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LII.

CHAP. fity of Almamon". To the thirft of martyrdom, the vifion of paradife, and the belief of predeftination, we must ascribe the invincible enthusiasm of the prince and people. And the fword of the Saracens became lefs formidable, when their youth was drawn away from the camp to the college, when the armies of the faithful prefumed to read and to reflect. Yet the foolish vanity of the Greeks was jealous of their ftudies, and reluctantly imparted the facred fire to the Barbarians of the Eaft.

Wars of
Harun al
Rafhid

Romans,

A. D. 781-805.

In the bloody conflict of the Ommiades and Abbaffides, the Greeks had ftolen the opportunity against the of avenging their wrongs and enlarging their limits. But a fevere retribution was exacted by Mohadi, the third caliph of the new dynafty, who feized in his turn the favourable opportunity, while a woman and a child, Irene and Conftantine, were feated on the Byzantine throne. An army of ninety-five thoufand Perfians and Arabs was fent from the Tygris to the Thracian Bofphorus, under the command of Harun", or Aaron, the

73 D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 546. οντων γνωσιν, δι ἦν το Ρωμαίων 74 Θεόφιλος ατοπον κρίνας ει την των γενος θαυμαζεται εκδοτον ποιησει τοις εθνεσι, &c. Cedrenus, p. 548. who relates how manfully the emperor refused a mathematician to the inftances and offers of the caliph Almamon. This abfurd fcruple is expreffed almoft in the fame words by the continuator of Theophanes (Scriptores poft Theophanem, p. 118.).

75 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 fhewn much tafte in stripping the Oriental chronicles of their inftructive and amufing anecdotes.

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fecond fon of the commander of the faithful. His CHA P. encampment on the oppofite heights of Chryfopolis or Scutari, informed Irene, in her palace of Conftantinople, of the lofs of her troops and provinces. With the confent or connivance of their fovereign her minifters fubfcribed an ignominous peace: and the exchange of fome royal gifts could not disguise the annual tribute of feventy thousand dinars of gold, which was imposed on the Roman empire. The Saracens had too rafhly advanced into the midst of a diftant and hoftile land: their retreat was folicited by the promise of faithful guides and plentiful markets; and not a Greek had courage to whisper, that their weary forces might be furrounded and deftroyed in their neceffary paffage between a flippery mountain and the river Sangarius. Five years after this expedition, Harun afcended the throne of his father and his elder brother; the most powerful and vigorous monarch of his race, illuftrious in the Weft, as the ally of Charlemagne, and familiar to the most childish readers, as the perpetual hero of the Arabian tales. His title to the name of Al Rafbid (the Juft) is fullied by the extirpation of the generous, perhaps the innocent, Barmecides; yet he could liften to the complaint of a poor, widow who had been pillaged by his troops, and who dared, in a paffage of the Koran, to threaten the inattentive defpot with the judgment of God and pofterity. His court was adorned with luxury and science; but, in a reign of three-and-twenty years, Harun repeatedly visited his provinces from Chorafan to Egypt; nine times he performed the pilgrimage

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CHA P. pilgrimage of Mecca; eight times he invaded the

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territories of the Romans; and as often as they declined the payment of the tribute, they were taught to feel that a month of depredation was more coftly than a year of fubmiffion. But when the unnatural mother of Conftantine was depofed and banished, her fucceffor Nicephorus refolved to obliterate this badge of fervitude and difgrace. The epiftle of the emperor to the caliph was pointed with an allufion to the game of chefs, which had already fpread from Perfia to Greece, "The હૃદ queen (he fpoke of Irene) confidered you as a

rook and herfelf as a pawn. That pufillani"mous female fubmitted to pay a tribute, the "double of which fhe ought to have exacted from "the Barbarians. Reftore therefore the fruits of ઠંડ your injuftice, or abide the determination of

the fword." At these words the ambaffadors cat a bundle of fwords before the foot of the throne. The caliph fmiled at the menace, and drawing his fcymetar, famfamah, a weapon of hiftoric or fabulous renown, he cut afunder the feeble arms of the Greeks, without turning the edge, or endangering the temper, of his blade. He then dictated an epiftle of tremendous brevity: "In the name of the moft merciful God, Harun "al Rafhid, commander of the faithful, to "Nicephorus, the Roman dog. I have read thy "letter, O thou fon of an unbelieving mother. "Thou shalt not hear, thou fhalt behold my "reply." It was written in characters of blood and fire on the plains of Phrygia; and the warlike celerity of the Arabs could only be checked by the

arts

arts of deceit and the fhew of repentance. The triumphant caliph retired, after the fatigues of the campaign, to his favourite palace of Racca on the Euphrates; but the diftance of five hundred miles, and the inclemency of the feafon, encouraged his adverfary to violate the peace. Nicephorus was aftonished by the bold and rapid march of the commander of the faithful, who repaffed, in the depth of winter, the fnows of mount Taurus: his stratagems of policy and war were exhausted; and the perfidious Greek efcaped with three wounds from a field of battle overspread with forty thousand of his fubjects. Yet the emperor was afhamed of submission, and the caliph was refolved on victory. One hundred and thirty-five thoufand regular foldiers received pay, and were infcribed in the military roll; and above three hundred thoufand perfons of every denomination marched under the black standard of the Abbaffides. They fwept the furface of Afia Minor far beyond Tyana and Ancyra, and invested the Pontic Heraclea", once a flourishing state, now a paltry town; at that time capable of sustaining in her antique walls a month's

76 For the fituation of Racca, the old Nicephorium, confult d'Anville (l'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 24-27.). The Arabian Nights represent Harun al Rashid as almost stationary in Bagdad. He refpected the royal feat of the Abbaffides, but the vices of the inhabitants had driven him from the city (Abulfed. Annal. P. 167.).

77 M. D. Tournefort, in his coafting voyage from Constantinople to Trebizond, paffed a night at Heraclea or Eregri. His eye furveyed 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 hiftory of Heraclea in the fragments of Memnon, which are preserved by Photius. E 4

fiege

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CHAP. fiege against the forces of the Eaft. The ruin was complete, the spoil was ample; but if Harun had been converfant with Grecian story, he would have, regretted the ftatue of Hercules, whofe attributes, the club, the bow, the quiver, and the lion's hide, were sculptured in maffy gold. The progress of defolation by fea and land, from the Euxine to the ifle of Cyprus, compelled the emperor Nicephorus to retract his haughty defiance. In the new treaty, the ruins of Heraclea were left for ever as a leffon and a trophy; and the coin of the tribute was marked with the image and fuperfcription of Harun and his three fons 78. Yet this plurality of lords might contribute to remove the dishonour of the Roman name. After the death of their father, the heirs of the caliph were involved in civil difcord, and the conqueror, the liberal Almamon, was fufficiently engaged in the reftoration of domestic peace and the introduction of foreign fcience.

The Arabs

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Under the reign of Almamon at Bagdad, of fubdue the Michael the Stammerer at Conftantinople, the islands of Crete 79 and Sicily were subdued by the

ifle of Crete, A.D. 823,

Arabs.

78 The wars of Harun al Rashid against the Roman empire, are related by Theophanes (p. 384, 385. 391.-396. 407, 408.), Zonaras (tom. ii. 1. xv. p. 115. 124.), Cedrenus (p. 477, 478.), Eutychius (Annal. tom. ii, p. 407.), Elmacin (Hift. Saracen. p. 136. 151, 152.), Abulpharagius (Dynaft. p. 147. 151.), and Abulfeda (p. 156. 166—168.).

79 The authors from whom I have learned the most of the ancient and modern ftate of Crete, are Belon (Obfervations, &c. c. 3—20. Paris, 1555), Tournefort (Voyage du Levant, tom. i. lettre ii. et jii.), and Meurfius (CRETA, in his works, tom. iii. P. 343-544.).

Although

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