (naphtha, and toofung (musket) for khudung, (arrow.) But no Persian or Arabic history speaks of gunpowder before the time usually assigned for its invention, (A.D. 1317;) long after which, it was first applied to the purposes of war. Briggs’s Ferishta, vol. i. p. 47, note. - M. Kinnouge, or Canouge, (the old Palimbothra) is marked in latitude Degrees 3 Minutes, longitude 80 Degrees 13 Minutes. See D’Anville, (Antiquite de l’Inde, p. 60 - 62,) corrected by the local knowledge of Major Rennel (in his excellent Memoir on his Map of Hindostan, p. - 43: ) 300 jewellers, 30,000 shops for the arreca nut, 60,000 bands of musicians, etc. (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p. 274. Dow, vol. i. p. 16,) will allow an ample deduction. Mr. Wilson (Hindu Drama, vol. iii. p. 12) and Schlegel (Indische Bibliothek, vol. ii. p. 394) concur in identifying Palimbothra with the Patalipara of the Indians; the Patna of the moderns. - M. The idolaters of Europe, says Ferishta, (Dow, vol. i. p. 66.) Consult Abulfeda, (p. 272,) and Rennel’s Map of Hindostan. Ferishta says, some “crores of gold.” Dow says, in a note at the bottom of the page, “ten millions,” which is the explanation of the word “crore.” Mr. Gibbon says rashly that the sum offered by the Brahmins was ten millions sterling. Note to Mill’s India, vol. ii. p. 222. Col.
Briggs’s translation is “a quantity of gold.” The treasure found in the temple, “perhaps in the image,” according to Major Price’s authorities, was twenty millions of dinars of gold, above nine millions sterling; but this was a hundred-fold the ransom offered by the Brahmins. Price, vol. ii. p. 290. - M. Rather than the idol broker, he chose to be called Mahmud the idol breaker. Price, vol. ii. p. 289 - M D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 527. Yet these letters apothegms, etc., are rarely the language of the heart, or the motives of public action. Compare Price, vol. ii. p. 295. - M For instance, a ruby of four hundred and fifty miskals, (Dow, vol. i. p. 53,) or six pounds three ounces: the largest in the treasury of Delhi weighed seventeen miskals, (Voyages de Tavernier, partie ii. p. 280.) It is true, that in the East all colored stones are calied rubies, (p. 355,) and that Tavernier saw three larger and more precious among the jewels de notre grand roi, le plus puissant et plus magnifique de tous les rois de la terre, (p. 376.) Dow, vol. i. p. 65. The sovereign of Kinoge is said to have possessed 2500 elephants, (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p. 274.) From these Indian stories, the reader may correct a note in my first volume, (p. 245;) or from that note he may correct these stories. See a just and natural picture of these pastoral manners, in the history of William archbishop of Tyre, (l. i. c. vii. in the Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 633, 634,) and a valuable note by the editor of the Histoire Genealogique des Tatars, p. 535 - 538. The first emigration of the Turkmans, and doubtful origin of the Seljukians, may be traced in the laborious History of the Huns, by M.
De Guignes, (tom. i. Tables Chronologiques, l. v. tom. iii. l. vii. ix. x.) and the Bibliotheque Orientale, of D’Herbelot, (p. 799 - 802, 897 - 901,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 321 - 333,) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 221, 222.) Dow, Hist. of Hindostan, vol. i. p. 89, 95 - 98. I have copied this passage as a specimen of the Persian manner; but I suspect that, by some odd fatality, the style of Ferishta has been improved by that of Ossian. Note: Gibbon’s conjecture was well founded. Compare the more sober and genuine version of Col. Briggs, vol. i. p. 110. - M. The Zendekan of D’Herbelot, (p. 1028,) the Dindaka of Dow (vol. i. p. 97,) is probably the Dandanekan of Abulfeda, (Geograph. p. 345, Reiske,) a small town of Chorasan, two days’ journey from Maru, and renowned through the East for the production and manufacture of cotton. The Byzantine historians (Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 766, 766, Zonaras tom. ii. p. 255, Nicephorus Bryennius, p. 21) have confounded, in this revolution, the truth of time and place, of names and persons, of causes and events. The ignorance and errors of these Greeks (which I shall not stop to unravel) may inspire some distrust of the story of Cyaxares and Cyrus, as it is told by their most eloquent predecessor. Willerm. Tyr. l. i. c. 7, p. 633. The divination by arrows is ancient and famous in the East. D’Herbelot, p. 801. Yet after the fortune of his posterity, Seljuk became the thirty-fourth in lineal descent from the great Afrasiab, emperor of Touran, (p. 800.) The Tartar pedigree of the house of Zingis gave a different cast to flattery and fable; and the historian Mirkhond derives the Seljukides from Alankavah, the virgin mother, (p. 801, col. 2.) If they be the same as the Zalzuts of Abulghazi Bahadur Kahn, (Hist. Genealogique, p. 148,) we quote in their favor the most weighty evidence of a Tartar prince himself, the descendant of Zingis, Alankavah, or Alancu, and Oguz Khan. By a slight corruption, Togrul Beg is the Tangroli-pix of the Greeks.
His reign and character are faithfully exhibited by D’Herbelot (Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 1027, 1028) and De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. p. 189 - 201.) Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 774, 775. Zonaras, tom. ii. p. 257. With their usual knowledge of Oriental affairs, they describe the ambassador as a sherif, who, like the syncellus of the patriarch, was the vicar and successor of the caliph. From William of Tyre I have borrowed this distinction of Turks and Turkmans, which at least is popular and convenient. The names are the same, and the addition of man is of the same import in the Persic and Teutonic idioms. Few critics will adopt the etymology of James de Vitry, (Hist. Hierosol. l. i. c. 11 p. 1061,) of Turcomani, quesi Turci et Comani, a mixed people. Hist. Generale des Huns, tom. iii. p. 165, 166, 167. M. DeGognes Abulmahasen, an historian of Egypt. Consult the Bibliotheque Orientale, in the articles of the Abbassides, Caher, and Caiem, and the Annals of Elmacin and Abulpharagius. For this curious ceremony, I am indebted to M. De Guignes (tom. iii. p. 197, 198,) and that learned author is obliged to Bondari, who composed in Arabic the history of the Seljukides, tom. v. p. 365) I am ignorant of his age, country, and character. According to Von Hammer, “crowns” are incorrect. They are unknown as a symbol of royalty in the East. V. Hammer, Osmanische Geschischte, vol. i. p. 567. - M. Eodem anno (A. H. 455) obiit princeps Togrulbecus .... rex fuit clemens, prudens, et peritus regnandi, cujus terror corda mortalium invaserat, ita ut obedirent ei reges atque ad ipsum scriberent. Elma cin, Hist. Saracen. p. 342, vers. Erpenii. He died, being 75 years old. V.
Hammer. - M. For these wars of the Turks and Romans, see in general the Byzantine histories of Zonaras and Cedrenus, Scylitzes the continuator of Cedrenus, and Nicephorus Bryennius Caesar. The two first of these were monks, the two latter statesmen; yet such were the Greeks, that the difference of style and character is scarcely discernible. For the Orientals, I draw as usuul on the wealth of D’Herbelot (see titles of the first Seljukides) and the accuracy of De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. l. x.) JEfe>reto ga Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 791. The credulity of the vulgar is always probable; and the Turks had learned from the Arabs the history or legend of Escander Dulcarnein, (D’Herbelot, p. 213 etc.) Oi\ th Bryennium, l. ii. No. 4) has labored the subject in honor of the president de Bailleul, whose father had exchanged the sword for the gown. Elmacin (p. 343, 344) assigns this probable number, which is reduced by Abulpharagius to 15,000, (p. 227,) and by D’Herbelot (p. 102) to 12,000 horse. But the same Elmacin gives 300,000 met to the emperor, of whom Abulpharagius says, Cum centum hominum millibus, multisque equis et magna pompa instructus. The Greeks abstain from any definition of numbers. The Byzantine writers do not speak so distinctly of the presence of the sultan: he committed his forces to a eunuch, had retired to a distance, etc. Is it ignorance, or jealousy, or truth? He was the son of Caesar John Ducas, brother of the emperor Constantine, (Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 165.) Nicephorus Bryennius applauds his virtues and extenuates his faults, (l. i. p. 30, 38. l. ii. p. 53.) Yet he owns his enmity to Romanu ouj panu< fili>wv e]cwn pro Constantine Manasses, p. 134. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 343 344.
Abulpharag. Dynast. p. 227. D’Herbelot, p. 102, 103. D Guignes, tom. iii. p. 207 - 211. Besides my old acquaintance Elmacin and Abulpharagius, the historian of the Huns has consulted Abulfeda, and his epitomizer Benschounah, a Chronicle of the Caliphs, by Abulmahasen of Egypt, and Novairi of Africa. This interesting death is told by D’Herbelot, (p. 103, 104,) and M. De Guignes, (tom. iii. p. 212, 213.) from their Oriental writers; but neither of them have transfused the spirit of Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen p. 344, 345.) A critic of high renown, (the late Dr. Johnson,) who has severely scrutinized the epitaphs of Pope, might cavil in this sublime inscription at the words “repair to Maru,” since the reader must already be at Maru before he could peruse the inscription. The Bibliotheque Orientale has given the text of the reign of Malek, (p. 542, 543, 544, 654, 655;) and the Histoire Generale des Huns (tom. iii. p. 214 - 224) has added the usual measure of repetition emendation, and supplement. Without those two learned Frenchmen I should be blind indeed in the Eastern world. See an excellent discourse at the end of Sir William Jones’s History of Nadir Shah, and the articles of the poets, Amak, Anvari, Raschidi, etc., in the Bibliotheque Orientale. His name was Kheder Khan. Four bags were placed round his sopha, and as he listened to the song, he cast handfuls of gold and silver to the poets, (D’Herbelot, p. 107.) All this may be true; but I do not understand how he could reign in Transoxiana in the time of Malek Shah, and much less how Kheder could surpass him in power and pomp. I suspect that the beginning, not the end, of the xith century is the true aera of his reign. See Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tom. ii. p. 235. The Gelalaean aera (Gelaleddin, Glory of the Faith, was one of the names or titles of Malek Shah) is fixed to the xvth of March, A. H. 471, A.D. 1079. Dr. Hyde has produced the original testimonies of the Persians and Arabians, (de Religione veterum Persarum, c. 16 p. 200 - 211.) He was the first great victim of his enemy, Hassan Sabek, founder of the Assassins. Von Hammer, Geschichte der Assassinen, p. 95. - M. She speaks of this Persian royalty as aJpa>shv kakodaimone>steron peni>av . Anna Comnena was only nine years old at the end of the reign of Malek Shah, (A.D. 1092,) and when she speaks of his assassination, she confounds the sultan with the vizier, (Alexias, l. vi. p. 177, 178.) See Von Hammer, Osmanische Geschichte, vol. i. p. 16. The Seljukian dominions were for a time reunited in the person of Sandjar, one of the sons of Malek Shah, who ruled “from Kashgar to Antioch, from the Caspian to the Straits of Babelmandel.” - M. So obscure, that the industry of M. De Guignes could only copy (tom. i. p. 244, tom. iii. part i. p. 269, etc.) the history, or rather list, of the Seljukides of Kerman, in Bibliotheque Orientale. They were extinguished before the end of the xiith century. Tavernier, perhaps the only traveler who has visited Kerman, describes the capital as a great ruinous village, twenty-five days’ journey from Ispahan, and twenty-seven from Ormus, in the midst of a fertile country, (Voyages en Turquie et en Perse, p. 107, 110.) It appears from Anna Comnena, that the Turks of Asia Minor obeyed the signet and chiauss of the great sultan, (Alexias, l. vi. p. 170;) and that the two sons of Soliman were detained in his court, p. 180.) This expression is quoted by Petit de la Croix (Vie de Gestis p. 160) from some poet, most probably a Persian. Wilken considers Cutulmish not a Turkish name. Geschicht Kreuzzuge, vol. i. p. 9. - M. On the conquest of Asia Minor, M. De Guignes has derived no assistance from the Turkish or Arabian writers, who produce a naked list of the Seljukides of Roum. The Greeks are unwilling to expose their shame, and we must extort some hints from Scylitzes, (p. 860, 863,) Nicephorus Bryennius, (p. 88, 91, 92, etc., 103, 104,) and Anna Comnena (Alexias, p. 91, 92, etc., 163, etc.) Such is the description of Roum by Haiton the Armenian, whose Tartar history may be found in the collections of Ramusio and Bergeron, (see Abulfeda, Geograph. climat. xvii. p. 301 - 305.) Dicit eos quendam abusione Sodomitica intervertisse episcopum, (Guibert. Abbat. Hist. Hierosol. l. i. p. 468.) It is odd enough, that we should find a parallel passage of the same people in the present age. “Il n’est point d’horreur que ces Turcs n’ayent commis, et semblables aux soldats effrenes, qui dans le sac d’une ville, non contens de disposer de tout a leur gre pretendent encore aux succes les moins desirables.
Quelque Sipahis ont porte leurs attentats sur la personne du vieux rabbi de la synagogue, et celle de l’Archeveque Grec.” (Memoires du Baron de Tott, tom. ii. p. 193.) The emperor, or abbot describe the scenes of a Turkish camp as if they had been present. Matres correptae in conspectu filiarum multipliciter repetitis diversorum coitibus vexabantur; (is that the true reading?) cum filiae assistentes carmina praecinere saltando cogerentur.
Mox eadem passio ad filias, etc. See Antioch, and the death of Soliman, in Anna Comnena, (Alexius, l. vi. p. 168, 169,) with the notes of Ducange. William of Tyre (l. i. c. 9, 10, p. 635) gives the most authentic and deplorable account of these Turkish conquests. In his epistle to the count of Flanders, Alexius seems to fall too low beneath his character and dignity; yet it is approved by Ducange, (Not. ad Alexiad. p. 335, etc.,) and paraphrased by the Abbot Guibert, a contemporary historian. The Greek text no longer exists; and each translator and scribe might say with Guibert, (p. 475,) verbis vestita meis, a privilege of most indefinite latitude. Our best fund for the history of Jerusalem from Heraclius to the crusades is contained in two large and original passages of William archbishop of Tyre, (l. i. c. 1 - 10, l. xviii. c. 5, 6,) the principal author of the Gesta Dei per Francos. M. De Guignes has composed a very learned Memoire sur le Commerce des Francois dans le de Levant avant les Croisades, etc. (Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxxvii. p. 467 - 500.) Secundum Dominorum dispositionem plerumque lucida plerum que nubila recepit intervalla, et aegrotantium more temporum praesentium gravabatur aut respirabat qualitate, (l. i. c. 3, p. 630.) The latinity of William of Tyre is by no means contemptible: but in his account of years, from the loss to the recovery of Jerusalem, precedes the true account by 30 years. For the transactions of Charlemagne with the Holy Land, see Eginhard, (de Vita Caroli Magni, c. 16, p. 79 - 82,) Constantine Porphyrogenitus, (de Administratione Imperii, l. ii. c. 26, p. 80,) and Pagi, (Critica, tom. iii. A.D. 800, No. 13, 14, 15.) The caliph granted his privileges, Amalphitanis viris amicis et utilium introductoribus, (Gesta Dei, p. 934.) The trade of Venice to Egypt and Palestine cannot produce so old a title, unless we adopt the laughable translation of a Frenchman, who mistook the two factions of the circus (Veneti et Prasini) for the Venetians and Parisians. An Arabic chronicle of Jerusalem (apud Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. i. p. 268, tom. iv. p. 368) attests the unbelief of the caliph and the historian; yet Cantacuzene presumes to appeal to the Mahometans themselves for the truth of this perpetual miracle. In his Dissertations on Ecclesiastical History, the learned Mosheim has separately discussed this pretended miracle, (tom. ii. p. 214 - 306,) de lumine sancti sepulchri. William of Malmsbury (l. iv. c. 2, p. 209) quotes the Itinerary of the monk Bernard, an eye-witness, who visited Jerusalem A.D. 870. The miracle is confirmed by another pilgrim some years older; and Mosheim ascribes the invention to the Franks, soon after the decease of Charlemagne. Our travelers, Sandys, (p. 134,) Thevenot, (p. 621 - 627,) Maundrell, (p. 94, 95,) etc., describes this extravagant farce. The Catholics are puzzled to decide when the miracle ended and the trick began. The Orientals themselves confess the fraud, and plead necessity and edification, (Memoires du Chevalier D’Arvieux, tom. ii. p. 140. Joseph Abudacni, Hist. Copt. c. 20;) but I will not attempt, with Mosheim, to explain the mode. Our travelers have failed with the blood of St.
Januarius at Naples. See D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 411,) Renaudot, (Hist.
Patriarch. Alex. p. 390, 397, 400, 401,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. - 323,) and Marei, (p. 384 - 386,) an historian of Egypt, translated by Reiske from Arabic into German, and verbally interpreted to me by a friend. The religion of the Druses is concealed by their ignorance and hypocrisy. Their secret doctrines are confined to the elect who profess a contemplative life; and the vulgar Druses, the most indifferent of men, occasionally conform to the worship of the Mahometans and Christians of their neighborhood. The little that is, or deserves to be, known, may be seen in the industrious Niebuhr, (Voyages, tom. ii. p. 354 - 357,) and the second volume of the recent and instructive Travels of M. de Volney. Note: The religion of the Druses has, within the present year, been fully developed from their own writings, which have long lain neglected in the libraries of Paris and Oxford, in the “Expose de la Religion des Druses, by M. Silvestre de Sacy.” Deux tomes, Paris, 1838. The learned author has prefixed a life of Hakem Biamr-Allah, which enables us to correct several errors in the account of Gibbon.
These errors chiefly arose from his want of knowledge or of attention to the chronology of Hakem’s life. Hakem succeeded to the throne of Egypt in the year of the Hegira 386. He did not assume his divinity till 408. His life was indeed “a wild mixture of vice and folly,” to which may be added, of the most sanguinary cruelty. During his reign, 18,000 persons were victims of his ferocity. Yet such is the god, observes M. de Sacy, whom the Druses have worshipped for 800 years! (See p. ccccxxix.) All his wildest and most extravagant actions were interpreted by his followers as having a mystic and allegoric meaning, alluding to the destruction of other religions and the propagation of his own. It does not seem to have been the “vanity” of Hakem which induced him to introduce a new religion. The curious point in the new faith is that Hamza, the son of Ali, the real founder of the Unitarian religion, (such is its boastful title,) was content to take a secondary part. While Hakem was God, the one Supreme, the Imam Hamza was his Intelligence. It was not in his “divine character” that Hakem “hated the Jews and Christians,” but in that of a Mahometan bigot, which he displayed in the earlier years of his reign. His barbarous persecution, and the burning of the church of the Resurrection at Jerusalem, belong entirely to that period; and his assumption of divinity was followed by an edict of toleration to Jews and Christians. The Mahometans, whose religion he then treated with hostility and contempt, being far the most numerous, were his most dangerous enemies, and therefore the objects of his most inveterate hatred As for the religion of the Druses, I cannot agree with Gibbon that it does not “deserve” to be better known; and am grateful to M. de Sacy, notwithstanding the prolixity and occasional repetition in his two large volumes, for the full examination of the most extraordinary religious aberration which ever extensively affected the mind of man. The worship of a mad tyrant is the basis of a subtle metaphysical creed, and of a severe, and even ascetic, morality. - M. See Glaber, l. iii. c. 7, and the Annals of Baronius and Pagi, A.D. 1009. Per idem tempus ex universo orbe tam innumerabilis multitudo coepit confluere ad sepulchrum Salvatoris Hierosolymis, quantum nullus hominum prius sperare poterat. Ordo inferioris plebis .... mediocres .... reges et comites ..... praesules ..... mulieres multae nobilis cum pauperioribus .... Pluribus enim erat mentis desiderium mori priusquam ad propria reverterentur, (Glaber, l. iv. c. 6, Bouquet. Historians of France, tom. x. p. 50.) Note: Compare the first chap. of Wilken, Geschichte der Kreuz-zuge. - M. Glaber, l. iii. c. 1. Katona (Hist. Critic. Regum Hungariae, tom. i. p. 304 - 311) examines whether St. Stephen founded a monastery at Jerusalem. Baronius (A.D. 1064, No. 43 - 56) has transcribed the greater part of the original narratives of Ingulphus, Marianus, and Lambertus. See Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 349, 350) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 237, vers. Pocock.) M. De Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom iii. part i. p. 215, 216) adds the testimonies, or rather the names, of Abulfeda and Novairi. From the expedition of Isar Atsiz, (A. H. 469, A.D. 1076,) to the expulsion of the Ortokides, (A.D. 1096.) Yet William of Tyre (l. i. c. 6, p. 633) asserts, that Jerusalem was thirty-eight years in the hands of the Turks; and an Arabic chronicle, quoted by Pagi, (tom. iv. p. 202) supposes that the city was reduced by a Carizmian general to the obedience of the caliph of Bagdad, A. H. 463, A.D. 1070. These early dates are not very compatible with the general history of Asia; and I am sure, that as late as A.D. 1064, the regnum Babylonicum (of Cairo) still prevailed in Palestine, (Baronius, A.D. 1064, No. 56.) De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 249 - 252. Willierm. Tyr. l. i. c. 8, p. 634, who strives hard to magnify the Christian grievances. The Turks exacted an aureus from each pilgrim!
The caphar of the Franks now is fourteen dollars: and Europe does not complain of this voluntary tax.
CHAPTER - Whimsical enough is the origin of the name of Picards, and from thence of Picardie, which does not date later than A.D. 1200. It was an academical joke, an epithet first applied to the quarrelsome humor of those students, in the University of Paris, who came from the frontier of France and Flanders, (Valesii Notitia Galliarum, p. 447, Longuerue.
Description de la France, p. 54.) William of Tyre (l. i. c. 11, p. 637, 638) thus describes the hermit:
Pusillus, persona contemptibilis, vivacis ingenii, et oculum habeas perspicacem gratumque, et sponte fluens ei non deerat eloquium. See Albert Aquensis, p. 185. Guibert, p. 482. Anna Comnena in Alex isd, l. x. p. 284, etc., with Ducarge’s Notes, p. 349. Wilken considers this as doubtful, (vol. i. p. 47.( - M. He had seen the Savior in a vision: a letter had fallen from heaven Wilken, vol. i. p. 49. - M. Ultra quinquaginta millia, si me possunt in expeditione pro duce et pontifice habere, armata manu volunt in inimicos Dei insurgere et ad sepulchrum Domini ipso ducente pervenire, (Gregor. vii. epist. ii. 31, in tom. xii. 322, concil.) See the original lives of Urban II. by Pandulphus Pisanus and Bernardus Guido, in Muratori, Rer. Ital. Script. tom. iii. pars i. p. 352, 353. She is known by the different names of Praxes, Eupraecia, Eufrasia, and Adelais; and was the daughter of a Russian prince, and the widow of a margrave of Brandenburgh. (Struv. Corpus Hist. Germanicae, p. 340.) Henricus odio eam coepit habere: ideo incarceravit eam, et concessit ut plerique vim ei inferrent; immo filium hortans ut eam subagitaret, (Dodechin, Continuat. Marian. Scot. apud Baron. A.D. 1093, No. 4.)
In the synod of Constance, she is described by Bertholdus, rerum inspector: quae se tantas et tam inauditas fornicationum spur citias, et a tantis passam fuisse conquesta est, etc.; and again at Placentia: satis misericorditer suscepit, eo quod ipsam tantas spurcitias pertulisse pro certo cognoverit papa cum sancta synodo. Apud Baron. A.D. 1093, No. 4, 1094, No. 3. A rare subject for the infallible decision of a pope and council. These abominations are repugnant to every principle of human nature, which is not altered by a dispute about rings and crosiers. Yet it should seem, that the wretched woman was tempted by the priests to relate or subscribe some infamous stories of herself and her husband. See the narrative and acts of the synod of Placentia, Concil. tom. xii. p. 821, etc. Guibert, himself a Frenchman, praises the piety and valor of the French nation, the author and example of the crusades: Gens nobilis, prudens, bellicosa, dapsilis et nitida .... Quos enim Britones, Anglos, Ligures, si bonis eos moribus videamus, non illico Francos homines appellemus? (p. 478.) He owns, however, that the vivacity of the French degenerates into petulance among foreigners, (p. 488.) and vain loquaciousness, (p. 502.) Per viam quam jamdudum Carolus Magnus mirificus rex Francorum aptari fecit usque C. P., (Gesta Francorum, p. 1. Robert. Monach. Hist.
Hieros. l. i. p. 33, etc. John Tilpinus, or Turpinus, was archbishop of Rheims, A.D. 773.
After the year 1000, this romance was composed in his name, by a monk of the borders of France and Spain; and such was the idea of ecclesiastical merit, that he describes himself as a fighting and drinking priest! Yet the book of lies was pronounced authentic by Pope Calixtus II., (A.D. 1122,) and is respectfully quoted by the abbot Suger, in the great Chronicles of St. Denys, (Fabric Bibliot. Latin Medii Aevi, edit.
Mansi, tom. iv. p. 161.) See Etat de la France, by the Count de Boulainvilliers, tom. i. p. 180 - 182, and the second volume of the Observations sur l’Histoire de France, by the Abbe de Mably. In the provinces to the south of the Loire, the first Capetians were scarcely allowed a feudal supremacy. On all sides, Normandy, Bretagne, Aquitain, Burgundy, Lorraine, and Flanders, contracted the same and limits of the proper France. See Hadrian Vales. Notitia Galliarum These counts, a younger branch of the dukes of Aquitain, were at length despoiled of the greatest part of their country by Philip Augustus. The bishops of Clermont gradually became princes of the city. Melanges, tires d’une grand Bibliotheque, tom. xxxvi. p. 288, etc. See the Acts of the council of Clermont, Concil. tom. xii. p. 829, etc. Confluxerunt ad concilium e multis regionibus, viri potentes et honorati, innumeri quamvis cingulo laicalis militiae superbi, (Baldric, an eye-witness, p. 86 - 88. Robert. Monach. p. 31, 32. Will. Tyr. i. 14, 15, p. 639 - 641. Guibert, p. 478 - 480. Fulcher. Carnot. p. 382.) The Truce of God (Treva, or Treuga Dei) was first invented in Aquitain, A.D. 1032; blamed by some bishops as an occasion of perjury, and rejected by the Normans as contrary to their privileges (Ducange, Gloss Latin. tom. vi. p. 682 - 685.) Deus vult, Deus vult! was the pure acclamation of the clergy who understood Latin, (Robert. Mon. l. i. p. 32.) By the illiterate laity, who spoke the Provincial or Limousin idiom, it was corrupted to Deus lo volt, or Diex el volt. See Chron. Casinense, l. iv. c. 11, p. 497, in Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom. iv., and Ducange, (Dissertat xi. p. 207, sur Joinville, and Gloss. Latin. tom. ii. p. 690,) who, in his preface, produces a very difficult specimen of the dialect of Rovergue, A.D. 1100, very near, both in time and place, to the council of Clermont, (p. 15, 16.) Most commonly on their shoulders, in gold, or silk, or cloth sewed on their garments. In the first crusade, all were red, in the third, the French alone preserved that color, while green crosses were adopted by the Flemings, and white by the English, (Ducange, tom. ii. p. 651.) Yet in England, the red ever appears the favorite, and as if were, the national, color of our military ensigns and uniforms. Bongarsius, who has published the original writers of the crusades, adopts, with much complacency, the fanatic title of Guibertus, Gesta Dei per Francos; though some critics propose to read Gesta Diaboli per Francos, (Hanoviae, 1611, two vols. in folio.) I shall briefly enumerate, as they stand in this collection, the authors whom I have used for the first crusade.
I. Gesta Francorum.
II. Robertus Monachus.
III. Baldricus.
IV. Raimundus de Agiles.
V. Albertus Aquensis VI. Fulcherius Carnotensis.
VII. Guibertus.
VIII. Willielmus Tyriensis. Muratori has given us, IX. Radulphus Cadomensis de Gestis Tancredi, (Script. Rer. Ital. tom. v. p. 285-333,) X. Bernardus Thesaurarius de Acquisitione Terrae Sanctae, (tom. vii. p. 664-848.)
The last of these was unknown to a late French historian, who has given a large and critical list of the writers of the crusades, (Esprit des Croisades, tom. i. p. 13 — 141,) and most of whose judgments my own experience will allow me to ratify. It was late before I could obtain a sight of the French historians collected by Duchesne. I. Petri Tudebodi Sacerdotis Sivracensis Historia de Hierosolymitano Itinere, (tom. iv. p. 773 — 815,) has been transfused into the first anonymous writer of Bongarsius. II. The Metrical History of the first Crusade, in vii. books, (p. 890 — 912,) is of small value or account. Several new documents, particularly from the East, have been collected by the industry of the modern historians of the crusades, M. Michaud and Wilken. - M. If the reader will turn to the first scene of the First Part of Henry the Fourth, he will see in the text of Shakespeare the natural feelings of enthusiasm; and in the notes of Dr. Johnson the workings of a bigoted, though vigorous mind, greedy of every pretense to hate and persecute those who dissent from his creed. The manner in which the war was conducted surely has little relation to the abstract question of the justice or injustice of the war. The most just and necessary war may be conducted with the most prodigal waste of human life, and the wildest fanaticism; the most unjust with the coolest moderation and consummate generalship. The question is, whether the liberties and religion of Europe were in danger from the aggressions of Mahometanism? If so, it is difficult to limit the right, though it may be proper to question the wisdom, of overwhelming the enemy with the armed population of a whole continent, and repelling, if possible, the invading conqueror into his native deserts. The crusades are monuments of human folly! but to which of the more regular wars civilized. Europe, waged for personal ambition or national jealousy, will our calmer reason appeal as monuments either of human justice or human wisdom? - M. “God,” says the abbot Guibert, “invented the crusades as a new way for the laity to atone for their sins and to merit salvation.” This extraordinary and characteristic passage must be given entire. “Deus nostro tempore praelia sancta instituit, ut ordo equestris et vulgus oberrans qui vetustae Paganitatis exemplo in mutuas versabatur caedes, novum reperirent salutis promerendae genus, ut nec funditus electa, ut fieri assolet, monastica conversatione, seu religiosa qualibet professione saeculum relinquere congerentur; sed sub consueta licentia et habitu ex suo ipsorum officio Dei aliquantenus gratiam consequerentur.” Guib.
Abbas, p. 371. See Wilken, vol. i. p. 63. - M. The vith Discourse of Fleury on Ecclesiastical History (p. 223 - 261) contains an accurate and rational view of the causes and effects of the crusades. The penance, indulgences, etc., of the middle ages are amply discussed by Muratori, (Antiquitat. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. v. dissert. lxviii. p. 709 - 768,) and by M. Chais, (Lettres sur les Jubiles et les Indulgences, tom. ii. lettres 21 & 22, p. 478 - 556,) with this difference, that the abuses of superstition are mildly, perhaps faintly, exposed by the learned Italian, and peevishly magnified by the Dutch minister. Schmidt (Histoire des Allemands, tom. ii. p. 211 - 220, 452 - 462) gives an abstract of the Penitential of Rhegino in the ninth, and of Burchard in the tenth, century. In one year, five-and-thirty murders were perpetrated at Worms. Till the xiith century, we may support the clear account of xii. denarii, or pence, to the solidus, or shilling; and xx. solidi to the pound weight of silver, about the pound sterling. Our money is diminished to a third, and the French to a fiftieth, of this primitive standard. Each century of lashes was sanctified with a recital of a psalm, and the whole Psalter, with the accompaniment of 15,000 stripes, was equivalent to five years. The Life and Achievements of St. Dominic Loricatus was composed by his friend and admirer, Peter Damianus. See Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 96 - 104. Baronius, A.D. 1056, No. 7, who observes, from Damianus, how fashionable, even among ladies of quality, (sublimis generis,) this expiation (purgatorii genus) was grown. At a quarter, or even half a rial a lash, Sancho Panza was a cheaper, and possibly not a more dishonest, workman. I remember in Pere Labat (Voyages en Italie, tom. vii. p. 16 - 29) a very lively picture of the dexterity of one of these artists. Quicunque pro sola devotione, non pro honoris vel pecuniae adoptione, ad liberandam ecclesiam Dei Jerusalem profectus fuerit, iter illud pro omni poenitentia reputetur. Canon. Concil. Claromont. ii. p. 829. Guibert styles it novum salutis genus, (p. 471,) and is almost philosophical on the subject. See note, page 546. - M. Such at least was the belief of the crusaders, and such is the uniform style of the historians, (Esprit des Croisades, tom. iii. p. 477;) but the prayer for the repose of their souls is inconsistent in orthodox theology with the merits of martyrdom. The same hopes were displayed in the letters of the adventurers ad animandos qui in Francia residerant. Hugh de Reiteste could boast, that his share amounted to one abbey and ten castles, of the yearly value of 1500 marks, and that he should acquire a hundred castles by the conquest of Aleppo, (Guibert, p. 554, 555.) In his genuine or fictitious letter to the count of Flanders, Alexius mingles with the danger of the church, and the relics of saints, the auri et argenti amor, and pulcherrimarum foeminarum voluptas, p. 476;) as if, says the indignant Guibert, the Greek women were handsomer than those of France. See the privileges of the Crucesignati, freedom from debt, usury injury, secular justice, etc. The pope was their perpetual guardian (Ducange, tom. ii. p. 651, 652.) Guibert (p. 481) paints in lively colors this general emotion. He was one of the few contemporaries who had genius enough to feel the astonishing scenes that were passing before their eyes. Erat itaque videre miraculum, caro omnes emere, atque vili vendere, etc. Some instances of these stigmata are given in the Esprit des Croisades, (tom. iii. p. 169 etc.,) from authors whom I have not seen Fuit et aliud scelus detestabile in hac congregatione pedestris populi stulti et vesanae levitatis, anserem quendam divino spiritu asserebant afflatum, et capellam non minus eodem repletam, et has sibi duces secundae viae fecerant, etc., (Albert. Aquensis, l. i. c. 31, p. 196.) Had these peasants founded an empire, they might have introduced, as in Egypt, the worship of animals, which their philosophic descend ants would have glossed over with some specious and subtile allegory. A singular “allegoric” explanation of this strange fact has recently been broached: it is connected with the charge of idolatry and Eastern heretical opinions subsequently made against the Templars. “We have no doubt that they were Manichee or Gnostic standards.” (The author says the animals themselves were carried before the army. - M.) “The goose, in Egyptian symbols, as every Egyptian scholar knows, meant ‘divine Son,’ or ‘Son of God.’ The goat meant Typhon, or Devil. Thus we have the Manichee opposing principles of good and evil, as standards, at the head of the ignorant mob of crusading invaders. Can any one doubt that a large portion of this host must have been infected with the Manichee or Gnostic idolatry?” Account of the Temple Church by R. W. Billings, p. 5 London. 1838. This is, at all events, a curious coincidence, especially considered in connection with the extensive dissemination of the Paulician opinions among the common people of Europe. At any rate, in so inexplicable a matter, we are inclined to catch at any explanation, however wild or subtile. - M. Benjamin of Tudela describes the state of his Jewish brethren from Cologne along the Rhine: they were rich, generous, learned, hospitable, and lived in the eager hope of the Messiah, (Voyage, tom. i. p. 243 - 245, par Baratier.) In seventy years (he wrote about A.D. 1170) they had recovered from these massacres. These massacres and depredations on the Jews, which were renewed at each crusade, are coolly related. It is true, that St. Bernard (epist. 363, tom. i. p. 329) admonishes the Oriental Franks, non sunt persequendi Judaei, non sunt trucidandi. The contrary doctrine had been preached by a rival monk. This is an unjust sarcasm against St.
Bernard. He stood above all rivalry of this kind See note 31, c. l x. - M See the contemporary description of Hungary in Otho of Frisin gen, l. ii. c. 31, in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. vi. p. 665 666. The narrative of the first march is very incorrect. The first party moved under Walter de Pexego and Walter the Penniless: they passed safe through Hungary, the kingdom of Kalmeny, and were attacked in Bulgaria. Peter followed with 40,000 men; passed through Hungary; but seeing the clothes of sixteen crusaders, who had been empaled on the walls of Semlin. he attacked and stormed the city. He then marched to Nissa, where, at first, he was hospitably received: but an accidental quar rel taking place, he suffered a great defeat. Wilken, vol. i. p. 84 - 86 - M. The old Hungarians, without excepting Turotzius, are ill informed of the first crusade, which they involve in a single passage. Katona, like ourselves, can only quote the writers of France; but he compares with local science the ancient and modern geography. Ante portam Cyperon, is Sopron or Poson; Mallevilla, Zemlin; Fluvius Maroe, Savus; Lintax, Leith; Mesebroch, or Merseburg, Ouar, or Moson; Tollenburg, Pragg, (de Regibus Hungariae, tom. iii. p. 19 - 53.) Soliman had been killed in 1085, in a battle against Toutoneh, brother of Malek Schah, between Appelo and Antioch. It was not Soliman, therefore, but his son David, surnamed Kilidje Arslan, the “Sword of the Lion,” who reigned in Nice. Almost all the occidental authors have fallen into this mistake, which was detected by M. Michaud, Hist. des Crois. 4th edit. and Extraits des Aut. Arab. rel. aux Croisades, par M.
Reinaud Paris, 1829, p. 3. His kingdom extended from the Orontes to the Euphra tes, and as far as the Bosphorus. Kilidje Arslan must uniformly be substituted for Soliman. Brosset note on Le Beau, tom. xv. p. 311. - M. Anna Comnena (Alexias, l. x. p. 287) describes this ojstw~n kolwno>v as a mountain ujyhlo He pawned the duchy for one hundredth part of the present yearly revenue. Ten thousand marks may be equal to five hundred thousand livres, and Normandy annually yields fifty-seven millions to the king, (Necker, Administration des Finances, tom. i. p. 287.) His original letter to his wife is inserted in the Spicilegium of Dom.
Luc. d’Acheri, tom. iv. and quoted in the Esprit des Croisades tom. i. p. 63. Unius enim duum, trium seu quatuor oppidorum dominos quis numeret? quorum tanta fuit copia, ut non vix totidem Trojana obsidio coegisse putetur. (Ever the lively and interesting Guibert, p. 486.) It is singular enough, that Raymond of St. Giles, a second character in the genuine history of the crusades, should shine as the first of heroes in the writings of the Greeks (Anna Comnen. Alexiad, l. x xi.) and the Arabians, (Longueruana, p. 129.) Omnes de Burgundia, et Alvernia, et Vasconia, et Gothi, (of Languedoc,) provinciales appellabantur, caeteri vero Francigenae et hoc in exercitu; inter hostes autem Franci dicebantur. Raymond des Agiles, p. 144. The town of his birth, or first appanage, was consecrated to St Aegidius, whose name, as early as the first crusade, was corrupted by the French into St. Gilles, or St. Giles. It is situate in the Iowen Languedoc, between Nismes and the Rhone, and still boasts a collegiate church of the foundation of Raymond, (Melanges tires d’une Grande Bibliotheque, tom. xxxvii. p 51.) The mother of Tancred was Emma, sister of the great Robert Guiscard; his father, the Marquis Odo the Good. It is singular enough, that the family and country of so illustrious a person should be unknown; but Muratori reasonably conjectures that he was an Italian, and perhaps of the race of the marquises of Montferrat in Piedmont, (Script. tom. v. p. 281, 282.) To gratify the childish vanity of the house of Este. Tasso has inserted in his poem, and in the first crusade, a fabulous hero, the brave and amorous Rinaldo, (x. 75, xvii. 66 - 94.) He might borrow his name from a Rinaldo, with the Aquila bianca Estense, who vanquished, as the standard-bearer of the Roman church, the emperor Frederic I., (Storia Imperiale di Ricobaldo, in Muratori Script. Ital. tom. ix. p. 360.
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, iii. 30.) But, 1. The distance of sixty years between the youth of the two Rinaldos destroys their identity. 2. The Storia Imperiale is a forgery of the Conte Boyardo, at the end of the xvth century, (Muratori, p. 281 - 289.) 3. This Rinaldo, and his exploits, are not less chimerical than the hero of Tasso, (Muratori, Antichita Estense, tom. i. p. 350.) Of the words gentilis, gentilhomme, gentleman, two etymologies are produced: 1. From the Barbarians of the fifth century, the soldiers, and at length the conquerors of the Roman empire, who were vain of their foreign nobility; and 2. From the sense of the civilians, who consider gentilis as synonymous with ingenuus. Selden inclines to the first but the latter is more pure, as well as probable. Framea scutoque juvenem ornant. Tacitus, Germania. c. 13. The athletic exercises, particularly the caestus and pancratium, were condemned by Lycurgus, Philopoemen, and Galen, a lawgiver, a general, and a physician. Against their authority and reasons, the reader may weigh the apology of Lucian, in the character of Solon. See West on the Olympic Games, in his Pindar, vol. ii. p. 86 - 96 243 - On the curious subjects of knighthood, knights-service, nobility, arms, cry of war, banners, and tournaments, an ample fund of information may be sought in Selden, (Opera, tom. iii. part i. Titles of Honor, part ii. c. 1, 3, 5, 8,) Ducange, (Gloss. Latin. tom. iv. p. 398 - 412, etc.,) Dissertations sur Joinville, (i. vi. - xii. p. 127 - 142, p. 161 - 222,) and M. de St. Palaye, (Memoires sur la Chevalerie.) Carloman (or Calmany) demanded the brother of Godfrey as hostage but Count Baldwin refused the humiliating submission. Godfrey shamed him into this sacrifice for the common good by offering to surrender himself Wilken, vol. i. p. 104. - M. The Familiae Dalmaticae of Ducange are meagre and imperfect; the national historians are recent and fabulous, the Greeks remote and careless. In the year 1104 Coloman reduced the maritine country as far as Trau and Saloma, (Katona, Hist. Crit. tom. iii. p. 195 - 207.) Scodras appears in Livy as the capital and fortress of Gentius, king of the Illyrians, arx munitissima, afterwards a Roman colony, (Cellarius, tom. i. p. 393, 394.) It is now called Iscodar, or Scutari, (D’Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 164.) The sanjiak (now a pacha) of Scutari, or Schendeire, was the viiith under the Beglerbeg of Romania, and furnished 600 soldiers on a revenue of 78,787 rix dollars, (Marsigli, Stato Militare del Imperio Ottomano, p. 128.) In Pelagonia castrum haereticum ..... spoliatum cum suis habi tatoribus igne combussere. Nec id eis injuria contigit: quia illorum detestabilis sermo et cancer serpebat, jamque circumjacentes regiones suo pravo dogmate foedaverat, (Robert. Mon. p. 36, 37.) After cooly relating the fact, the Archbishop Baldric adds, as a praise, Omnes siquidem illi viatores, Judeos, haereticos, Saracenos aequaliter habent exosos; quos omnes appellant inimicos Dei, (p. 92.) jAnalabo>menov ajpo< JRw>mhv th Some moderns have imagined, that her enmity to Bohemond was the fruit of disappointed love. In the transactions of Constantinople and Nice, her partial accounts (Alex. l. x. xi. p. 283 - 317) may be opposed to the partiality of the Latins, but in their subsequent exploits she is brief and ignorant. In their views of the character and conduct of Alexius, Maimbourg has favored the Catholic Franks, and Voltaire has been partial to the schismatic Greeks. The prejudice of a philosopher is less excusable than that of a Jesuit. Wilken quotes a remarkable passage of William of Malmsbury as to the secret motives of Urban and of Bohemond in urging the crusade.
Illud repositius propositum non ita vulgabatur, quod Boemundi consilio, pene totam Europam in Asiaticam expeditionem moveret, ut in tanto tumultu omnium provinciarum facile obaeratis auxiliaribus, et Urbanus Romam et Boemundus Illyricum et Macedoniam pervaderent.
Nam eas terras et quidquid praeterea a Dyrrachio usque ad Thessalonicam protenditur, Guiscardus pater, super Alexium acquisierat; ideirco illas Boemundus suo juri competere clamitabat: inops haereditatis Apuliae, quam genitor Rogerio, minori filio delegaverat. Wilken, vol. ii. p. 313. - M Between the Black Sea, the Bosphorus, and the River Barbyses, which is deep in summer, and runs fifteen miles through a flat meadow. Its communication with Europe and Constantinople is by the stone bridge of the Blachernoe, which in successive ages was restored by Justinian and Basil, (Gyllius de Bosphoro Thracio, l. ii. c. 3. Ducange O. P.
Christiana, l. v. c. 2, p, 179.) There are two sorts of adoption, the one by arms, the other by introducing the son between the shirt and skin of his father. Ducange isur Joinville, Diss. xxii. p. 270) supposes Godfrey’s adoption to have been of the latter sort. After his return, Robert of Flanders became the man of the king of England, for a pension of four hundred marks. See the first act in Rymer’s Foedera. Sensit vetus regnandi, falsos in amore, odia non fingere. Tacit. vi. 44. The proud historians of the crusades slide and stumble over this humiliating step. Yet, since the heroes knelt to salute the emperor, as he sat motionless on his throne, it is clear that they must have kissed either his feet or knees. It is only singular, that Anna should not have amply supplied the silence or ambiguity of the Latins. The abasement of their princes would have added a fine chapter to the Ceremoniale Aulae Byzantinae. He called himself Fraggo Joan. Sariberiensis, epist. 139. There is some diversity on the numbers of his army; but no authority can be compared with that of Ptolemy, who states it at five thousand horse and thirty thousand foot, (see Usher’s Annales, p 152.) Fulcher. Carnotensis, p. 387. He enumerates nineteen nations of different names and languages, (p. 389;) but I do not clearly apprehend his difference between the Franci and Galli, Itali and Apuli. Elsewhere (p. 385) he contemptuously brands the deserters. Guibert, p. 556. Yet even his gentle opposition implies an immense multitude. By Urban II., in the fervor of his zeal, it is only rated at 300,000 pilgrims, (epist. xvi. Concil. tom. xii. p. 731.) Alexias, l. x. p. 283, 305. Her fastidious delicacy complains of their strange and inarticulate names; and indeed there is scarcely one that she has not contrived to disfigure with the proud ignorance so dear and familiar to a polished people. I shall select only one example, Sangeles, for the count of St. Giles. William of Malmsbury (who wrote about the year 1130) has inserted in his history (l. iv. p. 130-154) a narrative of the first crusade: but I wish that, instead of listening to the tenue murmur which had passed the British ocean, (p. 143,) he had confined himself to the numbers, families, and adventures of his countrymen. I find in Dugdale, that an English Norman, Stephen earl of Albemarle and Holdernesse, led the rear-guard with Duke Robert, at the battle of Antioch, (Baronage, part i. p. 61.) Videres Scotorum apud se ferocium alias imbellium cuneos, (Guibert, p. 471;) the crus intectum and hispida chlamys, may suit the Highlanders; but the finibus uliginosis may rather apply to the Irish bogs. William of Malmsbury expressly mentions the Welsh and Scots, etc., (l. iv. p. 133,) who quitted, the former venatiorem, the latter familiaritatem pulicum. This cannibal hunger, sometimes real, more frequently an artifice or a lie, may be found in Anna Comnena, (Alexias, l. x. p. 288,) Guibert, (p. 546,) Radulph. Cadom., (c. 97.) The stratagem is related by the author of the Gesta Francorum, the monk Robert Baldric, and Raymond des Agiles, in the siege and famine of Antioch. His Mussulman appellation of Soliman is used by the Latins, and his character is highly embellished by Tasso. His Turkish name of Kilidge- Arslan (A. H. 485 - 500, A.D. 1192 - 1206. See De Guignes’s Tables, tom. i. p. 245) is employed by the Orientals, and with some corruption by the Greeks; but little more than his name can be found in the Mahometan writers, who are dry and sulky on the subject of the first crusade, (De Guignes, tom. iii. p. ii. p. 10 - 30.) See note, page 556.
Soliman and Kilidge-Arslan were father and son - M. On the fortifications, engines, and sieges of the middle ages, see Muratori, (Antiquitat. Italiae, tom. ii. dissert. xxvi. p. 452 - 524.) The belfredus, from whence our belfrey, was the movable tower of the ancients, (Ducange, tom. i. p. 608.) I cannot forbear remarking the resemblance between the siege and lake of Nice, with the operations of Hernan Cortez before Mexico. See Dr. Robertson, History of America, l. v. See Anna Comnena. - M. Mecreant, a word invented by the French crusaders, and confined in that language to its primitive sense. It should seem, that the zeal of our ancestors boiled higher, and that they branded every unbeliever as a rascal. A similar prejudice still lurks in the minds of many who think themselves Christians. Baronius has produced a very doubtful letter to his brother Roger, (A.D. 1098, No. 15.) The enemies consisted of Medes, Persians, Chaldeans: be it so. The first attack was cum nostro incommodo; true and tender. But why Godfrey of Bouillon and Hugh brothers! Tancred is styled filius; of whom? Certainly not of Roger, nor of Bohemond. Verumtamen dicunt se esse de Francorum generatione; et quia nullus homo naturaliter debet esse miles nisi Franci et Turci, (Gesta Francorum, p. 7.) The same community of blood and valor is attested by Archbishop Baldric, (p. 99.) Balista, Balestra, Arbalestre. See Muratori, Antiq. tom. ii. p. 517 - 524. Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. i. p. 531, 532. In the time of Anna Comnena, this weapon, which she describes under the name of izangra, was unknown in the East, (l. x. p. 291.) By a humane inconsistency, the pope strove to prohibit it in Christian wars. The curious reader may compare the classic learning of Cellarius and the geographical science of D’Anville. William of Tyre is the only historian of the crusades who has any knowledge of antiquity; and M.
Otter trod almost in the footsteps of the Franks from Constantinople to Antioch, (Voyage en Turquie et en Perse, tom. i. p. 35 - 88.) The journey of Col. Macdonald Kinneir in Asia Minor throws considerable light on the geography of this march of the crusaders. - M. This detached conquest of Edessa is best represented by Fulcherius Carnotensis, or of Chartres, (in the collections of Bongarsius Duchesne, and Martenne,) the valiant chaplain of Count Baldwin (Esprit des Croisades, tom. i. p. 13, 14.) In the disputes of that prince with Tancred, his partiality is encountered by the partiality of Radulphus Cadomensis, the soldier and historian of the gallant marquis. See de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 456. This bridge was over the Ifrin, not the Orontes, at a distance of three leagues from Antioch. See Wilken, vol. i. p. 172. - M. For Antioch, see Pocock, (Description of the East, vol. ii. p. i. p. 188 - 193,) Otter, (Voyage en Turquie, etc., tom. i. p. 81, etc.,) the Turkish geographer, (in Otter’s notes,) the Index Geographicus of Schultens, (ad calcem Bohadin. Vit. Saladin.,) and Abulfeda, (Tabula Syriae, p. 115, 116, vers. Reiske.) Ensem elevat, eumque a sinistra parte scapularum, tanta virtute intorsit, ut quod pectus medium disjunxit spinam et vitalia interrupit; et sic lubricus ensis super crus dextrum integer exivit: sicque caput integrum cum dextra parte corporis immersit gurgite, partemque quae equo praesidebat remisit civitati, (Robert. Mon. p. 50.) Cujus ense trajectus, Turcus duo factus est Turci: ut inferior alter in urbem equitaret, alter arcitenens in flumine nataret, (Radulph. Cadom. c. 53, p. 304.) Yet he justifies the deed by the stupendis viribus of Godfrey; and William of Tyre covers it by obstupuit populus facti novitate .... mirabilis, (l. v. c. 6, p. 701.) Yet it must not have appeared incredible to the knights of that age. See the exploits of Robert, Raymond, and the modest Tancred who imposed silence on his squire, (Randulph. Cadom. c. 53.) See the interesting extract from Kemaleddin’s History of Aleppo in Wilken, preface to vol. ii. p. 36. Phirouz, or Azzerrad, the breastplate maker, had been pillaged and put to the torture by Bagi Sejan, the prince of Antioch. - M. After mentioning the distress and humble petition of the Franks, Abulpharagius adds the haughty reply of Codbuka, or Kerboga, “Non evasuri estis nisi per gladium,” (Dynast. p. 242.) In describing the host of Kerboga, most of the Latin historians, the author of the Gesta, (p. 17,) Robert Monachus, p. 56,) Baldric, (p. 111,) Fulcherius Carnotensis, (p. 392,) Guibert, (p. 512,) William of Tyre, (l. vi. c. 3, p. 714,) Bernard Thesaurarius, (c. 39, p. 695,) are content with the vague expressions of infinita multitudo, immensum agmen, innumerae copiae or gentes, which correspond with the meta< ajnariqmh>twn cilia>dwn of Anna Comnena, (Alexias, l. xi. p. 318 - 320.) The numbers of the Turks are fixed by Albert Aquensis at 200,000, (l. iv. c. 10, p. 242,) and by Radulphus Cadomensis at 400,000 horse, (c. 72, p. 309.) See the tragic and scandalous fate of an archdeacon of royal birth, who was slain by the Turks as he reposed in an orchard, playing at dice with a Syrian concubine. The value of an ox rose from five solidi, (fifteen shillings,) at Christmas to two marks, (four pounds,) and afterwards much higher; a kid or lamb, from one shilling to eighteen of our present money: in the second famine, a loaf of bread, or the head of an animal, sold for a piece of gold. More examples might be produced; but it is the ordinary, not the extraordinary, prices, that deserve the notice of the philosopher. Alli multi, quorum nomina non tenemus; quia, deleta de libro vitae, praesenti operi non sunt inserenda, (Will. Tyr. l. vi. c. 5, p. 715.)
Guibert (p. 518, 523) attempts to excuse Hugh the Great, and even Stephen of Chartres. Peter fell during the siege: he went afterwards on an embassy to Kerboga Wilken. vol. i. p. 217. - M. See the progress of the crusade, the retreat of Alexius, the victory of Antioch, and the conquest of Jerusalem, in the Alexiad, l. xi. p. 317 - 327. Anna was so prone to exaggeration, that she magnifies the exploits of the Latins. The Mahometan Aboulmahasen (apud De Guignes, tom. ii. p. ii. p. 95) is more correct in his account of the holy lance than the Christians, Anna Comnena and Abulpharagius: the Greek princess confounds it with the nail of the cross, (l. xi. p. 326;) the Jacobite primate, with St.
Peter’s staff, p. 242.) The real cause of this victory appears to have been the feud in Kerboga’s army Wilken, vol. ii. p. 40. - M. The twelfth day after. He was much injured, and his flesh torn off, from the ardor of pious congratulation with which he was assailed by those who witnessed his escape, unhurt, as it was first supposed.
Wilken vol. i p. 263 - M. The two antagonists who express the most intimate knowledge and the strongest conviction of the miracle, and of the fraud, are Raymond des Agiles, and Radulphus Cadomensis, the one attached to the count of Tholouse, the other to the Norman prince. Fulcherius Carnotensis presumes to say, Audite fraudem et non fraudem! and afterwards, Invenit lanceam, fallaciter occultatam forsitan. The rest of the herd are loud and strenuous. See M. De Guignes, tom. ii. p. ii. p. 223, etc.; and the articles of Barkidrok, Mohammed, Sangiar, in D’Herbelot. The emir, or sultan, Aphdal, recovered Jerusalem and Tyre, A. H. 489, (Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 478. De Guignes, tom. i. p. 249, from Abulfeda and Ben Schounah.) Jerusalem ante adventum vestrum recuperavimus, Turcos ejecimus, say the Fatimite ambassadors See the transactions between the caliph of Egypt and the crusaders in William of Tyre (l. iv. c. 24, l. vi. c. 19) and Albert Aquensis, (l. iii. c. 59,) who are more sensible of their importance than the contemporary writers. This is not quite correct: he took Marra on his road. His excursions were partly to obtain provisions for the army and fodder for the horses Wilken, vol. i. p. 226. - M. Scarcely of Bethlehem, to the south of Jerusalem. - M. The greatest part of the march of the Franks is traced, and most accurately traced, in Maundrell’s Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, (p. 11 - 67;) un des meilleurs morceaux, sans contredit qu’on ait dans ce genre, (D’Anville, Memoire sur Jerusalem, p. 27.) See the masterly description of Tacitus, (Hist. v. 11, 12, 13,) who supposes that the Jewish lawgivers had provided for a perpetual state of hostility against the rest of mankind. This is an exaggerated inference from the words of Tacitus, who speaks of the founders of the city, not the lawgivers. Praeviderant conditores, ex diversitate morum, crebra bella; inde cuncta quamvis adversus loagum obsidium. - M. The lively scepticism of Voltaire is balanced with sense and erudition by the French author of the Esprit des Croisades, (tom. iv. p. 386 - 388,) who observes, that, according to the Arabians, the inhabitants of Jerusalem must have exceeded 200,000; that in the siege of Titus, Josephus collects 1,300,000 Jews; that they are stated by Tacitus himself at 600,000; and that the largest defalcation, that his accepimus can justify, will still leave them more numerous than the Roman army. Maundrell, who diligently perambulated the walls, found a circuit of 4630 paces, or 4167 English yards, (p. 109, 110: ) from an authentic plan, D’Anville concludes a measure nearly similar, of 1960 French toises, (p. 23 - 29,) in his scarce and valuable tract. For the topography of Jerusalem, see Reland, (Palestina, tom. ii. p. 832 - 860.) Jerusalem was possessed only of the torrent of Kedron, dry in summer, and of the little spring or brook of Siloe, (Reland, tom. i. p. 294, 300.) Both strangers and natives complain of the want of water, which, in time of war, was studiously aggravated. Within the city, Tacitus mentions a perennial fountain, an aqueduct and cisterns for rain water. The aqueduct was conveyed from the rivulet Tekos or Etham, which is likewise mentioned by Bohadin, (in Vit. Saludio p. 238.) Gierusalomme Liberata, canto xiii. It is pleasant enough to observe how Tasso has copied and embellished the minutest details of the siege. This does not appear by Wilken’s account, (p. 294.) They fought in vair the whole of the Thursday. - M. Besides the Latins, who are not ashamed of the massacre, see Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 363,) Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 243,) and M. De Guignes, tom. ii. p. ii. p. 99, from Aboulmahasen. The old tower Psephina, in the middle ages Neblosa, was named Castellum Pisanum, from the patriarch Daimbert. It is still the citadel, the residence of the Turkish aga, and commands a prospect of the Dead Sea, Judea, and Arabia, (D’Anville, p. 19 - 23.) It was likewise called the Tower of David. Hume, in his History of England, vol. i. p. 311, 312, octavo edition. Voltaire, in his Essai sur l’Histoire Generale, tom ii. c. 54, p 345, The English ascribe to Robert of Normandy, and the Provincials to Raymond of Tholouse, the glory of refusing the crown; but the honest voice of tradition has preserved the memory of the ambition and revenge (Villehardouin, No. 136) of the count of St. Giles. He died at the siege of Tripoli, which was possessed by his descendants. See the election, the battle of Ascalon, etc., in William of Tyre l. ix. c. 1 - 12, and in the conclusion of the Latin historians of the first crusade. 20,000 Franks, 300,000 Mussulmen, according to Wilken, (vol. ii. p. 9) - M. Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 479. Arnulf was first chosen, but illegitimately, and degraded. He was ever after the secret enemy of Daimbert or Dagobert. Wilken, vol. i. p. 306, vol. ii. p. 52. - M See the claims of the patriarch Daimbert, in William of Tyre (l. ix. c. 15 - 18, x. 4, 7, 9,) who asserts with marvellous candor the independence of the conquerors and kings of Jerusalem. Willerm. Tyr. l. x. 19. The Historia Hierosolimitana of Jacobus a Vitriaco (l. i. c. 21 - 50) and the Secreta Fidelium Crucis of Marinus Sanutus (l. iii. p. 1) describe the state and conquests of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. An actual muster, not including the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, gave David an army of 1,300,000 or 1,574,000 fighting men; which, with the addition of women, children, and slaves, may imply a population of thirteen millions, in a country sixty leagues in length, and thirty broad.
The honest and rational Le Clerc (Comment on 2d Samuel xxiv. and 1st Chronicles, xxi.) aestuat angusto in limite, and mutters his suspicion of a false transcript; a dangerous suspicion! David determined to take a census of his vast dominions, which extended from Lebanon to the frontiers of Egypt, from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean. The numbers (in 2 Sam. xxiv. 9, and 1 Chron. xxi. 5) differ; but the lowest gives 800,000 men fit to bear arms in Israel, 500,000 in Judah. Hist. of Jews, vol. i. p. 248. Gibbon has taken the highest census in his estimate of the population, and confined the dominions of David to Jordandic Palestine. - M. These sieges are related, each in its proper place, in the great history of William of Tyre, from the ixth to the xviiith book, and more briefly told by Bernardus Thesaurarius, (de Acquisitione Terrae Sanctae, c. - 98, p. 732 - 740.) Some domestic facts are celebrated in the Chronicles of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, in the vith, ixth, and xiith tomes of Muratori. Quidam populus de insulis occidentis egressus, et maxime de ea parte quae Norvegia dicitur. William of Tyre (l. xi. c. 14, p. 804) marks their course per Britannicum Mare et Calpen to the siege of Sidon. Benelathir, apud De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. part ii. p. 150, 151, A.D. 1127. He must speak of the inland country. Sanut very sensibly descants on the mischiefs of female succession, in a land hostibus circumdata, ubi cuncta virilia et virtuosa esse deberent.
Yet, at the summons, and with the approbation, of her feudal lord, a noble damsel was obliged to choose a husband and champion, (Assises de Jerusalem, c. 242, etc.) See in M. De Guignes (tom. i. p. 441 - 471) the accurate and useful tables of these dynasties, which are chiefly drawn from the Lignages d’Outremer. They were called by derision Poullains, Pallani, and their name is never pronounced without contempt, (Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. v. p. 535; and Observations sur Joinville, p. 84, 85; Jacob. a Vitriaco Hist.
Hierosol. i. c. 67, 72; and Sanut, l. iii. p. viii. c. 2, p. 182.) Illustrium virorum, qui ad Terrae Sanctae .... liberationem in ipsa manserunt, degeneres filii .... in deliciis enutriti, molles et effoe minati, etc. This authentic detail is extracted from the Assises de Jerusalem (c. 324, 326 - 331.) Sanut (l. iii. p. viii. c. 1, p. 174) reckons only knights, and 5775 followers. The sum total, and the division, ascertain the service of the three great baronies at 100 knights each; and the text of the Assises, which extends the number to 500, can only be justified by this supposition. Yet on great emergencies (says Sanut) the barons brought a voluntary aid; decentem comitivam militum juxta statum suum. William of Tyre (l. xviii. c. 3, 4, 5) relates the ignoble origin and early insolence of the Hospitallers, who soon deserted their humble patron, St. John the Eleemosynary, for the more august character of St. John the Baptist, (see the ineffectual struggles of Pagi, Critica, A. D 1099, No. 14 - 18.) They assumed the profession of arms about the year 1120; the Hospital was mater; the Temple filia; the Teutonic order was founded A.D. 1190, at the siege of Acre, (Mosheim Institut p. 389, 390.) See St. Bernard de Laude Novae Militiae Templi, composed A.D. 1132 - 1136, in Opp. tom. i. p. ii. p. 547 - 563, edit. Mabillon, Venet. 1750. Such an encomium, which is thrown away on the dead Templars, would be highly valued by the historians of Malta. Matthew Paris, Hist. Major, p. 544. He assigns to the Hospitallers 19,000, to the Templars 9,000 maneria, word of much higher import (as Ducange has rightly observed) in the English than in the French idiom. Manor is a lordship, manoir a dwelling. In the three first books of the Histoire de Chevaliers de Malthe par l’Abbe de Vertot, the reader may amuse himself with a fair, and sometimes flattering, picture of the order, while it was employed for the defense of Palestine. The subsequent books pursue their emigration to Rhodes and Malta. The Assises de Jerusalem, in old law French, were printed with Beaumanoir’s Coutumes de Beauvoisis, (Bourges and Paris, 1690, in folio,) and illustrated by Gaspard Thaumas de la Thaumassiere, with a comment and glossary. An Italian version had been published in 1534, at Venice, for the use of the kingdom of Cyprus. See Wilken, vol. i. p. 17, etc., - M. A la terre perdue, tout fut perdu, is the vigorous expression of the Assise, (c. 281.) Yet Jerusalem capitulated with Saladin; the queen and the principal Christians departed in peace; and a code so precious and so portable could not provoke the avarice of the conquerors. I have sometimes suspected the existence of this original copy of the Holy Sepulchre, which might be invented to sanctify and authenticate the traditionary customs of the French in Palestine. A noble lawyer, Raoul de Tabarie, denied the prayer of King Amauri, (A.D. 1195 - 1205,) that he would commit his knowledged to writing, and frankly declared, que de ce qu’il savoit ne feroit-il ja nul borjois son pareill, ne null sage homme lettre, (c. 281.) The compiler of this work, Jean d’Ibelin, was count of Jaffa and Ascalon, lord of Baruth (Berytus) and Rames, and died A.D. 1266, (Sanut, l. iii. p. ii. c. 5, 8.) The family of Ibelin, which descended from a younger brother of a count of Chartres in France, long flourished in Palestine and Cyprus, (see the Lignages de deca Mer, or d’Outremer, c. 6, at the end of the Assises de Jerusalem, an original book, which records the pedigrees of the French adventurers.) By sixteen commissioners chosen in the states of the island: the work was finished the 3d of November, 1369, sealed with four seals and deposited in the cathedral of Nicosia, (see the preface to the Assises.) The cautious John D’Ibelin argues, rather than affirms, that Tripoli is the fourth barony, and expresses some doubt concerning the right or pretension of the constable and marshal, (c. 323.) Entre seignor et homme ne n’a que la foi; .... mais tant que l’homme doit a son seignor reverence en toutes choses, (c. 206.) Tous les hommes dudit royaume sont par ladite Assise tenus les uns as autres .... et en celle maniere que le seignor mette main ou face mettre au cors ou au fie d’aucun d’yaus sans esgard et sans connoissans de court, que tous les autres doivent venir devant le seignor, etc., (212.) The form of their remonstrances is conceived with the noble simplicity of freedom. See l’Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. In the forty years since its publication, no work has been more read and criticized; and the spirit of inquiry which it has excited is not the least of our obligations to the author. For the intelligence of this obscure and obsolete jurisprudence (c. 80 - 111) I am deeply indebted to the friendship of a learned lord, who, with an accurate and discerning eye, has surveyed the philosophic history of law. By his studies, posterity might be enriched: the merit of the orator and the judge can be felt only by his contemporaries. Louis le Gros, who is considered as the father of this institution in France, did not begin his reign till nine years (A.D. 1108) after Godfrey of Bouillon, (Assises, c. 2, 324.) For its origin and effects, see the judicious remarks of Dr. Robertson, (History of Charles V. vol. i. p. - 36, 251 - 265, quarto edition.) Every reader conversant with the historians of the crusades will understand by the peuple des Suriens, the Oriental Christians, Melchites, Jacobites, or Nestorians, who had all adopted the use of the Arabic language, (vol. iv. p. 593.) See the Assises de Jerusalem, (310, 311, 312.) These laws were enacted as late as the year 1350, in the kingdom of Cyprus. In the same century, in the reign of Edward I., I understand, from a late publication, (of his Book of Account,) that the price of a war-horse was not less exorbitant in England. GOTO NEXT CHAPTER - ROMAN EMPIRE INDEX & SEARCH
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