HIS

among the revivers of learning in the fifteenth century. elegant dialogue on the vicissitudes of fortune 51 was composed in his fiftieth year, twenty-eight years after the Turkish victory of Tamerlane; 52 whom he celebrates as not inferior to the illustrious. Barbarians of antiquity. Of his exploits and discipline Poggius was informed by several ocular wit nesses; nor does he forget an example so apposite to his theme as the Ottoman monarch, whom the Scythian confined like a wild beast in an iron cage, and exhibited a spectacle to Asia. I might add the authority of two Italian chronicles, perhaps of an earlier date, which would prove at least that the same story, whether false or true, was imported into Europe with the first tidings of the revolution.53 3. At the time when Poggius flourished at Rome, Ahmed Ebn Arabshah composed at Damascus the florid and malevolent history of Timour, for which he had collected materials in his journeys over Turkey and Tartary.54 Without any possible correspondence between the Latin and the Arabian writer, they agree in the fact of the iron cage; and their agreement is a striking proof of their common veracity. Ahmed Arabshah likewise relates another outrage, which Bajazet endured, of a more domestic and tender nature. His indiscreet mention of women and divorces was deeply resented by the jealous Tartar : in the feast of victory the wine was served by female cupbearers, and the sultan beheld his own concubines and wives

of Poggius in the Poggiana, an entertaining work of M. Lenfant, and in the Bibliotheca Latina Mediæ et Infimæ Ætatis of Fabricius, (tom. p. 305-308.) Poggius was born in the year 1380, and died in 1459.

The dialogue de Varietate Fortunæ, (of which a complete and elegant edition has been published at Paris in 1723, in 4to.,) was composed a short time before the death of Pope Martin V., (p. 5,) and consequently about the end of the year 1430.

52 See a splendid and eloquent encomium of Tamerlane, p. 36-39, ipse enim novi (says Poggius) qui fuere in ejus castris.... Regem vivum cepit, caveâque in modum feræ inclusum per omnem Asiąm circumtulit egregium admirandumque spectaculum fortunæ.

D.

The Chronicon Tarvisianum, (in Muratori, Script. Rerum Itali. carum, tom. xix. p. 800,) and the Annales Estenses, (tom. xviii. 974.) The two authors, Andrea de Redusiis de Quero, and James de Delayto, were both contemporaries, and both chancellors, the one of Trevigi, the other of Ferrara. The evidence of the former is the most positive.

54 See Arabshah, tom. ii. c. 28, 34. He travelled in regiones Rumas, A. H. 839, (A. D. 1435, July 27,) tom. ii. c. 2, p. 13.

confounded among the slaves, and exposed without a veil to the eyes of intemperance. To escape a similar indignity, it is said that his successors, except in a single instance, have abstained from legitimate nuptials; and the Ottoman practice and belief, at least in the sixteenth century, is attested by the observing Busbequius,55 ambassador from the court of Vienna to the great Soliman. 4. Such is the separation of language, that the testimony of a Greek is not less independent than that of a Latin or an Arab, suppress the names of Chalcondyles and Ducas, who flourished in a latter period, and who speak in a less positive tone; but more attention is due to George Phranza,56 protovestiare of the last emperors, and who was born a year before the battle of Angora, Twentytwo years after that event, he was sent ambassador to Amurath the Second; and the historian might converse with some veteran Janizaries, who had been made prisoners with the sultan, and had themselves seen him in his iron cage. 5. The last evidence, in every sense, is that of the Turkish mannals, which have been consulted or transcribed by Leunclavius, Pocock, and Cantemir 57 They unanimously deplore the captivity of the iron cage; and some credit may be allowed to national historians, who cannot stigmatize the Tartar without uncovering the shame of their king and country.ladi bna gaiek bas sqo lo ingnitaos ow!

བ

C

I

From these opposite premises, a fair and moderate conclusion may be deduced. I satisfied that Sherefeddin Ali has faithfully described the first ostentatious interview, in which the conqueror, whose spirits were harmonized by success, affected the character of generosity. But his mind was insensibly alienated by the unseasonable arrogance of Bajazet; the complaints of his enemies, the Anatolian princes, were just and vehement; and Timour betrayed a design of * leading this royal captive: in triumphs to Samarcand. An

W

bie Busbequius in Légatione Turcicâ, epist. i. p. 52. Yet his respectable authority is somewhat shaken by the subsequent marriages of Amaruth II with a Servian, and of Mahomet II, with an Asiatic, princess, (Cantemir, p. 83, 93.) yevron of been visuareg et ban See the testimony of George Phranza, (1. i. c. 29,) and his life in Hanckius (de Script. Byzant. P. i. c. 40.) Chalcondyles and Ducas speak in general terms of Bajazet's chains deskt noir 57Annales Leunclav. p. 321. Pocock, Prolegomen. ad Abulpharag. Dynast. Cantemir, p. 55. baseboldigo Isotxotald to sorgeb sme darg doosd son binow doldw

• Von Hammer, p. 318 SA JUangibal ons of slander

- M.

several authorities unknown to Gibbon.

attempt to facilitate his escape, by digging a mine under the tent, provoked the Mogul emperor to impose a harsher restraint; and in his perpetual marches, an iron cage on a wagon might be invented, not as a wanton insult, but as a rigorous precaution. Timour had read in some fabulous his Story a similar treatment of one of his predecessors, a king of Persia; and Bajazet was condemned to represent the person, and expiate the guilt, of the Roman Cæsar.58* But the strength of his mind and body fainted under the trial, and his premature death might, without injustice, be ascribed to the severity of Timour. He warred not with the dead ; a tear and a sepulchre were all that he could bestow on a captive who was delivered from his power; and if Mousa, the son of Bajazet, was permitted to reign over the ruins of Boursa; the greatest part of the province of Anatolia had been restored by the conqueror to their lawful sovereigns.Las

From the Irtish and Volga to the Persian Gulf, and from the Ganges to Damascus and the Archipelago, Asia was in the hand of Timour: his armies were invincible, his ambition was boundless, and his zeal might aspire to conquer and convert the Christian kingdoms of the West, which already tremarbled at his name. He touched the utmost verge of the land; but an insuperable, though narrow, sea rolled between the two continents of Europe and Asia; 59 and the lord of so «ulomuo siztebom bos aidh a pazimang silaceto send me

Persia, had been

58 A Sapor, cow's hide by Maxi-made

in the figure of a

prisoner, enclosed or Galerius Cæsar Such

is the fable related by Eutychius, (Annal. tom. i. p. 421, vers. Pocock.) The recollection of the true history (Decline and Fall, &c., vol. iiop.. - 140—152) will teach us to appreciate the knowledge of the Orientals which precede the Hegira.

59

9 Arabshah (tom, ii: c. 25) describes, like a curious traveller, the Straits of Gallipoli and Constantinople. To acquire a just idea of these events, I have compared the narratives and prejudices of the

990 Von Hammer's explanation of this contested point is both simple and satisfactory. It originated in a mistake in the meaning of the Turkish word kafe, which means a covered litter or palanquin drawn by two horses, and is generally used to convey the harem of an Eastern monarch. In

much a litter, with the labork made of iron, Bajazet either chose "or

was constrained to travel.

was either mistaken for, or transformed by, gnorant relaters into a cage. The European Schiltberger, the two oldest of the Turkish historians, and the most valuable of the later compilers, Seadeddin, describe this litter. Seadeddin discusses the question with some degree of historical criticism, and ascribes the choice of such a vehicle to the indignant state of Bajazet's mind, which would not brook the sight of his Tartar conquerors. Von Hammer, p. 320.- M.

many tomans, or myriads, of horse, was not master of a sm gie galley. The two passages of the Bosphorus and Helles pont, of Constantinople and Gallipoli, were possessed, the one by the Christians, the other by the Turks. On this great occasion, they forgot the difference of religion, to act with union and firmness in the common cause: the double straits were guarded with ships and fortifications; and they sepa rately withheld the transports which Timour demanded of either nation, under the pretence of attacking their enemy. At the same time, they soothed his pride with tributary gifts and suppliant embassies, and prudently tempted him to retreat with the honors of victory. Soliman, the son of Bajazet, implored his clemency for his father and himself; accepted, by a red patent, the investiture of the kingdom of Romania, which he already held by the sword; and reiterated his ardent wish, of casting himself in person at the feet of the king of the world. The Greek emperor 69 (either John or Manuel) submitted to pay the same tribute which he had stip ulated with the Turkish sultan, and ratified the treaty by an oath of allegiance, from which he could absolve his conscience so soon as the Mogul arms had retired from Anatolia. But the fears and fancy of nations ascribed to the ambitious Tam erlane a new design of vast and romantic compass; a design of subduing Egypt and Africa, marching from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean, entering Europe by the Straits of Gibral tar, and, after imposing his yoke on the kingdoms of Chris tendom, of returning home by the deserts of Russia and Tartary. This remote, and perhaps imaginary, danger was averted by the submission of the sultan of Egypt: the hon-1 ors of the prayer and the coin attested at Cairo the suprema. cy of Timour; and a rare gift of a giraffe, or camelopard, and nine ostriches, represented at Samarcand the tribute of the African world. Our imagination is not less astonished by the portrait of a Mogul, who, in his camp before Smyrna, meditates, and almost accomplishes, the invasion of the Chi

6

Moguls, Turks, Greeks, and Arabians. The Spanish ambassador mentions this hostile union of the Christians and Ottomans, (Vie de Timour, p. 96.)

60 Since the name of Cæsar had been transferred to the off Roum, the Greek princes of Constantinople (Sherefeddin, c. 54) were confounded with the Christian lords of Gallipoli, Thessalonica, &c., under the title of Tekkur, which is derived by corruption from the genitive rou zuglov, (Cantemir, p. 51.)darze

nese empire.61 Timour was urged to this enterprise by national honor and religious zeal. The torrents which he an shed of Mussulman blood could be expiated only by an equal destruction of the infidels; and as he now stood at the gates of paradise, he might best secure his glorious entrance by demolishing the idols of China, founding mosques in every city, and establishing the profession of faith in one God, and his prophet Mahomet.m The recent expulsion of the house of Zingis was an insult on the Mogul name; and the disorders of the empire afforded the fairest opportunity for revenge. The illustrious Hongyou, founder of the dynasty of Ming, died four years before the battle of Angora; and his grand. son, a weak and unfortunate youth, was burnt in his palace, after a million of Chinese had perished in the civil war.62 Before he evacuated Anatolia, Timour despatched beyond the Sihoon a numerous army, or rather colony, of his old and new subjects, to open the road, to subdue the Pagan Calmucks and Mungals, and to found cities and magazines in the desert; and, by the diligence of his lieutenant, he soon received a perfect map and description of the unknown regions, from the source of the Irtish to the wall of China. During these preparations, the emperor achieved the final conquest of Georgia; passed the winter on the banks of the Araxes; appeased the troubles of Persia; and slowly returned to his capital, after a campaign of four years and ninemonths. to emobraid edi mo aid spleegmi telebe 1st On the throne of Samarcand,63 he displayed, in a short repose, his magnificence and power; listened to the complaints of the people; distributed a just measure of rewards and punishments; employed his riches in the architecture of palaces and temples; and gave audience to the ambassadors of Egypt, Arabia, India, Tartary, Russia, and Spain, the last of whom presented a suit of tapestry which eclipsed the pen cil of the Oriental artists. The marriage of six of the emwak ada sedlalliomones tensile bra emailbar

* See Sherefeddin, 1. v. c. 4, who marks, in a just itinerary, the road to China, which Arabshah (tom. ii. c. 33) paints in vague and rhetorical colors.

* Synopsis Hist. Sinicæ, p. 74-76, (in the ivth part of the Relstions de Thevenot,) Duhalde, Hist. de la Chine, (tom.i. p. 507, 608, folio edition;) and for the Chronology of the Chinese emperors, De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, (tom. i. p. 71, 72.) ; dira bebrentegen

63 For the return, triumph, and death of Timour, see Sherefeddin 1. vi. c. 1-30) and Arabshah, (tom. ii. c. 35--47.)