CHA P. people who had attained the rudiments of science * : XLII they enumerated the conquests, they offered the

friendship and military aid, of the Turks; and their sincerity was attested by direful imprecations (if they were guilty of falsehood) against their own head, and the head of Disabul their master. The Greek prince entertained with hospitable regard the ambassadors of a remote and powerful inonarch; the sight of silk-worms and looms disappointed the hopes of the Sogdoites; the emperor renounced, or seemed to renounce, the fugitive Avars, but he accepted the alliance of the Turks; and the ratification of the treaty was carried by a Roman minister to the foot of mount Altai. Uoder the successors of Justinian, the friendship of the two nations was cultivated by frequent and cordial intercourse; the most favoured vassals were permitted to imitate the example of the great khan, and one hundred and six Turks, who, on various occasions, had visited Constantinople, departed at the same time for their native country The duration and length of the journey from the Byzantine court to mount Altai, are not specified; it might have been difficult to mark a road through the nameless deserts, the mountains, rivers, and morasses of Tartary; but a curious account bas been preserved of the reception of the Roman am

a

a

bassadors at the royal camp. After they had been CHAP, purified with fire and incense, according to a rite XLII. still practised under the sons of Zingis, they were introduced to the presence of Disabul. In a val. ley of the Golden Mountain, they found the great khan in his tent, seated in a chair with wheels, to which an horse might be occasionally harnessed, As soon as they had delivered their presents, which were received by the proper officers, they exposed, in a florid oration, the wishes of the Roman emperor, that victory might attend the arins of the

, Turks, that their reign might be long and prosperous, and that a strict alliance, without envy or deçeit, might for ever be maintained between the

. two most powerful nations of the earth. The answer of Disabul corresponded with these friendly professions, and the ambassadors were seated by his side, at a banquet which lasted the greatest part of the day : the tent was surrounded with silk hangings, and a Tartar liquor was served on the table, which possessed at least ihe intoxicating qualities of wine. The entertainment of the succeeding day. was more sumptuous; the silk bangings of the second tent were embroidered in various figures; and the royal seat, the cups, and the vases, were of gold, . A third pavilion was supported by columns of gile, wood; a bed of pure and niassy gold was raised on, four peacocks of the same metal : and before the entrance of the tent, dishes, basons, and statues of solid silver, and admirable art, were ostentatiously piled in waggons, the monuments of valour rather than of industry. When Disabul led his armies against the frontiers of Persia, his Roman allies U 4

CHA P. followed many days the march of the Turkish
XLII. camp, nor were they dismissed till they had enjoyed

their precedency over the envoy of the great king,
whose loud and intemperate clamours interrupted
the silence of the royal banquet. The power and
ambition of Chosroes cemented the union of the
Turks and Romans, who touched his dominions
on either side : but those distant nations, regard.
less of each other, consulted the dictates of interest,
without recollecting the obligations of oaths and
treaties. While the successor of Disabul celebrated
his father's obsequies, he was saluted by the
ambassadors of the emperor Tiberius, who pro-
posed an invasion of Persia, and sustained with
firmness, the angry, and perhaps the just, re-
proaches of that haughty Barbarian. “You see my
“ ten fingures,” said the great khan, and he applied
them to his mouth. “ You Romans speak with
" as many tongues, but they are tongues of deceit
“ and perjury. To me you hold one language,

to my subjects another'; and the nations are suc.
« cessively deluded by your perfidious eloquence.
“ You precipitate your allies into war and danger,

you enjoy their labours, and you neglect your
benetactors. Hasten your return, inform your
master that a Turk is incapable of utter-
ing or forgiving falsehood, and that he shall

speedily meet the punishment which he de-
$ serves. While he solicits my friendship with
“ flattering and hollow words, he is sunk to a con-
“ federate of my fugitive Varconites. If I con-
“ descend to march against those contemptible
“' slaves, they will tremble at the sound of our

“ whips;

mans.

" whips; they will be trampled, like a nest of CHA P.

ants, under the feet of my innumerable cavalry. XLII. “ I am not ignorant of the road which they have “ followed to invade your empire ; nor can I be “ deceived by the vain pretence, that mount Caucasus is the impregnable barrier of the Rom

I know the course of the Niester, the " Danube, and the Hebrus ; the most warlike “ nations have yielded to the arms of the Turks ;' " and from the rising to the setting sun, the earth “ is my inheritance." Notwithstanding this menace, a sense of mutual advantage soon renewed the alliance of the Turks and Romans : but the pride of the great kban survived his resentment ; and when he announced an important conquest to his friend the emperor Maurice, he styled himself the master of the seven races, and the lord of the seven climates of the world *.

<Disputes have often 'arisen between the sove- State of reigns of Asia, for the title of king of the world ; while the contest has proved that it could not gou530 belong to either of the competitors. The kingdom of the Turks was bounded by the Oxus or Gihon ; and Touran was separated by that great river from the rival monarchy of Iran, or Persia, which, in a smaller compass, contained perhaps a larger measure of power and population. The Persians, who alternately invaded and repulsed the Turks and the Romans, were still ruled by the

CHA P. house of Sassan, which ascended the throne three XLII. hundred years before the accession of Justinian.

His contemporary, Cabades, or Kobad, had been successful in war against the emperor Anastasius : .but the reign of that prince was distracted by civil and religious troubles. A prisoner in the hands of his subjects; an exile among the enemies of Persia; he recovered his liberty by prostituing the honour of his wife, and regained his kingdom with the dangerous and mercenary aid of the Barbarians, who had slain his father. His nobles were suspl-' cious that Kobad never forgave the authors of his expulsion, or even those of his restoration. The people were deluded and inflamed by the fanaticism of Mazdak *, who asserted the community of women t, and the equality of mankind, whilst he appropriated the richest lands and most beautiful females to the use of his sectaries. The view of these disorders, which had been fomented by his laws and example f, em bittered the declining age of the Persian monarch; and his fears were increased by the consciousness of his desigò to reverse the natural and customary order of successida, in

; ?? ; {

favour

See d'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orient. p. 568. 929.); Hyde (de Religione Vet. Persarum, c. 21. p. 290, 291.); Pocock (Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 70, 71.); Eutychius (Annal. tom. ii. p. 176.); Texeira (in Stevens, Hist, of Persia, 1. i. c. 34.).

+ The fame of the new law for the community of women was soon propagated in Syria (Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. üi. p. 402.) and Greece (Procop. Persic. 1. i. c. 5.).

| He offered his own wife and sister to the prophet; but the prayers of Nushirvan saved his mother, and the indige nant monarch never forgave the humiliation to which his filial piety had stooped: pedes tuos deosculatus (said he to Mazdak), cujus fætor adhuo nares occupat (Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 71.).