 Chapter 49, part 5 of the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, volume 5. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org recording by Dick Durrett. Conquest of Italy by the Franks, part 5. If we retrace the outlines of this geographical picture, it will be seen that the Empire of the Franks extended between East and West, from the Ebro to the Elbe, or Vistula, between the North and South, from the Duchy of Beneventum to the River Eider, from the perpetual boundary of Germany and Denmark. The personal and political importance of Charlemagne was magnified by the distress and division of the rest of Europe. The islands of Great Britain and Ireland were disputed by a crowd of princes of Saxon or Scottish origin, and after the loss of Spain, the Christian and Gothic kingdom of Alfonso the Chaste was confined to the narrow range of the Asturian mountains. These petty sovereigns revered the power or virtue of the Carlovingian monarch, implored the honour and support of his alliance, and styled him, their common parent, the sole and supreme emperor of the West. He maintained a more equal intercourse with a caliph Harun al-Rashid, whose dominion stretched from Africa to India, and accepted from his ambassadors a tent, a water clock, an elephant, and the keys of the Holy Sepulchre. It is not easy to conceive the private friendship of a Frank and an Arab, who were strangers to each other's person and language and religion, but their public correspondence was founded on vanity, and their remote situation left no room for a competition of interest. Two-thirds of the Western Empire of Rome were subject to Charlemagne, and the deficiency was amply supplied by his command of the inaccessible or invincible nations of Germany. But in the choice of his enemies, we may be reasonably surprised that he so often preferred the poverty of the North to the riches of the South. The three and thirty campaigns laboriously consumed in the woods and morasses of Germany would have suffice to assert the amplitude of his title by the expulsion of the Greeks from Italy and the Saracens from Spain. The weakness of Greeks would have ensured an easy victory, and the holy crusade against the Saracens would have been prompted by glory and revenge and loudly justified by religion and policy. Perhaps in his expeditions beyond the Rhine and the Elbe, he aspired to save his monarchy from the fate of the Roman Empire to disarm the enemies of civilized society and to eradicate the seed of future immigrations. But it has been wisely observed that in the light of precaution all conquests must be ineffectual, unless it could be universal, since the increasing circle must be involved in a larger sphere of hostility. The subjugation of Germany withdrew the veil which had so long concealed the continent of islands of Scandinavia from the knowledge of Europe and awakened the torpid courage of their barbarous natives. The fiercest of the Saxon idolaters escaped from the Christian tyrant to their brethren of the north. The ocean and Mediterranean were covered with their piratical fleets and Charlemagne beheld where they sighed the destructive progress of the Normans who, in less than 70 years, precipitated the fall of his race and monarchy. Had the Pope and the Romans revived the primitive constitution, the titles of Emperor Anagustus were conferred on Charlemagne for the term of his life and his successes on each vacancy must have ascended the throne by a formal or tacit election. But the association of his son Louis the Pius asserts the independent right of monarchy and conquest and the emperor seems on this occasion to have foreseen and prevented the Latin claims of the clergy. The royal youth was commanded to take the crown from the altar and with his own hands to place it on the head as a gift which he held from God his father and the nation. The same ceremony was repeated though with less energy in the subsequent associations of Lothair and Louis II. The Carlovingian Septu was transmitted from father to son and a lineal descent of four generations and the ambitions of the popes was reduced to the empty honor of crowning and anointing these hereditary princes who were already invested with their power and dominions. The Pius Louis survived his brothers and embraced the whole empire of Charlemagne but the nations of the nobles, his bishops and his children quickly discerned that this mighty mass was no longer inspired by the same soul and the foundations were undermined to the center while the external surface was yet fair and entire. After a war or battle which consumed 100,000 francs the empire was divided by treaty between his three sons who had violated every filial and fraternal duty. The kingdoms of Germany and France were forever separated the provinces of Gaul between the Rhone and the Elves the Muse and the Rhine were assigned with Italy to the imperial dignity of Lothair. In the petition of his share Lorraine and Alice two recent and transitory kingdoms were bestowed on the younger children and Louis II his eldest son was content with the realm of Italy the proper and sufficient patrimony of a Roman emperor. On his death without any male issue the vacant throne was disputed by his uncles and cousins and the Pope's most dexterously seized the occasion of judging the claims and merits of the candidates and of bestowing on the most obsequious or most liberal the imperial office of advocate of the Roman church. The dregs of the Carlo-Vincian race no longer exhibited any symptoms of virtue or power and the ridiculous epithets of the bard the stammerer, the fat and the simple distinguished the tame and uniform features of a crowd of kings alike deserving of oblivion. By the failure of the collateral branches the whole inheritance devolved to Charles the Fat the last emperor of his family his insanity authorized the desertion of Germany, Italy and France he was deposed in a diet and solicited his daily bread from the rebels by whose contempt his life and liberty had been spared. According to the measure of their force the governors, the bishops and the lords usurped the fragments of the falling empire and some preference was shown to the female or illegitimate blood of Charlemagne. Of the greater part the title and possession were alike doubtful and the merit was adequate to the contracted scale of their dominions. Those who could appear with an army at the gates of Rome were crowned emperors in the Vatican but their modesty was more frequently satisfied with the appellation of kings of Italy and the whole term of 74 years may be deemed a vacancy from the abdication of Charles the Fat to the establishment of Arthur I. Arthur was of the noble race of the dukes of Saxony and if he truly descended from Wittekind the adversary and proselytite of Charlemagne the posterity of a vanquished people were exalted to reign over their conquerors his father Henry the Fowler was elected by the suffrage of the nation to save and institute the kingdom of Germany. Its limits were enlarged on every side by his son the first and greatest of the Arthos. A portion of Gaul to the west of the Rhine along the banks of the Muse and the Moselle were assigned to the Germans by whose blood and language it has been tinged since the time of Caesar and Thacitus. Between the Rhine, the Rhone and the Alps the successes of Arthos acquired a vain supremacy over the broken kingdoms of Burgundy and Arles. In the north, Christianity was propagated by the sword of Arthos the conqueror and apostle of the Slavic nations of the Elbe and Oder. The marches of Brandenburg and Sleswick were fortified with German colonies and the king of Denmark the dukes of Poland and Bohemia confessed themselves his tributary vassals. At the head of a victorious army he passed the Alps, subdued the kingdom of Italy, delivered the Pope and forever fixed the imperial crown in the name and nation of Germany. From that memorable era two maxims of public jurisprudence were introduced by force and ratified by time that the prince who was elected in the German diet acquired from that instant the subject kingdoms of Italy and Rome but that he might not legally assume the titles of emperor and Augustus till he had received the crown from the hands of the Roman Pontiff. The imperial dignity of Charlemagne was announced to the east by the altercation of his style and instead of saluting his father's the Greek emperors he presumed to adopt a more equal and familiar appellation of brother. Perhaps in his connection with Irene he aspired to the name of husband. His embassy to Constantinople spoke the language of peace and friendship and might conceal a treaty of marriage with that ambitious princess who had renounced the most sacred duties of a mother. The nature, the duration, the probable consequences of such a union between two distant and dissonant empires it is impossible to conjecture but the unanimous silence of the Latins may teach us to suspect that the report was invented by the enemies of Irene to charge her with the guilt of betraying the church and state to the strangers of the west. The French ambassadors were the spectators and had nearly been the victims and a conspiracy of Nysiferous and the national hatred. Constantinople was exasperated by the treason and sacrilege of ancient Rome, a proverb that the Franks were good friends and bad neighbors was in everyone's mouth but it was dangerous to provoke a neighbor who might be tempted to reiterate in the church of Saint Sophia the ceremony of his imperial coronation. After a tedious journey of circuit and delay the ambassadors of Nysiferous found him in his camp on the banks of the river Sala and Charlemagne affected to confound their vanity by displaying in a Franconian village the pomp or at least the pride of the Byzantine palace. The Greeks were successively led through four halls of audience in the first they were ready to fall prostrate before a splendid personage in a chair of state till he informed them that he was only a servant the constable or master of the horse of the emperor. The same mistake and the same answer were repeated in the apartments of the Count Palantine, the steward and the chamberlain and their impatience was gradually heightened till the doors of the presence chamber were thrown open and they beheld the genuine monarch on his throne enriched with the foreign luxury which he despised and encircled with the love and reverence of his victorious chiefs. A treaty of peace and alliance was concluded between the two empires and the limits of the east and west were defined by the right of present possession but the Greeks soon forgot this humiliating equality or remembered it only to hate the barbarians by whom it was extorted. During the short union of virtue and power they respectfully saluted the August Charlemagne with the acclamations of Basilius the emperor and the Romans. As soon as these qualities were separated in the person of his pious son the Byzantine letters were inscribed to the king or as he styles himself the emperor of the Franks and Lombards. When both power and virtue were extinct they despoiled Louis II of his hereditary title and with the barbarous appellation of Rex or Riga degraded him among the crowd of Latin princes. His reply is expressive of his weakness. He proves with some learning that both in sacred and profane history the name of king is synonymous with the Greek word Basilius if at Constantinople it were assumed in a more exclusive and imperial sense he claims from his ancestors and from the Popes a just participation of the honors of the Roman purple. The same controversy was revived in the reign of the Arthos and their ambassador describes in lively colors the insolence of the Byzantine court. The Greeks affected to despise the poverty and ignorance of the Franks and Saxons and in their last decline refused the prostitute to the kings of Germany the title of Roman emperors. These emperors in the election of the Popes continued to exercise the powers which had been assumed by the Gothic and Grecian princes and the importance of this prerogative with a priest with a temporal estate and spiritual jurisdiction of the Roman church. In the Christian aristocracy the principal members of the clergy still formed a senate to assist the administration and to supply the vacancy of the bishop. Rome was divided into 28 parishes and each parish was governed by a cardinal priest or presbyter, a title which however common or modest in its origin has aspired to emulate the purple of kings. Their number was enlarged by the association of the seven deacons of the most considerable hospitals the seven Palantine judges of the Lateran and some dignitaries of the church. This ecclesiastical senate was directed by the seven cardinal bishops of the Roman province who were less occupied in the suburb diocese of Ostio, Porto, Valetrum, Tusculum, Parnesti, Tibor and Assay beans than by their weekly service in the Lateran and their superior share in the honors and authority of the Apostolic Sea. On the death of the pope these bishops recommended a successor to the suffrage of the College of Cardinals and their choice was ratified or rejected by the applause or clamor of the Roman people. But the election was imperfect and could the pontiff be legally consecrated till the emperor, the advocate of the church graciously signified his approbation and consent. The royal commissioner examined on the spot the form and freedom of the proceedings now was it till after a previous scrutiny into the qualifications of the candidates that he accepted an oath of fidelity and confirmed the donations which had successfully enriched the patrimony of St. Peter. In the frequent schisms the rival claims were submitted to the sentence of the emperor and in a synod of bishops he presumed to judge, to condemn and to punish the crimes of a guilty pontiff. Arthur I imposed a treaty on the senate and people who engaged to prefer the candidate most acceptable to his majesty his successors anticipated or prevented their choice they bestowed the Roman benefits like the bishoprics of Cologne and Bamberg on their chancellors or preceptors and whatever might be the merit of a Frank or Saxon his name sufficiently attests the interposition of foreign power. These acts of prerogative were most speciously excused by the vices of the popular election. The competitor who had been excluded by the cardinals appealed to the passions or avarice of the multitude the Vatican and the Lateran were stained with blood and the most powerful senators the Marqueses of Tuscany and the Counts of Tusculum held the apostolic sea in a long and disgraceful servitude. The Roman pontiffs of the 9th and 10th centuries were insulted, imprisoned and murdered by their tyrants and such was their indigence after the loss and usurpation of the ecclesiastical patrimonies that they could neither support the state of a prince nor exercise the charity of a priest. The influence of two sister prostitutes Marosia and Theodora was founded on their wealth and beauty their political and amorous intrigues the most strenuous of their lovers were rewarded with a Roman miter and their reign may have suggested to the darker ages the fable of a female pope. The bastard son, the grandson and the great grandson of Marosia a rare genealogy were seated in the chair of St. Peter and it was at the age of 19 years that the second of these became the head of the Latin Church. His youth and manhood were of a suitable complexion and the nations of pilgrims could hear a bare testimony to the charges that were urged against him in a Roman synod and in the presence of Arthur the Great. As John XII had renounced the dress and decencies of his profession the soldier may not perhaps be dishonored by the wine which he drank the blood that he spilled the flames that he kindled or the licentious pursuits of gaming and hunting. His open simony might be the consequence of distress and his blasphemous invocation of Jupiter and Venus if it be true could not possibly be serious. But we read with some surprise that the worthy grandson of Morosia lived in public adultery with the matrons of Rome that the Lateran palace was turned into a school for prostitution and that his rapes of virgins and widows had deterred the female pilgrims from visiting the tomb of St. Peter lest in the devout act they should be violated by his successor. The Protestants have dwelt with malicious pleasure on these characters of Antichrist but to a philosophic eye the vices of the clergy are far less dangerous than their virtues. After long series of scandal the Apostolic Sea was reformed and exalted by the austerity and zeal of Gregory VII that ambitious monk devoted his life to the execution of two projects. One, to fix in the College of Cardinals the freedom and independence of election and forever to abolish the right or usurpations of the emperors and the Roman people. Two, to bestow and resume the western empire as a thief or a benefit of the church and to extend his temporal dominion over the kings and kingdoms of the earth. After a contest of 50 years the first of these designs was accomplished by the firm support of the ecclesiastical order whose liberty was connected with that of their chief. But the second attempt though it was crowned with some partial and apparent success has been vigorously resisted by the secular power and finally extinguished by the improvement of human reason. In the revival of the Empire of Empire of Rome neither the bishop nor the people could bestow on Charlemagne or Ortho the provinces which were lost as they had been won by the chance of arms. But the Romans were free to choose a master for themselves and the powers which had been delegated by the patrician were irrevocably granted to the French and Saxon emperors of the west. The broken records of the times preserved some remembrance of their palace, their mint, their tribunal, their edicts and the sword of justice which as late as the 13th century was derived from Caesar to the prefect of the city. Between the arts of the popes and the violence of the people this supremacy was crushed and annihilated. Content with the titles of Emperor and Augustus the successes of Charlemagne neglected to assert this local jurisdiction. In the hour of prosperity their ambition was diverted by more alluring objects and in the decay and division of the empire they were oppressed by the defense of their hereditary provinces. Amidst the ruins of Italy the famous Marosia invited one of the usurpers to assume the character of her third husband and Hugh, King of Burgundy was introduced by her faction into the mole of Hadrian or Castle of St. Angelo which commands the principal bridge and entrance of Rome. Her son, by the first marriage Albaric was compelled to attend at the nocturne banquet but his reluctant and ungraceful services was chastised with a blow by his new father. The blow was productive of a revolution. Romans, he exclaimed the youth once you were masters of the world and these Burgundians the most abject of your slaves now they reign, these voracious and brutal savages and my injury is the commencement of your servitude. The alarm bell rang to arms in the water of the city. The Burgundians retreated with haste and shame. Marosia was imprisoned by her victorious son and his brother Pope John XI was reduced to the exercise of his spiritual functions. With the title of prince Albaric possessed above 20 years the government of Rome and he is said to have gratified his father prejudice by restoring the office or at least the title of consuls and tribunes. His son and heir Octavian assumed with a pontificate the name of John XII. Like his predecessor he was provoked by the Lombard princes to seek a deliverer for the church and republic and the services of Arthur were rewarded with the imperial dignity. But the Saxon was imperious the Romans were impatient the festival of the coronation was disturbed by the secret conflict of prerogative and freedom and Arthur commanded his sword bearer not to stir from his person lest he should be assaulted and murdered at the foot of the altar. Before he repassed the Alps the emperor chastised the revolt of the people and the ingratitude of John XII the pope was degraded in a synod the prefect was mounted on an ass whipped through the city and cast into a dungeon 13 of the most guilty were hanged others were mutilated or banished and this severe process was justified by the ancient laws of Theodosius and Justinian. The voice of fame has accused the second Arthur of a perfidious and bloody act the massacre of the senators whom he had invited to his table under the fair semblance of hospitality and friendship. In the minority of his son Arthur III Rome made a bold attempt to shake off the Saxon yoke and the consul Crescentius was the Brutus of the Republic. From the condition of his subject and an exile he twice rose to the command of the city oppressed, expelled and created the popes and formed the conspiracy for restoring the authority of the Greek emperors. In the fortress of St. Angelo he maintained an obstinate siege until the unfortunate consul was betrayed by a promise of safety his body was suspended on a gibbet and his head was exposed on the battlements of the castle. By reverse of fortune Arthur after separating his troops was besieged three days without food in his palace and a disgraceful escape saved him from the justice or fury of the Romans. The senator Ptolemy was the leader of the people and the widow of Crescentius enjoyed the pleasure or the fame of revenging her husband by a poison which she administered to her imperial lover. It was the design of Arthur III to abandon the ruder countries of the north to erect his throne in Italy and to revive the institutions of the Roman monarchy. But his successes only once in their lives appeared on the banks of the Tiber to receive their crown in the Vatican. Their absence was contemptible, their presence odious and formidable. They descended from the Alps at the head of their barbarians who were strangers and enemies to the country and their transient visit was a scene of tumult and bloodshed. A faint remembrance of their ancestors still tormented the Romans and they beheld with pious indignation the succession of Sanks or other Saxons, Franks, Swabians and Bohemians who usurped the purple and prerogatives of the Caesars. End of Chapter 49, Part 5 Recording by Dick Durett, Manchester, New Hampshire. Chapter 49, Part 6 of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 5. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Dick Durett, Conquest of Italy by the Franks, Part 6. There is nothing perhaps more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations in opposition to their inclination and interest. A torrent of barbarians may pass over the earth, but an extensive empire must be supported by a refined system of policy and oppression. In the center, an absolute power prompt inaction and rich in resources, a swift and easy communication with the extreme parts, a fortifications to check the first effort of rebellion, a regular administration to protect and punish, and a well-disciplined army to instate fear without provoking discontent and despair. Far different was the situation of the German Caesars who were ambitious to enslave the Kingdom of Italy. Their patrimonial estates were stretched along the Rhine or scattered in the provinces, but this ample domain was alienated by the imprudence of distress of successive princes and their revenue from minute and vexatious prerogative were scarcely sufficient for the maintenance of their household. Their troops were formed by the legal or voluntary service of their feudal vassals who passed the albs with reluctance, assumed the license of rapine and disorder, and capriciously deserted before the end of the campaign. Whole armies were swept away by the pestilential influence of the climate. The survivors brought back bones of their princes and nobles and the effects of their intemperance were often imputed to the treachery and malice of the Italians who rejoiced at least in the calamities of the barbarians. This irregular tyranny might contend on equal terms with the petty tyrants of Italy, nor can the people or the reader be much interested in the event of the quarrel. But in the 11th and 12th centuries the Lombards rekindled the flame of industry and freedom and the generous example was at length imitated by the republics of Tuscany. In the Italian cities a municipal government had never been totally abolished and their first privileges were granted by the favor and policy of the emperors who were desirous of erecting a plebeian barrier against the independence of the nobles. But their progress was rapid. The daily extension of their power and pretensions were founded on the numbers and spirit of these rising communities. Each city filled the measure of her diocese or district the jurisdiction of the Counts and bishops of the Marquises and Counts was banished from the land and the proudest nobles were persuaded or compelled to desert their solitary castles and to embrace the more honorable character of freemen and magistrates. The legislative authority was inherent in the General Assembly but the executive powers were entrusted to three councils annually chosen from the three orders of captains, valversors and commons into which the republic was divided. Under the protection of equal law the laborers of agriculture and commerce were gradually revived but the martial spirit of the Lombards was nourished by the presence of danger and as often as the bell was rung or the standard erected the gates of the city poured forth a numerous and intemperate band whose zeal in their own cause was soon guided by the use and discipline of arms. At the foot of these popular ramparts the pride of the Caesars was overthrown and the invincible genius of liberty prevailed over the two Frederick's the greatest princes of the middle age the first superior perhaps in military prowess the second who undoubtedly excelled in the softer accomplishments of peace and learning. Ambitious of restoring the splendor of the purple Frederick I first invaded the republics of Lombardi with the arts of a statesman the valor of a soldier and the cruelty of a tyrant. The recent discovery of the pandex had renewed a science most favorable to despotism and his venal advocates proclaimed the emperor the absolute master of the lives and properties of his subjects. His royal prerogatives in a less odious sense were acknowledged in the diet of Runcaglia and the revenue of Italy was fixed at 30,000 pounds of silver which were multiplied to an indefinite demand by the rapine of the fiscal offices. The obstinate cities were reduced by the terror or the force of his arms his captives were delivered to the executioner or shot from his military engines and after the siege and surrender of Milan the buildings of that stately capital were raised to the ground 300 hostages were sent into Germany and the inhabitants were dispersed in four villages under the yoke of the inflexible emperor. But Milan soon rose from her ashes and the League of Lombardi was cemented by distress their cause was espoused by Venice Pope Alexander III and the Greek emperor the fabric of oppression was overturned in a day and in the Treaty of Constance Frederick subscribed with some reservations the freedom of four and twenty cities his grandson contended with their vigor and maturity but Frederick II was endowed with some personal and peculiar advantages his birth and education recommended him to the Italians and in the implacable discord of the two factions the Gebellons were attached to the emperor while the Goethes displayed the banner of liberty and the church. The court of Rome had slumbered when his father Henry VI was permitted to unite with the empire the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and from these heredity realms the sun derived an ample and ready supply of troops and treasure yet Frederick II was finally oppressed by the arms of the Lombards and the thunders of the Vatican his kingdom was given to a stranger and the last of his family was beheaded at Naples on a public scaffold during sixty years no emperor appeared in Italy and the name was remembered only by the ignominious sale of the last relics of sovereignty the barbarian conquerors of the west were pleased to decorate their chief with a title of emperor but it was not their design to invest him with a despotism of Constantine and Justinian the persons of the Germans were free and the conquests were their own and the national character was animated by a spirit which scorned the servile jurisprudence of the new or the ancient Rome it would have been a vain and dangerous attempt to impose a monarch on the armed freemen who were impatient of a magistrate on the bold who refused to obey on the powerful who aspired to command so that Charlemagne and Otto was distributed among the dukes of the nations or provinces the counts of the smaller districts and the margraves of the marshes or frontiers who all united the civil and military authority as it had been delegated to the lieutenants of the first Caesars the Roman governors who for the most part of their fortune reduced their mercenary legions assumed the imperial purple and either failed or succeeded in their revolt without wounding the power and unity of the government after dukes and margraves and counts of Germany were less audacious in their claims the consequences of their success were more lasting and pernicious to the state coming at the supreme rank they silently labored to establish and appropriate their provincial independence their ambition was seconded by the weight of their estates and vassals their mutual example and support the common interest of the subordinate nobility the change of princes and families the minorities of Otto III and Henry IV the ambition of the popes and the vain pursuit of the fugitive crowns of Italy and Rome all the attributes of regal and territorial jurisdiction were gradually usurped by the commanders of the provinces the right of peace and war of life and death of coinage and taxation of foreign alliance and domestic economy whatever had been seized by violence or ratified by favor or distress was granted as a price of a doubtful vote or a voluntary service whatever had been granted to one could not without injury be denied to a successor equal and every act of local or temporary possession was insensibly molded into the constitution of the Germanic kingdom in every province the visible presence of the Duke or Count was interposed between the throne and the nobles the subjects of the law became the vassals of a private chief and a standard which he received from his sovereign was often raised against him in the field the temporal power of the clergy was cherished and exalted by the superstition or policy of the Carlo Vingen and Saxon dynasties who blindly depended on their moderation and fidelity and the bishoprics of Germany were made equal in extent and privilege superior in wealth and population to the most ample states of the military order as long as the emperors retained the prerogative of bestowing on every vacancy these ecclesiastic and secular their cause was maintained by the gratitude or ambition of their friends and favorites but in the quarrel of the investitures they were deprived of their influence over the episcopal chapters the freedom of election was restored and the sovereign was reduced by a solemn mockery to his first prayers the recommendation once in his reign to a single pre-bend in each church the secular governors instead of being recalled at the will of a superior could be degraded only by the sentence of their peers in the first age of the monarchy the appointment of the son to the duchy or county of his father was solicited as a favor it was gradually obtained as a custom and extorted as a right the lineal succession was often extended to the collateral or female branches the states of the empire their popular and at length their legal appellation were divided and alienated by testament and sale and all idea of a public trust was lost in that of a private and perpetual inheritance the emperor could not even be enriched by the casualties of forfeiture and extinction within the term of a year he was obliged to dispose of the vacant fief and in the choice of the candidate it was his duty to consult either the general or the provincial diet after the death of Frederick II Germany was left a monster with a hundred heads a crowd of princes and prelates disputed the ruins of the empire the lords of innumerable castles were less prone to obey than to imitate their superiors and according to the measure of their strength their incessant hostilities received the names of conquest or robbery such anarchy was the inevitable consequence of the laws and manners of Europe and the kingdoms of France and Italy were shivered into fragments by the violence of the same tempest but the Italian cities and the French vassals were divided and destroyed while the Union of the Germans had produced under the name of an empire a great system of a federative republic in the frequent and last the perpetual institution of diets a national spirit was kept alive and the powers of a common legislature are still exercised by the three branches or colleges of the electors the princes and the free and imperial cities of Germany seven of the most powerful feudatories were permitted to assume with a distinguished name and rank the exclusive privilege of choosing the Roman emperor and these electors were the king of Bohemia the Duke of Saxony and the Margrave of Brandenburg the Count Palatine of the Rhine the Dutch bishops of Menz, of Travis and of Cologne the College of Princes and Prelates purged themselves of a promiscuous multitude the reduced to four representative votes the long series of independent counts and excluded the nobles or a question order 60,000 of whom as in the Polish diets had appeared on huskback in the field of election the pride of birth and dominion of the sword and the mitre wisely adopted the commons as the third branch of the legislature and in the progress of society they were introduced about the same era into the national assemblies of France, England and Germany the Hanseatic League commanded the trade and navigation of the north the Confederates of the Rhine secured the peace and intercourse of the inland country the influence of the cities had been adequate to their wealth and policy and their negatives still invalidates the acts of the two superior colleges of electors and princes it is in the 14th century that we may view in the strongest light the state and contrast of the Roman Empire of Germany which no longer held except on the borders of the Rhine and Danube a single province of Trajan or Constantine their unworthy successes were the counts of Habsburg, of Nassau, of Luxembourg and Schwarzenberg the Emperor Henry VII procured for his son the crown of Bohemia and his grandson Charles IV was born among a people strange and barbarous in the estimation of the Germans themselves after the excommunication of Louis of Bavaria he received the gift or promise of the vacant empire from the Roman Pontus who in the exile and captivity of Avignon affected the dominion of the earth the death of his competitors united the electoral college and Charles was unanimously saluted king of the Romans and future emperor a title which in the same age was prostituted to the seizes of Germany and Greece the German emperor was no more than the elective and impotent magistrate of an aristocracy of princes who had not left him a village that he might call his own his best prerogative was the right of presiding and proposing in a national senate which was convened at his summons and his native kingdom of Bohemia less opulent than the adjacent city of Nuremberg was the firmest seat of his power and the richest source of his revenue the army with which he passed the Alps consisted of 300 horses in the cathedral of Saint Ambrose Charles was crowned with the iron crown which tradition ascribed to the Lombard monarchy but he was admitted only with a peaceful train the gates of the city were shut upon him and the king of Italy was held captive by the arms of the Viconti whom he confirmed in a sovereignty of Milan in the Vatican he was again crowned with the golden crown of the empire but in obedience to a secret treaty the Roman emperor immediately withdrew without reposing a single night within the walls of Rome the eloquent Petrach whose fancy revived the visionary glories of the capital deplores and upbraids the ignominious flight of the Bohemian and even his contemporaries could observe that the sole exercise of his authority was in the lucrative sale of privileges and titles the gold of Italy secured the election of his son but such was the shameful poverty of the Roman empire that his person was arrested by a butcher in the streets of worms and was detained in the public inn as a pledge or hostage for the payment of his expenses from this humiliating scene let us turn to the apparent majesty of the same Charles in the diets of the empire the golden bull which fixes the Germanic constitution is promulgated in the style of a sovereign and legislator a hundred princes bowed before his throne and exalted their own dignity by the voluntary honors which they yielded to their chief or minister at the royal banquet their hereditary great officers the seven electors who in rank and title were equal to the kings performed their solemn and domestic service of the palace the seals of the triple kingdom were borne in state by the archbishops of Menz, Cologne and Trevis the perpetual arch-chancellors of Germany Italy and Arles the great marshal on horseback exercised his function with a silver measure of oats which he emptied on the ground and immediately dismounted to regulate the order of the guests the great steward, the count Palantine of the Rhime placed the dishes on the table the great chamberlain the Margrave of Brandenburg presented after the repast the golden year and basin to wash the king of Bohemia as great cup bearer was represented by the emperor's brother the Duke of Luxembourg and Breband and the procession was closed by the great huntsman who introduced a bore and a stag with a loud chorus of horns and hounds nor was the supremacy of the emperor confined to Germany alone the hereditary monarchs of Europe confessed the preeminence of his rank and dignity he was the first of the Christian princes the temporal head of the great republic of the west to his person the title of majesty was long appropriated and he disputed with the pope the sublime prerogative of creating kings and assembling councils the oracle of the civil law the learned Bartolis was a pensioner of Charles IV and his school resounded with a doctrine that the Roman emperor was the rightful sovereign of the earth from the rising to the setting sun the contrary opinion was condemned not as an error but as a heresy since even the gospel had pronounced and there went forth a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed if we annihilate the interval of time and space between Augustus and Charles strong and striking will be the contrast between the two Caesars the Bohemian who concealed his weakness under the mask of ostentatious and the Roman who disguised his strength under the semblance of modesty at the head of his victorious legions in his reign over the sea and land from the Nile and the Euphrates to the Atlantic Ocean Augustus professed himself the servant of the state and the equal of his fellow citizens the conqueror of Rome and her provinces assumed a popular and legal form of a censor a council and a tribune his will was the law of mankind but in the declaration of his laws he borrowed the voice of the senate and people and from their decrees their master accepted and renewed his temporary commission to administer the republic in his dress, his domestics, his titles in all the offices of social life Augustus maintained the character of a private Roman and his most artful flatterers respected the secret of his absolute and perpetual monarchy End of chapter 49 part 6 chapter 50 part 1 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 5 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 5 chapter 50 part 1 description of Arabia and its inhabitants birth, character and doctrine of Muhammad he preaches at Mecca, flies to Medina propagates his religion by the sword voluntary or reluctant submission of the Arabs his death and successors the claims and fortunes of Ali and his descendants after pursuing above 600 years the fleeting caesars of Constantinople and Germany I descend in the reign of Heraclius on the eastern borders of the Greek monarchy while the state was exhausted by the Persian war and the church was distracted by the Nestorian and Monophysite sex Muhammad with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other erected his throne on the ruins of Christianity and of Rome the genius of the Arabian prophet the manners of his nation the spirit of his religion involved the causes of the decline and fall of the Eastern Empire and our eyes are currently intent on one of the most memorable revolutions which have impressed a new and lasting character on the nations of the globe in the vacant space between Persia Syria, Egypt and Ethiopia the Arabian peninsula may be conceived as a triangle of spacious but irregular dimensions from the northern point of Belize in the 1980s a line of 1500 miles is terminated by the straits of Babu Mandib in the land of Freikin sense about half this length may be allowed for the middle breath from east to west, from Basara to Suez from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea the sides of the triangle are gradually enlarged and the southern basis presents a front of 1000 miles to the Indian Ocean the entire surface of the peninsula exceeds in fourfold proportion that of Germany or France but the far greater part has been justly stigmatized with the epithets of the stony and of the sandy even the wilds of Tartary are decked by the hand of nature with lofty trees and luxuriant herbage and the lonesome traveler derives a sort of comfort and society from the presence of vegetable life but in the dreary waste of Arabia a boundless level of sand is intersected by sharp and naked mountains and the face of the desert without shade or shelter is scorched by the direct and intense rays of a tropical sun instead of refreshing breezes the winds particularly from the southwest diffuse a noxious and even deadly vapor the hillocks of sand which they alternately raise or scatter are compared to the billows of the ocean and the whole caravans, whole armies have been lost and buried in the whirlwind the common benefits of water are an object of desire and contest and such is the scarcity of wood that some art is requisite to preserve and propagate the element of fire Arabia is destitute of navigable rivers which fertilize the soil and convey its produce to the adjacent regions the torrents that fall from the hills are marked by the thirsty earth the rare and hardy plants the tamarind or the acacia that strike their roots into the clefs of the rocks are nourished by the dews of the night a scanty supply of rain is collected in cisterns and aqueducts the wells and springs are the secret treasure of the desert and the pilgrim of Mecca after many a dry and sultry march is disgusted by the taste of the waters and rolled over a bed of sulfur or salt such is the general and genuine picture of the climate of Arabia the experience of evil enhances the value of any local or partial enjoyment a shady grove, a green pasture a stream of fresh water are sufficient to attract a colony of sedentary Arabs to the fortunate spots which can afford food and refreshment to themselves and their cattle encourage their industry in the cultivation of the palm tree and the vine the high lands that border on the Indian ocean are distinguished by the superior plenty of wood and water the air is more temperate the fruits are more delicious the animals and the human race are more numerous the fertility of the soil invites and rewards the toil of the husbandmen and the peculiar gifts of frankincense and coffee have attracted in different ages the merchants of the world if it be compared with the rest of the peninsula this sequestered region may truly deserve the appellation of the happy and the splendid coloring of fancy and fiction has been suggested by contrast and countenance by distance it was for this earthly paradise that nature had reserved her choices favors and her most curious workmanship the incompatible blessings of luxury and innocence were ascribed to the natives the soil was impregnated with gold and gems and both the land and sea were taught to exhale the odors of aromatic sweets this division of the sandy, the stony, and the happy so familiar to the Greeks and Latins is unknown to the Arabians themselves and it is of singular enough that a country whose language and inhabitants have ever been the same should scarcely retain a vestige of its ancient geography the maritime districts of Bahrain and Oman are opposite to the realm of Persia the kingdom of Yemen displays the limits or at least the situation of Arabia-Felix the name of Nighed is extended over the inland space and the birth of Muhammad has illustrated the province of Hejaz along the coast of the Red Sea the measure of population is regulated by the means of subsistence and the inhabitants of this vast peninsula might be outnumbered by the subjects of a fertile and industrious province along the shores of the Persian Gulf of the ocean and even of the Red Sea the Iqfi-Ofagi or fish-eaters continue to wander in quest of their precarious food in this primitive and abject state which ill deserves the name of society the human brute without arts or laws and almost without sense or language is poorly distinguished from the rest of the animal creation generations and ages might roll away in silent oblivion and the helpless savage was restrained from multiplying his race by the once in pursuits which confined his existence to the narrow margin of the sea coast but in an early period of antiquity the great body of the Arabs had emerged from this scene of misery and as the naked wilderness cannot maintain a people of hunters they rose at once to the more secure and plentiful condition of the pastoral life the same life is uniformly pursued by the roving tribes of the desert and in the portrait of the modern Bedouins we may trace the features of their ancestors who in the age of Moses or Muhammad dwelt under similar tents and conducted their horses and camels and sheep to the same springs and the same pastures our toil is lessened and our wealth has increased by our dominion over the useful animals and the Arabian shepherd had acquired the absolute possession of a faithful friend and a laborious slave Arabia in the opinion of the naturalist is the genuine and original country of the horse the climate most propitious not indeed to the size but to the spirit and swiftness of that generous animal the merit of the barb the Spanish and the English breed is derived from a mixture of Arabian blood and the Bedouins preserve with superstitious care the honors and memory of the purest race the males are sold at a high price but the females are seldom alienated and the birth of a noble foal was estimated among the tribes as a subject of joy and mutual congratulation these horses are educated in the tents among the children of the Arabs with a tender familiarity which trains them in the habits of gentleness and attachment they are accustomed only to walk and to gallop the sensations are not blunted by the incessant abuse of the spur and the whip the powers are reserved for the moments of flight and pursuit but no sooner do they feel the touch of the hand or the stirrup than they dart away with the swiftness of the wind and if their friend be dismounted in the rapid career in the sands of Africa and Arabia the camel is a sacred and precious gift that strong and patient beast of burden can perform without eating or drinking a journey of several days and a reservoir of fresh water is preserved in a large bag a fifth stomach of the animal whose body is imprinted with the marks of servitude the larger breed is capable of transporting a weight of a thousand pounds and the dromedary of a lighter and more active frame outstrips the flitest coarser in the race alive or dead almost every part of the camel is serviceable to man her milk is plentiful and nutritious the young and tender flesh has the taste of veal a valuable salt is extracted from the urine the dung supplies the deficiency of fuel and the long hair which falls every year and is renewed to be textured into the garments the furniture and the tents of the Bedouins in the rainy season they consume the rare and insufficient herbage of the desert during the heats of summer in the scarcity of winter they remove their encampments to the sea coast the hills of Yemen or the neighborhood of the Euphrates and have often extorted the dangerous license of visiting the banks of the Nile and the villages of Syria and Palestine the life of a wandering Arab and those sometimes by rapine or exchange he may appropriate the fruits of industry a private citizen in Europe is in the possession of more solid and pleasing luxury than the proudest Amir who marches in the field at the head of 10,000 horse yet an essential difference may be found between the hordes of Scythia and the Arabian tribes since many of the latter were collected into towns and employed in the labors of trade and agriculture a part of their time and industry was still devoted to the management of their cattle they mingled in peace and war with their brethren of the desert and the Bedouins derived from their useful intercourse some supply of their wants and some rudiments of art and knowledge among the 42 cities of Arabia enumerated by Abu Feda the most ancient and populace were situate in the happy Yemen the towers of Sana and the marvelous reservoir of Merab were constructed by the kings of the Homerites but their profound luster was eclipsed by the prophetic glories of Medina and Mecca near the Red Sea and at a distance from each other of 270 miles the last of these holy places was known to the Greeks under the name of Makoraba and the termination of the word is expressive of its greatness which has not indeed in the most flourishing period exceeded the size and populace of Marseille some latent motive perhaps of superstition must have impelled the founders in the choice of a most unpromising situation they erected their habitations of mud or stone in a plane about two miles long in one mile broad at the foot of three barren mountains the soil is a rock the water even of the holy well of Zemzem is bitter or brackish the castors are remote from the city and grapes are transported above 70 miles from the gardens of Taif the fame and spirit of the Coretaites who reigned in Mecca were conspicuous among the Arabian tribes but their ungrateful soil refused the labors of agriculture and their position was favorable to the enterprises of trade by the seaport of Gheta at a distance of only 40 miles they maintained an easy correspondence and that Christian kingdom afforded the first refuge of the disciples of Muhammad the treasures of Africa were conveyed over the peninsula Teghara or Khatif in the province of Bahrain a city built as it is said of rock salt by the Kaldian exiles and from thence with the native pearls of the Persian Gulf they were floated on rafts to the mouth of the Euphrates Mecca is placed almost a month's journey between Yemen on the right and Syria on the left hand the former was the winter the latter the summer the station of her caravans and their seasonable arrival relieved the ships of India from the tedious and troublesome navigation of the Red Sea in the markets of Sana and Marab in the harbors of Oman and Aden the camels of the Coretaites were laden with a precious cargo of aromatics and a supply of corn and manufacturers were purchased in the fairs of Bostra and Damascus the lucrative exchange diffused plenty and riches in the streets of Mecca and the noblest of her sons united the love of arms with the profession of merchandise the perpetual independence of the Arabs has been the theme of praise among the strangers and natives and the arts of controversy transformed the singular event into a prophecy and a miracle in favor of the posterity of Ismael some exceptions that can neither be dissembled nor eluded render this mode of reasoning as indiscreet as it is superfluous the kingdom of Yemen has been successively subdued by the Abyssinians the Persians the Sultans of Egypt and the Turks the holy cities of Mecca and Medina have repeatedly bowed under a city in Tyran and the Roman province of Arabia embraced the peculiar wilderness in which Ismael and his sons must have pitched their tents in the face of their brethren yet these exceptions are temporary or local the body of the nation has escaped the yoke of the most powerful monarchies the arms of Sesustris and Cyrus of Pompeii and Trajan could never achieve the conquest of Arabia the present sovereign of the Turks may exercise a shadow of jurisdiction but his pride is reduced to solicit the friendship of a people whom it is dangerous to provoke and fruitless to attack the obvious causes of their freedom are inscribed on the character and country of the Arabs many ages before Muhammad their intrepid valor had been severely felt by their natives in offensive and defensive war the patient and active virtues of a soldier are insensibly nursed in the habits and discipline of a pastoral life and in the sense that a man is abandoned to the women of the tribe but the martial youth under the banner of the Amir is ever on horseback and in the field to practice the exercise of the bow the javelin and the scimitar the long memory of their independence is the firmest pledge of its perpetuity and succeeding generations are animated to prove their descent and to maintain their inheritance their domestic feuds are suspended on the approach of a common enemy the last hostility against the Turks the caravan of Mecca was attacked and pillaged by four score thousands of the Confederates when they advance to battle the hope of victory is in the front in the rear the assurance of a retreat their horses and camels who in eight or ten days can perform a march of four or five hundred miles disappear before the conqueror the secret waters of the desert elude his search and his victorious troops are assumed with thirst and hunger and fatigue in the pursuit of an invisible foe who scorns his efforts and safely reposes in the heart of the burning solitude the arms and deserts of the Bedouins are not only the safeguards of their own freedom but the barriers also of the happy Arabia whose inhabitants remote from war are innervated by the luxury of the soil and climate the legions of Augustus melted away in disease and lassitude and it is only by a naval power that the reduction of Yemen has been successfully attempted when Muhammad erected this holy standard that kingdom was a province of the Persian Empire yet seven princes of the homerites still reigned in the mountains and the vice regent of Kosseris was tempted to forget his distant country and his unfortunate master the historians of the age of Justinian represent the state of the independent Arabs who were divided by interest or affection in the long quarrel of the east the tribe of Ghassan was allowed to encamp on the city and territory the princes of Hira were permitted to form a city about 40 miles to the southward of the ruin of Babylon their service in the field was speedy and victorious but their friendship was venal their faith in constant their enmity capricious it was an easier task to excite these roving barbarians and in the familiar intercourse of war they learned to see and to despise the splendid weakness both of Rome and of Persia from Mecca to the Euphrates the Arabian tribes were confounded by the Greeks and Latins under the general appellation of Saracens a name which every Christian mouth has been taught to pronounce with terror and abhorrence End of Chapter 50 Part 1 Chapter 50 Part 2 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 5 This is the LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 5 Chapter 50 Part 2 Chapter 50 Chapter 50 Chapter 50 Chapter 50 Chapter 50 Chapter 50 Thy aunt, my wife, is without a garment. A ready submission entitles him to mercy. Resistance will provoke the aggressor and his own blood must expiate the blood which he presumes to shed in legitimate defense. A single robber or few associates are branded with their genuine name but the exploits of a numerous band assume the character of a lawful and honorable war. The temper of a people thus armed against mankind was doubly inflamed by the domestic license of rapine, murder and vengeance. In the constitution of Europe the right of peace and war is now confined to a small and the actual exercise to a much smaller list of respectable potentates. But each Arab with impunity and renown might point his javelin against the life of his countrymen. The union of the nation consisted only in a vague resemblance of two manners and in each community the jurisdiction of the magistrate was mute and impotent. Of the time of ignorance which preceded Muhammad 1700 battles are recorded by tradition. Hostility was embittered with the ranker of civil faction and the recital in prose or verse of an obsolete feud was sufficient to rekindle the same passions among the descendants of the hostile tribes. Every man, at least every family was the judge and avenger of its own cause. The nice sensibility of honor which weighs the insult rather than the injury sheds its deadly venom on the quarrels of the Arabs. The honor of their women and of their beards is most easily wounded and in decent action a contemptuous word can be expiated only by the blood of the offender and such is their patient inveteracy that they expect whole months and years the opportunity of revenge. A fine or compensation for murder is familiar to the barbarians of every age but in Arabia the kinsmen of the dead are at liberty to accept the atonement or to exercise with their own hands the law of retaliation. The refined malice of the Arabs refuses even the head of the murderer and substitutes an innocent to the guilty person with the penalty to the best and most considerable of the race by whom they have been injured. If he falls by their hands they are exposed in their turn to the dangers of reprisals. The interests and principle of the bloody debt are accumulated. The individuals of either family lead a life of malice and suspicion and fifty years may sometimes elapse before the account of vengeance be finally settled. This sanguinary spirit ignorant of pity or forgiveness has been moderated however by the maxims of honor which require in every private encounter some decent equality of age and strength of numbers and weapons. An annual festival of two perhaps of four months was observed by the Arabs before the time of Muhammad during which their swords were religiously sheathed both in foreign and domestic hostility and this partial truce was strongly expressive of the habits of anarchy and warfare. But the spirit of rapine and revenge was atempered by the milder influence of trade and literature. The solitary peninsula is accomplished by the most civilized nations of the ancient world. The merchant is the friend of mankind and the annual caravans imported the first seeds of knowledge and politeness into the cities and even the camps of the desert. Whatever may be the pedigree of the Arabs their languages derive from the same original stock with the Hebrew, the Syriac and the Chaldean tongues. The independence of the tribes was marked by their peculiar dialects but each after their own allowed a just preference to the pure and perspicuous idiom of Mecca. In Arabia as well as in Greece the perfection of language outstripped the refinement of manners and her speech could diversify the four names of honey, the two hundred of a serpent, the five hundred of a lion, the thousand of a sword, at a time when this copious dictionary was entrusted to the memory of an illiterate people. The monuments of the Homerites was inscribed with an obsolete and mysterious character but the Cufik letters, the groundwork of the present alphabet were invented on the banks of the Euphrates and the recent invention was settled in that city after the birth of Muhammad. The arts of grammar, of meter and of rhetoric were unknown to the freeborn eloquence of the Arabians but their penetration was sharp, their fancy, luxuriant, their wit, strong and sententious and their more elaborate compositions were addressed with energy and effect to the minds of their hearers. The genius and merit of a rising poet was celebrated by the applause of his own tribes. A solemn banquet was prepared and a chorus of women striking their timbles and displaying the pomp of their nuptials sung in the presence of their sons and husbands the felicity of their native tribe that a champion had now appeared to vindicate their rights, that a herald had raised his voice to immortalize their renown. The distant or hostile tribes resorted to an annual fair which was abolished by the fanaticism a national assembly that must have contributed to refined and harmonized the barbarians. Thirty days were employed in the exchange not only of corn and wine but of eloquence and poetry. The prize was disputed by the generous emulation of the bards. The victorious performance was deposited in the archives of princes and amirs and we may read in our own language the seven original poems which were inscribed in letters of gold and printed in the temple of Mecca. The Arabian poets were the historians and moralists of the age and if they sympathized with the prejudices they inspired and crowned the virtues of their countrymen. The indissoluble union of generosity and valor was the darling theme of their song and when they pointed their keenest satire against a despicable race they affirmed in the bitterness of reproach that the men knew of nor the women to deny. The same hospitality which was practiced by Abraham and celebrated by Homer is still renewed in the camps of the Arabs. The ferocious Bedouins the terror of the desert embrace without inquiry or hesitation the stranger who dares to confide in their honor and to enter their tent. His treatment is kind and respectful he shares the wealth and, after a needful propose he is dismissed on his way with thanks, with blessings and perhaps with gifts. The heart and hand are more largely expanded by the wants of a brother or a friend but the heroic acts they could deserve the public applause must have surpassed the narrow measure of discretion and experience. A dispute had arisen who among the citizens of Mecca was entitled to the prize and excessive application was made to the three who were deemed most worthy of the trial. Abdullah, the son of Abbas had undertaken a distant journey and his foot was in the stirrup when he heard the voice of a suppliant O son of the uncle of the Apostle of God I am a traveler and in distress. He instantly dismounted to present the pilgrim with his camel her rich comparison and a purse of 4,000 pieces of gold accepting only the sword either for its intrinsic value or as the gift of an honored kinsman. The servant of Qais informed the second suppliant that his master was asleep but he immediately added here is a purse of 7,000 pieces of gold as it is all we have in the house and here is an order that will entitle you to a camel and a slave. The master, as soon as he awoke praised and enfranchised his faithful steward with the gentle reproof that by respecting his slumbers he had stinted his bounty. The third of these heroes the blind Arabah at the hour of prayer was supporting his steps on the shoulders of two slaves alas he replied my coffers are empty but these you may sell if you refuse I renounce them at these words pushing away the youths he groped along the wall with his staff the character of Hatem is the perfect model of Arabian virtue he was brave and liberal an eloquent poet and a successful robber 40 camels were roasted at his hospitable feasts and at the prayer of a suppliant enemy he restored both the captives and the spoil. The freedom of his countrymen disdained the laws of justice they proudly indulged the spontaneous impulse of pity and benevolence. The religion of the Arabs as well as of the Indians consisted in the worship of the sun the moon and the fixed stars a primitive and specious mode of superstition. The bright luminaries in the sky display the visible image of a deity their number and distance convey to a philosophic or even to a vulgar eye the idea of boundless space the character of eternity is marked on these solid globes that seem incapable of corruption or decay the regularity of their motions may be ascribed to a principle of reason or instinct and their real or imaginary influence encourages the vain belief that the earth and its inhabitants are the object of their peculiar care the science of astronomy was cultivated at Babylon but the school of the Arabs was a clear firmament and a naked plane in their nocturnal marches they steered by the guidance of the stars and order and daily station were familiar to the curiosity and devotion of the Bedouin and he was taught by experience to divide in 28 parts the zodiac of the moon and to bless the constellations who refreshed with salutary rains the thirst of the desert the reign of the heavenly orbs could not be extended beyond the visible sphere and some metaphysical powers were necessary to sustain the transmigration of souls and the resurrection of bodies a camel was left to perish on the grave that he might serve as master in another life and the invocation of departed spirits implies that they were still endowed with consciousness and power I am ignorant and I am careless of the blind mythology of the barbarians of the local deities of the stars of the air of the earth of their sex or titles their attributes or subordination each tribe each family each independent warrior created and changed the rights and object of his fantastic worship but the nation and every age has bowed to the religion as well as to the language of Mecca the genuine antiquity of the Kaaba ascends beyond the Christian era in describing the coast of the Red Sea the Greek historian Deodorus has remarked between the Thamudites and the Sabaians a famous temple whose superior sanctity was revered by all the Arabians the linen or silken veil which is annually renewed by the Turkish emperor was first offered by a pious king of the homerites who ran 700 years before the time of Muhammad a tent or a caravan might suffice for the worship of the savages of stone and clay has been erected in its place and the art and power of the monarchs of the east have been confined to the simplicity of the original model a spacious portico encloses the quadrangle of the Kaaba a square chapel 24 cubits long 23 broad and 27 high a door and a window admit the light the double roof is supported by three pillars of wood a spout of gold discharges the rainwater and the well is protected by a dome of accidental pollution the tribe of Khoriesh by fraud or force had acquired the custody of the Kaaba the sacroedotal office devolved through four lineal descendants to the grandfather of Muhammad and the family of the Hashemites from whence he sprung was the most respectable and sacred in the eyes of their country the precincts of Mecca enjoyed the rites of sanctuary and in the last month of each year the city and the temple were crowned with a long train of pilgrims who presented their vows and offerings in the house of God the same rites which are now accomplished by the faithful musulmen were invented and practiced by the superstition of the idolaters at an awful distance they cast away their garments seven times with hasty steps to the Kaaba and kissed the black stone seven times they visited and adored the adjacent mountains seven times they threw stones into the valley of Mina and the pilgrimage was achieved as at the present hour by a sacrifice of sheep and camels in the burial of their hair and nails in the consecrated ground each tribe either found or introduced in the Kaaba their domestic worship the tribe was adorned or deified with 360 idols of men eagles, lions and antelopes and the most conspicuous was the statue of Hebaal of Red Agate holding in his hand seven arrows without heads or feathers the instruments and symbols of profane divination but this statue was a monument of Syrian arts the devotion of the router ages and the tablet and the rocks of the desert were hewn into gods or altars in imitation of the black stone of Mecca which is deeply tainted with the reproach of an idolatrous origin from Japan to Peru the use of sacrifice has universally prevailed and the votary has expressed his gratitude or fear by destroying or consuming in honor of the gods the life of a man is the most precious oblation to deprecate a public calamity the altars of Phoenicia and Egypt of Rome and Carthage have been polluted with human gore the cruel practice was long preserved among the Arabs in the third century a boy was annually sacrificed by the tribe of the Dumashians and a royal captive was piously slaughtered by the prince of the Saracens Aristinian a parent who drags his son to the altar exhibits the most painful and sublime effort of fanaticism the deed or the intention was sanctified by the example of saints and heroes and the father of Muhammad himself was devoted by a rash vow and hardly ransomed by the equivalent of a hundred camels in the time of ignorance the Arabs, like the Jews and Egyptians have stained from the taste of swine's flesh they circumcised their children at the age of puberty the same customs without censure or the precept of the Quran have been silently transmitted to their posterity and prostolites it has been sagaciously conjectured that the artful legislator indulged the stubborn prejudices of his countrymen it is more simple to believe that he adhered to the habits and opinions of his youth without foreseeing that a practice of Mecca might become useless or inconvenient on the banks of the Danube