war. Arslan, A. D. 1072 extorted the praise of his bigoted foes, and may The generosity, or perhaps the ambition, of the afford a lesson to the most civilized ages. He in- sultan, prepared to espouse the cause of his ally; stantly raised the royal captive from the ground; but his designs were prevented by the defeat, imand thrice clasping his hand with tender sympathy, prisonment, and death, of Romanus Diogenes.P assured him, that his life and dignity should be In the treaty of peace, it does not Death of Alp inviolate in the hands of a prince who had learned appear that Alp Arslan extorted any to respect the majesty of his equals and the vicissi- | province or city from the captive emtudes of fortune. From the divan, Romanus was peror; and his revenge was satisfied with the troconducted to an adjacent tent, where he was served phies of his victory, and the spoils of Anatolia, from with pomp and reverence by the officers of the sultan, Antioch to the Black sea. The fairest part of Asia who, twice each day, seated him in the place of was subject to his laws: twelve hundred princes, or honour at his own table. In a free and familiar con- the sons of princes, stood before his throne; and versation of eight days, not a word, not a look, of two hundred thousand soldiers marched under his insult escaped from the conqueror; but he severely banners. The sultan disdained to pursue the fugicensured the unworthy subjects who had deserted tive Greeks; but he meditated the more glorious their valiant prince in the hour of danger, and conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of the house gently admonished his antagonist of some errors of Seljuk. He moved from Bagdad to the banks of which he had committed in the management of the the Oxus; a bridge was thrown over the river; and In the preliminaries of negociation, Alp Ars- twenty days were consumed in the passage of his lap asked him what treatment he expected to re- troops. But the progress of the great king was ceive, and the calm indifference of the emperor retarded by the governor of Berzem: and Joseph displays the freedom of his mind. "If you are the Carizmian presumed to defend his fortress cruel," said he, you will take my life; if you against the powers of the East. When he was prolisten to pride, you will drag me at your chariot duced a captive in the royal tent, the sultan, instead wheels; if you consult your interest, you will ac- of praising his valour, severely reproached his obcept a ransom, and restore me to my country." stinate folly; and the insolent replies of the rebel "And what," continued the sultan, “would have provoked a sentence, that he should be fastened to been your own behaviour, had fortune smiled on four stakes, and left to expire in that painful situa your arms?" The reply of the Greek betrays a tion. At this command, the desperate Carizmian, sentiment, which prudence, and even gratitude, drawing a dagger, rushed headlong towards the should have taught him to suppress. throne: the guards raised their battle-axes; their vanquished," he fiercely said, I would have in-zeal was checked by Alp Arslan, the most skilful flicted on thy body many a stripe." The Turkish conqueror smiled at the insolence of his captive; observed that the christian law inculcated the love of enemies and forgiveness of injuries; and nobly declared that he would not imitate an example which he condemned. After mature deliberation, Alp Arslan dictated the terms of liberty and peace, a ransom of a million, an annual tribute of three hundred and sixty thousand pieces of gold, the marriage of the royal children, and the deliverance of all the Moslems who were in the power of the Greeks. Romanus, with a sigh, subscribed this treaty, so disgraceful to the majesty of the empire; he was immediately invested with a Turkish robe of honour; his nobles and patricians were restored to their sovereign; and the sultan, after a courteous embrace, dismissed him with rich presents and a military guard. No sooner did he reach the confines of the empire, than he was informed that the palace and provinces had disclaimed their allegiance to a captive: a sum of two hundred thousand pieces was painfully collected; and the fallen monarch transmitted this part of his ransom, with a sad confession of his impotence and disgrace. "Had I The ransom and tribute are attested by reason and the orientals. The other Greeks are modestly silent; but Nicephorus Bryennius dares to affirm, that the terms were ουκ αναξίας 'Ρωμαίων αρχής, and that the emperor would have preferred death to a shameful treaty. P The defeat and captivity of Romanus Diogenes may be found in John Scylitzes ad calcem Cedreni, tom. ii. p. 835-843. Zonaras, tom. ii. p. 281-284. Nicephorus Bryennius, 1. i. p. 25-32. Glycas, p. 325-327. Constantine Manasses, p. 134, Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 343, 344. Ahulpharag. Dynast. p. 227. D'Herbelot, p. 102, 103. archer of the age: he drew his bow, but his foot 4 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.) ty; and the passenger might read and meditate this useful inscription: "O YE WHO HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF ALP ARSLAN EXALTED TO THE HEAVENS, REPAIR TO MARU, AND YOU WILL BEHOLD IT BURIED IN THE DUST." The annihilation of the inscription, and the tomb itself, more forcibly proclaims the instability of human greatness. to resist. Malek passed the Sihon or Jaxartes, the last boundary of Persian civilization: the hordes of Turkestan yielded to his supremacy: his name was inserted on the coins, and in the prayers of Cashgar, a Tartar kingdom on the extreme borders of China. From the Chinese frontier, he stretched his immediate jurisdiction or feudatory sway to the west and south, as far as the mountains of Georgia, the neighbourhood of Constantinople, the holy city of Jerusalem, and the spicy groves of Arabia Felix. Instead of resigning himself to the luxury of his haram, the shepherd king, both in peace and war, was in action and in the field. By the perpetual motion of the royal camp, each province was successively blessed with his presence; and he is said to have perambulated twelve times the wide extent of his dominions, which surpassed the Asiatic reign of Cyrus and the caliphs. Of these expeditions, the most pious and splendid was the pilgrimage of Mecca: the freedom and safety of the caravans were protected by his arms; the citizens and pilgrims were enriched by the profusion of his alms; and the desert was cheered by the places of relief and refreshment, which he instituted for the use of his brethren. Hunting was the pleasure, and even the passion, of the sultan, and his train consisted of forty-seven thousand horses; but after the massacre of a Turkish chase, for each piece of game, he bestowed a piece of gold on the poor, a slight atonement, at the expense of the people, for the cost and mischief of the amusement of kings. In the peaceful prosperity of his reign, the cities of Asia were adorned with palaces and hospitals, with moschs and colleges; few departed from his divan without reward, and none without justice. The language and literature of Persia revived under the house of Seljuk ; and if Malek emulated the liberality of a Turk less potent than himself," his palace might resound with the songs of a hundred poets. The sultan bestowed a more serious and learned care on the reformation of the calendar, which was effected by a general assembly of the astronomers of the east. By a law of the prophet, the Moslems are confined to the irregular course of the lunar months; in Persia, since the age of Zoroaster, the revolution of the sun has been known and celebrated as an annual festival; but after the fall of the Magian empire, the intercalation had been neglected; the fractions of minutes and hours were multiplied into days; and the date of the spring was removed from the sign of Aries to that of Pisces. The reign of Malek was illustrated by the Gelalaan æra; and all errors, either past or future, were corrected by a computation of time, which Reign and prosDuring the life of Alp Arslan, his perity of Malek eldest son had been acknowledged as Shah, A. D. 1072-1092. the future sultan of the Turks. On his father's death, the inheritance was disputed by an uncle, a cousin, and a brother: they drew their scymitars, and assembled their followers; and the triple victory of Malek Shah established his own reputation and the right of primogeniture. In every age, and more especially in Asia, the thirst of power has inspired the same passions, and occasioned the same disorders; but from the long series of civil war, it would not be easy to extract a sentiment more pure and magnanimous than is contained in the saying of the Turkish prince. On the eve of the battle, he performed his devotions at Thous, before the tomb of the imam Riza. As the sultan rose from the ground, he asked his vizir Nizam, who had knelt beside him, what had been the object of his secret petition: "That your arms may be crowned with victory," was the prudent and, most probably, the sincere answer of the minister. "For my part," replied the generous Malek, "I implored the Lord of hosts, that he would take from me my life and crown, if my brother be more worthy than myself to reign over the Moslems." The favourable judgment of heaven was ratified by the caliph; and for the first time, the sacred title of commander of the faithful was communicated to a barbarian. this barbarian, by his personal merit, and the extent of his empire, was the greatest prince of his age. After the settlement of Persia and Syria, he marched at the head of innumerable armies to achieve the conquest of Turkestan, which had been undertaken by his father. In his passage of the Oxus, the boatmen, who had been employed in transporting some troops, complained that their payment was assigned on the revenues of Antioch. The sultan frowned at this preposterous choice; but he smiled at the artful flattery of his vizir. "It was not to postpone their reward, that I selected those remote places, but to leave a memorial to posterity, that, under your reign, Antioch and the Oxus were subject to the same sovereign." But this description of his limits was unjust and parsimonious: beyond the Oxus, he reduced to his obedience the cities of Bochara, Carizme, and Samarcand, and crushed each rebellious slave, or independent savage, who dared But 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. 542-544. 654, 655.) and the Histoire Generale des Huns (tom. 1. p. 214-224.) has added the usual measure of repetition, emendation, and supplement. Without these two learned Frencamen, I should be blind indeed in the eastern world. See an excellent discourse at the end of Sir William Jones's His tory of Nadir Shah, and the articles of the poets, Amak, Anvari, Raschadi, &c. in the Bibliotheque Orientale, u 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 eleventh century, is the true æra of his reign. x See Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tom, ii. p. 235. His death, surpasses the Julian, and approaches the accuracy | tensive, though obscure, dominion on the shores of of the Gregorian, style. the Indian ocean: the second expelled the Arabian princes of Aleppo and Damascus; and the third, our peculiar care, invaded the Roman provinces of Asia Minor. The generous policy of Malek contributed to their elevation: he allowed the princes of his blood, even those whom he had vanquished in the field, to seek new kingdoms worthy of their ambition; nor was he displeased that they should draw away the more ardent spirits, who might have disturbed the tranquillity of his reign. As the supreme head of his family and nation, the great sultan of Persia commanded the obedience and tribute of his royal brethren: the thrones of Kerman and Nice, of Aleppo and Damascus; the Atabeks, and emirs of Syria and Mesopotamia, erected their standards under the shadow of his sceptre; and the hordes of Turkmans overspread the plains of the western Asia. After the death of Malek, the bands of union and subordination were relaxed and finally dissolved: the indulgence of the house of Seljuk invested their slaves with the inheritance of kingdoms: and, in the oriental style, a crowd of princes arose from the dust of their feet.d In a period when Europe was plungA. D. 1092. ed in the deepest barbarism, the light and splendour of Asia may be ascribed to the docility rather than the knowledge of the Turkish conquerors. An ample share of their wisdom and virtue is due to a Persian vizir, who ruled the empire under the reigns of Alp Arslan and his son. Nizam, one of the most illustrious ministers of the east, was honoured by the caliph as an oracle of religion and science; he was trusted by the sultan as the faithful vicegerent of his power and justice. After an administration of thirty years, the fame of the vizir, | his wealth, and even his services, were transformed into crimes. He was overthrown by the insidious arts of a woman and a rival; and his fall was hastened by a rash declaration, that his cap and inkhorn, the badges of his office, were connected by the divine decree with the throne and diadem of the sultan. At the age of ninety-three years, the venerable statesman was dismissed by his master, accused by his enemies, and murdered by a fanatic: the last words of Nizam attested his innocence, and the remainder of Malek's life was short and inglorious. From Ispahan, the scene of this disgraceful transaction, the sultan moved to Bagdad, with the design of transplanting the caliph, and of fixing | his own residence in the capital of the Moslem world. The feeble successor of Mahomet obtained a respite of ten days; and before the expiration of the term, the barbarian was summoned by the angel of death. His ambassadors at Constantinople had asked in marriage a Roman princess; but the proposal was decently eluded; and the daughter of Alexius, who might herself have been the victim, expresses her abhorrence of this unnatural conjunction. The daughter of the sultan was bestowed on the caliph Moctadi, with the imperious condition, that, renouncing the society of his wives and concubines, he should for ever confine himself to this honourable alliance. Division of the Seljukian empire. The greatness and unity of the Turkish empire expired in the person of Malek Shah. His vacant throne was disputed by his brother and his four sons; and, after a series of civil wars, the treaty which reconciled the surviving candidates confirmed a lasting separation in the Persian dynasty, the eldest and principal branch of the house of Seljuk. The three younger dynasties were those of Kerman, of Syria, and of Roum: the first of these commanded an ex y The Gelalæan æra (Gelaleddin, Glory of the Faith, was one of the names or titles of Malek Shah) is fixed to the fifteenth 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.) z She speaks of this Persian royalty as απασης κακοδαιμονέτερον πένιας. 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 vizir. (Alexias, 1. vi. p. 177, 178.) a So obscure, that the industry of M. de Guignes could only copy (tom. i. p. 244. tom. iii. part. i. p. 269, &c.) the history, or rather list, of the Seljukides of Kerman, in Bibliotheque Orientale. They were extinguished before the end of the twelfth century. b Tavernier, perhaps the only traveller who has visited Kerman, describes the capital as a great ruinous village, twenty-five days' journey Conquest of the Turks, A prince of the royal line, Cutulmish, the son of Izrail, the son of Seljuk, had fallen in a battle against Alp Arslan; and the humane victor had dropt a tear over his grave. His five sons, strong in arms, ambitious of power, and eager for revenge, unsheathed their scymitars against the son of Alp Arslan. The two armies expected the signal, when the caliph, forgetful of the majesty which secluded him from vulgar eyes, interposed his venerable mediation. "Instead of shedding the blood of your brethren, your brethren both in descent and faith, unite your forces in a holy war against the Greeks, the enemies of God and his apostle." They listened to his voice; the sultan embraced his rebellious kinsmen; and the eldest, the valiant Soliman, accepted the royal standard, which gave him the free conquest and hereditary command of the provinces of the Roman empire, from Arzeroum to Constantinople, and the unknown regions of the west. Accompanied by his four brothers, he passed the Euphrates: the Turkish camp was soon seated in the neighbourhood of Kutaich in Phrygia; and his flying cavalry laid waste the country as far as the Hellespont and the Black sea. Since the decline of the empire, the peninsula of Asia Minor had been exposed to the transient, though destructive, inroads of the Persians and Saracens; but the fruits of a lasting conquest from Ispahan, and twenty-seven from Ormus, in the midst of a fertile country. (Voyages en Turquie et en Perse, p. 107, 110.) e e It appears from Anna Comnena, that the Turks of Asia Minor obeyed the signet and chiauss of the great sultan; (Alexias, 1. vi. p. 170.) and that the two sons of Soliman were detained in his court, (p. 180.) d This expression is quoted by Petit de la Croix (Vie de Gengiscan, p. 161.) from some poet, most probably a Persian. e On the conquest of Asia Minor, M. de Guignes has derived no as sistance 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, &c. 103, 104.) and Anna Comuena. (Alexias, p. 91, 92, &c. 168, &c.) h; were reserved for the Turkish sultan; and his arms were introduced by the Greeks, who aspired to reign on the ruins of their country. Since the captivity of Romanus, six years the feeble son of Eudocia had trembled under the weight of the imperial crown, till the provinces of the east and west were lost in the same month by a double rebellion of either chief Nicephorus was the common name; but the surnames of Bryennius and Botoniates distinguish the European and Asiatic candidates. Their reasons, or rather their promises, were weighed in the divan; and, after some hesitation, Soliman declared himself in favour of Botoniates, opened a free passage to his troops in their march from Antioch to Nice, and joined the banner of the crescent to that of the cross. After his ally had ascended the throne of Constantinople, the sultan was hospitably entertained in the suburb of Chrysopolis or Scutari; and a body of two thousand Turks was transported into Europe, to whose dexterity and courage the new emperor was indebted for the defeat and captivity of his rival Bryennius. But the conquest of Europe was dearly purchased by the sacrifice of Asia; Constantinople was deprived of the obedience and revenue of the provinces beyond the Bosphorus and Hellespont; and the regular progress of the Turks, who fortified the passes of the rivers and mountains, left not a hope of their retreat or expulsion. Another candidate implored the aid of the sultan: Melissenus, in his purple robes and red buskins, attended the motions of the Turkish camp; and the desponding cities were tempted by the summons of a Roman prince, who immediately surrendered them into the hands of the barbarians. These acquisitions were confirmed by a treaty of peace with the emperor Alexius: his fear of Robert compelled him to seek the friendship of Soliman; and it was not till after the sultan's death that he extended as far as Nicomedia, about sixty miles from Constantinople, the eastern boundary of the Roman world. Trebizond alone, defended on either side by the sea and mountains, preserved at the extremity of the Euxine the ancient character of a Greek colony, and the future destiny of a christian empire. The Seljukian kingdom of Roum. Since the first conquests of the caliphs, the establishment of the Turks in Anatolia or Asia Minor was the most deplorable loss which the church and empire had sustained. By the propagation of the Moslem faith, Soliman deserved the name of Gazi, a holy champion; and his new kingdom, of the Romans, or of Roum, was added to the tables of oriental geography. It is described as extending from the 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. I. 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 Tures n'ayent commis, et semblables aux soldats effrenés, qui dans la sac d'une ville non contens de disposer ne tout à leur gré pretendent encore aux succès les moins desirables. Quelque (Sipalis ont porté leurs attentats sur la personne du vieux Euphrates to Constantinople, from the Black sea to the confines of Syria; pregnant with mines of silver and iron, of alum and copper, fruitful in corn and wine, and productive of cattle and excellent horses. The wealth of Lydia, the arts of the Greeks, the splendour of the Augustan age, existed only in books and ruins, which were equally obscure in the eyes of the Scythian conquerors. Yet, in the present decay, Anatolia still contains some wealthy and populous cities; and, under the Byzantine empire, they were far more flourishing in numbers, size, and opulence. By the choice of the sultan, Nice, the metropolis of Bithynia, was preferred for his palace and fortress the seat of the Seljukian dynasty of Roum was planted one hundred miles from Constantinople; and the divinity of Christ was denied and derided in the same temple in which it had been pronounced by the first general synod of the catholics. The unity of God, and the mission of Mahomet, were preached in the moschs; the Arabian learning was taught in the schools; the cadhis judged according to the law of the Koran; the Turkish manners and language prevailed in the cities; and Turkman camps were scattered over the plains and mountains of Anatolia. On the hard conditions of tribute and servitude, the Greek christians might enjoy the exercise of their religion; but their most holy churches were profaned; their priests and bishops were insulted; they were compelled to suffer the triumph of the pagans, and the apostasy of their brethren; many thousand children were marked by the knife of circumcision; and many thousand captives were devoted to the service or the pleasures of their masters.h After the loss of Asia, Antioch still maintained her primitive allegiance to Christ and Cæsar; but the solitary province was separated from all Roman aid, and surrounded on all sides by the Mahometan powers. The despair of Philaretus the governor prepared the sacrifice of his religion and loyalty, had not his guilt been prevented by his son, who hastened to the Nicene palace, and offered to deliver this valuable prize into the hands of Soliman. The ambitious sultan mounted on horseback, and in twelve nights (for he reposed in the day) performed a march of six hundred miles. Antioch was oppressed by the speed and secrecy of his enterprise; and the dependent cities, as far as Laodicea and the confines of Aleppo, obeyed the example of the metropolis. From Laodicea to the Thracian Bosphorus, or arm of St. George, the conquests and reign of Soliman extended thirty days' journey in length, and in breadth about ten or fifteen, between the rocks of Lycia and the Black sea. The Turkish ignorance of naviga rabbi de la synagogue, et celle de l'Archevêque Grec." (Memoires du Baron de Tott, tom. ii. p. 193.) h The emperor, or abbot, describes the scenes of a Turkish camp as if they had been present. Matres correptæ in conspectú filiarum multipliciter repetitis diversorum coitibus vexabantur; (is that the true reading?) cum filiæ assistentes carmina præcinere saltando cogerentur. Mox eadem passio ad filias, &c. i See Antioch, and the death of Soliman, in Anna Comnena, (Alexias, 1. vi. p. 168, 169.) with the notes of Ducange. k William of Tyre, (l. i. c. 9, 10. p. 635.) gives the most authentic and deplorable account of these Turkish conquests. tion protected, for a while, the inglorious safety of the emperor; but no sooner had a fleet of two hundred ships been constructed by the hands of the captive Greeks, than Alexius trembled behind the walls of his capital. His plaintive epistles were dispersed over Europe, to excite the compassion of the Latins, and to paint the danger, the weakness, and the riches, of the city of Constantine.' State and pilgrimage of Je. rusalem, n m But the most interesting conquest of the Seljukian Turks, was that of JeruA. D. 638-1099. salem, which soon became the theatre of nations. In their capitulation with Omar, the inhabitants had stipulated the assurance of their religion and property; but the articles were interpreted by a master, against whom it was dangerous to dispute; and in the four hundred years of the reign of the caliphs, the political climate of Jerusalem was exposed to the vicissitudes of storm and sunshine. By the increase of proselytes and population, the Mahometans might excuse their usurpation of three-fourths of the city: but a peculiar quarter was reserved for the patriarch with his clergy and people; a tribute of two pieces of gold was the price of protection; and the sepulchre of Christ, with the church of the resurrection, was still left in the hands of his votaries. Of these votaries, the most numerous and respectable portion were strangers to Jerusalem: the pilgrimages to the Holy Land had been stimulated, rather than suppressed, by the conquest of the Arabs; and the enthusiasm which had always prompted these perilous journeys, was nourished by the congenial passions of grief and indignation. A crowd of pilgrims from the east and west continued to visit the holy sepulchre, and the adjacent sanctuaries, more especially at the festival of Easter and the Greeks and Latins, the Nestorians and Jacobites, the Copts and Abyssinians, the Armenians and Georgians, maintained the chapels, the clergy, and the poor of their respective communions. The harmony of prayer in so many various tongues, the worship of so many nations in the common temple of their religion, might have afforded a spectacle of edification and peace; but the zeal of the christian sects was imbittered by hatred and revenge; and in the kingdom of a suffering Messiah, who had pardoned his enemies, they aspired to command and persecute their spiritual brethren. The 1 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, &c.) 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. m 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. 1. xviii. c. 5, 6.) the principal author of the Gesta Dei per Francos. M. de Guignes has composed a very Jearned Mémoire sur le Commerce des François dans le Levant avant les Croisades, &c. (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxxvii. p. 467-500.) n Secundum Dominorum dispositionem plerumque lucida plerumque nubila recepit intervalla, et ægrotantium more temporum præsentium gravabatur ant respirabat qualitate. (1. i. c. 3. p. 630.) The Latinity of William of Tyre is by no means contemptible: but in his account of 490 years, from the loss to the recovery of Jerusalem, he exceeds the true account by thirty years. • For the transactions of Charlemagne with the Holy Land, see Eginhard, (de Vità Caroli Magni, c. 16. p. 79-82.) Constantine Porphyro. genitus, (de Administratione Imperii, 1. ii. c. 26. p. 80.) and Pagi. (Crítica, tom. A. D. 800. No. 13, 14, 15.) P The caliph granted his privileges, Amalphitanis viris amicis et Her pre-eminence was asserted by the spirit and num- The revolution which transferred the sceptre from the Abbassides to the Fatimites was a benefit, rather than and Under the Fati mite caliphs, A. D. 969-1076. 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. q An Arabic chronicle of Jerusalem (apud Asseman. Bibliot, Orient. tom. i. p. 628. 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. r In his Dissertations on Ecclesiastical History, the learned Mosheim has separately discussed this pretended miracle, (tom. ii. de lumine sancti sepulchri. p. 214-306) William of Malmesbury (l. iv. c. ii. 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. t Our travellers, Sandys, (p. 134) Thevenot, (p. 621-627.) Maundrell, (p. 94, 95.) &c. describe 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; (Mémoires du Chevalier D'Arviens, tom. ii. p. 14. Joseph Abudacni, Hist. Copt. c. 20.) but I will not attempt, with Mosheim, to explain the mode. Our travellers have failed with the blood of St. Januarius at Naples. |