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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 427 troops, who, with pointed spears and bended bows, had formed a circle round the captive multitude. The second class, com- posed of the young and beautiful women, of the artificers of every rank and profession, and of the more wealthy or honour- able citizens, from whom a private ransom might be expected, was distributed in equal or proportionable lots. The remainder, whose life or death was alike useless to the conquerors, were permitted to return to the city ; which, in the meanwhile, had been stripped of its valuable furniture ; and a tax Avas imposed on those wretched inhabitants for the indulgence of breathing their native air. Such was the behaviour of the Moguls, when they were not conscious of any extraordinary rigour.^* But the most casual provocation, the slightest motive of caprice or convenience, often provoked them to involve a whole people in an indiscriminate massacre ; and the ruin of some flourishing cities was executed with such unrelenting perseverance that, according to their own expression, horses might run, without stumbling, over the ground where they had once stood. The three great capitals of Khorasan, Maru, Neisabour, and Herat, were destroyed by the armies of Zingis ; and the exact account which was taken of the slain amounted to four millions three hundred and forty-seven thousand persons.-^ Timur, or Tamer- lane, was educated in a less barbarous age, and in the profession of the Mahometan religion ; yet, if Attila equalled the hostile ravages of Tamerlane, -'^ either the Tartar or the Hun might deserve the epithet of the Scourge of God.^" It may be affirmed, with bolder assurance, that the Huns de- state of populated the provinces of the empire, by the number of Roman -■^ Particular instances would be endless ; but the curious reader may consult the life of Gengiscan, by Petit de la Croix, the Histoire des Mongous, and the fifteenth book of the History of the Huns. 25 At Maru, 1,300,000; at Herat, 1,600,000 ; at Neisabour, 1,747,000. D'Herbe- lot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 380, 381. I use the orthography of d'Anville's maps. It must, however, be allowed that the Persians were disposed to exaggerate their losses, and the Moguls to magnify their e.xploits. 26 Cherefeddin Ali, his servile panegyrist, would afford us many horrid examples. In his camp before Delhi, Timur massacred 100,000 Indian prisoners, who had smiled when the army of their countrymen appeared in sight (Hist, de Timur Bee, tom. iii. p. 90). The people of Ispahan supplied 70,000 human sculls for the structure of several lofty towers (id. tom. i. p. 434). A similar tax was levied on the revolt of Bagdad (tom. iii. p. 370) ; and the exact account, which Cherefeddin was not able to procure from the proper officers, is stated by another historian (Ahmed Arabsiada, tom. ii. p. 175, vers. Manger) at 90,000 heads. 2* The ancients, Jornandes, Priscus, &c. are ignorant of this epithet. The modern Hungarians have imagined that it was applied, by a hermit of Gaul, to Attila, who was pleased to insert it among the titles of his royal dignity. Mascou, ix. 23, and Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, torn. vi. p. 143.