refuse to turn aside to gather some flowers of science or virtue.
The name of Mahmud the Gaznevide is still venerable in the East: his
subjects enjoyed the blessings of prosperity and peace; his vices
were concealed by the veil of religion; and two familiar examples will
testify his justice and magnanimity. I. As he sat in the Divan, an
unhappy subject bowed before the throne to accuse the insolence of a
Turkish soldier who had driven him from his house and bed. "Suspend
your clamors," said Mahmud; "inform me of his next visit, and ourself
in person will judge and punish the offender." The sultan followed
his guide, invested the house with his guards, and extinguishing the
torches, pronounced the death of the criminal, who had been seized in
the act of rapine and adultery. After the execution of his sentence, the
lights were rekindled, Mahmud fell prostrate in prayer, and rising
from the ground, demanded some homely fare, which he devoured with the
voraciousness of hunger. The poor man, whose injury he had avenged, was
unable to suppress his astonishment and curiosity; and the courteous
monarch condescended to explain the motives of this singular behavior.
"I had reason to suspect that none, except one of my sons, could dare
to perpetrate such an outrage; and I extinguished the lights, that my
justice might be blind and inexorable. My prayer was a thanksgiving on
the discovery of the offender; and so painful was my anxiety, that I
had passed three days without food since the first moment of your
complaint." II. The sultan of Gazna had declared war against the dynasty
of the Bowides, the sovereigns of the western Persia: he was disarmed
by an epistle of the sultana mother, and delayed his invasion till the
manhood of her son. "During the life of my husband," said the artful
regent, "I was ever apprehensive of your ambition: he was a prince and a
soldier worthy of your arms. He is now no more his sceptre has passed
to a woman and a child, and you _dare not_ attack their infancy and
weakness. How inglorious would be your conquest, how shameful your
defeat! and yet the event of war is in the hand of the Almighty."
Avarice was the only defect that tarnished the illustrious character
of Mahmud; and never has that passion been more richly satiated. The
Orientals exceed the measure of credibility in the account of millions
of gold and silver, such as the avidity of man has never accumulated; in
the magnitude of pearls, diamonds, and rubies, such as have never been
produced by the workmanship of nature. Yet the soil of Hindostan
is impregnated with precious minerals: her trade, in every age, has
attracted the gold and silver of the world; and her virgin spoils were
rifled by the first of the Mahometan conquerors. His behavior, in the
last days of his life, evinces the vanity of these possessions, so
laboriously won, so dangerously held, and so inevitably lost. He
surveyed the vast and various chambers of the treasury of Gazna, burst
into tears, and again closed the doors, without bestowing any portion of
the wealth which he could no longer hope to preserve. The following day
he reviewed the state of his military force; one hundred thousand foot,
fifty-five thousand horse, and thirteen hundred elephants of battle.
He again wept the instability of human greatness; and his grief
was imbittered by the hostile progress of the Turkmans, whom he had
introduced into the heart of his Persian kingdom.
In the modern depopulation of Asia, the regular operation of government
and agriculture is confined to the neighborhood of cities; and the
distant country is abandoned to the pastoral tribes of Arabs, Curds,
and _Turkmans_. Of the last-mentioned people, two considerable branches
extend on either side of the Caspian Sea: the western colony can muster
forty thousand soldiers; the eastern, less obvious to the traveller,
but more strong and populous, has increased to the number of one hundred
thousand families. In the midst of civilized nations, they preserve the
manners of the Scythian desert, remove their encampments with a change
of seasons, and feed their cattle among the ruins of palaces and
temples. Their flocks and herds are their only riches; their tents,
either black or white, according to the color of the banner, are covered
with felt, and of a circular form; their winter apparel is a sheep-skin;
a robe of cloth or cotton their summer garment: the features of the
men are harsh and ferocious; the countenance of their women is soft
and pleasing. Their wandering life maintains the spirit and exercise
of arms; they fight on horseback; and their courage is displayed in
frequent contests with each other and with their neighbors. For the
license of pasture they pay a slight tribute to the sovereign of the
land; but the domestic jurisdiction is in the hands of the chiefs and
elders. The first emigration of the Eastern Turkmans, the most ancient
of the race, may be ascribed to the tenth century of the Christian Êra.
In the decline of the caliphs, and the weakness of their lieutenants,
the barrier of the Jaxartes was often violated; in each invasion,
after the victory or retreat of their countrymen, some wandering
tribe, embracing the Mahometan faith, obtained a free encampment in the
spacious plains and pleasant climate of Transoxiana and Carizme. The
Turkish slaves who aspired to the throne encouraged these emigrations
which recruited their armies, awed their subjects and rivals, and
protected the frontier against the wilder natives of Turkestan; and this
policy was abused by Mahmud the Gaznevide beyond the example of former
times. He was admonished of his error by the chief of the race of
Seljuk, who dwelt in the territory of Bochara. The sultan had inquired
what supply of men he could furnish for military service. "If you send,"
replied Ismael, "one of these arrows into our camp, fifty thousand of
your servants will mount on horseback."--"And if that number," continued
Mahmud, "should not be sufficient?"--"Send this second arrow to the
horde of Balik, and you will find fifty thousand more."--"But," said the
Gaznevide, dissembling his anxiety, "if I should stand in need of the
whole force of your kindred tribes?"--"Despatch my bow," was the last
reply of Ismael, "and as it is circulated around, the summons will
be obeyed by two hundred thousand horse." The apprehension of such
formidable friendship induced Mahmud to transport the most obnoxious
tribes into the heart of Chorasan, where they would be separated from
their brethren of the River Oxus, and enclosed on all sides by the
walls of obedient cities. But the face of the country was an object of
temptation rather than terror; and the vigor of government was relaxed
by the absence and death of the sultan of Gazna. The shepherds were
converted into robbers; the bands of robbers were collected into an army
of conquerors: as far as Ispahan and the Tigris, Persia was afflicted by
their predatory inroads; and the Turkmans were not ashamed or afraid to
measure their courage and numbers with the proudest sovereigns of Asia.
Massoud, the son and successor of Mahmud, had too long neglected the
advice of his wisest Omrahs. "Your enemies," they repeatedly urged,
"were in their origin a swarm of ants; they are now little snakes;
and, unless they be instantly crushed, they will acquire the venom and
magnitude of serpents." After some alternatives of truce and hostility,
after the repulse or partial success of his lieutenants, the sultan
marched in person against the Turkmans, who attacked him on all sides
with barbarous shouts and irregular onset. "Massoud," says the Persian
historian, "plunged singly to oppose the torrent of gleaming arms,
exhibiting such acts of gigantic force and valor as never king had
before displayed. A few of his friends, roused by his words and actions,
and that innate honor which inspires the brave, seconded their lord so
well, that wheresoever he turned his fatal sword, the enemies were mowed
down, or retreated before him. But now, when victory seemed to blow on
his standard, misfortune was active behind it; for when he looked round,
he beheld almost his whole army, excepting that body he commanded in
person, devouring the paths of flight." The Gaznevide was abandoned by
the cowardice or treachery of some generals of Turkish race; and this
memorable day of Zendecan founded in Persia the dynasty of the shepherd
kings.
The victorious Turkmans immediately proceeded to the election of a king;
and, if the probable tale of a Latin historian deserves any credit, they
determined by lot the choice of their new master. A number of arrows
were successively inscribed with the name of a tribe, a family, and a
candidate; they were drawn from the bundle by the hand of a child; and
the important prize was obtained by Togrul Beg, the son of Michael the
son of Seljuk, whose surname was immortalized in the greatness of
his posterity. The sultan Mahmud, who valued himself on his skill in
national genealogy, professed his ignorance of the family of Seljuk;
yet the father of that race appears to have been a chief of power and
renown. For a daring intrusion into the harem of his prince. Seljuk
was banished from Turkestan: with a numerous tribe of his friends
and vassals, he passed the Jaxartes, encamped in the neighborhood of
Samarcand, embraced the religion of Mahomet, and acquired the crown of
martyrdom in a war against the infidels. His age, of a hundred and seven
years, surpassed the life of his son, and Seljuk adopted the care of
his two grandsons, Togrul and Jaafar; the eldest of whom, at the age of
forty-five, was invested with the title of Sultan, in the royal city of
Nishabur. The blind determination of chance was justified by the virtues
of the successful candidate. It would be superfluous to praise the valor
of a Turk; and the ambition of Togrul was equal to his valor. By his
arms, the Gasnevides were expelled from the eastern kingdoms of Persia,
and gradually driven to the banks of the Indus, in search of a softer
and more wealthy conquest. In the West he annihilated the dynasty of the
Bowides; and the sceptre of Irak passed from the Persian to the Turkish
nation. The princes who had felt, or who feared, the Seljukian arrows,
bowed their heads in the dust; by the conquest of Aderbijan, or Media,
he approached the Roman confines; and the shepherd presumed to despatch
an ambassador, or herald, to demand the tribute and obedience of the
emperor of Constantinople. In his own dominions, Togrul was the father
of his soldiers and people; by a firm and equal administration, Persia
was relieved from the evils of anarchy; and the same hands which had
been imbrued in blood became the guardians of justice and the public
peace. The more rustic, perhaps the wisest, portion of the Turkmans
continued to dwell in the tents of their ancestors; and, from the Oxus
to the Euphrates, these military colonies were protected and propagated
by their native princes. But the Turks of the court and city were
refined by business and softened by pleasure: they imitated the dress,
language, and manners of Persia; and the royal palaces of Nishabur and
Rei displayed the order and magnificence of a great monarchy. The most
deserving of the Arabians and Persians were promoted to the honors
of the state; and the whole body of the Turkish nation embraced, with
fervor and sincerity, the religion of Mahomet. The northern swarms
of Barbarians, who overspread both Europe and Asia, have been
irreconcilably separated by the consequences of a similar conduct. Among
the Moslems, as among the Christians, their vague and local traditions
have yielded to the reason and authority of the prevailing system, to
the fame of antiquity, and the consent of nations. But the triumph of
the Koran is more pure and meritorious, as it was not assisted by
any visible splendor of worship which might allure the Pagans by
some resemblance of idolatry. The first of the Seljukian sultans was
conspicuous by his zeal and faith: each day he repeated the five prayers
which are enjoined to the true believers; of each week, the two first
days were consecrated by an extraordinary fast; and in every city a
mosch was completed, before Togrul presumed to lay the foundations of a
palace.
With the belief of the Koran, the son of Seljuk imbibed a lively
reverence for the successor of the prophet. But that sublime character
was still disputed by the caliphs of Bagdad and Egypt, and each of the
rivals was solicitous to prove his title in the judgment of the strong,
though illiterate Barbarians. Mahmud the Gaznevide had declared himself
in favor of the line of Abbas; and had treated with indignity the
robe of honor which was presented by the Fatimite ambassador. Yet
the ungrateful Hashemite had changed with the change of fortune; he
applauded the victory of Zendecan, and named the Seljukian sultan
his temporal vicegerent over the Moslem world. As Togrul executed and
enlarged this important trust, he was called to the deliverance of the
caliph Cayem, and obeyed the holy summons, which gave a new kingdom to
his arms. In the palace of Bagdad, the commander of the faithful still
slumbered, a venerable phantom. His servant or master, the prince of
the Bowides, could no longer protect him from the insolence of meaner
tyrants; and the Euphrates and Tigris were oppressed by the revolt of
the Turkish and Arabian emirs. The presence of a conqueror was implored
as a blessing; and the transient mischiefs of fire and sword were
excused as the sharp but salutary remedies which alone could restore the
health of the republic. At the head of an irresistible force, the sultan
of Persia marched from Hamadan: the proud were crushed, the prostrate
were spared; the prince of the Bowides disappeared; the heads of the
most obstinate rebels were laid at the feet of Togrul; and he inflicted
a lesson of obedience on the people of Mosul and Bagdad. After the
chastisement of the guilty, and the restoration of peace, the royal
shepherd accepted the reward of his labors; and a solemn comedy
represented the triumph of religious prejudice over Barbarian power. The
Turkish sultan embarked on the Tigris, landed at the gate of Racca, and
made his public entry on horseback. At the palace-gate he respectfully
dismounted, and walked on foot, preceded by his emirs without arms.
The caliph was seated behind his black veil: the black garment of the
Abbassides was cast over his shoulders, and he held in his hand the
staff of the apostle of God. The conqueror of the East kissed the
ground, stood some time in a modest posture, and was led towards the
throne by the vizier and interpreter. After Togrul had seated himself on
another throne, his commission was publicly read, which declared him
the temporal lieutenant of the vicar of the prophet. He was successively
invested with seven robes of honor, and presented with seven slaves, the
natives of the seven climates of the Arabian empire. His mystic veil was
perfumed with musk; two crowns were placed on his head; two cimeters
were girded to his side, as the symbols of a double reign over the
East and West. After this inauguration, the sultan was prevented from
prostrating himself a second time; but he twice kissed the hand of the
commander of the faithful, and his titles were proclaimed by the voice
of heralds and the applause of the Moslems. In a second visit to Bagdad,
the Seljukian prince again rescued the caliph from his enemies and
devoutly, on foot, led the bridle of his mule from the prison to the
palace. Their alliance was cemented by the marriage of Togrul's sister
with the successor of the prophet. Without reluctance he had introduced
a Turkish virgin into his harem; but Cayem proudly refused his daughter
to the sultan, disdained to mingle the blood of the Hashemites with
the blood of a Scythian shepherd; and protracted the negotiation many
months, till the gradual diminution of his revenue admonished him that
he was still in the hands of a master. The royal nuptials were followed
by the death of Togrul himself; as he left no children, his nephew Alp
Arslan succeeded to the title and prerogatives of sultan; and his name,
after that of the caliph, was pronounced in the public prayers of
the Moslems. Yet in this revolution, the Abbassides acquired a larger
measure of liberty and power. On the throne of Asia, the Turkish
monarchs were less jealous of the domestic administration of Bagdad;
and the commanders of the faithful were relieved from the ignominious
vexations to which they had been exposed by the presence and poverty of
the Persian dynasty.
Chapter LVII: The Turks.--Part II.
Since the fall of the caliphs, the discord and degeneracy of the
Saracens respected the Asiatic provinces of Rome; which, by the
victories of Nicephorus, Zimisces, and Basil, had been extended as far
as Antioch and the eastern boundaries of Armenia. Twenty-five years
after the death of Basil, his successors were suddenly assaulted by
an unknown race of Barbarians, who united the Scythian valor with the
fanaticism of new proselytes, and the art and riches of a powerful
monarchy. The myriads of Turkish horse overspread a frontier of six
hundred miles from Tauris to Arzeroum, and the blood of one hundred
and thirty thousand Christians was a grateful sacrifice to the Arabian
prophet. Yet the arms of Togrul did not make any deep or lasting
impression on the Greek empire. The torrent rolled away from the open
country; the sultan retired without glory or success from the siege of
an Armenian city; the obscure hostilities were continued or suspended
with a vicissitude of events; and the bravery of the Macedonian legions
renewed the fame of the conqueror of Asia. The name of Alp Arslan, the
valiant lion, is expressive of the popular idea of the perfection of
man; and the successor of Togrul displayed the fierceness and generosity
of the royal animal. He passed the Euphrates at the head of the Turkish
cavalry, and entered CÊsarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia, to which he
had been attracted by the fame and wealth of the temple of St. Basil.
The solid structure resisted the destroyer: but he carried away the
doors of the shrine incrusted with gold and pearls, and profaned the
relics of the tutelar saint, whose mortal frailties were now covered
by the venerable rust of antiquity. The final conquest of Armenia and
Georgia was achieved by Alp Arslan. In Armenia, the title of a
kingdom, and the spirit of a nation, were annihilated: the artificial
fortifications were yielded by the mercenaries of Constantinople; by
strangers without faith, veterans without pay or arms, and recruits
without experience or discipline. The loss of this important frontier
was the news of a day; and the Catholics were neither surprised nor
displeased, that a people so deeply infected with the Nestorian and
Eutychian errors had been delivered by Christ and his mother into the
hands of the infidels. The woods and valleys of Mount Caucasus were
more strenuously defended by the native Georgians or Iberians; but the
Turkish sultan and his son Malek were indefatigable in this holy
war: their captives were compelled to promise a spiritual, as well as
temporal, obedience; and, instead of their collars and bracelets, an
iron horseshoe, a badge of ignominy, was imposed on the infidels who
still adhered to the worship of their fathers. The change, however, was
not sincere or universal; and, through ages of servitude, the Georgians
have maintained the succession of their princes and bishops. But a race
of men, whom nature has cast in her most perfect mould, is degraded by
poverty, ignorance, and vice; their profession, and still more their
practice, of Christianity is an empty name; and if they have emerged
from heresy, it is only because they are too illiterate to remember a
metaphysical creed.
The false or genuine magnanimity of Mahmud the Gaznevide was not
imitated by Alp Arslan; and he attacked without scruple the Greek
empress Eudocia and her children. His alarming progress compelled her
to give herself and her sceptre to the hand of a soldier; and Romanus
Diogenes was invested with the Imperial purple. His patriotism, and
perhaps his pride, urged him from Constantinople within two months after
his accession; and the next campaign he most scandalously took the field
during the holy festival of Easter. In the palace, Diogenes was no more
than the husband of Eudocia: in the camp, he was the emperor of the
Romans, and he sustained that character with feeble resources and
invincible courage. By his spirit and success the soldiers were taught
to act, the subjects to hope, and the enemies to fear. The Turks
had penetrated into the heart of Phrygia; but the sultan himself had
resigned to his emirs the prosecution of the war; and their numerous
detachments were scattered over Asia in the security of conquest. Laden
with spoil, and careless of discipline, they were separately surprised
and defeated by the Greeks: the activity of the emperor seemed to
multiply his presence: and while they heard of his expedition to
Antioch, the enemy felt his sword on the hills of Trebizond. In three
laborious campaigns, the Turks were driven beyond the Euphrates; in
the fourth and last, Romanus undertook the deliverance of Armenia. The
desolation of the land obliged him to transport a supply of two months'
provisions; and he marched forwards to the siege of Malazkerd, an
important fortress in the midway between the modern cities of Arzeroum
and Van. His army amounted, at the least, to one hundred thousand
men. The troops of Constantinople were reÎnforced by the disorderly
multitudes of Phrygia and Cappadocia; but the real strength was composed
of the subjects and allies of Europe, the legions of Macedonia, and the
squadrons of Bulgaria; the Uzi, a Moldavian horde, who were themselves
of the Turkish race; and, above all, the mercenary and adventurous bands
of French and Normans. Their lances were commanded by the valiant Ursel
of Baliol, the kinsman or father of the Scottish kings, and were allowed
to excel in the exercise of arms, or, according to the Greek style, in
the practice of the Pyrrhic dance.
On the report of this bold invasion, which threatened his hereditary
dominions, Alp Arslan flew to the scene of action at the head of forty
thousand horse. His rapid and skilful evolutions distressed and dismayed
the superior numbers of the Greeks; and in the defeat of Basilacius, one
of their principal generals, he displayed the first example of his valor
and clemency. The imprudence of the emperor had separated his forces
after the reduction of Malazkerd. It was in vain that he attempted
to recall the mercenary Franks: they refused to obey his summons; he
disdained to await their return: the desertion of the Uzi filled his
mind with anxiety and suspicion; and against the most salutary advice
he rushed forwards to speedy and decisive action. Had he listened to
the fair proposals of the sultan, Romanus might have secured a retreat,
perhaps a peace; but in these overtures he supposed the fear or weakness
of the enemy, and his answer was conceived in the tone of insult and
defiance. "If the Barbarian wishes for peace, let him evacuate the
ground which he occupies for the encampment of the Romans, and surrender
his city and palace of Rei as a pledge of his sincerity." Alp Arslan
smiled at the vanity of the demand, but he wept the death of so
many faithful Moslems; and, after a devout prayer, proclaimed a free
permission to all who were desirous of retiring from the field. With his
own hands he tied up his horse's tail, exchanged his bow and arrows for
a mace and cimeter, clothed himself in a white garment, perfumed his
body with musk, and declared that if he were vanquished, that spot
should be the place of his burial. The sultan himself had affected to
cast away his missile weapons: but his hopes of victory were placed
in the arrows of the Turkish cavalry, whose squadrons were loosely
distributed in the form of a crescent. Instead of the successive lines
and reserves of the Grecian tactics, Romulus led his army in a single
and solid phalanx, and pressed with vigor and impatience the artful and
yielding resistance of the Barbarians. In this desultory and fruitless
combat he spent the greater part of a summer's day, till prudence and
fatigue compelled him to return to his camp. But a retreat is always
perilous in the face of an active foe; and no sooner had the standard
been turned to the rear than the phalanx was broken by the base
cowardice, or the baser jealousy, of Andronicus, a rival prince, who
disgraced his birth and the purple of the CÊsars. The Turkish squadrons
poured a cloud of arrows on this moment of confusion and lassitude; and
the horns of their formidable crescent were closed in the rear of the
Greeks. In the destruction of the army and pillage of the camp, it
would be needless to mention the number of the slain or captives. The
Byzantine writers deplore the loss of an inestimable pearl: they forgot
to mention, that in this fatal day the Asiatic provinces of Rome were
irretrievably sacrificed.