the fall of the Sassanian dynasty and the religion of Zoroaster. The youth and inexperience of the prince (he was only fifteen years of age) declined a perilous encounter: the royal standard was delivered into the hands of his general Rustam; and a remnant of thirty thousand regular troops was swelled in truth, or in opinion, to one hundred and twenty thousand subjects, or allies, of the great king. The Moslems, whose numbers were reënforced from twelve to thirty thousand, had pitched their camp in the plains of Cadesia: 20 and their line, though it consisted of fewer men, could produce more soldiers, than the unwieldy host of the infidels. I shall here observe, what I must often repeat, that the charge of the Arabs was not, like that of the Greeks and Romans, the effort of a firm and compact infantry: their military force was chiefly formed of cavalry and archers; and the engagement, which was often interrupted and often renewed by single combats and flying skirmishes, might be protracted withut any decisive event to the continuance of several days. The periods of the battle of Cadesia were distinguished by their peculiar appellations. The first, from the well-timed appearance of six thousand of the Syrian brethren, was 30 days supplied the use of our Bissextile, and restored the integrity of the solar year. In a great revolution of 1440 years this intercalation was successively removed from the first to the twelfth month; but Hyde and Freret are involved in a profound controversy, whether the twelve, or only eight of these changes were accomplished before the æra of Yezdegerd, which is unanimously fixed to the 16th of June, A. D. 632. How laboriously does the curious spirit of Europe explore the darkest and most distant antiquities! (Hyde de Religione Persarum, c. 14-18, p. 181–211. Freret in the Mém. de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xvi. p. 233-267.) 19 Nine days after the death of Mahomet (7th June, A. D. 632) we find the æra of Yezdegerd, (16th June, A. D. 632,) and his accession cannot be postponed beyond the end of the first year. His predecessors could not therefore resist the arms of the caliph Omar; and these unquestionable dates overthrow the thoughtless chronology of Abulpharagius. See Ockley's Hist. of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 130. 20 Cadesia, says the Nubian geographer, (p. 121,) is in margine solitudinis, 61 leagues from Bagdad, and two stations from Cufa. Otter (Voyage, tom. i. p. 163) reckons 15 leagues, and observes, that the place is supplied with dates and water. The Rezont Uzzuffá (Price, p. 105) has a strange account of an em bassy to Yezdegerd. The Oriental historians take great delight in these embassies, which give them an opportunity of displaying thei" Asiatic eloquence.-M. denominated the day of succor. The day of concussion might express the disorder of one, or perhaps of both, of the con tending armies. The third, a nocturnal tumuit, received the whimsical name of the night of barking, from the discordant clamors, which were compared to the inarticulate sounds of the fiercest animals. The morning of the succeeding day determined the fate of Persia; and a seasonable whirlwind drove a cloud of dust against the faces of the unbelievers. The clangor of arms was reëchoed to the tent of Rustam, who, far unlike the ancient hero of his name, was gently reclining in a cool and tranquil shade, amidst the baggage of his camp, and the train of mules that were laden with gold and silver. On the sound of danger he started from nis couch; but his flight was overtaken by a valiant Arab, who caught him by the foot, struck off his head, hoisted it on a lance, and instantly returning to the field of battle, carried slaughter and dismay among the thickest ranks of the Persians. The Saracens confess a loss of seven thousand five hundred men;† and the battle of Cadesia is justly de. scribed by the epithets of obstinate and atrocious.21 The standard of the monarchy was overthrown and captured in the field a leathern apron of a blacksmith, who in ancient times had arisen the deliverer of Persia; but this badge of heroic poverty was disguised, and almost concealed, by a profusion of precious gems. 22 After this victory, the wealthy province of Irak, or Assyria, submitted to the caliph, and his conquests were firmly established by the speedy foundation of Bassora,2 23 a place which ever commands the trade and 21 Atrox, contumax, plus semel renovatum, are the well-chosen expressions of the translator of Abulfeda, (Reiske, p. 69.) 22 D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, p. 297, 348. 23 The reader may satisfy himself on the subject of Bassora by consulting the following writers: Geograph. Nubiens. p. 121. D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, p. 192. D'Anville, l'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 130, 133, 145. Raynal, Hist. Philosophique des deux Indes, tom. ii. p. 92–100. Voyages di Pietro della Valle, tom. iv. p. 370— 391. De Tavernier, tom. i. p. 240-247. De Thevenot, tom. ii. p. 545 -584. D'Otter, tom. ii. p. 45-78. De Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 172-199. The day of cormorants, or according to another reading, the day of reinforcements. It was the night which was called the night of snarling Price, p. 114. — M. + According to Malcolm's authorities, only three thousand; but he adds, "This is the report of Mahomedan historians, who have a great disposition to the wonderful in relating the first actions of the faithful." Vol. i p 139.-M navigation of the Persians. At the distance of fourSCOLE miles from the Gulf, the Euphrates and Tigris unite in a broad and direct current, which is aptly styled the river of the Arabs. In the midway, between the junction and the mouth of these famous streams, the new settlement was planted on the western bank: the first colony was composed of eight hundred Moslems; but the influence of the situation soon reared a flourishing and populous capital. The air, though excessively hot, is pure and healthy: the meadows are filled with palm-trees and cattle; and one of the adjacent valleys has been celebrated among the four paradises or gardens of Asia. Under the first caliphs the jurisdiction of this Arabian colony extended over the southern provinces of Persia: the city has been sanctified by the tombs of the companions and martyrs; and the vessels of Europe still frequent the port of Bassora, as a convenient station and passage of the Indian trade. After the defeat of Cadesia, a country intersected by rivers and canals might have opposed an insuperable barrier to the victorious cavalry; and the walls of Ctesiphon or Madayn, which had resisted the battering-rams of the Romans, would not have yielded to the darts of the Saracens. But the flying Persians were overcome by the belief, that the last day of their religion and empire was at hand; the strongest posts were abandoned by treachery or cowardice; and the king, with a part of his family and treasures, escaped to Holwan at the foot of the Median hills. In the third month after the battle, Said, the lieutenant of Omar, passed the Tigris without opposition; the capital was taken by assault and the disorderly resistance of the people gave a keener edge to the sabres of the Moslems, who shouted with religious transport, "This is the white palace of Chosroes; this is the promise of the apostle of God!" The naked robbers of the desert were suddenly enriched beyond the measure of their hope or knowledge. Each chamber revealed a new treasure secreted with art, or ostentatiously displayed; the gold and silver, the various wardrobes and precious furniture surpassed (says Abulfeda) the estimate of fancy or numbers; and another historian defines the untold and almost infinite mass, by the fabulous computation of three thousands of thousands of thousands of pieces of gold.24 Some minute though curious facts represen: 24 Mente vix potest. numerove comprehendi quanta spolia. the contrast of riches and ignorance. From the remote isl ands of the Indian Ocean a large provision of camphire 25 hao been imported, which is employed with a mixture of wax to illuminate the palaces of the East. Strangers to the name and properties of that odoriferous gum, the Saracens, mistaking it for salt, mingled the camphire in their bread, and were astonished at the bitterness of the taste. One of the apartments of the palace was decorated with a carpet of silk, sixty cubits in length, and as many in breadth: a paradise or gar den was depictured on the ground: the flowers, fruits, and shrubs, were imitated by the figures of the gold embroidery, and the colors of the precious stones; and the ample square was encircled by a variegated and verdant border. The Arabian general persuaded his soldiers to relinquish their claim, in the reasonable hope that the eyes of the caliph would be delighted with the splendid workmanship of nature and industry. Regardless of the merit of art, and the pomp of royalty, the rigid Omar divided the prize among his brethren of Medina: the picture was destroyed; but such was the intrinsic value of the materials, that the share of Ali alone was sold for twenty thousand drams. A mule that carried away the tiara and cuirass, the belt and bracelets of Chosroes, was overtaken by the pursuers; the gorgeous 'rophy was presented to the commander of the faithful; and the gravest of the companions condescended to smile when they beheld the white beard, the hairy arms, and uncouth figure of the veteran, nostris cesserint. Abulfeda, p. 69. Yet I still suspect, that the ex-travagant numbers of Elmacin may be the error, not of the text, but of the version. The best translators from the Greek, for instance, I find to be very poor arithmeticians.* 25 The camphire-tree grows in China and Japan; but many hundred weight of those meaner sorts are exchanged for a single pound of the more precious gum of Borneo and Sumatra, (Raynal, Hist. Philosoph. tom. i. p. 362-365. Dictionnaire d'Hist. Naturelle par Bomare. Miller's Gardener's Dictionary.) These may be the islands of the first climate from whence the Arabians imported their camphire, (Geograph. Nub. p. 34, 35. D'Herbelot, p. 232. * Ockley (Hist. of Saracens, vol. i. p. 230) translates in the same manner three thousand million of ducats. See Forster's Mahometanism Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 462; who makes this innocent doubt of Gibbon, in which, as to the amount of the plunder, I venture to concur, a grave charge of naccuracy and disrespect to the memory of Erpenis. The Persian authorities of Price (p. 122) make the booty worth three nundred and thirty millions sterling! M. + Compare Price, p. 122.-M. who was invested with the spoils of the Great King. The Back of Ctesiphon was followed by its desertion and gradual decay. The Saracens disliked the air and situation of the place, and Omar was advised by his general to remove the seat of government to the western side of the Euphrates. In every age, the foundation and ruin of the Assyrian cities has been easy and rapid: the country is destitute of stone and timber; and the most solid structures 27 are composed of bricks baked in the sun, and joined by a cement of the native bitumen. The name of Cufa 28 describes a habitation of reeds and earth; but the importance of the new capital was supported by the numbers, wealth, and spirit, of a colony of veterans; and their licentiousness was indulged by the wisest caliphs, who were apprehensive of provoking the revolt of a hundred thousand swords: "Ye men of Cufa," said Ali, who solicited their aid, "you have been always conspicuous by your valor. You conquered the Persian king, and scattered his forces, till you had taken possession of his inheritance." This mighty conquest was achieved by the battles of Jalula and Nehavend. After the loss of the former, Yezdegerd fled from Holwan, and concealed his shame and despair in the mountains of Farsistan, from whence Cyrus had descended with his equal and valiant companions. The courage of the nation survived that of the monarch: among the hills to the south of Ecbatana or Hamadan, one hundred and fifty thousand Persians made a third and final stand for their religion and country; and the decisive battle of Nehavend was styled by the Arabs the victory of victories. If it be true that the flying general of the Persians was stopped and overtaken in a crowd of mules and camels laden with honey, the incident, 26 See Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 376, 377. I may credit the fact, without believing the prophecy. 27 The most considerable ruins of Assyria are the tower of Belus, at Babylon, and the hall of Chosroes, at Ctesiphon they have been visited by that vain and curious traveller Pietro della Valle, (tom. i. p. 713-718, 731–735.)* Consult the article of Coufah in the Bibliothèque of D'Herbelot, (p. 277, 278,) and the second volume of Ockley's History, particularly p. 40 and 153. The best modern account is that of Claudius Rich, Es. Two Momoirs on Babylon. London, 1818.-M. |