LII.

CHAP. as the Turks were inflamed by fear, or rage, or avarice,

these caliphs were dragged by the feet, exposed naked to the
scorching sun, beaten with iron clubs, and compelled to pur-
chase, by the abdication of their dignity, a short reprieve of
inevitable fate.99 At length, however, the fury of the tem-
pest was spent or diverted: the Abbassides returned to the
less turbulent residence of Bagdad; the insolence of the
Turks was curbed with a firmer and more skilful hand, and
their numbers were divided and destroyed in foreign war-
fare. But the nations of the East had been taught to trample
on the successors' of the prophet; and the blessings of do-
mestic peace were obtained by the relaxation of strength and
discipline. So uniform are the mischiefs of military despo-
tism, that I seem to repeat the story of the prætorians of

Rome.100
Rise and

While the flame of enthusiasm was damped by the busiprogress of the ness, the pleasure, and the knowledge, of the age, it burnt Carma

with concentrated heat in the breasts of the chosen few, the thians,

A. D. congenial spirits, who were ambitious of reigning either in 890...951.

this world or in the next. How carefully soever the book of
prophecy had been sealed by the apostle of Mecca, the
wishes, and (if we may profane the word) even the reason,
of fanaticism, might believe that, after the successive mis-
sions of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Maho-
met, the same God, in the fulness of time, would reveal a
still more perfect and permanent law. In the two hundred
and seventy-seventh year of the Hegira, and in the neigh-
bourhood of Cufa, an Arabian preacher, of the name of Car-
math, assumed the lofty and incomprehensible style of the
Guide, the Director, the Demonstration, the Word, the
Holy Ghost, the Camel, the Herald of the Messiah, who had
conversed with him in a human shape, and the representa-
tive of Mohammed the son of Ali, of St. John the Bap-

a

tist, and of the angel Gabriel. In his mystic volume, the CHAP.

LII. of the Koran were refined to a more spiritual sense; precepts he relaxed the duties of ablution, fasting, and pilgrimage ; allowed the indiscriminate use of wine and forbidden food; and nourished the fervour of his disciples by the daily repetition of fifty prayers. The idleness and ferment of the rustic crowd awakened the attention of the magistrates of Cufa; a timid persecution assisted the progress of the new sect; and the name of the prophet became more revered after his person had been withdrawn from the world. His twelve apostles dispersed themselves among the Bedoweens," a race “ of men,” says Abulfeda, equally devoid of reason and of

religion;" and the success of their preaching seemed to threaten Arabia with a new revolution. The Carmathians were ripe for rebellion, since they disclaimed the title of the house of Abbas, and abhorred the worldly pomp of the caliphs of Bagdad. They were susceptible of discipline, since they vowed a blind and absolute submission to their Imam, who was called to the prophetic office by the voice of God and the people. Instead of the legal tithes, he claimed the fifth of their substance and spoil ; the most flagitious sins were no more than the type of disobedience; and the brethren were united and concealed by an oath of secrecy. After a bloody conflict, they prevailed in the province of Their mi.

litary exBahrein, along the Persian Gulf: far and wide, the tribes of

ploits, the desart were subject to the sceptre, or rather to the

A.D.

900,&c. sword, of Abu Said and his son Abu Taher; and these rebellious Imams could muster in the field an hundred and seven thousand fanatics. The mercenaries of the caliph were dismayed at the approach of an enemy who neither asked nor accepted quarter; and the difference between them, in fortitude and patience, is expressive of the change which three centuries of prosperity had effected in the character of the Arabians. Such troops were discomfited in every action; the cities of Racca and Baalbec, of Cufa and Bassora, were taken and pillaged; Bagdad was filled with consternation; and the caliph trembled behind the veils of his palace. In a daring inroad beyond the Tigris, Abu Taher advanced to the gates of the capital with no more than five hundred horse. By the special order of Moctader, the bridges had been broken down, and the person or head of the rebel was VOL. VI.

3 N

CHAP. expected every hour by the commander of the faithful. His LII.

lieutenant, from a motive or fear or pity, apprised Abu Taher of his danger, and recommended a speedy escape. “ Your master,” said the intrepid Carmathian to the messenger, “ is at the head of thirty thousand soldiers: three “such men as these are wanting in his host;" at the same instant, turning to three of his companions, he commanded the first to plunge a dagger into his breast, the second to leap into the Tigris, and the third to cast himself headlong down a precipice. They obeyed without a murmur. “Relate," continued the Imam, “ what you have seen: before the “ evening your general shall be chained among my dogs." Before the evening, the camp was surprised and the menace was executed. The rapine of the Carmathians was sanctified by their aversion to the worship of Mecca: they robbed a caravan of pilgrims, and twenty thousand devout Moslems were abandoned on the burning sands to a death of hunger and thirst. Another year they suffered the pilgrims

to proceed without interruption; but, in the festival of deThey pil- votion, Abu Taher stormed the holy city, and trampled on lage Mec. ca, A. D.

the most venerable relics of the Mahometan faith. Thirty thousand citizens and strangers were put to the sword; the sacred precincts were polluted by the burial of three thousand dead bodies; the well of Zemzem overflowed with blood; the golden spout was forced from its place; the veil of the Caaba was divided among these impious sectaries; and the black stone, the first monument of the nation, was borne away in triumph to their capital. After this deed of sacrilege and cruelty, they continued to infest the confines of Irak, Syria, and Egypt; but the vital principle of enthusiasm had withered at the root. Their scruples or their avarice again opened the pilgrimage of Mecca, and restored the black stone of the Caaba; and it is needless to enquire into what factions they were broken, or by whose swords they were finally extirpated. The sect of the Carmathians may be considered as the second visible cause of the decline and fall of the elnpire of the caliphs.101

LII.

The third and most obvious cause was the weight and CHAP. magnitude of the empire itself. The caliph Almamon might proudly assert, that it was easier for him to rule the East Revolt of and the West, than to manage a chess-board of two feet the pro

vinces, square ;102 yet I suspect, that in both those games, he was guilty of many fatal mistakes; and I perceive, that in the 800...936. distant provinces, the authority of the first and most powerful of the Abbassides was already impaired. The analogy of despotism invests the representative with the full majesty of the prince; the division and balance of powers might-rea lax the habits of obedience, might encourage the passive subject to enquire into the origin and administration of civil government. He who is born in the purple is seldom worthy to reign; but the elevation of a private man, of a peasant perhaps, or a slave, affords a strong presumption of his courage and capacity. The viceroy of a remote kingdom aspires to secure the property and inheritance of his precarious trust; the nations must rejoice in the presence of their sovereign; and the command of armies and treasures are at once the object and the instrument of his ambition. A change was scarcely visible as long as the lieutenants of the caliph were content with their vicarious title ; while they solicited for themselves or their sons a renewal of the Imperial grant, and still maintained on the coin, and in the public prayers, the name and prerogative of the commander of the faithful. But in the long and hereditary exercise of power, they assumed the pride and attributes of royalty; the alternative of peace or war, of reward or punishment, depended solely on their will; and the revenues of their government were reserved for local services or private magnificence. Instead of a regular supply of men and money, the successors of the prophet were flattered with the ostentatious gift of an elephant, or a cast of hawks, a suit of silk hangings, or some pounds of musk and amber.103

A. D.

A. D.

The Ta.

813...872.

CHAP. After the revolt of Spain, from the temporal and spiritual LII.

supremacy of the Abbassides, the first symptoms of disobe

dience broke forth in the province of Africa. Ibrahim, the The independent son of Aglab, the lieutenant of the vigilant and rigid Harun, The Agla. bequeathed to the dynasty of the Aglabites the inheritance bites, of his name and power. The indolence or policy of the ca800.941. liphs dissembled the injury and loss, and pursued only with The Edri- poison the founder of the Edrisites 104 who erected the kingsites,

dom and city of Fez on the shores of the western ocean.105 829...907. In the East, the first dynasty was that of the Taherites ;106 herites, the posterity of the valiant Taher, who, in the civil wars of A Dig the sons of Harun, had served with too much zeal and suc

cess the cause of Almamon the younger brother. He was sent into honourable exile, to command on the banks of the Oxus; and the independence of his successors, who reign. ed in Chorasan till the fourth generation, was palliated by their modest and respectful demeanour, the happiness of their subjects, and the security of their frontier. They were supplanted by one of those adventurers so frequent in the

annals of the East, who left his trade of a brazier (from The Soffa- whence the name of Soffarides ) for the profession of a robrides,

ber. In a nocturnal visit to the treasure of the prince of Sis. 872...902. tan, Jacob, the son of Leith, stumbled over a lump of salt,

which he unwarily tasted with his tongue. Salt, among the Orientals, is the symbol of hospitality, and the pious robber immediately retired without spoil or damage. The discovery of this honourable behaviour recommended Jacob to pardon and trust; he led an arıny at first for his benefactor, at last for himself, subdued Persia, and threatened the residence of

a

a

A. D.