XLII but at the expence, of his fubjects, ferved only to CHAP. disclose the weakness of fome neglected part; and the walls, which by flattery had deen deemed impregnable, were either deferted by the garrifon, or fcaled by the Barbarians. Three thousand Sclavorians, who infolently divided themselves into two bands, discovered the weakness and mifery of a triumphant reign. They paffed the Danube and the Hebrus, vanquifhed the Roman generals who dared to oppose their progress, and plundered, with impunity, the cities of Illyricum and Thrace, each of which had arms and numbers to overwhelm their contemptible affailants. Whatever praise the boldness of the Sclavonians may deferve, it is fullied by the wanton and deliberate cruelty which they are accused of exercising on their prisoners. Without diftinction of rank, or age, or fex, the captives were impaled or flayed alive, or fufpended between four pofts, and beaten with clubs till they expired, or inclofed in fome fpacious building, and left to perish in the flames with the fpoil and cattle which might impede the march of these favage victors 20. Perhaps a more impartial narrative would reduce the number, and qualify the nature, of these horrid acts; and they might fometimes be excused by the cruel laws of retaliation. In the fiege of Topirus, whose 20 The cruelties of the Sclavonians are related or magnified by Procopius (Goth. 1. iii. c. 29. 38.). For their mild and liberal behaviour to their prifoners, we may appeal to the authority, somewhat more recent, of the emperor Maurice (Stratagem. 1. ii. c. 5.). 21 Topirus was fituate near Philippi in Thrace, or Macedonia, oppofite to the isle of Thafos, twelve days journey from Constan❤ tinople (Cellarius, tom. i. p. 676. 840.). obftinate XLII. CHAP. obftinate defence had enraged the Sclavonians, they maffacred fifteen thousand males; but they fpared the women and children; the most valuable captives were always referved for labour or ranfom; the fervitude was not rigorous, and the terms of their deliverance were speedy and moderate. But the fubject, or the hiftorian of Juftinian, exhaled his just indignation in the language of complaint and reproach; and Procopius has confidently affirmed, that in a reign of thirty-two years, each annual inroad of the Barbarians confumed two hundred thousand of the inhabitants of the Roman empire. The entire population of Turkish Europe, which nearly corresponds with the provinces of Juftinian, would perhaps be incapable of supplying fix millions of persons, the refult of this incredible eftimate 22. Origin and Turks in A. D. 545, &c. In the midft of these obfcure calamities, Eufelt the fhock of a revolution, which firft rerope vealed to the world the name and nation of the TURKS. Like Romulus, the founder of that martial people was fuckled by a fhe-wolf, who afterwards made him the father of a numerous progeny; and the representation of that animal in the banners of the Turks, preferved the memory, or rather fuggefted the idea, of a fable, which was invented, without any mutual intercourse, by the fhepherds of Latium and those of Scythia. At the equal distance of two thousand miles from the Cafpian, the Icy, the Chinese, and the Bengal 22 According to the malevolent teftimony of the Anecdotes (c. 18.), these inroads had reduced the provinces fouth of the Danube to the fate of a Scythian wilderness. feas, XLII. feas, a ridge of mountains is confpicuous, the CHAP. centre, and perhaps the fummit, of Afia; which, in the language of different nations, has been ftyled Imaus, and Caf13, and Altai, and the Golden Mountains, and the Girdle of the Earth. The fides of the hills were productive of minerals; and the iron forges 24, for the purpose of war, were exercised by the Turks, the most despised portion of the flaves of the great khan of the Geougen. But their fervitude could only last till a leader, bold and eloquent, fhould arife, to perfuade his countrymen that the fanie arms which they forged for their mafters, might become, in their own hands, the inftruments of freedom and victory. They fallied from the mountain"; a 23 From Caf to Caf; which a more rational geography would interpret, from Imaus, perhaps, to mount Atlas. According to the religious philofophy of the Mahometans, the bafis of mount Caf is an emerald, whose reflection produces the azure of the fky. The mountain is endowed with a sensitive action in its roots or nerves; and their vibration, at the command of God, is the caufe of earthquakes (D'Herbelot, p. 230, 231.). 24 The Siberian iron is the best and most plentiful in the world; and in the fouthern parts, above fixty mines are now worked by the industry of the Ruffians (Strahlenberg, Hift. of Siberia, p. 342. 387. Voyage en Siberie, par l'Abbé Chappe d'Auteroche, p. 603–608. edit. in 12mo. Amfterdam, 1770). The Turks offered iron for fale; yet the Roman ambaffadors, with ftrange obftinacy, perfifted in believing that it was all a trick, and that their country produced none (Menander in Excerpt. Leg. P. 152.). 25 Of Irgana-kon (Abulghazi Khan, Hift. Genealogique des Tatars, P. ii. c. 5. p. 71-77. C. 15. P. 155.). The tradition of the Moguls, of the 450 years which they paffed in the mountains, agrees with the Chinefe periods of the hiftory of the Huns and Turks (De Guignes, tom. i. part ii. p. 376.) and the twenty generations, from their reftoration to Zingis. XLII. CHAP. fceptre was the reward of his advice; and the annual ceremony, in which a piece of iron was heated in the fire, and a fmith's hammer was fucceffively handled by the prince and his nobles, recorded for ages the humble profeffion and rational pride of the Turkish nation. Bertezena, their first leader, fignalized their valour and his own in Tuccessful combats against the neighbouring tribes; but when he prefumed to ask in marriage, the daughter of the great khan, the infolent de mand of a flave and a mechanic was contemptuoufly rejected. The difgrace was expiated by a more noble alliance with a princefs of China; and the decifive battle which almost extirpated the nation of the Geougen, established in Tartary the new and more powerful empire of the Turks. They reigned over the north; but they confeffed the vanity of conqueft, by their faithful attachment to the mountain of their fathers. The royal encampment feldom loft fight of mount Altai, from whence the river Irtish descends to water the rich paftures of the Calmucks 26, which nourish the largest sheep and oxen in the world. The foil is fruitful, and the climate mild and temperate the happy region was ignorant of earthquake and peftilence; the emperor's throne was turned towards the east, and a golden wolf on the top of a spear, seemed to guard the entrance of his tent. One of the fucceffors of Ber 26 The country of the Turks, now of the Calmucks, is well described in the Genealogical History, p. 521-562. The curious notes of the French translator are enlarged and digested in the second volume of the English verfion. tezena XLII. tezena was tempted by the luxury and fuperfti- CHAP. tion of China; but his defign of building cities and temples was defeated by the fimple wifdom of a Barbarian counsellor." The Turks,' "The Turks," he faid, "are not equal in number to one hundredth part "of the inhabitants of China. If we balance "their power, and elude their armies, it is be"caufe we wander without any fixed habitations, "in the exercife of war and hunting. Are we "ftrong? we advance and conquer; are we feeble? we retire and are concealed. Should "the Turks confine themselves within the walls "of cities, the lofs of a battle would be the de"ftruction of their empire. The Bonzes preach "only patience, humility, and the renunciation "of the world. Such, O king! is not the reli"gion of heroes." They entertained with lefs reluctance, the doctrines of Zoroafter, but the greatest part of the nation acquiefced, without inquiry, in the opinions, or rather in the practice, of their ancestors. The honours of facrifice were referved for the fupreme deity; they acknowledged, in rude hymns, their obligations to the air, the fire, the water, and the earth; and their priests derived fome profit from the art of divination. Their unwritten laws were rigorous and impartial: theft was punished by a tenfold reftitution: adultery, treason, and murder, with death: and no chastisement could be inflicted too fevere for the rare and inexpiable guilt of cowardice. As the subject nations marched under the standard of the Turks, their cavalry, both men and horfes, were proudly.computed by millions; one of their effec tive |