The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5

E >> Edward Gibbon >> The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5

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The wooden turrets of assault were rolled forwards to the foot of
the rampart; but the defence of Merida was obstinate and long;
and the castle of the martyrs was a perpetual testimony of the
losses of the Moslems. The constancy of the besieged was at
length subdued by famine and despair; and the prudent victor
disguised his impatience under the names of clemency and esteem.
The alternative of exile or tribute was allowed; the churches
were divided between the two religions; and the wealth of those
who had fallen in the siege, or retired to Gallicia, was
confiscated as the reward of the faithful. In the midway between
Merida and Toledo, the lieutenant of Musa saluted the vicegerent
of the caliph, and conducted him to the palace of the Gothic
kings. Their first interview was cold and formal: a rigid
account was exacted of the treasures of Spain: the character of
Tarik was exposed to suspicion and obloquy; and the hero was
imprisoned, reviled, and ignominiously scourged by the hand, or
the command, of Musa. Yet so strict was the discipline, so pure
the zeal, or so tame the spirit, of the primitive Moslems, that,
after this public indignity, Tarik could serve and be trusted in
the reduction of the Tarragonest province. A mosch was erected
at Saragossa, by the liberality of the Koreish: the port of
Barcelona was opened to the vessels of Syria; and the Goths were
pursued beyond the Pyrenaean mountains into their Gallic province
of Septimania or Languedoc. ^184 In the church of St. Mary at
Carcassone, Musa found, but it is improbable that he left, seven
equestrian statues of massy silver; and from his term or column
of Narbonne, he returned on his footsteps to the Gallician and
Lusitanian shores of the ocean. During the absence of the
father, his son Abdelaziz chastised the insurgents of Seville,
and reduced, from Malaga to Valentia, the sea-coast of the
Mediterranean: his original treaty with the discreet and valiant
Theodemir ^185 will represent the manners and policy of the
times. "The conditions of peace agreed and sworn between
Abdelaziz, the son of Musa, the son of Nassir, and Theodemir
prince of the Goths. In the name of the most merciful God,
Abdelaziz makes peace on these conditions: that Theodemir shall
not be disturbed in his principality; nor any injury be offered
to the life or property, the wives and children, the religion and
temples, of the Christians: that Theodemir shall freely deliver
his seven ^* cities, Orihuela, Valentola, Alicanti Mola,
Vacasora, Bigerra, (now Bejar,) Ora, (or Opta,) and Lorca: that
he shall not assist or entertain the enemies of the caliph, but
shall faithfully communicate his knowledge of their hostile
designs: that himself, and each of the Gothic nobles, shall
annually pay one piece of gold, four measures of wheat, as many
of barley, with a certain proportion of honey, oil, and vinegar;
and that each of their vassals shall be taxed at one moiety of
the said imposition. Given the fourth of Regeb, in the year of
the Hegira ninety- four, and subscribed with the names of four
Mussulman witnesses." ^186 Theodemir and his subjects were
treated with uncommon lenity; but the rate of tribute appears to
have fluctuated from a tenth to a fifth, according to the
submission or obstinacy of the Christians. ^187 In this
revolution, many partial calamities were inflicted by the carnal
or religious passions of the enthusiasts: some churches were
profaned by the new worship: some relics or images were
confounded with idols: the rebels were put to the sword; and one
town (an obscure place between Cordova and Seville) was razed to
its foundations. Yet if we compare the invasion of Spain by the
Goths, or its recovery by the kings of Castile and Arragon, we
must applaud the moderation and discipline of the Arabian
conquerors.

[Footnote 183: The honorable relics of the Cantabrian war (Dion
Cassius, l. liii p. 720) were planted in this metropolis of
Lusitania, perhaps of Spain, (submittit cui tota suos Hispania
fasces.) Nonius (Hispania, c. 31, p. 106 - 110) enumerates the
ancient structures, but concludes with a sigh: Urbs haec olim
nobilissima ad magnam incolarum infrequentiam delapsa est, et
praeter priscae claritatis ruinas nihil ostendit.]

[Footnote 184: Both the interpreters of Novairi, De Guignes
(Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 349) and Cardonne, (Hist. de
l'Afrique et de l'Espagne, tom. i. p. 93, 94, 104, 135,) lead
Musa into the Narbonnese Gaul. But I find no mention of this
enterprise, either in Roderic of Toledo, or the Mss. of the
Escurial, and the invasion of the Saracens is postponed by a
French chronicle till the ixth year after the conquest of Spain,
A.D. 721, (Pagi, Critica, tom. iii. p. 177, 195. Historians of
France, tom. iii.) I much question whether Musa ever passed the
Pyrenees.]

[Footnote 185: Four hundred years after Theodemir, his
territories of Murcia and Carthagena retain in the Nubian
geographer Edrisi (p, 154, 161) the name of Tadmir, (D'Anville,
Etats de l'Europe, p. 156. Pagi, tom. iii. p. 174.) In the
present decay of Spanish agriculture, Mr. Swinburne (Travels into
Spain, p. 119) surveyed with pleasure the delicious valley from
Murcia to Orihuela, four leagues and a half of the finest corn
pulse, lucerne, oranges, &c.]

[Footnote *: Gibbon has made eight cities: in Conde's translation
Bigera does not appear. - M.]

[Footnote 186: See the treaty in Arabic and Latin, in the
Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 105, 106. It is signed
the 4th of the month of Regeb, A. H. 94, the 5th of April, A.D.
713; a date which seems to prolong the resistance of Theodemir,
and the government of Musa.]

[Footnote 187: From the history of Sandoval, p. 87. Fleury
(Hist. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 261) has given the substance of
another treaty concluded A Ae. C. 782, A.D. 734, between an
Arabian chief and the Goths and Romans, of the territory of
Conimbra in Portugal. The tax of the churches is fixed at
twenty-five pounds of gold; of the monasteries, fifty; of the
cathedrals, one hundred; the Christians are judged by their
count, but in capital cases he must consult the alcaide. The
church doors must be shut, and they must respect the name of
Mahomet. I have not the original before me; it would confirm or
destroy a dark suspicion, that the piece has been forged to
introduce the immunity of a neighboring convent.]

The exploits of Musa were performed in the evening of life,
though he affected to disguise his age by coloring with a red
powder the whiteness of his beard. But in the love of action and
glory, his breast was still fired with the ardor of youth; and
the possession of Spain was considered only as the first step to
the monarchy of Europe. With a powerful armament by sea and
land, he was preparing to repass the Pyrenees, to extinguish in
Gaul and Italy the declining kingdoms of the Franks and Lombards,
and to preach the unity of God on the altar of the Vatican. From
thence, subduing the Barbarians of Germany, he proposed to follow
the course of the Danube from its source to the Euxine Sea, to
overthrow the Greek or Roman empire of Constantinople, and
returning from Europe to Asia, to unite his new acquisitions with
Antioch and the provinces of Syria. ^188 But his vast enterprise,
perhaps of easy execution, must have seemed extravagant to vulgar
minds; and the visionary conqueror was soon reminded of his
dependence and servitude. The friends of Tarik had effectually
stated his services and wrongs: at the court of Damascus, the
proceedings of Musa were blamed, his intentions were suspected,
and his delay in complying with the first invitation was
chastised by a harsher and more peremptory summons. An intrepid
messenger of the caliph entered his camp at Lugo in Gallicia, and
in the presence of the Saracens and Christians arrested the
bridle of his horse. His own loyalty, or that of his troops,
inculcated the duty of obedience: and his disgrace was alleviated
by the recall of his rival, and the permission of investing with
his two governments his two sons, Abdallah and Abdelaziz. His
long triumph from Ceuta to Damascus displayed the spoils of
Africa and the treasures of Spain: four hundred Gothic nobles,
with gold coronets and girdles, were distinguished in his train;
and the number of male and female captives, selected for their
birth or beauty, was computed at eighteen, or even at thirty,
thousand persons. As soon as he reached Tiberias in Palestine,
he was apprised of the sickness and danger of the caliph, by a
private message from Soliman, his brother and presumptive heir;
who wished to reserve for his own reign the spectacle of victory.

Had Walid recovered, the delay of Musa would have been criminal:
he pursued his march, and found an enemy on the throne. In his
trial before a partial judge against a popular antagonist, he was
convicted of vanity and falsehood; and a fine of two hundred
thousand pieces of gold either exhausted his poverty or proved
his rapaciousness. The unworthy treatment of Tarik was revenged
by a similar indignity; and the veteran commander, after a public
whipping, stood a whole day in the sun before the palace gate,
till he obtained a decent exile, under the pious name of a
pilgrimage to Mecca. The resentment of the caliph might have
been satiated with the ruin of Musa; but his fears demanded the
extirpation of a potent and injured family. A sentence of death
was intimated with secrecy and speed to the trusty servants of
the throne both in Africa and Spain; and the forms, if not the
substance, of justice were superseded in this bloody execution.
In the mosch or palace of Cordova, Abdelaziz was slain by the
swords of the conspirators; they accused their governor of
claiming the honors of royalty; and his scandalous marriage with
Egilona, the widow of Roderic, offended the prejudices both of
the Christians and Moslems. By a refinement of cruelty, the head
of the son was presented to the father, with an insulting
question, whether he acknowledged the features of the rebel? "I
know his features," he exclaimed with indignation: "I assert his
innocence; and I imprecate the same, a juster fate, against the
authors of his death." The age and despair of Musa raised him
above the power of kings; and he expired at Mecca of the anguish
of a broken heart. His rival was more favorably treated: his
services were forgiven; and Tarik was permitted to mingle with
the crowd of slaves. ^189 I am ignorant whether Count Julian was
rewarded with the death which he deserved indeed, though not from
the hands of the Saracens; but the tale of their ingratitude to
the sons of Witiza is disproved by the most unquestionable
evidence. The two royal youths were reinstated in the private
patrimony of their father; but on the decease of Eba, the elder,
his daughter was unjustly despoiled of her portion by the
violence of her uncle Sigebut. The Gothic maid pleaded her cause
before the caliph Hashem, and obtained the restitution of her
inheritance; but she was given in marriage to a noble Arabian,
and their two sons, Isaac and Ibrahim, were received in Spain
with the consideration that was due to their origin and riches.

[Footnote 188: This design, which is attested by several Arabian
historians, (Cardonne, tom. i. p. 95, 96,) may be compared with
that of Mithridates, to march from the Crimaea to Rome; or with
that of Caesar, to conquer the East, and return home by the
North; and all three are perhaps surpassed by the real and
successful enterprise of Hannibal.]

[Footnote 189: I much regret our loss, or my ignorance, of two
Arabic works of the viiith century, a Life of Musa, and a poem on
the exploits of Tarik. Of these authentic pieces, the former was
composed by a grandson of Musa, who had escaped from the massacre
of his kindred; the latter, by the vizier of the first
Abdalrahman, caliph of Spain, who might have conversed with some
of the veterans of the conqueror, (Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom.
ii. p. 36, 139.)]

A province is assimilated to the victorious state by the
introduction of strangers and the imitative spirit of the
natives; and Spain, which had been successively tinctured with
Punic, and Roman, and Gothic blood, imbibed, in a few
generations, the name and manners of the Arabs. The first
conquerors, and the twenty successive lieutenants of the caliphs,
were attended by a numerous train of civil and military
followers, who preferred a distant fortune to a narrow home: the
private and public interest was promoted by the establishment of
faithful colonies; and the cities of Spain were proud to
commemorate the tribe or country of their Eastern progenitors.
The victorious though motley bands of Tarik and Musa asserted, by
the name of Spaniards, their original claim of conquest; yet they
allowed their brethren of Egypt to share their establishments of
Murcia and Lisbon. The royal legion of Damascus was planted at
Cordova; that of Emesa at Seville; that of Kinnisrin or Chalcis
at Jaen; that of Palestine at Algezire and Medina Sidonia. The
natives of Yemen and Persia were scattered round Toledo and the
inland country, and the fertile seats of Grenada were bestowed on
ten thousand horsemen of Syria and Irak, the children of the
purest and most noble of the Arabian tribes. ^190 A spirit of
emulation, sometimes beneficial, more frequently dangerous, was
nourished by these hereditary factions. Ten years after the
conquest, a map of the province was presented to the caliph: the
seas, the rivers, and the harbors, the inhabitants and cities,
the climate, the soil, and the mineral productions of the earth.
^191 In the space of two centuries, the gifts of nature were
improved by the agriculture, ^192 the manufactures, and the
commerce, of an industrious people; and the effects of their
diligence have been magnified by the idleness of their fancy.
The first of the Ommiades who reigned in Spain solicited the
support of the Christians; and in his edict of peace and
protection, he contents himself with a modest imposition of ten
thousand ounces of gold, ten thousand pounds of silver, ten
thousand horses, as many mules, one thousand cuirasses, with an
equal number of helmets and lances. ^193 The most powerful of his
successors derived from the same kingdom the annual tribute of
twelve millions and forty-five thousand dinars or pieces of gold,
about six millions of sterling money; ^194 a sum which, in the
tenth century, most probably surpassed the united revenues of the
Christians monarchs. His royal seat of Cordova contained six
hundred moschs, nine hundred baths, and two hundred thousand
houses; he gave laws to eighty cities of the first, to three
hundred of the second and third order; and the fertile banks of
the Guadalquivir were adorned with twelve thousand villages and
hamlets. The Arabs might exaggerate the truth, but they created
and they describe the most prosperous aera of the riches, the
cultivation, and the populousness of Spain. ^195

[Footnote 190: Bibliot. Arab. Hispana, tom. ii. p. 32, 252. The
former of these quotations is taken from a Biographia Hispanica,
by an Arabian of Valentia, (see the copious Extracts of Casiri,
tom. ii. p. 30 - 121;) and the latter from a general Chronology
of the Caliphs, and of the African and Spanish Dynasties, with a
particular History of the kingdom of Grenada, of which Casiri has
given almost an entire version, (Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom.
ii. p. 177 - 319.) The author, Ebn Khateb, a native of Grenada,
and a contemporary of Novairi and Abulfeda, (born A.D. 1313, died
A.D. 1374,) was an historian, geographer, physician, poet, &c.,
(tom. ii. p. 71, 72.)]

[Footnote 191: Cardonne, Hist. de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne, tom.
i. p. 116, 117.]

[Footnote 192: A copious treatise of husbandry, by an Arabian of
Seville, in the xiith century, is in the Escurial library, and
Casiri had some thoughts of translating it. He gives a list of
the authors quoted, Arabs as well as Greeks, Latins, &c.; but it
is much if the Andalusian saw these strangers through the medium
of his countryman Columella, (Casiri, Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana,
tom. i. p. 323 - 338.)]

[Footnote 193: Bibliot. Arabico-Hispana, tom. ii. p. 104. Casiri
translates the original testimony of the historian Rasis, as it
is alleged in the Arabic Biographia Hispanica, pars ix. But I am
most exceedingly surprised at the address, Principibus
caeterisque Christianis, Hispanis suis Castellae. The name of
Castellae was unknown in the viiith century; the kingdom was not
erected till the year 1022, a hundred years after the time of
Rasis, (Bibliot. tom. ii. p. 330,) and the appellation was always
expressive, not of a tributary province, but of a line of castles
independent of the Moorish yoke, (D'Anville, Etats de l'Europe,
p. 166 - 170.) Had Casiri been a critic, he would have cleared a
difficulty, perhaps of his own making.]

[Footnote 194: Cardonne, tom. i. p. 337, 338. He computes the
revenue at 130,000,000 of French livres. The entire picture of
peace and prosperity relieves the bloody uniformity of the
Moorish annals.]

[Footnote 195: I am happy enough to possess a splendid and
interesting work which has only been distributed in presents by
the court of Madrid Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis,
opera et studio Michaelis Casiri, Syro Maronitoe. Matriti, in
folio, tomus prior, 1760, tomus posterior, 1770. The execution
of this work does honor to the Spanish press; the Mss., to the
number of MDCCCLI., are judiciously classed by the editor, and
his copious extracts throw some light on the Mahometan literature
and history of Spain. These relics are now secure, but the task
has been supinely delayed, till, in the year 1671, a fire
consumed the greatest part of the Escurial library, rich in the
spoils of Grenada and Morocco.

Note: Compare the valuable work of Conde, Historia de la
Dominacion de las Arabes en Espana. Madrid, 1820. - M.]

The wars of the Moslems were sanctified by the prophet; but
among the various precepts and examples of his life, the caliphs
selected the lessons of toleration that might tend to disarm the
resistance of the unbelievers. Arabia was the temple and
patrimony of the God of Mahomet; but he beheld with less jealousy
and affection the nations of the earth. The polytheists and
idolaters, who were ignorant of his name, might be lawfully
extirpated by his votaries; ^196 but a wise policy supplied the
obligation of justice; and after some acts of intolerant zeal,
the Mahometan conquerors of Hindostan have spared the pagods of
that devout and populous country. The disciples of Abraham, of
Moses, and of Jesus, were solemnly invited to accept the more
perfect revelation of Mahomet; but if they preferred the payment
of a moderate tribute, they were entitled to the freedom of
conscience and religious worship. ^197 In a field of battle the
forfeit lives of the prisoners were redeemed by the profession of
Islam; the females were bound to embrace the religion of their
masters, and a race of sincere proselytes was gradually
multiplied by the education of the infant captives. But the
millions of African and Asiatic converts, who swelled the native
band of the faithful Arabs, must have been allured, rather than
constrained, to declare their belief in one God and the apostle
of God. By the repetition of a sentence and the loss of a
foreskin, the subject or the slave, the captive or the criminal,
arose in a moment the free and equal companion of the victorious
Moslems. Every sin was expiated, every engagement was dissolved:
the vow of celibacy was superseded by the indulgence of nature;
the active spirits who slept in the cloister were awakened by the
trumpet of the Saracens; and in the convulsion of the world,
every member of a new society ascended to the natural level of
his capacity and courage. The minds of the multitude were
tempted by the invisible as well as temporal blessings of the
Arabian prophet; and charity will hope that many of his
proselytes entertained a serious conviction of the truth and
sanctity of his revelation. In the eyes of an inquisitive
polytheist, it must appear worthy of the human and the divine
nature. More pure than the system of Zoroaster, more liberal
than the law of Moses, the religion of Mahomet might seem less
inconsistent with reason than the creed of mystery and
superstition, which, in the seventh century, disgraced the
simplicity of the gospel.

[Footnote 196: The Harbii, as they are styled, qui tolerari
nequeunt, are, 1. Those who, besides God, worship the sun, moon,
or idols. 2. Atheists, Utrique, quamdiu princeps aliquis inter
Mohammedanos superest, oppugnari debent donec religionem
amplectantur, nec requies iis concedenda est, nec pretium
acceptandum pro obtinenda conscientiae libertate, (Reland,
Dissertat. x. de Jure Militari Mohammedan. tom. iii. p. 14;) a
rigid theory!]

[Footnote 197: The distinction between a proscribed and a
tolerated sect, between the Harbii and the people of the Book,
the believers in some divine revelation, is correctly defined in
the conversation of the caliph Al Mamum with the idolaters or
Sabaeans of Charrae, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient. p. 107, 108.)]

In the extensive provinces of Persia and Africa, the
national religion has been eradicated by the Mahometan faith.
The ambiguous theology of the Magi stood alone among the sects of
the East; but the profane writings of Zoroaster ^198 might, under
the reverend name of Abraham, be dexterously connected with the
chain of divine revelation. Their evil principle, the daemon
Ahriman, might be represented as the rival, or as the creature,
of the God of light. The temples of Persia were devoid of
images; but the worship of the sun and of fire might be
stigmatized as a gross and criminal idolatry. ^199 The milder
sentiment was consecrated by the practice of Mahomet ^200 and the
prudence of the caliphs; the Magians or Ghebers were ranked with
the Jews and Christians among the people of the written law; ^201
and as late as the third century of the Hegira, the city of Herat
will afford a lively contrast of private zeal and public
toleration. ^202 Under the payment of an annual tribute, the
Mahometan law secured to the Ghebers of Herat their civil and
religious liberties: but the recent and humble mosch was
overshadowed by the antique splendor of the adjoining temple of
fire. A fanatic Iman deplored, in his sermons, the scandalous
neighborhood, and accused the weakness or indifference of the
faithful. Excited by his voice, the people assembled in tumult;
the two houses of prayer were consumed by the flames, but the
vacant ground was immediately occupied by the foundations of a
new mosch. The injured Magi appealed to the sovereign of
Chorasan; he promised justice and relief; when, behold! four
thousand citizens of Herat, of a grave character and mature age,
unanimously swore that the idolatrous fane had never existed; the
inquisition was silenced and their conscience was satisfied (says
the historian Mirchond ^203) with this holy and meritorious
perjury. ^204 But the greatest part of the temples of Persia were
ruined by the insensible and general desertion of their votaries.

It was insensible, since it is not accompanied with any memorial
of time or place, of persecution or resistance. It was general,
since the whole realm, from Shiraz to Samarcand, imbibed the
faith of the Koran; and the preservation of the native tongue
reveals the descent of the Mahometans of Persia. ^205 In the
mountains and deserts, an obstinate race of unbelievers adhered
to the superstition of their fathers; and a faint tradition of
the Magian theology is kept alive in the province of Kirman,
along the banks of the Indus, among the exiles of Surat, and in
the colony which, in the last century, was planted by Shaw Abbas
at the gates of Ispahan. The chief pontiff has retired to Mount
Elbourz, eighteen leagues from the city of Yezd: the perpetual
fire (if it continues to burn) is inaccessible to the profane;
but his residence is the school, the oracle, and the pilgrimage
of the Ghebers, whose hard and uniform features attest the
unmingled purity of their blood. Under the jurisdiction of their
elders, eighty thousand families maintain an innocent and
industrious life: their subsistence is derived from some curious
manufactures and mechanic trades; and they cultivate the earth
with the fervor of a religious duty. Their ignorance withstood
the despotism of Shaw Abbas, who demanded with threats and
tortures the prophetic books of Zoroaster; and this obscure
remnant of the Magians is spared by the moderation or contempt of
their present sovereigns. ^206

[Footnote 198: The Zend or Pazend, the bible of the Ghebers, is
reckoned by themselves, or at least by the Mahometans, among the
ten books which Abraham received from heaven; and their religion
is honorably styled the religion of Abraham, (D'Herblot, Bibliot.
Orient. p. 701; Hyde, de Religione veterum Persarum, c, iii. p.
27, 28, &c.) I much fear that we do not possess any pure and free
description of the system of Zoroaster. ^* Dr. Prideaux
(Connection, vol. i. p. 300, octavo) adopts the opinion, that he
had been the slave and scholar of some Jewish prophet in the
captivity of Babylon. Perhaps the Persians, who have been the
masters of the Jews, would assert the honor, a poor honor, of
being their masters.