harsh and ferocious; the countenance of their women is soft and pleasing. Their wandering life maintains the spirit and exercise of arms; they fight on horseback; and their courage is displayed in frequent contests with each other and with their neighbours. For the licence of pasture they pay a slight tribute to the sovereign of the land; but the domestic jurisdiction is in the hands of the chiefs and elders. The first emigration of the eastern Turkmans, the most ancient of their race, may be ascribed to the tenth century of the Christian æra.' In the decline of the caliphs, and the weakness of their lieutenants, the barrier of the Jaxartes was often violated: in each invasion, after the victory or retreat of their countrymen, some wandering tribe, embracing the Mahometan faith, obtained a free encampment in the spacious plains and pleasant climate of Transoxiana and Carizme. The Turkish slaves who aspired to the throne encouraged these emigrations, which recruited their armies, awed their subjects and rivals, and protected the frontier against the wilder natives of Turkestan; and this policy was abused by Mahmud the Gaznevide beyond the example of former times. He was admonished of his error by a chief of the race of Seljuk, who dwelt in the territory of Bochara. The sultan had inquired what supply of men he could furnish for military service. "If you send," replied Ismael, "one of these arrows into our camp, fifty thousand of your servants will mount on horseback." "And if that number," continued Mahmud, should not be sufficient?" "Send this second arrow to the horde of Balik, and you will find fifty thousand more." "But," said the Gaznevide, dissembling his anxiety," if I 1 The first emigrations 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, 1. v. tom. iii. l. vii. ix, x), and the Bibliothéque Orientale of D'Herbelot (p. 799–802. 897–901), Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 331—333), and A bulpharagius (Dynast, p. 221, 222). СНАР.. LVII. LVII. CHAP. should stand in need of the whole force of your kindred tribes?" 66 Despatch my bow," was the last reply of Ismael, "and as it is circulated around, the summons will be obeyed by two hundred thousand horse." The apprehension of such formidable friendship induced Mahmud to transport the most obnoxious tribes into the heart of Chorasan, where they would be separated from their brethren by the river Oxus, and inclosed on all sides by the walls of obedient cities. But the face of the country was an object of temptation rather than terror; and the vigour of government was relaxed by the absence and death of the sultan of Gazna. The shepherds were converted into robbers; the bands of robbers were collected into an army of conquerors: as far as Ispahan and the Tigris, Persia was afflicted by their predatory inroads; and the Turkmans were not ashamed or afraid to measure their courage and numbers with the proudest sovereigns of Asia. Massoud, the son and successor of Mahmud, had too long neglected the advice of his wisest Omrahs. "Your enemies," they repeatedly urged, "were in their origin a swarm of ants; they are now little snakes; and, unless they be instantly crushed, they will acquire the venom and magnitude of serpents." After some alternatives of truce and hostility, after the repulse or partial success of his lieutenants, the sultan marched in person against the Turkmans, who attacked him on all sides with barbarous shouts and They de irregular onset. Massoud," says the Persian hiGaznevides, storian, "plunged singly to oppose the torrent of and subdue gleaming arms, exhibiting such acts of gigantic force A. D. 1038. and valour as never king had before displayed. A few of his friends, roused by his words and actions, feat the Persia, m m 66 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. . and that innate honour which inspires the brave, seconded their lord so well, that wheresoever he turned his fatal sword, the enemies were mowed down, or retreated before him. But now, when victory seemed to blow on his standard, misfortune was active behind it; for when he looked round, he beheld almost his whole army, excepting that body he commanded in person, devouring the paths of flight." The Gaznevide was abandoned by the cowardice or treachery of some generals of Turkish race; and this memorable day of Zendecan founded in Persia the dynasty of the shepherd kings." D CHAP. LVII. the Sel -1152. The victorious Turkmans immediately proceeded Dynasty of to the election of a king; and, if the probable tale of jukians, a Latin historian deserves any credit, they deter- A. D.1038 mined by lot the choice of their new master. A number of arrows were successively inscribed with the name of a tribe, a family, and a candidate; they were drawn from the bundle by the hand of a child; and the important prize was obtained by Togrul Beg, the son of Michael, the son of Seljuk, whose surname was immortalized in the greatness of his posterity. The sultan Mahmud, who valued himself on his skill in national genealogy, professed his ignorance of the family of Seljuk; yet the father of that race appears to have been a chief of power and renown." For a • 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 Marû, and renowned through the East for the production and manufacture of cotton. • The Byzantine historians (Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 766, 767. 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 predecessors. P Willerm. Tyr. 1. 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 ast to LVII. CHAP. daring intrusion into the haram of his prince, Seljuk was banished from Turkestan: with a numerous tribe of his friends and vassals, he passed the Jaxartes, encamped in the neighbourhood of Samarcand, embraced the religion of Mahomet, and acquired the crown of martyrdom in a war against the infidels. His age, of a hundred and seven years, surpassed the life of his son, and Seljuk adopted the care of his two grandsons, Togrul and Jaafar; the eldest of whom, at the age of forty-five, was invested with the Reign and title of sultan, in the royal city of Nishabur. The Togrul Beg, blind determination of chance was justified by the A.D. 1038 virtues of the successful candidate. It would be character of -1063. r superfluous to praise the valour of a Turk; and the ambition of Togrul was equal to his valour. By his arms the Gaznevides were expelled from the eastern kingdoms of Persia, and gradually driven to the banks of the Indus, in search of a softer and more wealthy conquest. In the West he annihilated the dynasty of the Bowides; and the sceptre of Irak passed from the Persian to the Turkish nation. The princes who had felt, or who feared, the Seljukian arrows, bowed their heads in the dust; by the conquest of Aderbijan, or Media, he approached the Roman confines, and the shepherd presumed to despatch an ambassador, or herald, to demand the tribute and obedience of the emperor of Constantinople. In his own dominions, Togrul was the S 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 Bahader Khan (Hist. Genealogique, p. 148), we quote in their favour 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 (Bibliothéque Orientale, p. 1027, 1028), and de Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. iii. p. 189–201). s 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. LVII. father of his soldiers and people; by a firm and equal CHAP. administration Persia was relieved from the evils of. anarchy; and the same hands which had been imbrued in blood became the guardians of justice and the public peace. The more rustic, perhaps the wisest, portion of the Turkmans continued to dwell in the tents of their ancestors; and, from the Oxus to the Euphrates, these military colonies were protected and propagated by their native princes. But the Turks of the court and city were refined by business and softened by pleasure: they imitated the dress, language, and manners of Persia; and the royal palaces of Nishabur and Rei displayed the order and magnificence of a great monarchy. The most deserving of the Arabians and Persians were promoted to the honours of the state; and the whole body of the Turkish nation embraced with fervour and sincerity the religion of Mahomet. The northern swarms of barbarians, who overspread both Europe and Asia, have been irreconcilably separated by the consequences of a similar conduct. Among the Moslems, as among the Christians, their vague and local traditions have yielded to the reason and authority of the prevailing system, to the fame of antiquity, and the consent of nations. But the triumph of the Koran is more pure and meritorious, as it was not assisted by any visible splendour of worship which might allure the Pagans by some resemblance of idolatry. The first of the Seljukian sultans was conspicuous by his zeal and faith: each day he repeated the five prayers which are enjoined to the true believers: of each week, the two first days were consecrated by an extraordinary fast; and in every city a From William of Tyre, I have borrowed this Turkmans, which at least is popular and convenient. distinction of Turks and 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, quasi Turci et Comani, a mixed people. |