Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/453

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 431 of Baalbec, invisible to the writers of antiquity, excite the curiosity and wonder of the European traveller. ^^ The measure of the temple is two hundred feet in length, and one hundred in breadth ; the front is adorned with a double portico of eight columns ; fourteen may be counted on either side ; and each column, forty-five feet in height, is composed of three massy blocks of stone or marble. The proportions and ornaments of the Corinthian order express the architecture of the Greeks ; but, as Baalbec has never been the seat of a monarch, we are at a loss to conceive how the expense of these magnificent structures could be supplied by private or municipal liberality. ^^ From the conquest of Damascus the Saracens proceeded to Heliopolis and Emesa : but I shall decline the repetition of the sallies and ^g*!?,^*''*"- combats which have been already shewn on a larger scale. In the prosecution of the war, their policy was not less effectual than their sword. By short and separate truces they dissolved the union of the enemy ; accustomed the Syrians to compare their friendship with their enmity ; familiarised the idea of their language, religion, and manners ; and exhausted, by clandestine purchase, the magazines and arsenals of the cities which they returned to besiege. They aggravated the ransom of the more wealthy or the more obstinate ; and Chalcis alone was taxed at five thousand ounces of gold, five thousand ounces of silver, two thousand robes of silk, and as many figs and olives as would load five thousand asses. But the terms of truce or capitulation were faithfully observed ; and the lieutenant of the caliph, who had promised not to enter the walls of the captive Baalbec, remained tranquil and immoveable in his tent till the jarring factions soli- cited the interposition of a foreign master. The conquest of the plain and valley of Syria was achieved in less than two years.*'' Eustathius, I must, with Fabricius (Bibliot. Latin, torn. iii. p. 153, edit. Ernesti), and against Salmasius (ad Vopiscum, p. 366, 367, in Hist. August.), ascribe them to the fancy rather than the Mss. of Avienus. 85 1 am much better satisfied with Maundrell's slight octavo (Journey, p. 134-139) than with the pompous folio of Doctor Pocock (Description of the East, vol. ii. p. 100-113) ; but every preceding account is eclipsed by the magnificent description and drawings of MM. Dawkins and Wood, who have transported into England the ruins of Palmyra and Baalbec. 88 The orientals explain the prodigy by a never-failing expedient. The edifices of Baalbec were constructed by the fairies or the genii (Hist, de Timour Bee, tom. iii. 1. v. c. 23, p. 311, 312. Voyage d'Otter, tom. i. p. 83). With less absurdity, but with equal ignorance, Abulfeda and Ibn Chaukel ascribe them to the Saboeans or Aadites. Non sunt in omni SyriS. sedificia magnificentiora his (Tabula Syriae, P- 103). ^''[Ockley, whom Gibbon is following, places the occupation of Emesa and Heliopohs early in 637, vol. i. p. 181, 191.]