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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[Footnote *: Whatever the real age of the Zendavesta,
published by Anquetil du Perron, whether of the time of Ardeschir
Babeghan, according to Mr. Erskine, or of much higher antiquity,
it may be considered, I conceive, both a "pure and a free,"
though imperfect, description of Zoroastrianism; particularly
with the illustrations of the original translator, and of the
German Kleuker - M.]

[Footnote 199: The Arabian Nights, a faithful and amusing picture
of the Oriental world, represent in the most odious colors of the
Magians, or worshippers of fire, to whom they attribute the
annual sacrifice of a Mussulman. The religion of Zoroaster has
not the least affinity with that of the Hindoos, yet they are
often confounded by the Mahometans; and the sword of Timour was
sharpened by this mistake, (Hist. de Timour Bec, par Cherefeddin
Ali Yezdi, l. v.]

[Footnote 200: Vie de Mahomet, par Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 114,
115.)]

[Footnote 201: Hae tres sectae, Judaei, Christiani, et qui inter
Persas Magorum institutis addicti sunt, populi libri dicuntur,
(Reland, Dissertat. tom. iii. p. 15.) The caliph Al Mamun
confirms this honorable distinction in favor of the three sects,
with the vague and equivocal religion of the Sabaeans, under
which the ancient polytheists of Charrae were allowed to shelter
their idolatrous worship, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient p. 167, 168.)]

[Footnote 202: This singular story is related by D'Herbelot,
(Bibliot. Orient. p 448, 449,) on the faith of Khondemir, and by
Mirchond himself, (Hist priorum Regum Persarum, &c., p. 9, 10,
not. p. 88, 89.)]

[Footnote 203: Mirchond, (Mohammed Emir Khoondah Shah,) a native
of Herat, composed in the Persian language a general history of
the East, from the creation to the year of the Hegira 875, (A.D.
1471.) In the year 904 (A.D. 1498) the historian obtained the
command of a princely library, and his applauded work, in seven
or twelve parts, was abbreviated in three volumes by his son
Khondemir, A. H. 927, A.D. 1520. The two writers, most
accurately distinguished by Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de
Genghizcan, p.537, 538, 544, 545,) are loosely confounded by
D'Herbelot, (p. 358, 410, 994, 995: ) but his numerous extracts,
under the improper name of Khondemir, belong to the father rather
than the son. The historian of Genghizcan refers to a Ms. of
Mirchond, which he received from the hands of his friend
D'Herbelot himself. A curious fragment (the Taherian and
Soffarian Dynasties) has been lately published in Persic and
Latin, (Viennae, 1782, in 4to., cum notis Bernard de Jenisch;)
and the editor allows us to hope for a continuation of Mirchond.]

[Footnote 204: Quo testimonio boni se quidpiam praestitisse
opinabantur. Yet Mirchond must have condemned their zeal, since
he approved the legal toleration of the Magi, cui (the fire
temple) peracto singulis annis censu uti sacra Mohammedis lege
cautum, ab omnibus molestiis ac oneribus libero esse licuit.]

[Footnote 205: The last Magian of name and power appears to be
Mardavige the Dilemite, who, in the beginning of the 10th
century, reigned in the northern provinces of Persia, near the
Caspian Sea, (D'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 355.) But his
soldiers and successors, the Bowides either professed or embraced
the Mahometan faith; and under their dynasty (A.D. 933 - 1020) I
should say the fall of the religion of Zoroaster.]

[Footnote 206: The present state of the Ghebers in Persia is
taken from Sir John Chardin, not indeed the most learned, but the
most judicious and inquisitive of our modern travellers, (Voyages
en Perse, tom. ii. p. 109, 179 - 187, in 4to.) His brethren,
Pietro della Valle, Olearius, Thevenot, Tavernier, &c., whom I
have fruitlessly searched, had neither eyes nor attention for
this interesting people.]

The Northern coast of Africa is the only land in which the
light of the gospel, after a long and perfect establishment, has
been totally extinguished. The arts, which had been taught by
Carthage and Rome, were involved in a cloud of ignorance; the
doctrine of Cyprian and Augustin was no longer studied. Five
hundred episcopal churches were overturned by the hostile fury of
the Donatists, the Vandals, and the Moors. The zeal and numbers
of the clergy declined; and the people, without discipline, or
knowledge, or hope, submissively sunk under the yoke of the
Arabian prophet Within fifty years after the expulsion of the
Greeks, a lieutenant of Africa informed the caliph that the
tribute of the infidels was abolished by their conversion; ^207
and, though he sought to disguise his fraud and rebellion, his
specious pretence was drawn from the rapid and extensive progress
of the Mahometan faith. In the next age, an extraordinary
mission of five bishops was detached from Alexandria to Cairoan.
They were ordained by the Jacobite patriarch to cherish and
revive the dying embers of Christianity: ^208 but the
interposition of a foreign prelate, a stranger to the Latins, an
enemy to the Catholics, supposes the decay and dissolution of the
African hierarchy. It was no longer the time when the successor
of St. Cyprian, at the head of a numerous synod, could maintain
an equal contest with the ambition of the Roman pontiff. In the
eleventh century, the unfortunate priest who was seated on the
ruins of Carthage implored the arms and the protection of the
Vatican; and he bitterly complains that his naked body had been
scourged by the Saracens, and that his authority was disputed by
the four suffragans, the tottering pillars of his throne. Two
epistles of Gregory the Seventh ^209 are destined to soothe the
distress of the Catholics and the pride of a Moorish prince. The
pope assures the sultan that they both worship the same God, and
may hope to meet in the bosom of Abraham; but the complaint that
three bishops could no longer be found to consecrate a brother,
announces the speedy and inevitable ruin of the episcopal order.
The Christians of Africa and Spain had long since submitted to
the practice of circumcision and the legal abstinence from wine
and pork; and the name of Mozarabes ^210 (adoptive Arabs) was
applied to their civil or religious conformity. ^211 About the
middle of the twelfth century, the worship of Christ and the
succession of pastors were abolished along the coast of Barbary,
and in the kingdoms of Cordova and Seville, of Valencia and
Grenada. ^212 The throne of the Almohades, or Unitarians, was
founded on the blindest fanaticism, and their extraordinary rigor
might be provoked or justified by the recent victories and
intolerant zeal of the princes of Sicily and Castille, of Arragon
and Portugal. The faith of the Mozarabes was occasionally
revived by the papal missionaries; and, on the landing of Charles
the Fifth, some families of Latin Christians were encouraged to
rear their heads at Tunis and Algiers. But the seed of the gospel
was quickly eradicated, and the long province from Tripoli to the
Atlantic has lost all memory of the language and religion of
Rome. ^213

[Footnote 207: The letter of Abdoulrahman, governor or tyrant of
Africa, to the caliph Aboul Abbas, the first of the Abbassides,
is dated A. H. 132 Cardonne, Hist. de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne,
tom. i. p. 168.)]

[Footnote 208: Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 66. Renaudot, Hist.
Patriarch. Alex. p. 287, 288.]

[Footnote 209: Among the Epistles of the Popes, see Leo IX.
epist. 3; Gregor. VII. l. i. epist. 22, 23, l. iii. epist. 19,
20, 21; and the criticisms of Pagi, (tom. iv. A.D. 1053, No. 14,
A.D. 1073, No. 13,) who investigates the name and family of the
Moorish prince, with whom the proudest of the Roman pontiffs so
politely corresponds.]

[Footnote 210: Mozarabes, or Mostarabes, adscititii, as it is
interpreted in Latin, (Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 39, 40.
Bibliot. Arabico- Hispana, tom. ii. p. 18.) The Mozarabic
liturgy, the ancient ritual of the church of Toledo, has been
attacked by the popes, and exposed to the doubtful trials of the
sword and of fire, (Marian. Hist. Hispan. tom. i. l. ix. c. 18,
p. 378.) It was, or rather it is, in the Latin tongue; yet in the
xith century it was found necessary (A. Ae. C. 1687, A.D. 1039)
to transcribe an Arabic version of the canons of the councils of
Spain, (Bibliot. Arab. Hisp. tom. i. p. 547,) for the use of the
bishops and clergy in the Moorish kingdoms.]

[Footnote 211: About the middle of the xth century, the clergy of
Cordova was reproached with this criminal compliance, by the
intrepid envoy of the Emperor Otho I., (Vit. Johan. Gorz, in
Secul. Benedict. V. No. 115, apud Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xii.
p. 91.)]

[Footnote 212: Pagi, Critica, tom. iv. A.D. 1149, No. 8, 9. He
justly observes, that when Seville, &c., were retaken by
Ferdinand of Castille, no Christians, except captives, were found
in the place; and that the Mozarabic churches of Africa and
Spain, described by James a Vitriaco, A.D. 1218, (Hist. Hierosol.
c. 80, p. 1095, in Gest. Dei per Francos,) are copied from some
older book. I shall add, that the date of the Hegira 677 (A.D.
1278) must apply to the copy, not the composition, of a treatise
of a jurisprudence, which states the civil rights of the
Christians of Cordova, (Bibliot. Arab. Hisp. tom. i. p. 471;) and
that the Jews were the only dissenters whom Abul Waled, king of
Grenada, (A.D. 1313,) could either discountenance or tolerate,
(tom. ii. p. 288.)]

[Footnote 213: Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 288. Leo
Africanus would have flattered his Roman masters, could he have
discovered any latent relics of the Christianity of Africa.]

After the revolution of eleven centuries, the Jews and
Christians of the Turkish empire enjoy the liberty of conscience
which was granted by the Arabian caliphs. During the first age
of the conquest, they suspected the loyalty of the Catholics,
whose name of Melchites betrayed their secret attachment to the
Greek emperor, while the Nestorians and Jacobites, his inveterate
enemies, approved themselves the sincere and voluntary friends of
the Mahometan government. ^214 Yet this partial jealousy was
healed by time and submission; the churches of Egypt were shared
with the Catholics; ^215 and all the Oriental sects were included
in the common benefits of toleration. The rank, the immunities,
the domestic jurisdiction of the patriarchs, the bishops, and the
clergy, were protected by the civil magistrate: the learning of
individuals recommended them to the employments of secretaries
and physicians: they were enriched by the lucrative collection of
the revenue; and their merit was sometimes raised to the command
of cities and provinces. A caliph of the house of Abbas was
heard to declare that the Christians were most worthy of trust in
the administration of Persia. "The Moslems," said he, "will
abuse their present fortune; the Magians regret their fallen
greatness; and the Jews are impatient for their approaching
deliverance." ^216 But the slaves of despotism are exposed to the
alternatives of favor and disgrace. The captive churches of the
East have been afflicted in every age by the avarice or bigotry
of their rulers; and the ordinary and legal restraints must be
offensive to the pride, or the zeal, of the Christians. ^217
About two hundred years after Mahomet, they were separated from
their fellow- subjects by a turban or girdle of a less honorable
color; instead of horses or mules. they were condemned to ride on
asses, in the attitude of women. Their public and private
building were measured by a diminutive standard; in the streets
or the baths it is their duty to give way or bow down before the
meanest of the people; and their testimony is rejected, if it may
tend to the prejudice of a true believer. The pomp of
processions, the sound of bells or of psalmody, is interdicted in
their worship; a decent reverence for the national faith is
imposed on their sermons and conversations; and the sacrilegious
attempt to enter a mosch, or to seduce a Mussulman, will not be
suffered to escape with impunity. In a time, however, of
tranquillity and justice, the Christians have never been
compelled to renounce the Gospel, or to embrace the Koran; but
the punishment of death is inflicted upon the apostates who have
professed and deserted the law of Mahomet. The martyrs of
Cordova provoked the sentence of the cadhi, by the public
confession of their inconstancy, or their passionate invectives
against the person and religion of the prophet. ^218

[Footnote 214: Absit (said the Catholic to the vizier of Bagdad)
ut pari loco habeas Nestorianos, quorum praeter Arabas nullus
alius rex est, et Graecos quorum reges amovendo Arabibus bello
non desistunt, &c. See in the Collections of Assemannus
(Bibliot. Orient. tom. iv. p. 94 - 101) the state of the
Nestorians under the caliphs. That of the Jacobites is more
concisely exposed in the Preliminary Dissertation of the second
volume of Assemannus.]

[Footnote 215: Eutych. Annal. tom. ii. p. 384, 387, 388.
Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 205, 206, 257, 332. A taint
of the Monothelite heresy might render the first of these Greek
patriarchs less loyal to the emperors and less obnoxious to the
Arabs.]

[Footnote 216: Motadhed, who reigned from A.D. 892 to 902. The
Magians still held their name and rank among the religions of the
empire, (Assemanni, Bibliot. Orient. tom. iv. p. 97.)]

[Footnote 217: Reland explains the general restraints of the
Mahometan policy and jurisprudence, (Dissertat. tom. iii. p. 16 -
20.) The oppressive edicts of the caliph Motawakkel, (A.D. 847 -
861,) which are still in force, are noticed by Eutychius, (Annal.
tom. ii. p. 448,) and D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 640.) A
persecution of the caliph Omar II. is related, and most probably
magnified, by the Greek Theophanes (Chron p. 334.)]

[Footnote 218: The martyrs of Cordova (A.D. 850, &c.) are
commemorated and justified by St. Eulogius, who at length fell a
victim himself. A synod, convened by the caliph, ambiguously
censured their rashness. The moderate Fleury cannot reconcile
their conduct with the discipline of antiquity, toutefois
l'autorite de l'eglise, &c. (Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. x. p.
415 - 522, particularly p. 451, 508, 509.) Their authentic acts
throw a strong, though transient, light on the Spanish church in
the ixth century.]

At the end of the first century of the Hegira, the caliphs
were the most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe. Their
prerogative was not circumscribed, either in right or in fact, by
the power of the nobles, the freedom of the commons, the
privileges of the church, the votes of a senate, or the memory of
a free constitution. The authority of the companions of Mahomet
expired with their lives; and the chiefs or emirs of the Arabian
tribes left behind, in the desert, the spirit of equality and
independence. The regal and sacerdotal characters were united in
the successors of Mahomet; and if the Koran was the rule of their
actions, they were the supreme judges and interpreters of that
divine book. They reigned by the right of conquest over the
nations of the East, to whom the name of liberty was unknown, and
who were accustomed to applaud in their tyrants the acts of
violence and severity that were exercised at their own expense.
Under the last of the Ommiades, the Arabian empire extended two
hundred days' journey from east to west, from the confines of
Tartary and India to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. And if we
retrench the sleeve of the robe, as it is styled by their
writers, the long and narrow province of Africa, the solid and
compact dominion from Fargana to Aden, from Tarsus to Surat, will
spread on every side to the measure of four or five months of the
march of a caravan. ^219 We should vainly seek the indissoluble
union and easy obedience that pervaded the government of Augustus
and the Antonines; but the progress of the Mahometan religion
diffused over this ample space a general resemblance of manners
and opinions. The language and laws of the Koran were studied
with equal devotion at Samarcand and Seville: the Moor and the
Indian embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of
Mecca; and the Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom
in all the provinces to the westward of the Tigris. ^220

[Footnote 219: See the article Eslamiah, (as we say Christendom,)
in the Bibliotheque Orientale, (p. 325.) This chart of the
Mahometan world is suited by the author, Ebn Alwardi, to the year
of the Hegira 385 (A.D. 995.) Since that time, the losses in
Spain have been overbalanced by the conquests in India, Tartary,
and the European Turkey.]

[Footnote 220: The Arabic of the Koran is taught as a dead
language in the college of Mecca. By the Danish traveller, this
ancient idiom is compared to the Latin; the vulgar tongue of
Hejaz and Yemen to the Italian; and the Arabian dialects of
Syria, Egypt, Africa, &c., to the Provencal, Spanish, and
Portuguese, (Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, p. 74, &c.)]

Chapter LII: More Conquests By The Arabs.

Part I.

The Two Sieges Of Constantinople By The Arabs. - Their
Invasion Of France, And Defeat By Charles Martel. - Civil War Of
The Ommiades And Abbassides. - Learning Of The Arabs. - Luxury Of
The Caliphs. - Naval Enterprises On Crete, Sicily, And Rome. -
Decay And Division Of The Empire Of The Caliphs. - Defeats And
Victories Of The Greek Emperors.

When the Arabs first issued from the desert, they must have
been surprised at the ease and rapidity of their own success.
But when they advanced in the career of victory to the banks of
the Indus and the summit of the Pyrenees; when they had
repeatedly tried the edge of their cimeters and the energy of
their faith, they might be equally astonished that any nation
could resist their invincible arms; that any boundary should
confine the dominion of the successor of the prophet. The
confidence of soldiers and fanatics may indeed be excused, since
the calm historian of the present hour, who strives to follow the
rapid course of the Saracens, must study to explain by what means
the church and state were saved from this impending, and, as it
should seem, from this inevitable, danger. The deserts of
Scythia and Sarmatia might be guarded by their extent, their
climate, their poverty, and the courage of the northern
shepherds; China was remote and inaccessible; but the greatest
part of the temperate zone was subject to the Mahometan
conquerors, the Greeks were exhausted by the calamities of war
and the loss of their fairest provinces, and the Barbarians of
Europe might justly tremble at the precipitate fall of the Gothic
monarchy. In this inquiry I shall unfold the events that rescued
our ancestors of Britain, and our neighbors of Gaul, from the
civil and religious yoke of the Koran; that protected the majesty
of Rome, and delayed the servitude of Constantinople; that
invigorated the defence of the Christians, and scattered among
their enemies the seeds of division and decay.

Forty-six years after the flight of Mahomet from Mecca, his
disciples appeared in arms under the walls of Constantinople. ^1
They were animated by a genuine or fictitious saying of the
prophet, that, to the first army which besieged the city of the
Caesars, their sins were forgiven: the long series of Roman
triumphs would be meritoriously transferred to the conquerors of
New Rome; and the wealth of nations was deposited in this
well-chosen seat of royalty and commerce. No sooner had the
caliph Moawiyah suppressed his rivals and established his throne,
than he aspired to expiate the guilt of civil blood, by the
success and glory of this holy expedition; ^2 his preparations by
sea and land were adequate to the importance of the object; his
standard was intrusted to Sophian, a veteran warrior, but the
troops were encouraged by the example and presence of Yezid, the
son and presumptive heir of the commander of the faithful. The
Greeks had little to hope, nor had their enemies any reason of
fear, from the courage and vigilance of the reigning emperor, who
disgraced the name of Constantine, and imitated only the
inglorious years of his grandfather Heraclius. Without delay or
opposition, the naval forces of the Saracens passed through the
unguarded channel of the Hellespont, which even now, under the
feeble and disorderly government of the Turks, is maintained as
the natural bulwark of the capital. ^3 The Arabian fleet cast
anchor, and the troops were disembarked near the palace of
Hebdomon, seven miles from the city. During many days, from the
dawn of light to the evening, the line of assault was extended
from the golden gate to the eastern promontory and the foremost
warriors were impelled by the weight and effort of the succeeding
columns. But the besiegers had formed an insufficient estimate
of the strength and resources of Constantinople. The solid and
lofty walls were guarded by numbers and discipline: the spirit of
the Romans was rekindled by the last danger of their religion and
empire: the fugitives from the conquered provinces more
successfully renewed the defence of Damascus and Alexandria; and
the Saracens were dismayed by the strange and prodigious effects
of artificial fire. This firm and effectual resistance diverted
their arms to the more easy attempt of plundering the European
and Asiatic coasts of the Propontis; and, after keeping the sea
from the month of April to that of September, on the approach of
winter they retreated fourscore miles from the capital, to the
Isle of Cyzicus, in which they had established their magazine of
spoil and provisions. So patient was their perseverance, or so
languid were their operations, that they repeated in the six
following summers the same attack and retreat, with a gradual
abatement of hope and vigor, till the mischances of shipwreck and
disease, of the sword and of fire, compelled them to relinquish
the fruitless enterprise. They might bewail the loss, or
commemorate the martyrdom, of thirty thousand Moslems, who fell
in the siege of Constantinople; and the solemn funeral of Abu
Ayub, or Job, excited the curiosity of the Christians themselves.

That venerable Arab, one of the last of the companions of
Mahomet, was numbered among the ansars, or auxiliaries, of
Medina, who sheltered the head of the flying prophet. In his
youth he fought, at Beder and Ohud, under the holy standard: in
his mature age he was the friend and follower of Ali; and the
last remnant of his strength and life was consumed in a distant
and dangerous war against the enemies of the Koran. His memory
was revered; but the place of his burial was neglected and
unknown, during a period of seven hundred and eighty years, till
the conquest of Constantinople by Mahomet the Second. A
seasonable vision (for such are the manufacture of every
religion) revealed the holy spot at the foot of the walls and the
bottom of the harbor; and the mosch of Ayub has been deservedly
chosen for the simple and martial inauguration of the Turkish
sultans. ^4

[Footnote 1: Theophanes places the seven years of the siege of
Constantinople in the year of our Christian aera, 673 (of the
Alexandrian 665, Sept. 1,) and the peace of the Saracens, four
years afterwards; a glaring inconsistency! which Petavius, Goar,
and Pagi, (Critica, tom. iv. p. 63, 64,) have struggled to
remove. Of the Arabians, the Hegira 52 (A.D. 672, January 8) is
assigned by Elmacin, the year 48 (A.D. 688, Feb. 20) by Abulfeda,
whose testimony I esteem the most convenient and credible.]

[Footnote 2: For this first siege of Constantinople, see
Nicephorus, (Breviar. p. 21, 22;) Theophanes, (Chronograph. p.
294;) Cedrenus, (Compend. p. 437;) Zonaras, (Hist. tom. ii. l.
xiv. p. 89;) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 56, 57;) Abulfeda,
(Annal. Moslem. p. 107, 108, vers. Reiske;) D'Herbelot, (Bibliot.
Orient. Constantinah;) Ockley's History of the Saracens, vol. ii.
p. 127, 128.]

[Footnote 3: The state and defence of the Dardanelles is exposed
in the Memoirs of the Baron de Tott, (tom. iii. p. 39 - 97,) who
was sent to fortify them against the Russians. From a principal
actor, I should have expected more accurate details; but he seems
to write for the amusement, rather than the instruction, of his
reader. Perhaps, on the approach of the enemy, the minister of
Constantine was occupied, like that of Mustapha, in finding two
Canary birds who should sing precisely the same note.]

[Footnote 4: Demetrius Cantemir's Hist. of the Othman Empire, p.
105, 106. Rycaut's State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 10, 11.
Voyages of Thevenot, part i. p. 189. The Christians, who suppose
that the martyr Abu Ayub is vulgarly confounded with the
patriarch Job, betray their own ignorance rather than that of the
Turks.]

The event of the siege revived, both in the East and West,
the reputation of the Roman arms, and cast a momentary shade over
the glories of the Saracens. The Greek ambassador was favorably
received at Damascus, a general council of the emirs or Koreish:
a peace, or truce, of thirty years was ratified between the two
empires; and the stipulation of an annual tribute, fifty horses
of a noble breed, fifty slaves, and three thousand pieces of
gold, degraded the majesty of the commander of the faithful. ^5
The aged caliph was desirous of possessing his dominions, and
ending his days in tranquillity and repose: while the Moors and
Indians trembled at his name, his palace and city of Damascus was
insulted by the Mardaites, or Maronites, of Mount Libanus, the
firmest barrier of the empire, till they were disarmed and
transplanted by the suspicious policy of the Greeks. ^6 After the
revolt of Arabia and Persia, the house of Ommiyah was reduced to
the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt: their distress and fear enforced
their compliance with the pressing demands of the Christians; and
the tribute was increased to a slave, a horse, and a thousand
pieces of gold, for each of the three hundred and sixty-five days
of the solar year. But as soon as the empire was again united by
the arms and policy of Abdalmalek, he disclaimed a badge of
servitude not less injurious to his conscience than to his pride;
he discontinued the payment of the tribute; and the resentment of
the Greeks was disabled from action by the mad tyranny of the
second Justinian, the just rebellion of his subjects, and the
frequent change of his antagonists and successors. Till the
reign of Abdalmalek, the Saracens had been content with the free
possession of the Persian and Roman treasures, in the coins of
Chosroes and Caesar. By the command of that caliph, a national
mint was established, both for silver and gold, and the
inscription of the Dinar, though it might be censured by some
timorous casuists, proclaimed the unity of the God of Mahomet. ^8
Under the reign of the caliph Walid, the Greek language and
characters were excluded from the accounts of the public revenue.
^9 If this change was productive of the invention or familiar use
of our present numerals, the Arabic or Indian ciphers, as they
are commonly styled, a regulation of office has promoted the most
important discoveries of arithmetic, algebra, and the
mathematical sciences. ^10