Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/21

 THE HISTOEY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE CHAPTER LII The two Sieges of Constantinople by the Arabs — Their Invasion of France, and Defeat by Charles Mart el — Civil War of the Ommiades and Abbussides — Learning of the Arabs — Luxury of the Caliphs — Naval Enterprises on Crete, Sicily, and Rome — Decay and Division of the Empire of the Caliphs — Defeats and Victories of the Greek Emperors When the Arabs first issued from the desert, they must have T^e umits of been surprised at the ease and rapidity of their own success, conquest'*" But, when they advanced in the career of victory to the banks of the Indus and the summit of the Pyrenees, when they had repeatedly tried the edge of their scymetars and the energy of their faith, they might be equally astonished that any nation could resist their invincible arms, that any boundary should con- fine the dominion of the successor of the prophet. The confidence of soldiers and fanatics may indeed be excused, since the calm historian of the present hour, who strives to follow the rapid course of the Saracens, must study to explain by what means the church and state were saved from this impending and, as it should seem, from this inevitable danger. The deserts of Scythia and Sarmatia might be guarded by their extent, their climate, their poverty, and the courage of the northern shepherds ; China was remote and inaccessible ; but the greatest part of the temperate zone was subject to the Mahometan conquerors, the Greeks were exliausted by the calamities of war and the loss of their fairest provinces, and the barbarians of Europe might justly tremble at the precipitate fall of the Gothic monarchy. In this inquiry I shall unfold the events that rescued our ancestors of Britain, and our neighbours of Gaul, from the civil and VOL. VI. 1