relics of his army. When the centre, the Imperial station, was left
naked on all sides, and encompassed by the victorious Turks, he still,
with desperate courage, maintained the fight till the close of day, at
the head of the brave and faithful subjects who adhered to his standard.
They fell around him; his horse was slain; the emperor was wounded;
yet he stood alone and intrepid, till he was oppressed and bound by the
strength of multitudes. The glory of this illustrious prize was disputed
by a slave and a soldier; a slave who had seen him on the throne of
Constantinople, and a soldier whose extreme deformity had been excused
on the promise of some signal service. Despoiled of his arms, his
jewels, and his purple, Romanus spent a dreary and perilous night on the
field of battle, amidst a disorderly crowd of the meaner Barbarians. In
the morning the royal captive was presented to Alp Arslan, who doubted
of his fortune, till the identity of the person was ascertained by
the report of his ambassadors, and by the more pathetic evidence of
Basilacius, who embraced with tears the feet of his unhappy sovereign.
The successor of Constantine, in a plebeian habit, was led into the
Turkish divan, and commanded to kiss the ground before the lord of Asia.
He reluctantly obeyed; and Alp Arslan, starting from his throne, is said
to have planted his foot on the neck of the Roman emperor. But the fact
is doubtful; and if, in this moment of insolence, the sultan complied
with the national custom, the rest of his conduct has extorted the
praise of his bigoted foes, and may afford a lesson to the most
civilized ages. He instantly raised the royal captive from the ground;
and thrice clasping his hand with tender sympathy, assured him, that his
life and dignity should be inviolate in the hands of a prince who had
learned to respect the majesty of his equals and the vicissitudes of
fortune. From the divan, Romanus was conducted to an adjacent tent,
where he was served with pomp and reverence by the officers of the
sultan, who, twice each day, seated him in the place of honor at his own
table. In a free and familiar conversation of eight days, not a word,
not a look, of insult escaped from the conqueror; but he severely
censured the unworthy subjects who had deserted their valiant prince in
the hour of danger, and gently admonished his antagonist of some
errors which he had committed in the management of the war. In the
preliminaries of negotiation, Alp Arslan asked him what treatment he
expected to receive, and the calm indifference of the emperor displays
the freedom of his mind. "If you are cruel," said he, "you will take my
life; if you listen to pride, you will drag me at your chariot-wheels;
if you consult your interest, you will accept a ransom, and restore me
to my country." "And what," continued the sultan, "would have been your
own behavior, had fortune smiled on your arms?" The reply of the Greek
betrays a sentiment, which prudence, and even gratitude, should have
taught him to suppress. "Had I vanquished," he fiercely said, "I would
have inflicted on thy body many a stripe." The Turkish conqueror
smiled at the insolence of his captive observed that the Christian law
inculcated the love of enemies and forgiveness of injuries; and nobly
declared, that he would not imitate an example which he condemned. After
mature deliberation, Alp Arslan dictated the terms of liberty and peace,
a ransom of a million, an annual tribute of three hundred and sixty
thousand pieces of gold, the marriage of the royal children, and the
deliverance of all the Moslems, who were in the power of the Greeks.
Romanus, with a sigh, subscribed this treaty, so disgraceful to the
majesty of the empire; he was immediately invested with a Turkish robe
of honor; his nobles and patricians were restored to their sovereign;
and the sultan, after a courteous embrace, dismissed him with rich
presents and a military guard. No sooner did he reach the confines
of the empire, than he was informed that the palace and provinces had
disclaimed their allegiance to a captive: a sum of two hundred thousand
pieces was painfully collected; and the fallen monarch transmitted this
part of his ransom, with a sad confession of his impotence and disgrace.
The generosity, or perhaps the ambition, of the sultan, prepared to
espouse the cause of his ally; but his designs were prevented by the
defeat, imprisonment, and death, of Romanus Diogenes.
In the treaty of peace, it does not appear that Alp Arslan extorted any
province or city from the captive emperor; and his revenge was satisfied
with the trophies of his victory, and the spoils of Anatolia, from
Antioch to the Black Sea. The fairest part of Asia was subject to his
laws: twelve hundred princes, or the sons of princes, stood before his
throne; and two hundred thousand soldiers marched under his banners.
The sultan disdained to pursue the fugitive Greeks; but he meditated the
more glorious conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of the house
of Seljuk. He moved from Bagdad to the banks of the Oxus; a bridge was
thrown over the river; and twenty days were consumed in the passage
of his troops. But the progress of the great king was retarded by the
governor of Berzem; and Joseph the Carizmian presumed to defend his
fortress against the powers of the East. When he was produced a captive
in the royal tent, the sultan, instead of praising his valor, severely
reproached his obstinate folly: and the insolent replies of the rebel
provoked a sentence, that he should be fastened to four stakes, and
left to expire in that painful situation. At this command, the desperate
Carizmian, drawing a dagger, rushed headlong towards the throne: the
guards raised their battle-axes; their zeal was checked by Alp Arslan,
the most skilful archer of the age: he drew his bow, but his foot
slipped, the arrow glanced aside, and he received in his breast the
dagger of Joseph, who was instantly cut in pieces. The wound was mortal;
and the Turkish prince bequeathed a dying admonition to the pride of
kings. "In my youth," said Alp Arslan, "I was advised by a sage to
humble myself before God; to distrust my own strength; and never to
despise the most contemptible foe. I have neglected these lessons; and
my neglect has been deservedly punished. Yesterday, as from an eminence
I beheld the numbers, the discipline, and the spirit, of my armies, the
earth seemed to tremble under my feet; and I said in my heart, Surely
thou art the king of the world, the greatest and most invincible of
warriors. These armies are no longer mine; and, in the confidence of my
personal strength, I now fall by the hand of an assassin." Alp Arslan
possessed the virtues of a Turk and a Mussulman; his voice and stature
commanded the reverence of mankind; his face was shaded with long
whiskers; and his ample turban was fashioned in the shape of a crown.
The remains of the sultan were deposited in the tomb of the Seljukian
dynasty; and the passenger might read and meditate this useful
inscription: "O ye who have seen the glory of Alp Arslan exalted to the
heavens, repair to Maru, and you will behold it buried in the dust."
The annihilation of the inscription, and the tomb itself, more forcibly
proclaims the instability of human greatness.
During the life of Alp Arslan, his eldest son had been acknowledged as
the future sultan of the Turks. On his father's death the inheritance
was disputed by an uncle, a cousin, and a brother: they drew their
cimeters, and assembled their followers; and the triple victory of Malek
Shah established his own reputation and the right of primogeniture. In
every age, and more especially in Asia, the thirst of power has inspired
the same passions, and occasioned the same disorders; but, from the long
series of civil war, it would not be easy to extract a sentiment more
pure and magnanimous than is contained in the saying of the Turkish
prince. On the eve of the battle, he performed his devotions at Thous,
before the tomb of the Imam Riza. As the sultan rose from the ground,
he asked his vizier Nizam, who had knelt beside him, what had been
the object of his secret petition: "That your arms may be crowned with
victory," was the prudent, and most probably the sincere, answer of the
minister. "For my part," replied the generous Malek, "I implored the
Lord of Hosts that he would take from me my life and crown, if my
brother be more worthy than myself to reign over the Moslems." The
favorable judgment of heaven was ratified by the caliph; and for
the first time, the sacred title of Commander of the Faithful was
communicated to a Barbarian. But this Barbarian, by his personal merit,
and the extent of his empire, was the greatest prince of his age.
After the settlement of Persia and Syria, he marched at the head of
innumerable armies to achieve the conquest of Turkestan, which had been
undertaken by his father. In his passage of the Oxus, the boatmen, who
had been employed in transporting some troops, complained, that their
payment was assigned on the revenues of Antioch. The sultan frowned at
this preposterous choice; but he smiled at the artful flattery of his
vizier. "It was not to postpone their reward, that I selected those
remote places, but to leave a memorial to posterity, that, under your
reign, Antioch and the Oxus were subject to the same sovereign." But
this description of his limits was unjust and parsimonious: beyond the
Oxus, he reduced to his obedience the cities of Bochara, Carizme, and
Samarcand, and crushed each rebellious slave, or independent savage, who
dared to resist. Malek passed the Sihon or Jaxartes, the last boundary
of Persian civilization: the hordes of Turkestan yielded to his
supremacy: his name was inserted on the coins, and in the prayers of
Cashgar, a Tartar kingdom on the extreme borders of China. From the
Chinese frontier, he stretched his immediate jurisdiction or feudatory
sway to the west and south, as far as the mountains of Georgia, the
neighborhood of Constantinople, the holy city of Jerusalem, and the
spicy groves of Arabia Felix. Instead of resigning himself to the luxury
of his harem, the shepherd king, both in peace and war, was in action
and in the field. By the perpetual motion of the royal camp, each
province was successively blessed with his presence; and he is said to
have perambulated twelve times the wide extent of his dominions,
which surpassed the _Asiatic_ reign of Cyrus and the caliphs. Of these
expeditions, the most pious and splendid was the pilgrimage of Mecca:
the freedom and safety of the caravans were protected by his arms; the
citizens and pilgrims were enriched by the profusion of his alms; and
the desert was cheered by the places of relief and refreshment, which
he instituted for the use of his brethren. Hunting was the pleasure, and
even the passion, of the sultan, and his train consisted of forty-seven
thousand horses; but after the massacre of a Turkish chase, for each
piece of game, he bestowed a piece of gold on the poor, a slight
atonement, at the expense of the people, for the cost and mischief of
the amusement of kings. In the peaceful prosperity of his reign, the
cities of Asia were adorned with palaces and hospitals with moschs and
colleges; few departed from his Divan without reward, and none without
justice. The language and literature of Persia revived under the house
of Seljuk; and if Malek emulated the liberality of a Turk less potent
than himself, his palace might resound with the songs of a hundred
poets. The sultan bestowed a more serious and learned care on the
reformation of the calendar, which was effected by a general assembly
of the astronomers of the East. By a law of the prophet, the Moslems are
confined to the irregular course of the lunar months; in Persia, since
the age of Zoroaster, the revolution of the sun has been known and
celebrated as an annual festival; but after the fall of the Magian
empire, the intercalation had been neglected; the fractions of minutes
and hours were multiplied into days; and the date of the springs was
removed from the sign of Aries to that of Pisces. The reign of Malek was
illustrated by the _Gelalan_ Êra; and all errors, either past or future,
were corrected by a computation of time, which surpasses the Julian, and
approaches the accuracy of the Gregorian, style.
In a period when Europe was plunged in the deepest barbarism, the light
and splendor of Asia may be ascribed to the docility rather than the
knowledge of the Turkish conquerors. An ample share of their wisdom and
virtue is due to a Persian vizier, who ruled the empire under the reigns
of Alp Arslan and his son. Nizam, one of the most illustrious ministers
of the East, was honored by the caliph as an oracle of religion and
science; he was trusted by the sultan as the faithful vicegerent of his
power and justice. After an administration of thirty years, the fame
of the vizier, his wealth, and even his services, were transformed into
crimes. He was overthrown by the insidious arts of a woman and a rival;
and his fall was hastened by a rash declaration, that his cap and
ink-horn, the badges of his office, were connected by the divine decree
with the throne and diadem of the sultan. At the age of ninety-three
years, the venerable statesman was dismissed by his master, accused
by his enemies, and murdered by a fanatic: the last words of Nizam
attested his innocence, and the remainder of Malek's life was short and
inglorious. From Ispahan, the scene of this disgraceful transaction, the
sultan moved to Bagdad, with the design of transplanting the caliph,
and of fixing his own residence in the capital of the Moslem world. The
feeble successor of Mahomet obtained a respite of ten days; and before
the expiration of the term, the Barbarian was summoned by the angel of
death. His ambassadors at Constantinople had asked in marriage a Roman
princess; but the proposal was decently eluded; and the daughter
of Alexius, who might herself have been the victim, expresses her
abhorrence of his unnatural conjunction. The daughter of the sultan
was bestowed on the caliph Moctadi, with the imperious condition, that,
renouncing the society of his wives and concubines, he should forever
confine himself to this honorable alliance.
Chapter LVII: The Turks.--Part III.
The greatness and unity of the Turkish empire expired in the person of
Malek Shah. His vacant throne was disputed by his brother and his four
sons; and, after a series of civil wars, the treaty which reconciled
the surviving candidates confirmed a lasting separation in the _Persia_
dynasty, the eldest and principal branch of the house of Seljuk. The
three younger dynasties were those of _Kerman_, of _Syria_, and of
_Roum_: the first of these commanded an extensive, though obscure,
dominion on the shores of the Indian Ocean: the second expelled the
Arabian princes of Aleppo and Damascus; and the third, our peculiar
care, invaded the Roman provinces of Asia Minor. The generous policy
of Malek contributed to their elevation: he allowed the princes of
his blood, even those whom he had vanquished in the field, to seek
new kingdoms worthy of their ambition; nor was he displeased that they
should draw away the more ardent spirits, who might have disturbed the
tranquillity of his reign. As the supreme head of his family and nation,
the great sultan of Persia commanded the obedience and tribute of his
royal brethren: the thrones of Kerman and Nice, of Aleppo and Damascus;
the Atabeks, and emirs of Syria and Mesopotamia, erected their standards
under the shadow of his sceptre: and the hordes of Turkmans overspread
the plains of the Western Asia. After the death of Malek, the bands
of union and subordination were relaxed and finally dissolved: the
indulgence of the house of Seljuk invested their slaves with the
inheritance of kingdoms; and, in the Oriental style, a crowd of princes
arose from the dust of their feet.
A prince of the royal line, Cutulmish, the son of Izrail, the son of
Seljuk, had fallen in a battle against Alp Arslan and the humane victor
had dropped a tear over his grave. His five sons, strong in arms,
ambitious of power, and eager for revenge, unsheathed their cimeters
against the son of Alp Arslan. The two armies expected the signal when
the caliph, forgetful of the majesty which secluded him from vulgar
eyes, interposed his venerable mediation. "Instead of shedding the blood
of your brethren, your brethren both in descent and faith, unite your
forces in a holy war against the Greeks, the enemies of God and his
apostle." They listened to his voice; the sultan embraced his rebellious
kinsmen; and the eldest, the valiant Soliman, accepted the royal
standard, which gave him the free conquest and hereditary command of the
provinces of the Roman empire, from Arzeroum to Constantinople, and the
unknown regions of the West. Accompanied by his four brothers, he passed
the Euphrates; the Turkish camp was soon seated in the neighborhood of
Kutaieh in Phrygia; and his flying cavalry laid waste the country as far
as the Hellespont and the Black Sea. Since the decline of the empire,
the peninsula of Asia Minor had been exposed to the transient, though
destructive, inroads of the Persians and Saracens; but the fruits of a
lasting conquest were reserved for the Turkish sultan; and his arms were
introduced by the Greeks, who aspired to reign on the ruins of their
country. Since the captivity of Romanus, six years the feeble son of
Eudocia had trembled under the weight of the Imperial crown, till the
provinces of the East and West were lost in the same month by a double
rebellion: of either chief Nicephorus was the common name; but the
surnames of Bryennius and Botoniates distinguish the European and
Asiatic candidates. Their reasons, or rather their promises, were
weighed in the Divan; and, after some hesitation, Soliman declared
himself in favor of Botoniates, opened a free passage to his troops in
their march from Antioch to Nice, and joined the banner of the Crescent
to that of the Cross. After his ally had ascended the throne of
Constantinople, the sultan was hospitably entertained in the suburb of
Chrysopolis or Scutari; and a body of two thousand Turks was transported
into Europe, to whose dexterity and courage the new emperor was indebted
for the defeat and captivity of his rival, Bryennius. But the conquest
of Europe was dearly purchased by the sacrifice of Asia: Constantinople
was deprived of the obedience and revenue of the provinces beyond the
Bosphorus and Hellespont; and the regular progress of the Turks, who
fortified the passes of the rivers and mountains, left not a hope of
their retreat or expulsion. Another candidate implored the aid of the
sultan: Melissenus, in his purple robes and red buskins, attended the
motions of the Turkish camp; and the desponding cities were tempted by
the summons of a Roman prince, who immediately surrendered them into the
hands of the Barbarians. These acquisitions were confirmed by a treaty
of peace with the emperor Alexius: his fear of Robert compelled him to
seek the friendship of Soliman; and it was not till after the sultan's
death that he extended as far as Nicomedia, about sixty miles from
Constantinople, the eastern boundary of the Roman world. Trebizond
alone, defended on either side by the sea and mountains, preserved at
the extremity of the Euxine the ancient character of a Greek colony, and
the future destiny of a Christian empire.
Since the first conquests of the caliphs, the establishment of the Turks
in Anatolia or Asia Minor was the most deplorable loss which the church
and empire had sustained. By the propagation of the Moslem faith,
Soliman deserved the name of _Gazi_, a holy champion; and his new
kingdoms, of the Romans, or of _Roum_, was added to the tables of
Oriental geography. It is described as extending from the Euphrates to
Constantinople, from the Black Sea to the confines of Syria; pregnant
with mines of silver and iron, of alum and copper, fruitful in corn
and wine, and productive of cattle and excellent horses. The wealth of
Lydia, the arts of the Greeks, the splendor of the Augustan age, existed
only in books and ruins, which were equally obscure in the eyes of the
Scythian conquerors. Yet, in the present decay, Anatolia still contains
_some_ wealthy and populous cities; and, under the Byzantine empire,
they were far more flourishing in numbers, size, and opulence. By the
choice of the sultan, Nice, the metropolis of Bithynia, was preferred
for his palace and fortress: the seat of the Seljukian dynasty of Roum
was planted one hundred miles from Constantinople; and the divinity of
Christ was denied and derided in the same temple in which it had been
pronounced by the first general synod of the Catholics. The unity
of God, and the mission of Mahomet, were preached in the moschs; the
Arabian learning was taught in the schools; the Cadhis judged according
to the law of the Koran; the Turkish manners and language prevailed
in the cities; and Turkman camps were scattered over the plains and
mountains of Anatolia. On the hard conditions of tribute and servitude,
the Greek Christians might enjoy the exercise of their religion; but
their most holy churches were profaned; their priests and bishops were
insulted; they were compelled to suffer the triumph of the _Pagans_, and
the apostasy of their brethren; many thousand children were marked by
the knife of circumcision; and many thousand captives were devoted to
the service or the pleasures of their masters. After the loss of Asia,
Antioch still maintained her primitive allegiance to Christ and
CÊsar; but the solitary province was separated from all Roman aid,
and surrounded on all sides by the Mahometan powers. The despair of
Philaretus the governor prepared the sacrifice of his religion and
loyalty, had not his guilt been prevented by his son, who hastened to
the Nicene palace, and offered to deliver this valuable prize into the
hands of Soliman. The ambitious sultan mounted on horseback, and in
twelve nights (for he reposed in the day) performed a march of six
hundred miles. Antioch was oppressed by the speed and secrecy of
his enterprise; and the dependent cities, as far as Laodicea and the
confines of Aleppo, obeyed the example of the metropolis. From Laodicea
to the Thracian Bosphorus, or arm of St. George, the conquests and reign
of Soliman extended thirty days' journey in length, and in breadth
about ten or fifteen, between the rocks of Lycia and the Black Sea. The
Turkish ignorance of navigation protected, for a while, the inglorious
safety of the emperor; but no sooner had a fleet of two hundred ships
been constructed by the hands of the captive Greeks, than Alexius
trembled behind the walls of his capital. His plaintive epistles were
dispersed over Europe, to excite the compassion of the Latins, and
to paint the danger, the weakness, and the riches of the city of
Constantine.