Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/117

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 97 archers of the South, the Arabs disdained the naked bravery of their ancestors. Instead of waggons, they were attended by a long train of camels, mules, and asses ; the multitude of these animals, whom they bedecked with flags and streamers, appeared to swell the pomp and magnitude of their host ; and the horses of the enemy were often disordered by the uncouth figure and odious smell of the camels of the East. Invincible by their patience of thirst and heat, their spirits were fi'ozen by a winter's cold, and the consciousness of their propensity to sleep exacted the most rigorous precautions against the sur- prises of the night. Their order of battle was a long square of two deep and solid lines : the first of archers, the second of cavalry. In their engagements by sea and land, they sus- tained with patient firmness the fury of the attack, and seldom advanced to the charge till they could discern and oppress the lassitude of their foes. But, if they were repulsed and broken, they knew not how to rally or renew the combat ; and their dismay was heightened by the superstitious prejudice that God had declared himself on the side of their enemies. The decline and fall of the caliphs countenanced this fearful opinion ; nor were there wanting, among the Mahometans and Christians, some obscure prophecies -'- which prognosticated their alternate defeats. The unity of the Arabian empire was dissolved, but the independent fragments were equal to populous and power- ful kingdoms ; and in their naval and military armaments an emir of Aleppo or Tunis might command no despicable fund of skill and industry and treasure. In their transactions of peace and war with the Saracens, the princes of Constantinople too often felt that these barbarians had nothing barbarous in their discipline ; and that, if they were destitute of original genius, they had been endowed with a quick spirit of curiosity and imitation. The model was indeed more perfect than the copy ; their ships, and engines, and fortifications were of a less skilful construction ; and they confess, without shame, that the same God, who has given a tongue to the Arabians, had more nicely fashioned the hands of the Chinese and the heads of the Greeks. ^^ "^ Liutprand (p. 484, 485 [c. 39]) relates and interprets the oracles of the Greeks and Saracens, in which, after the fashion of prophecy, the past is clear and histori- cal, the future is dark, tenigmatical, and erroneous. From this boundary of light and shade an impartial critic may commonly determine the date of the composition. loi) ; but I cannot recollect the passage in which it is conveyed by this lively apophthegm. VOL. VI. 7
 * '^The sense of this distinction is expressed by Abulpharagius (Dynast, p. 2, 62,