Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/399

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 377 chastisement the valour of his servants. In the exercise of poHtical government^ he was compelled to abate of the stern rigour of fanaticism^ to comply in some measure with the preju- dices and passions of his followers, and to employ even the vices of mankind as the instruments of their salvation. The use of fraud and perfidy, of cruelty and injustice, were often subservient to the propagation of the faith ; and Mahomet commanded or approved the assassination of the Jews and idolaters who had escaped from the field of battle. By the repetition of such acts, the character of Mahomet must have been gradually stained ; and the influence of such pernicious habits would be poorly compensated by the practice of the personal and social virtues which are necessary to maintain the reputation of a prophet among his sectaries and friends. Of his last years, ambition was the ruling passion ; and a politician will suspect that he secretly smiled (the victorious impostor !) at the enthusiasm of his youth and the credulity of his proselytes, i'^*' A philosopher will observe that their cruelty and his succ_sc would tend more strongly to fortify the assurance of his divine mission, that his interest and religion wei-e inseparably connected, and that his conscience would be soothed by the persuasion that he alone was absolved by the Deity from the obligation of positive and moral laws. Jf he retained ;iny vestige of his native innocence, the sins of Mahomet may be allowed as an evidence of his sincerity. In the support of truth, the arts of fraud and fiction may be deemed less criminal ; and he would have started at the foulness of the means, had he not been satisfied of the importance and justice of the end. Even in a conqueror or a priest, I can surprise a word or action of unaffected humanity ; and the decree of Mahomet that, in the sale of captives, the mothers should never be separated from their children may suspend or moderate the censure of the historian. ^*^^ The good sense of Mahomet ^^"^ despised the pomp of royalty; PnvateUfe 1^8 In some passage of his voluminous writings, Voltaire compares the prophet, in his old age, to a fakir : " qui d^tache la chaine de son cou pour en donner sur les oreilles a ses confreres ". 169 Gagnier relates, with the same impartial pen, this humane law of the prophet, and the murders of Caab, and Sophian, which he prompted and approved (Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 69, 97, 208). 1™ For the domestic life of Mahomet, consult Gagnier, and the corresponding chapters of Abulfeda, for his diet (tom. iii. p. 285-288), his children (p. 189, 289), his wives (p. 290-303), his marriage with Zeineb (tom. ii. p. 152-160), his amour with Mary (p. 303-309), the false accusation of Ayesha (p. 186-199). The most ori- ginal evidence of the three last transactions is contained in the .xxivth, .x.iiird and