LI. CHAP. tachar or Persepolis; and profaned the last sanctuary of the Magian empire. The grandson of Chosroes was nearly surprised among the falling columns and mutilated figures; a sad emblem of the past and present fortune of Persia: he fled with accelerated haste over the desert of Kirman, implored the aid of the warlike Segestans, and sought an humble refuge on the verge of the Turkish and Chinese power. But a victorious army is insensible of fatigue the Arabs divided their forces in the pursuit of a timorous enemy; and the caliph Othman promised the government of Chorasan to the first general who should enter that large and populous country, the kingdom of the ancient Bactrians. The condition was accepted; the prize was deserved; the standard of Mahomet was planted on the walls of Herat, Merou, and Balch; and the successful leader neither halted nor reposed till his foaming cavalry had tasted the waters of the Oxus. In the public anarchy, the independent governors of the cities and castles obtained their separate capitulations; the terms were granted or imposed by the esteem, the prudence, or the compassion, of the victors; and a simple profession of faith established the distinction between a brother and a slave. After a noble defence, Harmozan, the prince or satrap of Ahwaz and Susa, We are indebted for this curious particular to the Dynasties of Abulpharagius, p. 116; but it is needless to prove the identity of Estachar and Persepolis, (d'Herbelot, p. 327); and still more needless to copy the drawings and descriptions of Sir John Chardin, or Corneille le Bruyn. LI. was compelled to surrender his person and his CHAP. state to the discretion of the caliph and their interview exhibits a portrait of the Arabian manners. In the presence, and by the command of Omar, the gay barbarian was despoiled of his silken robes embroidered with gold, and of his tiara bedecked with rubies and emeralds. "Are you now sensible," said the conqueror to his naked captive; are you now "sensible of the judgment of God, and of the "different rewards of infidelity and obedi“ence?” "Alas!" replied Harmozan, " I feel "I "them too deeply. In the days of our common ignorance, we fought with the weapons "of the flesh, and my nation was superior. "God was then neuter: since he has espoused 66 your quarrel, you have subverted our king"dom and religion." Oppressed by this painful dialogue, the Persian complained of intolerable thirst, but discovered some apprehensions lest he should be killed whilst he was drinking a cup of water. "Be of good courage," said the caliph," your life is safe till you have drank this water:" the crafty satrap accepted the assurance, and instantly dashed the vase against the ground. Omar would have avenged the deceit; but his companions represented the sanctity of an oath; and the speedy conversion of Harmozan entitled him not only to a free pardon, but even to a stipend of two thousand pieces of gold. The administration of Persia was regulated by an actual survey of the people, the cattle, and the fruits of the LI. CHAP. earth; and this monument, which attests the vigilance of the caliphs, might have instructed the philosophers of every age. Death of the last king, k The flight of Yezdegerd had carried him beyond the Oxus, and as far as the Jaxartes, two A. D. 651., rivers' of ancient and modern renown, which descend from the mountains of India towards the Caspian Sea. He was hospitably entertained by Tarkhan, prince of Fargana," a fertile province on the Jaxartes; the king of Samarcand, with the turkish tribes of Sogdiana and Scythia, were moved by the lamentations and promises of the fallen monarch; and he solicited by a suppliant embassy, the more solid and powerful friendship of the emperor of China. The virtuous Taitsong," the first of the dynasty of the Tang, may be justly com i After the conquest of Persia, Theophanes adds, AUTO δε τῳχρονω εκελευ σεν Ουμάρος αναγραφήναι πασαν την υπ αυτον οικεμένην. εγενετο δε ή αναγραφη και ανθρώπων και κτηνων και φυτων, (Chronograph. p. 283). * Amidst our meagre relations, I must regret, that d'Herbelot has not found and used a Persian translation of Tabari, enriched, as he says, with many extracts from the native historians of the Ghebers or Magi, (Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 1014). The most authentic accounts of the two rivers, the Sion (Jaxartes) and the Gihon (Oxus), may be found in Sherif al Edrisa, (Geograph. Nubiens p. 138); Abulfeda, (Descript. Chorasan, in Hudson, tom. iii, p. 23); Abulghazi Khan, who reigned on their banks, (Hist. Genealogique des Tatars, p. 32, 57, 766), and the Turkish Geographer, a MS. in the king of France's library, (Examen Critique des Historiens d'Alexandre, p. 194 360. m The territory of Fergana is described by Abulfeda, p. 76, 77. "Eo redegit augustiarum euudem regem exsulem, ut Turcici regis et Sogdiani, et Sinensis, auxilia missis literis imploraret, (Abulfed. Annal. p. 74). The connection of the Persian and Chinese history is illustrated by Freret, (Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xvi, p. 245-255) and de Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. ii, p. 54-59, and for the geography of the borders, tom. ii, p. 1-43). Hist. Sinica, p. 41-46, in the iid part of the Relations Curieuses of Thevenot. LI. pared with the Antonines of Rome: his people CHAP. enjoyed the blessings of prosperity and peace; and his dominion was acknowledged by fortyfour hordes of the barbarians of Tartary. His last garrisons of Cashgar and Khoten maintained a frequent intercourse with their neighbours of the Jaxartes and Oxus; a recent colony of Persians had introduced into China the astronomy of the Magi; and Taitsong might be alarmed by the rapid progress and dangerous vicinity of the Arabs. The influence, and perhaps the supplies, of China revived the hopes of Yezdegerd and the zeal of the worshippers of fire: and he returned with an army of Turks to conquer the inheritance of his fathers. The fortunate Moslems, without unsheathing their swords, were the spectators of his ruin and death. The grandson of Chosroes was betrayed by his servant, insulted by the seditious inhabitants of Merou, and oppressed, defeated and pursued by his barbarian allies. He reached the banks of a river, and offered his rings and bracelets for an instant passage in a miller's boat. Ignorant or insensible of royal distress, the rustic replied, that four drams of silver were the daily profit of his mill, and that he would not suspend his work unless the loss were repaid. In this moment of hesitation and delay, the last of the Sassanian kings was overtaken and slaughtered by the Turkish cavalry, in the nineteenth year of his unhappy reign. His son Firuz, an hum ▸ I have endeavoured to harmonize the various narratives of Elmacin, 'Hist. CHAP. The conquest of ana, A. D. 710. ble client of the Chinese emperor, accepted the station of captain of his guards; and the Magian worship was long preserved by a colony of loyal exiles in the province of Bucharia. His grandson inherited the regal name; but after a faint and fruitless enterprise, he returned to China, and ended his days in the palace of Sigan. The male line of the Sassanides was extinct; but the female captives, the daughters of Persia, were given to the conquerors in servitude, or marriage; and the race of the caliphs and imams was ennobled by the blood of their royal mothers.1 After the fall of the Persian kingdoms, the Transoxi river Oxus divided the territories of the Saracens and of the Turks. This narrow boundary was soon overleaped by the spirit of the Arabs the governors of Chorasan extended their successive inroads; and one of their triumphs was adorned with the buskin of a Turkish queen, which she dropt in her precipitate flight beyond the hills of Bochara.' But the final (Hist. Saracen. p. 37); Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 116); Abulfeda, (Annal. p. 74, 79), and d'Herbelot, (p. 485). The end of Yezdegerd was not only unfortunate but obscure. The two daughters of Yezdegerd married Hassan, the son of Ali, and Mohammed, the son of Abubeker; and the first of these was the father of a numerous progeny. The daughter of Phirouz became the wife of the caliph Walid, and their son Yezid derived his genuine or fabulous descent from the Chosroes of Persia, the Cæsars of Rome, an the Chagans of the Turks or Avars, (d'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orientale, p 96, 487), It was valued at 2000 pieces of gold, and was the prize of Obeidollah, the son of Ziyad, a name afterwards infamous by the murder of Hosein, (Ockley's History of the Saracens, vol. ii, p. 142, 143). His brother Salem was accompanied by his wife, the first Arabian woman (A. D. 680) who passed the Oxus: she borrowed, or rather stole, the crown and jewels of the princes of Sogdians, (p. 231-232). |