thousand dinars or pieces of gold, about six millions of sterling money; 194 a sum which, in the tenth century, most prob ably surpassed the united revenues of the Christian 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 æra of the riches, the cultivation, and the populousness of Spain. 195 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 pagods of that devout and populous country. 194 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 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 Maronitæ. 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.* 196 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 obtinendâ conscientiæ libertate, (Reland, Dissertat. x. de Jure Militari Mohammedan. tom. ii. p. 14;) a rigid theory! Compare the valuable work of Conde, Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en España. Madrid, 1820. — M. The disciples of Abraham, of Moses, and of Jesus, were sol emnly invited to accept the more perfect revelation of Ma homet; 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. 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 198 191 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 Mamun with the idolaters or Sabæans of Charræ, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient. p. 107, 108.) 198 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 might under the reverend name of Abraham, be dexterously connected with the chain of divine revelation. Their evil principle, the dæmon 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 styled the religion of Abraham, (D'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 701; Hyde, de Religione veterum Persarum, c. iii. p. 27, 28, &c.) Í much fear that we do not possess any pure and free description of the system of Zoroaster.* 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. 199 The Arabian Nights, a faithful and amusing picture of the Oriental world, represent in the most odious colors 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, 1. v.) 200 Vie de Mahomet, par Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 114, 115. 201 Hæ tres sectæ, Judæi, Christiani, et qui inter Persas Magorum in. stitutis addicti sunt, xar' ¿§oxyv, 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 Sabæans, under which the ancient polytheists of Charræ were allowed to shelter their idolatrous worship, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient. p. 167, 168.) 202 This singular story is related by D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 448, 449,) on the faith of Khondemir, and by Mirchond himself, (Hist. priorum Régum Persarum, &c., p. 9, 10, not. p. 88, 89.) 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 66 pure and a free," though imperfect, description of Zoroastrianism; particularly with the illustrations of the original translator, and of the German Kleuker.-M by the antique splendor of the adjoining temple of fire. A fanatic Iman deplored, in his sermons, the scandalous neigh borhood, and accused the weakness or indifference of the faithful. Excited by his voice, the people assembled in tu mult; 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 203 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. Ď. 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, (Viennæ, 1782, in 4to., cum notis Bernard de Jenisch ;) and the editor allows us to hope for a continuation of Mirchond. 294 Quo testimonio boni se quidpiain præstitisse opinabantur. Yet Mirchond must have condemned their zeal, since he approved the legal toleration of the Magi, cui (the fire temple) peracto singulis annis censû, uti sacra Mohammedis lege cautum, ab omnibus molestiis ac oneribus libero esse licuit. 205 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, Pibliot. Orient. p. 355.) But his soldiers and successors, the Bowides adhered to the superstition of their fathers; and a faint tradi tion 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 continue to burn) is inaccessible to the profare; but his residence is the school, the oracle, and the pilgrimage of the Ghebers, whose hard ard 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 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 either professed or embraced the Mahometan faith; and under their dynasty (A. D. 933—1020) I should place the fall of the religion of Zoroaster. 205 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. 207 The letter of Abdoulrahman, governor or tyrant of Africa, to the canp 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.) ́ |