Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs.—Part VII

On the intelligence of this rapid success, the applause of Musa
degenerated into envy; and he began, not to complain, but to
fear, that Tarik would leave him nothing to subdue. At the head
of ten thousand Arabs and eight thousand Africans, he passed over
in person from Mauritania to Spain: the first of his companions
were the noblest of the Koreish; his eldest son was left in the
command of Africa; the three younger brethren were of an age and
spirit to second the boldest enterprises of their father. At his
landing in Algezire, he was respectfully entertained by Count
Julian, who stifled his inward remorse, and testified, both in
words and actions, that the victory of the Arabs had not impaired
his attachment to their cause. Some enemies yet remained for the
sword of Musa. The tardy repentance of the Goths had compared
their own numbers and those of the invaders; the cities from
which the march of Tarik had declined considered themselves as
impregnable; and the bravest patriots defended the fortifications
of Seville and Merida. They were successively besieged and
reduced by the labor of Musa, who transported his camp from the
Boetis to the Anas, from the Guadalquivir to the Guadiana. When
he beheld the works of Roman magnificence, the bridge, the
aqueducts, the triumphal arches, and the theatre, of the ancient
metropolis of Lusitania, “I should imagine,” said he to his four
companions, “that the human race must have united their art and
power in the foundation of this city: happy is the man who shall
become its master!” He aspired to that happiness, but the
Emeritans sustained on this occasion the honor of their descent
from the veteran legionaries of Augustus 183 Disdaining the
confinement of their walls, they gave battle to the Arabs on the
plain; but an ambuscade rising from the shelter of a quarry, or a
ruin, chastised their indiscretion, and intercepted their return.

The wooden turrets of assault were rolled forwards to the foot of
the rampart; but the defence of Merida was obstinate and long;
and the castle of the martyrs was a perpetual testimony of the
losses of the Moslems. The constancy of the besieged was at
length subdued by famine and despair; and the prudent victor
disguised his impatience under the names of clemency and esteem.
The alternative of exile or tribute was allowed; the churches
were divided between the two religions; and the wealth of those
who had fallen in the siege, or retired to Gallicia, was
confiscated as the reward of the faithful. In the midway between
Merida and Toledo, the lieutenant of Musa saluted the vicegerent
of the caliph, and conducted him to the palace of the Gothic
kings. Their first interview was cold and formal: a rigid account
was exacted of the treasures of Spain: the character of Tarik was
exposed to suspicion and obloquy; and the hero was imprisoned,
reviled, and ignominiously scourged by the hand, or the command,
of Musa. Yet so strict was the discipline, so pure the zeal, or
so tame the spirit, of the primitive Moslems, that, after this
public indignity, Tarik could serve and be trusted in the
reduction of the Tarragonest province. A mosch was erected at
Saragossa, by the liberality of the Koreish: the port of
Barcelona was opened to the vessels of Syria; and the Goths were
pursued beyond the Pyrenaean mountains into their Gallic province
of Septimania or Languedoc. 184 In the church of St. Mary at
Carcassone, Musa found, but it is improbable that he left, seven
equestrian statues of massy silver; and from his term or column
of Narbonne, he returned on his footsteps to the Gallician and
Lusitanian shores of the ocean. During the absence of the father,
his son Abdelaziz chastised the insurgents of Seville, and
reduced, from Malaga to Valentia, the sea-coast of the
Mediterranean: his original treaty with the discreet and valiant
Theodemir 185 will represent the manners and policy of the times.
“The conditions of peace agreed and sworn between Abdelaziz, the
son of Musa, the son of Nassir, and Theodemir prince of the
Goths. In the name of the most merciful God, Abdelaziz makes
peace on these conditions: that Theodemir shall not be disturbed
in his principality; nor any injury be offered to the life or
property, the wives and children, the religion and temples, of
the Christians: that Theodemir shall freely deliver his seven
1851 cities, Orihuela, Valentola, Alicanti Mola, Vacasora,
Bigerra, (now Bejar,) Ora, (or Opta,) and Lorca: that he shall
not assist or entertain the enemies of the caliph, but shall
faithfully communicate his knowledge of their hostile designs:
that himself, and each of the Gothic nobles, shall annually pay
one piece of gold, four measures of wheat, as many of barley,
with a certain proportion of honey, oil, and vinegar; and that
each of their vassals shall be taxed at one moiety of the said
imposition. Given the fourth of Regeb, in the year of the Hegira
ninety-four, and subscribed with the names of four Mussulman
witnesses.” 186 Theodemir and his subjects were treated with
uncommon lenity; but the rate of tribute appears to have
fluctuated from a tenth to a fifth, according to the submission
or obstinacy of the Christians. 187 In this revolution, many
partial calamities were inflicted by the carnal or religious
passions of the enthusiasts: some churches were profaned by the
new worship: some relics or images were confounded with idols:
the rebels were put to the sword; and one town (an obscure place
between Cordova and Seville) was razed to its foundations. Yet if
we compare the invasion of Spain by the Goths, or its recovery by
the kings of Castile and Arragon, we must applaud the moderation
and discipline of the Arabian conquerors.

183 (return) [ The honorable relics of the Cantabrian war (Dion
Cassius, l. liii p. 720) were planted in this metropolis of
Lusitania, perhaps of Spain, (submittit cui tota suos Hispania
fasces.) Nonius (Hispania, c. 31, p. 106-110) enumerates the
ancient structures, but concludes with a sigh: Urbs haec olim
nobilissima ad magnam incolarum infrequentiam delapsa est, et
praeter priscae claritatis ruinas nihil ostendit.]

184 (return) [ Both the interpreters of Novairi, De Guignes
(Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 349) and Cardonne, (Hist. de
l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, tom. i. p. 93, 94, 104, 135,) lead
Musa into the Narbonnese Gaul. But I find no mention of this
enterprise, either in Roderic of Toledo, or the Mss. of the
Escurial, and the invasion of the Saracens is postponed by a
French chronicle till the ixth year after the conquest of Spain,
A.D. 721, (Pagi, Critica, tom. iii. p. 177, 195. Historians of
France, tom. iii.) I much question whether Musa ever passed the
Pyrenees.]

185 (return) [ Four hundred years after Theodemir, his
territories of Murcia and Carthagena retain in the Nubian
geographer Edrisi (p, 154, 161) the name of Tadmir, (D’Anville,
Etats de l’Europe, p. 156. Pagi, tom. iii. p. 174.) In the
present decay of Spanish agriculture, Mr. Swinburne (Travels into
Spain, p. 119) surveyed with pleasure the delicious valley from
Murcia to Orihuela, four leagues and a half of the finest corn
pulse, lucerne, oranges, &c.]

1851 (return) [ Gibbon has made eight cities: in Conde’s
translation Bigera does not appear.—M.]

186 (return) [ See the treaty in Arabic and Latin, in the
Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 105, 106. It is signed
the 4th of the month of Regeb, A. H. 94, the 5th of April, A.D.
713; a date which seems to prolong the resistance of Theodemir,
and the government of Musa.]

187 (return) [ From the history of Sandoval, p. 87. Fleury (Hist.
Eccles. tom. ix. p. 261) has given the substance of another
treaty concluded A Ae. C. 782, A.D. 734, between an Arabian chief
and the Goths and Romans, of the territory of Conimbra in
Portugal. The tax of the churches is fixed at twenty-five pounds
of gold; of the monasteries, fifty; of the cathedrals, one
hundred; the Christians are judged by their count, but in capital
cases he must consult the alcaide. The church doors must be shut,
and they must respect the name of Mahomet. I have not the
original before me; it would confirm or destroy a dark suspicion,
that the piece has been forged to introduce the immunity of a
neighboring convent.]

The exploits of Musa were performed in the evening of life,
though he affected to disguise his age by coloring with a red
powder the whiteness of his beard. But in the love of action and
glory, his breast was still fired with the ardor of youth; and
the possession of Spain was considered only as the first step to
the monarchy of Europe. With a powerful armament by sea and land,
he was preparing to repass the Pyrenees, to extinguish in Gaul
and Italy the declining kingdoms of the Franks and Lombards, and
to preach the unity of God on the altar of the Vatican. From
thence, subduing the Barbarians of Germany, he proposed to follow
the course of the Danube from its source to the Euxine Sea, to
overthrow the Greek or Roman empire of Constantinople, and
returning from Europe to Asia, to unite his new acquisitions with
Antioch and the provinces of Syria. 188 But his vast enterprise,
perhaps of easy execution, must have seemed extravagant to vulgar
minds; and the visionary conqueror was soon reminded of his
dependence and servitude. The friends of Tarik had effectually
stated his services and wrongs: at the court of Damascus, the
proceedings of Musa were blamed, his intentions were suspected,
and his delay in complying with the first invitation was
chastised by a harsher and more peremptory summons. An intrepid
messenger of the caliph entered his camp at Lugo in Gallicia, and
in the presence of the Saracens and Christians arrested the
bridle of his horse. His own loyalty, or that of his troops,
inculcated the duty of obedience: and his disgrace was alleviated
by the recall of his rival, and the permission of investing with
his two governments his two sons, Abdallah and Abdelaziz. His
long triumph from Ceuta to Damascus displayed the spoils of
Africa and the treasures of Spain: four hundred Gothic nobles,
with gold coronets and girdles, were distinguished in his train;
and the number of male and female captives, selected for their
birth or beauty, was computed at eighteen, or even at thirty,
thousand persons. As soon as he reached Tiberias in Palestine, he
was apprised of the sickness and danger of the caliph, by a
private message from Soliman, his brother and presumptive heir;
who wished to reserve for his own reign the spectacle of victory.

Had Walid recovered, the delay of Musa would have been criminal:
he pursued his march, and found an enemy on the throne. In his
trial before a partial judge against a popular antagonist, he was
convicted of vanity and falsehood; and a fine of two hundred
thousand pieces of gold either exhausted his poverty or proved
his rapaciousness. The unworthy treatment of Tarik was revenged
by a similar indignity; and the veteran commander, after a public
whipping, stood a whole day in the sun before the palace gate,
till he obtained a decent exile, under the pious name of a
pilgrimage to Mecca. The resentment of the caliph might have been
satiated with the ruin of Musa; but his fears demanded the
extirpation of a potent and injured family. A sentence of death
was intimated with secrecy and speed to the trusty servants of
the throne both in Africa and Spain; and the forms, if not the
substance, of justice were superseded in this bloody execution.
In the mosch or palace of Cordova, Abdelaziz was slain by the
swords of the conspirators; they accused their governor of
claiming the honors of royalty; and his scandalous marriage with
Egilona, the widow of Roderic, offended the prejudices both of
the Christians and Moslems. By a refinement of cruelty, the head
of the son was presented to the father, with an insulting
question, whether he acknowledged the features of the rebel? “I
know his features,” he exclaimed with indignation: “I assert his
innocence; and I imprecate the same, a juster fate, against the
authors of his death.” The age and despair of Musa raised him
above the power of kings; and he expired at Mecca of the anguish
of a broken heart. His rival was more favorably treated: his
services were forgiven; and Tarik was permitted to mingle with
the crowd of slaves. 189 I am ignorant whether Count Julian was
rewarded with the death which he deserved indeed, though not from
the hands of the Saracens; but the tale of their ingratitude to
the sons of Witiza is disproved by the most unquestionable
evidence. The two royal youths were reinstated in the private
patrimony of their father; but on the decease of Eba, the elder,
his daughter was unjustly despoiled of her portion by the
violence of her uncle Sigebut. The Gothic maid pleaded her cause
before the caliph Hashem, and obtained the restitution of her
inheritance; but she was given in marriage to a noble Arabian,
and their two sons, Isaac and Ibrahim, were received in Spain
with the consideration that was due to their origin and riches.

188 (return) [ This design, which is attested by several Arabian
historians, (Cardonne, tom. i. p. 95, 96,) may be compared with
that of Mithridates, to march from the Crimaea to Rome; or with
that of Caesar, to conquer the East, and return home by the
North; and all three are perhaps surpassed by the real and
successful enterprise of Hannibal.]

189 (return) [ I much regret our loss, or my ignorance, of two
Arabic works of the viiith century, a Life of Musa, and a poem on
the exploits of Tarik. Of these authentic pieces, the former was
composed by a grandson of Musa, who had escaped from the massacre
of his kindred; the latter, by the vizier of the first
Abdalrahman, caliph of Spain, who might have conversed with some
of the veterans of the conqueror, (Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom.
ii. p. 36, 139.)]

A province is assimilated to the victorious state by the
introduction of strangers and the imitative spirit of the
natives; and Spain, which had been successively tinctured with
Punic, and Roman, and Gothic blood, imbibed, in a few
generations, the name and manners of the Arabs. The first
conquerors, and the twenty successive lieutenants of the caliphs,
were attended by a numerous train of civil and military
followers, who preferred a distant fortune to a narrow home: the
private and public interest was promoted by the establishment of
faithful colonies; and the cities of Spain were proud to
commemorate the tribe or country of their Eastern progenitors.
The victorious though motley bands of Tarik and Musa asserted, by
the name of Spaniards, their original claim of conquest; yet they
allowed their brethren of Egypt to share their establishments of
Murcia and Lisbon. The royal legion of Damascus was planted at
Cordova; that of Emesa at Seville; that of Kinnisrin or Chalcis
at Jaen; that of Palestine at Algezire and Medina Sidonia. The
natives of Yemen and Persia were scattered round Toledo and the
inland country, and the fertile seats of Grenada were bestowed on
ten thousand horsemen of Syria and Irak, the children of the
purest and most noble of the Arabian tribes. 190 A spirit of
emulation, sometimes beneficial, more frequently dangerous, was
nourished by these hereditary factions. Ten years after the
conquest, a map of the province was presented to the caliph: the
seas, the rivers, and the harbors, the inhabitants and cities,
the climate, the soil, and the mineral productions of the earth.
191 In the space of two centuries, the gifts of nature were
improved by the agriculture, 192 the manufactures, and the
commerce, of an industrious people; and the effects of their
diligence have been magnified by the idleness of their fancy. The
first of the Ommiades who reigned in Spain solicited the support
of the Christians; and in his edict of peace and protection, he
contents himself with a modest imposition of ten thousand ounces
of gold, ten thousand pounds of silver, ten thousand horses, as
many mules, one thousand cuirasses, with an equal number of
helmets and lances. 193 The most powerful of his successors
derived from the same kingdom the annual tribute of twelve
millions and forty-five thousand dinars or pieces of gold, about
six millions of sterling money; 194 a sum which, in the tenth
century, most probably surpassed the united revenues of the
Christians monarchs. His royal seat of Cordova contained six
hundred moschs, nine hundred baths, and two hundred thousand
houses; he gave laws to eighty cities of the first, to three
hundred of the second and third order; and the fertile banks of
the Guadalquivir were adorned with twelve thousand villages and
hamlets. The Arabs might exaggerate the truth, but they created
and they describe the most prosperous aera of the riches, the
cultivation, and the populousness of Spain. 195

190 (return) [ Bibliot. Arab. Hispana, tom. ii. p. 32, 252. The
former of these quotations is taken from a Biographia Hispanica,
by an Arabian of Valentia, (see the copious Extracts of Casiri,
tom. ii. p. 30-121;) and the latter from a general Chronology of
the Caliphs, and of the African and Spanish Dynasties, with a
particular History of the kingdom of Grenada, of which Casiri has
given almost an entire version, (Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom.
ii. p. 177-319.) The author, Ebn Khateb, a native of Grenada, and
a contemporary of Novairi and Abulfeda, (born A.D. 1313, died
A.D. 1374,) was an historian, geographer, physician, poet, &c.,
(tom. ii. p. 71, 72.)]

191 (return) [ Cardonne, Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, tom.
i. p. 116, 117.]

192 (return) [ A copious treatise of husbandry, by an Arabian of
Seville, in the xiith century, is in the Escurial library, and
Casiri had some thoughts of translating it. He gives a list of
the authors quoted, Arabs as well as Greeks, Latins, &c.; but it
is much if the Andalusian saw these strangers through the medium
of his countryman Columella, (Casiri, Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana,
tom. i. p. 323-338.)]

193 (return) [ Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 104. Casiri
translates the original testimony of the historian Rasis, as it
is alleged in the Arabic Biographia Hispanica, pars ix. But I am
most exceedingly surprised at the address, Principibus
caeterisque Christianis, Hispanis suis Castellae. The name of
Castellae was unknown in the viiith century; the kingdom was not
erected till the year 1022, a hundred years after the time of
Rasis, (Bibliot. tom. ii. p. 330,) and the appellation was always
expressive, not of a tributary province, but of a line of castles
independent of the Moorish yoke, (D’Anville, Etats de l’Europe,
p. 166-170.) Had Casiri been a critic, he would have cleared a
difficulty, perhaps of his own making.]

194 (return) [ Cardonne, tom. i. p. 337, 338. He computes the
revenue at 130,000,000 of French livres. The entire picture of
peace and prosperity relieves the bloody uniformity of the
Moorish annals.]

195 (return) [ I am happy enough to possess a splendid and
interesting work which has only been distributed in presents by
the court of Madrid Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis,
opera et studio Michaelis Casiri, Syro Maronitoe. Matriti, in
folio, tomus prior, 1760, tomus posterior, 1770. The execution of
this work does honor to the Spanish press; the Mss., to the
number of MDCCCLI., are judiciously classed by the editor, and
his copious extracts throw some light on the Mahometan literature
and history of Spain. These relics are now secure, but the task
has been supinely delayed, till, in the year 1671, a fire
consumed the greatest part of the Escurial library, rich in the
spoils of Grenada and Morocco. * Note: Compare the valuable work
of Conde, Historia de la Dominacion de las Arabes en Espana.
Madrid, 1820.—M.]

The wars of the Moslems were sanctified by the prophet; but among
the various precepts and examples of his life, the caliphs
selected the lessons of toleration that might tend to disarm the
resistance of the unbelievers. Arabia was the temple and
patrimony of the God of Mahomet; but he beheld with less jealousy
and affection the nations of the earth. The polytheists and
idolaters, who were ignorant of his name, might be lawfully
extirpated by his votaries; 196 but a wise policy supplied the
obligation of justice; and after some acts of intolerant zeal,
the Mahometan conquerors of Hindostan have spared the pagodas of
that devout and populous country. The disciples of Abraham, of
Moses, and of Jesus, were solemnly invited to accept the more
perfect revelation of Mahomet; but if they preferred the payment
of a moderate tribute, they were entitled to the freedom of
conscience and religious worship. 197 In a field of battle the
forfeit lives of the prisoners were redeemed by the profession of
Islam; the females were bound to embrace the religion of their
masters, and a race of sincere proselytes was gradually
multiplied by the education of the infant captives. But the
millions of African and Asiatic converts, who swelled the native
band of the faithful Arabs, must have been allured, rather than
constrained, to declare their belief in one God and the apostle
of God. By the repetition of a sentence and the loss of a
foreskin, the subject or the slave, the captive or the criminal,
arose in a moment the free and equal companion of the victorious
Moslems. Every sin was expiated, every engagement was dissolved:
the vow of celibacy was superseded by the indulgence of nature;
the active spirits who slept in the cloister were awakened by the
trumpet of the Saracens; and in the convulsion of the world,
every member of a new society ascended to the natural level of
his capacity and courage. The minds of the multitude were tempted
by the invisible as well as temporal blessings of the Arabian
prophet; and charity will hope that many of his proselytes
entertained a serious conviction of the truth and sanctity of his
revelation. In the eyes of an inquisitive polytheist, it must
appear worthy of the human and the divine nature. More pure than
the system of Zoroaster, more liberal than the law of Moses, the
religion of Mahomet might seem less inconsistent with reason than
the creed of mystery and superstition, which, in the seventh
century, disgraced the simplicity of the gospel.

196 (return) [ The Harbii, as they are styled, qui tolerari
nequeunt, are, 1. Those who, besides God, worship the sun, moon,
or idols. 2. Atheists, Utrique, quamdiu princeps aliquis inter
Mohammedanos superest, oppugnari debent donec religionem
amplectantur, nec requies iis concedenda est, nec pretium
acceptandum pro obtinenda conscientiae libertate, (Reland,
Dissertat. x. de Jure Militari Mohammedan. tom. iii. p. 14;) a
rigid theory!]

197 (return) [ The distinction between a proscribed and a
tolerated sect, between the Harbii and the people of the Book,
the believers in some divine revelation, is correctly defined in
the conversation of the caliph Al Mamum with the idolaters or
Sabaeans of Charrae, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient. p. 107, 108.)]

In the extensive provinces of Persia and Africa, the national
religion has been eradicated by the Mahometan faith. The
ambiguous theology of the Magi stood alone among the sects of the
East; but the profane writings of Zoroaster 198 might, under the
reverend name of Abraham, be dexterously connected with the chain
of divine revelation. Their evil principle, the daemon Ahriman,
might be represented as the rival, or as the creature, of the God
of light. The temples of Persia were devoid of images; but the
worship of the sun and of fire might be stigmatized as a gross
and criminal idolatry. 199 The milder sentiment was consecrated
by the practice of Mahomet 200 and the prudence of the caliphs;
the Magians or Ghebers were ranked with the Jews and Christians
among the people of the written law; 201 and as late as the third
century of the Hegira, the city of Herat will afford a lively
contrast of private zeal and public toleration. 202 Under the
payment of an annual tribute, the Mahometan law secured to the
Ghebers of Herat their civil and religious liberties: but the
recent and humble mosch was overshadowed by the antique splendor
of the adjoining temple of fire. A fanatic Imam deplored, in his
sermons, the scandalous neighborhood, and accused the weakness or
indifference of the faithful. Excited by his voice, the people
assembled in tumult; the two houses of prayer were consumed by
the flames, but the vacant ground was immediately occupied by the
foundations of a new mosch. The injured Magi appealed to the
sovereign of Chorasan; he promised justice and relief; when,
behold! four thousand citizens of Herat, of a grave character and
mature age, unanimously swore that the idolatrous fane had never
existed; the inquisition was silenced and their conscience was
satisfied (says the historian Mirchond 203 with this holy and
meritorious perjury. 204 But the greatest part of the temples of
Persia were ruined by the insensible and general desertion of
their votaries.

It was insensible, since it is not accompanied with any memorial
of time or place, of persecution or resistance. It was general,
since the whole realm, from Shiraz to Samarcand, imbibed the
faith of the Koran; and the preservation of the native tongue
reveals the descent of the Mahometans of Persia. 205 In the
mountains and deserts, an obstinate race of unbelievers adhered
to the superstition of their fathers; and a faint tradition of
the Magian theology is kept alive in the province of Kirman,
along the banks of the Indus, among the exiles of Surat, and in
the colony which, in the last century, was planted by Shaw Abbas
at the gates of Ispahan. The chief pontiff has retired to Mount
Elbourz, eighteen leagues from the city of Yezd: the perpetual
fire (if it continues to burn) is inaccessible to the profane;
but his residence is the school, the oracle, and the pilgrimage
of the Ghebers, whose hard and uniform features attest the
unmingled purity of their blood. Under the jurisdiction of their
elders, eighty thousand families maintain an innocent and
industrious life: their subsistence is derived from some curious
manufactures and mechanic trades; and they cultivate the earth
with the fervor of a religious duty. Their ignorance withstood
the despotism of Shaw Abbas, who demanded with threats and
tortures the prophetic books of Zoroaster; and this obscure
remnant of the Magians is spared by the moderation or contempt of
their present sovereigns. 206

198 (return) [ The Zend or Pazend, the bible of the Ghebers, is
reckoned by themselves, or at least by the Mahometans, among the
ten books which Abraham received from heaven; and their religion
is honorably styled the religion of Abraham, (D’Herblot, Bibliot.
Orient. p. 701; Hyde, de Religione veterum Persarum, c, iii. p.
27, 28, &c.) I much fear that we do not possess any pure and free
description of the system of Zoroaster. 1981 Dr. Prideaux
(Connection, vol. i. p. 300, octavo) adopts the opinion, that he
had been the slave and scholar of some Jewish prophet in the
captivity of Babylon. Perhaps the Persians, who have been the
masters of the Jews, would assert the honor, a poor honor, of
being their masters.]

1981 (return) [ Whatever the real age of the Zendavesta,
published by Anquetil du Perron, whether of the time of Ardeschir
Babeghan, according to Mr. Erskine, or of much higher antiquity,
it may be considered, I conceive, both a “pure and a free,”
though imperfect, description of Zoroastrianism; particularly
with the illustrations of the original translator, and of the
German Kleuker—M.]

199 (return) [ The Arabian Nights, a faithful and amusing picture
of the Oriental world, represent in the most odious colors of the
Magians, or worshippers of fire, to whom they attribute the
annual sacrifice of a Mussulman. The religion of Zoroaster has
not the least affinity with that of the Hindoos, yet they are
often confounded by the Mahometans; and the sword of Timour was
sharpened by this mistake, (Hist. de Timour Bec, par Cherefeddin
Ali Yezdi, l. v.)]

200 (return) [ Vie de Mahomet, par Gagnier, (tom. iii. p. 114,
115.)]

201 (return) [ Hae tres sectae, Judaei, Christiani, et qui inter
Persas Magorum institutis addicti sunt, populi libri dicuntur,
(Reland, Dissertat. tom. iii. p. 15.) The caliph Al Mamun
confirms this honorable distinction in favor of the three sects,
with the vague and equivocal religion of the Sabaeans, under
which the ancient polytheists of Charrae were allowed to shelter
their idolatrous worship, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient p. 167, 168.)]

202 (return) [ This singular story is related by D’Herbelot,
(Bibliot. Orient. p 448, 449,) on the faith of Khondemir, and by
Mirchond himself, (Hist priorum Regum Persarum, &c., p. 9, 10,
not. p. 88, 89.)]

203 (return) [ Mirchond, (Mohammed Emir Khoondah Shah,) a native
of Herat, composed in the Persian language a general history of
the East, from the creation to the year of the Hegira 875, (A.D.
1471.) In the year 904 (A.D. 1498) the historian obtained the
command of a princely library, and his applauded work, in seven
or twelve parts, was abbreviated in three volumes by his son
Khondemir, A. H. 927, A.D. 1520. The two writers, most accurately
distinguished by Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Genghizcan, p.537,
538, 544, 545,) are loosely confounded by D’Herbelot, (p. 358,
410, 994, 995: ) but his numerous extracts, under the improper
name of Khondemir, belong to the father rather than the son. The
historian of Genghizcan refers to a Ms. of Mirchond, which he
received from the hands of his friend D’Herbelot himself. A
curious fragment (the Taherian and Soffarian Dynasties) has been
lately published in Persic and Latin, (Viennae, 1782, in 4to.,
cum notis Bernard de Jenisch;) and the editor allows us to hope
for a continuation of Mirchond.]

204 (return) [ Quo testimonio boni se quidpiam praestitisse
opinabantur. Yet Mirchond must have condemned their zeal, since
he approved the legal toleration of the Magi, cui (the fire
temple) peracto singulis annis censu uti sacra Mohammedis lege
cautum, ab omnibus molestiis ac oneribus libero esse licuit.]

205 (return) [ The last Magian of name and power appears to be
Mardavige the Dilemite, who, in the beginning of the 10th
century, reigned in the northern provinces of Persia, near the
Caspian Sea, (D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 355.) But his
soldiers and successors, the Bowides either professed or embraced
the Mahometan faith; and under their dynasty (A.D. 933-1020) I
should say the fall of the religion of Zoroaster.]

206 (return) [ The present state of the Ghebers in Persia is
taken from Sir John Chardin, not indeed the most learned, but the
most judicious and inquisitive of our modern travellers, (Voyages
en Perse, tom. ii. p. 109, 179-187, in 4to.) His brethren, Pietro
della Valle, Olearius, Thevenot, Tavernier, &c., whom I have
fruitlessly searched, had neither eyes nor attention for this
interesting people.]

The Northern coast of Africa is the only land in which the light
of the gospel, after a long and perfect establishment, has been
totally extinguished. The arts, which had been taught by Carthage
and Rome, were involved in a cloud of ignorance; the doctrine of
Cyprian and Augustin was no longer studied. Five hundred
episcopal churches were overturned by the hostile fury of the
Donatists, the Vandals, and the Moors. The zeal and numbers of
the clergy declined; and the people, without discipline, or
knowledge, or hope, submissively sunk under the yoke of the
Arabian prophet. Within fifty years after the expulsion of the
Greeks, a lieutenant of Africa informed the caliph that the
tribute of the infidels was abolished by their conversion; 207
and, though he sought to disguise his fraud and rebellion, his
specious pretence was drawn from the rapid and extensive progress
of the Mahometan faith. In the next age, an extraordinary mission
of five bishops was detached from Alexandria to Cairoan. They
were ordained by the Jacobite patriarch to cherish and revive the
dying embers of Christianity: 208 but the interposition of a
foreign prelate, a stranger to the Latins, an enemy to the
Catholics, supposes the decay and dissolution of the African
hierarchy. It was no longer the time when the successor of St.
Cyprian, at the head of a numerous synod, could maintain an equal
contest with the ambition of the Roman pontiff. In the eleventh
century, the unfortunate priest who was seated on the ruins of
Carthage implored the arms and the protection of the Vatican; and
he bitterly complains that his naked body had been scourged by
the Saracens, and that his authority was disputed by the four
suffragans, the tottering pillars of his throne. Two epistles of
Gregory the Seventh 209 are destined to soothe the distress of
the Catholics and the pride of a Moorish prince. The pope assures
the sultan that they both worship the same God, and may hope to
meet in the bosom of Abraham; but the complaint that three
bishops could no longer be found to consecrate a brother,
announces the speedy and inevitable ruin of the episcopal order.
The Christians of Africa and Spain had long since submitted to
the practice of circumcision and the legal abstinence from wine
and pork; and the name of Mozarabes 210 (adoptive Arabs) was
applied to their civil or religious conformity. 211 About the
middle of the twelfth century, the worship of Christ and the
succession of pastors were abolished along the coast of Barbary,
and in the kingdoms of Cordova and Seville, of Valencia and
Grenada. 212 The throne of the Almohades, or Unitarians, was
founded on the blindest fanaticism, and their extraordinary rigor
might be provoked or justified by the recent victories and
intolerant zeal of the princes of Sicily and Castille, of Arragon
and Portugal. The faith of the Mozarabes was occasionally revived
by the papal missionaries; and, on the landing of Charles the
Fifth, some families of Latin Christians were encouraged to rear
their heads at Tunis and Algiers. But the seed of the gospel was
quickly eradicated, and the long province from Tripoli to the
Atlantic has lost all memory of the language and religion of
Rome. 213

207 (return) [ The letter of Abdoulrahman, governor or tyrant of
Africa, to the caliph Aboul Abbas, the first of the Abbassides,
is dated A. H. 132 Cardonne, (Hist. de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne,
tom. i. p. 168.)]

208 (return) [ Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 66. Renaudot, Hist.
Patriarch. Alex. p. 287, 288.]

209 (return) [ Among the Epistles of the Popes, see Leo IX.
epist. 3; Gregor. VII. l. i. epist. 22, 23, l. iii. epist. 19,
20, 21; and the criticisms of Pagi, (tom. iv. A.D. 1053, No. 14,
A.D. 1073, No. 13,) who investigates the name and family of the
Moorish prince, with whom the proudest of the Roman pontiffs so
politely corresponds.]

210 (return) [ Mozarabes, or Mostarabes, adscititii, as it is
interpreted in Latin, (Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 39, 40.
Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 18.) The Mozarabic liturgy,
the ancient ritual of the church of Toledo, has been attacked by
the popes, and exposed to the doubtful trials of the sword and of
fire, (Marian. Hist. Hispan. tom. i. l. ix. c. 18, p. 378.) It
was, or rather it is, in the Latin tongue; yet in the xith
century it was found necessary (A. Ae. C. 1687, A.D. 1039) to
transcribe an Arabic version of the canons of the councils of
Spain, (Bibliot. Arab. Hisp. tom. i. p. 547,) for the use of the
bishops and clergy in the Moorish kingdoms.]

211 (return) [ About the middle of the xth century, the clergy of
Cordova was reproached with this criminal compliance, by the
intrepid envoy of the Emperor Otho I., (Vit. Johan. Gorz, in
Secul. Benedict. V. No. 115, apud Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xii.
p. 91.)]

212 (return) [ Pagi, Critica, tom. iv. A.D. 1149, No. 8, 9. He
justly observes, that when Seville, &c., were retaken by
Ferdinand of Castille, no Christians, except captives, were found
in the place; and that the Mozarabic churches of Africa and
Spain, described by James a Vitriaco, A.D. 1218, (Hist. Hierosol.
c. 80, p. 1095, in Gest. Dei per Francos,) are copied from some
older book. I shall add, that the date of the Hegira 677 (A.D.
1278) must apply to the copy, not the composition, of a treatise
of a jurisprudence, which states the civil rights of the
Christians of Cordova, (Bibliot. Arab. Hisp. tom. i. p. 471;) and
that the Jews were the only dissenters whom Abul Waled, king of
Grenada, (A.D. 1313,) could either discountenance or tolerate,
(tom. ii. p. 288.)]

213 (return) [ Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 288. Leo
Africanus would have flattered his Roman masters, could he have
discovered any latent relics of the Christianity of Africa.]

After the revolution of eleven centuries, the Jews and Christians
of the Turkish empire enjoy the liberty of conscience which was
granted by the Arabian caliphs. During the first age of the
conquest, they suspected the loyalty of the Catholics, whose name
of Melchites betrayed their secret attachment to the Greek
emperor, while the Nestorians and Jacobites, his inveterate
enemies, approved themselves the sincere and voluntary friends of
the Mahometan government. 214 Yet this partial jealousy was
healed by time and submission; the churches of Egypt were shared
with the Catholics; 215 and all the Oriental sects were included
in the common benefits of toleration. The rank, the immunities,
the domestic jurisdiction of the patriarchs, the bishops, and the
clergy, were protected by the civil magistrate: the learning of
individuals recommended them to the employments of secretaries
and physicians: they were enriched by the lucrative collection of
the revenue; and their merit was sometimes raised to the command
of cities and provinces. A caliph of the house of Abbas was heard
to declare that the Christians were most worthy of trust in the
administration of Persia. “The Moslems,” said he, “will abuse
their present fortune; the Magians regret their fallen greatness;
and the Jews are impatient for their approaching deliverance.”
216 But the slaves of despotism are exposed to the alternatives
of favor and disgrace. The captive churches of the East have been
afflicted in every age by the avarice or bigotry of their rulers;
and the ordinary and legal restraints must be offensive to the
pride, or the zeal, of the Christians. 217 About two hundred
years after Mahomet, they were separated from their
fellow-subjects by a turban or girdle of a less honorable color;
instead of horses or mules. they were condemned to ride on asses,
in the attitude of women. Their public and private building were
measured by a diminutive standard; in the streets or the baths it
is their duty to give way or bow down before the meanest of the
people; and their testimony is rejected, if it may tend to the
prejudice of a true believer. The pomp of processions, the sound
of bells or of psalmody, is interdicted in their worship; a
decent reverence for the national faith is imposed on their
sermons and conversations; and the sacrilegious attempt to enter
a mosch, or to seduce a Mussulman, will not be suffered to escape
with impunity. In a time, however, of tranquillity and justice,
the Christians have never been compelled to renounce the Gospel,
or to embrace the Koran; but the punishment of death is inflicted
upon the apostates who have professed and deserted the law of
Mahomet. The martyrs of Cordova provoked the sentence of the
cadhi, by the public confession of their inconstancy, or their
passionate invectives against the person and religion of the
prophet. 218

214 (return) [ Absit (said the Catholic to the vizier of Bagdad)
ut pari loco habeas Nestorianos, quorum praeter Arabas nullus
alius rex est, et Graecos quorum reges amovendo Arabibus bello
non desistunt, &c. See in the Collections of Assemannus (Bibliot.
Orient. tom. iv. p. 94-101) the state of the Nestorians under the
caliphs. That of the Jacobites is more concisely exposed in the
Preliminary Dissertation of the second volume of Assemannus.]

215 (return) [ Eutych. Annal. tom. ii. p. 384, 387, 388.
Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 205, 206, 257, 332. A taint
of the Monothelite heresy might render the first of these Greek
patriarchs less loyal to the emperors and less obnoxious to the
Arabs.]

216 (return) [ Motadhed, who reigned from A.D. 892 to 902. The
Magians still held their name and rank among the religions of the
empire, (Assemanni, Bibliot. Orient. tom. iv. p. 97.)]

217 (return) [ Reland explains the general restraints of the
Mahometan policy and jurisprudence, (Dissertat. tom. iii. p.
16-20.) The oppressive edicts of the caliph Motawakkel, (A.D.
847-861,) which are still in force, are noticed by Eutychius,
(Annal. tom. ii. p. 448,) and D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p.
640.) A persecution of the caliph Omar II. is related, and most
probably magnified, by the Greek Theophanes (Chron p. 334.)]

218 (return) [ The martyrs of Cordova (A.D. 850, &c.) are
commemorated and justified by St. Eulogius, who at length fell a
victim himself. A synod, convened by the caliph, ambiguously
censured their rashness. The moderate Fleury cannot reconcile
their conduct with the discipline of antiquity, toutefois
l’autorite de l’eglise, &c. (Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. x. p.
415-522, particularly p. 451, 508, 509.) Their authentic acts
throw a strong, though transient, light on the Spanish church in
the ixth century.]

At the end of the first century of the Hegira, the caliphs were
the most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe. Their
prerogative was not circumscribed, either in right or in fact, by
the power of the nobles, the freedom of the commons, the
privileges of the church, the votes of a senate, or the memory of
a free constitution. The authority of the companions of Mahomet
expired with their lives; and the chiefs or emirs of the Arabian
tribes left behind, in the desert, the spirit of equality and
independence. The regal and sacerdotal characters were united in
the successors of Mahomet; and if the Koran was the rule of their
actions, they were the supreme judges and interpreters of that
divine book. They reigned by the right of conquest over the
nations of the East, to whom the name of liberty was unknown, and
who were accustomed to applaud in their tyrants the acts of
violence and severity that were exercised at their own expense.
Under the last of the Ommiades, the Arabian empire extended two
hundred days’ journey from east to west, from the confines of
Tartary and India to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. And if we
retrench the sleeve of the robe, as it is styled by their
writers, the long and narrow province of Africa, the solid and
compact dominion from Fargana to Aden, from Tarsus to Surat, will
spread on every side to the measure of four or five months of the
march of a caravan. 219 We should vainly seek the indissoluble
union and easy obedience that pervaded the government of Augustus
and the Antonines; but the progress of the Mahometan religion
diffused over this ample space a general resemblance of manners
and opinions. The language and laws of the Koran were studied
with equal devotion at Samarcand and Seville: the Moor and the
Indian embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of
Mecca; and the Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom
in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris. 220

219 (return) [ See the article Eslamiah, (as we say Christendom,)
in the Bibliotheque Orientale, (p. 325.) This chart of the
Mahometan world is suited by the author, Ebn Alwardi, to the year
of the Hegira 385 (A.D. 995.) Since that time, the losses in
Spain have been overbalanced by the conquests in India, Tartary,
and the European Turkey.]

220 (return) [ The Arabic of the Koran is taught as a dead
language in the college of Mecca. By the Danish traveller, this
ancient idiom is compared to the Latin; the vulgar tongue of
Hejaz and Yemen to the Italian; and the Arabian dialects of
Syria, Egypt, Africa, &c., to the Provencal, Spanish, and
Portuguese, (Niebuhr, Description de l’Arabie, p. 74, &c.)]