Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/254

 A.D. 1038-1033 232 THE DECLINE AND FALL daring intrusion into the harem of his prince^ Seljuk was banished from Turkestan ; with a numerous tribe of his friends [at jend] and vassals^ he passed the Jaxartes, encamped in the neighbour- hood of Samarcand, embraced the religion of Mahomet/'^ and acquired the crown of martyrdom in a war against the infidels. His age, of an hundred and seven years, surpassed the life of his son, and Seljuk adopted the care of his two grandsons, Togrul [chaghar] and Jaafar ; the eldest of whom, at the age of forty-five, was in- Eeignand vested with the title of sultan, in the royal city of Nishabur. To^nJBeg"' The blind determination of chance was justified by the virtues of the successful candidate. It would be superfluous to praise the valour of a Turk ; and the ambition of Togrul -'' was equal to his valour. By his arms, the Gaznevides were expelled from the eastern kingdoms of Persia, and gradually driven to the banks of the Indus, in search of a softer and inore wealthy conquest. In the West he amiihilated the dynasty of the Bowides ; and the sceptre of Irak passed from the Persian to the Turkish nation. The princes who had felt, or who feared, the Seljukian arrows, bowed their heads in the dust ; by the conquest of Aderbijan, [AD. 1054] or Media, he approached the Roman confines ; and the shepherd presumed to dispatch an ambassador, or herald, to demand the tribute and obedience of the emperor of Constantinople.-^ In his own dominions, Togrul was the father of his soldiers and people ; by a firm and equal administration Persia was relieved from the evils of anarchy ; and the same hands which had been imbrued in blood became the guardians of justice and the public peace. The more rustic, perhaps the wisest, portion of the Turkmans -- continued to dwell in the tents of their ancestors ; the virgin mother (p. 8oi, col. 2). If they be the same as the Zalzuts of Abul- ghazi Bahader Khan (Hist. G^n&logique, p. 148), we quote in their favour the most weighty evidence of a Tartar prince himself, the descendant of Zingis, Alan- kavah, or Alancu, and Oguz Khan. 1^ [The Seljuks were possibly Christians, before they were converted to Islamism ; the names Michael, Jonas, Moses, which some of them bore, may point to this. Cp. Cahun, Intr. a I'histoire de I'Asie, p. 170.] ^f By a slight corruption, Togrul Beg is the Tangroli-pix of the Greeks. His reign and character are faithfully exhibited by d'Herbelot (Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 1027, 1028) and de Guignes (Hist, des Huns, torn. iii. p. 189-201). ^iCedrenus, tom. ii. p. 774, 775 [ii. p. 580, ed. B.]. Zonaras, torn. ii. p. 257 [xvii. 25]. With their usual know ledge of Oriental affairs, they describe the am- bassador as a sherif, who, like the syncellus of the patriarch, was the vicar and successor of the caliph. ~ From William ot Tyre, I have borrowed this distinction of Turks and Turk- mans, which at least is popular and convenient. The names are the same, and the addition of t>ia?i is of the same import in the Persic and Teutonic idioms. Few critics will adopt the etymology of James de Vitry (Hist. Hierosol. 1. i. c. 11, p. 1061), of Turcomani, quasi 2'urci et Comatii, a mixed people.