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LXV.

CHAP. the ambassadors, of the Mogul, who patiently expected his decease, to revenge the crimes of the father on the feeble reign of his son Farage. The Syrian emirs 34 were assembled at Aleppo to repel the invasion: they confided in the fame and discipline of the Mamalukes, in the temper of their swords and lances of the purest steel of Damascus, in the strength of their walled cities, and in the populousness of sixty thousand villages: and instead of sustaining a siege, they threw open their gates, and arrayed their forces in the plain. But these forces were not cemented by virtue and union; and some powerful emirs had been seduced to desert or betray their more loyal companions. Timour's front was covered with a line of Indian elephants, whose turrets were filled with archers and Greek fire: the rapid evolutions of his cavalry completed the dismay and disorder; the Syrian crowds fell back on each other; many thousands were stifled or slaughtered in the entrance of the great street; the Moguls entered with the fugitives; and, after a short defence, the citadel, the impregnable citadel of Aleppo, was surrendered by cowardice or treachery. Among the suppliants and Aleppo, captives, Timour distinguished the doctors of the law, whom he invited to the dangerous honour of a personal conference.35 Nov. 11, The Mogul prince was a zealous Musulman; but his Per

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sian schools had taught him to revere the memory of Ali and Hosein; and he had imbibed a deep prejudice against the Syrians, as the enemics of the son of the daughter of the apostle of God. To these doctors he proposed a captious question, which the casuists of Bochara, Samarcand, and Herat, were incapable of resolving. "Who are the true

martyrs, of those who are slain on my side, or on that of "my enemies?" But he was silenced, or satisfied, by the dexterity of one of the cadhis of Aleppo, who replied, in the words of Mahomet himself, that the motive, not the ensign, constitutes the martyr; and that the Moslems of either par

34 For these recent and domestic transactions, Arabshah, though a partial, is a credible, witness (tem. i. c. 64...68. tom. ii. c. 1...14). Timour must have been odious to a Syrian; but the notoriety of facts would have obliged him, in some measure, to respect his enemy and himself. His bitters may correct the luscious sweets of Sherefeddin (1. v. c. 17.. 29).

35 These interesting conversations appear to have been copied by Arabshah (tom. i. c. 68. p. 625. 645.) from the cadhi and historian Ebn Schounah, a principal actor. Yet how could he be alive seventy-five years afterwards (d'Herbelot, p.792)?

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ty, who fight only for the glory of God, may deserve that sa- CHAP. cred appeilation. The true succession of the caliphs was a controversy of a still more delicate nature, and the frankness of a doctor too honest for his situation, provoked the emperor to exclaim, "Ye are as false as those of Damascus: Mo“awiyah was an usurper, Yezid a tyrant, and Ali alone is “the lawful successor of the prophet." A prudent explanation restored his tranquillity; and he passed to a more familiar topic of conversation. "What is your age?" said he to the cadhi. "Fifty years."...." It would be the age of my eld66 est son: you see me here (continued Timour) a poor, lame, "decrepit mortal. Yet by my arm has the Almighty been "pleased to subdue the kingdoms of Iran, Touran, and the “Indies. I am not a man of blood; and God is my witness, “that in all my wars I have never been the aggressor, and "that my enemies have always been the authors of their own calamity." During this peaceful conversation, the streets of Aleppo streamed with blood, and re-echoed with the cries of mothers and children, with the shrieks of violated virgins. The rich plunder that was abandoned to his soldiers might stimulate their avarice; but their cruelty was enforced by the peremptory command of producing an adequate number of heads, which, according to his custom, were cu riously piled in columns and pyramids: the Moguls celebrated the feast of victory, while the surviving Moslems passed the night in tears and in chains. I shall not dwell on the march of the destroyer from Aleppo to Damascus, where he was rudely encountered, and almost overthrown by the armies of Egypt. A retrograde motion was imputed to his distress and despair: one of his nephews deserted to the enemy; and Syria rejoiced in the tale of his defeat, when the sultan was driven by the revolt of the Mamalukes to escape with precipitation and shame to his palace of Cairo. Abandoned by their prince, the inhabitants of Damascus still defended their walls; and Timour consented to raise the siege, if they would adorn his retreat with a gift or ransom; each article of nine pieces. But no sooner had he introduced himself into the city, under colour of a truce, than he perfidiously violated the treaty; imposed a contribution of ten millions of gold; and ani- Damascus, mated his troops to chastise the posterity of those Syrians who 1401, Jahad executed, or approved, the murder of the grandson of nuary 23,

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CHAP. Mahomet. A family which had given honourable burial to LXV. the head of Hosein, and a colony of artificers whom he sent

to labour at Samarcand, were alone reserved in the general massacre; and, after a period of seven centuries, Damascus was reduced to ashes, because a Tartar was moved by religious zeal to avenge the blood of an Arab. The losses and fatigues of the campaign obliged Timour to renounce the conquest of Palestine and Egypt; but in his return to the Euphrates, he delivered Aleppo to the flames; and justified his pious motive by the pardon and reward of two thousand sectaries of Ali, who were desirous to visit the tomb of his son. I have expatiated on the personal anecdotes which mark the character of the Mogul hero; but I shall briefly mention,36 and Bag- that he erected on the ruins of Bagdad a pyramid of ninety dad, A. D. 1401, July thousand heads; again visited Georgia; encamped on the banks of Araxes; and proclaimed his resolution of marching against the Ottoman emperor. Conscious of the importance of the war, he collected his forces from every province: eight hundred thousand men were enrolled on his military list; but the splendid commands of five, and ten, thousand horse, may be rather expressive of the rank and pension of the chiefs, than of the genuine number of effective soldiers.38 In the pillage of Syria, the Moguls had acquired immense riches but the delivery of their pay and arrears for seven years, more firmly attached them to the Imperial standard.

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Anatolia,

A. D. 1402.

During this diversion of the Mogul arms, Bajazet had two years to collect his forces for a more serious encounter. They consisted of four hundred thousand horse and foot,

36 The marches and occupations of Timour between the Syrian and Ottoman wars, are represented by Sherefeddin (1. v. c. 29...43.) and Arabshah (tom. ii. c. 15...18).

37 This number of 800,000 was extracted by Arabshah, or rather by Ebn Schounah, ex rationario Timuri, on the faith of a Car zmian officer (tom. i. c. 68. p. 617); and it is remarkable enough, that a Greek historian (Phranza, 1. i. c. 29.) adds no more than 20,000 men. Poggius reckons 1,000,000; another Latin contemporary (Chron. Tarvisianum, apud Muratori, tom xix. p. 800.) 1,100,000; and the enormous sum of 1,600,000 is attested by a German soldier, who was present at the battle of Angora (Leunclav. ad Chalcondyl. 1. iii. p. 82). Timour, in his Institutions, has not deigned to calculate his troops, his subjects, or his revenues.

38 A wide latitude of non-effectives was allowed by the Great Mogul for his own pride and the benefit of his officers. Bernier's patron was Penge-Hazari, commander of 5000 horse; of which he maintained no more than 500 (Voyages, tom. i. p. 288, 289).

39 Timour himself fixes at 400,000 men the Ottoman army (Institutions, p. 153), which is reduced to 150,000 by Phranza (1. i. c. 29), and swelled by

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whose merit and fidelity were of an unequal complexion. CHAP. We may discriminate the Janizaries who have been gradually raised to an establishment of forty thousand men ; a national cavalry, the Spahis of modern times; twenty thou sand cuirassers of Europe, clad in black and impenetrable armour; the troops of Anatolia, whose princes had taken. refuge in the camp of Timour, and a colony of Tartars, whom he had driven from Kipzak, and to whom Bajazet had assigned a settlement in the plains of Adrianople. The fearless confidence of the sultan urged him to meet his antagonist; and as if he had chosen that spot for revenge, he displayed his banners near the ruins of the unfortunate Suvas. In the mean while, Timour moved from the Araxes through the countries of Armenia and Anatolia: his boldness was secured by the wisest precautions; his speed was guided by order and discipline; and the woods, the mountains, and the rivers, were diligently explored by the flying squadrons, who marked his road and preceded his standard. Firm in his plan of fighting in the heart of the Ottoman kingdom, he avoided their camp; dexterously inclined to the left; occupied Cæsarea; traversed the salt desart and the river Halyss; and invested Angora: while the sultan, immoveable and ignorant in his post, compared the Tartar swiftness to the crawling of a snail:40 he returned on the Battle of wings of indignation to the relief of Angora; and as both Angora, generals were alike impatient for action, the plains round 1402. that city were the scene of a memorable battle, which has July 28. immortalised the glory of Timour and the shame of Baja

For this signal victory, the Mogul emperor was indebted to himself, to the genius of the moment, and the discipline of thirty years. He had improved the tactics, without violating the manners, of his nation, whose force still consisted in the missile weapons, and rapid evolutions, of a numerous cavalry. From a single troop to a great army, the

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the German soldier to 1,400,000. It is evident, that the Moguls were the

more numerous.

40 It may not be useless to mark the distances between Angora and the neighbouring cities, by the journies of the caravans, each of twenty or twentyfive miles: to Smyrna xx. to Kiotahia x. to Boursa x. to Cæsarea viii. to Sinope x. to Nicomedia ix. to Constantinople xii. or xiii. (see Tournefort, Voyage au Levant, tom. ii. lettre xxi).

41 See the Systems of Tactics in the Institutions, which the English editors have illustrated with elaborate plans, p. 373...407.

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CHAP. mode of attack was the same: a foremost line first advanced to the charge, and was supported in a just order by the squadrons of the great vanguard. The general's eye watched over the field, and at his command the front and rear of the right and left wings successively moved forwards in their several divisions, and in a direct or oblique line: the enemy was pressed by eighteen or twenty attacks; and each attack afforded a chance of victory. If they all proved fruitless or unsuccessful, the occasion was worthy of the emperor himself, who gave the signal of advancing to the standard and main body, which he led in person.42 But in the battle of Angora, the main body itself was supported, on the flanks and in the rear, by the bravest squadrons of the reserve, commanded by the sons and grandsons of Timour. The conqueror of Hindostan ostentatiously shewed a line of elephants, the trophies, rather than the instruments, of victory: the use of the Greek fire was familiar to the Moguls and Ottomans: but had they borrowed from Europe the recent invention of gunpowder and cannon, the artificial thunder, in the hands of either nation, must have turned the fortune of the day.43 In that day, Bajazet displayed the qualities of a soldier and a chief: but his genius sunk under a stronger ascendant; and from various motives the greatest part of his troops failed him in the decisive moment. His rigour and avarice had provoked a mutiny among the Turks; and even his son Soliman too hastily withdrew from the field. The forces of Anatolia, loyal in their revolt, were drawn away to the banners of their lawful princes. His Tartar allies had been tempted by the letters and emissaries of Timour;44 who reproached their ignoble servitude under the slaves of their fathers; and offered to their hopes the dominion of their new, or the liberty of their ancient, country.

42 The sultan himself (says Timour) must then put the foot of courage into the stirrup of patience. A Tartar metaphor, which is lost in the English, but preserved in the French, version of the Institutes (p. 156, 157).

43 The Greek fire, on Timour's side, is attested by Sherefeddin (1. v. c. 47); but Voltaire's strange suspicion, that some cannon, inscribed with strange characters, must have been sent by that monarch to Dehli, is refuted by the universal silence of contemporaries..

44 Timour has dissembled this secret and important negociation with the Tartars, which is indisputably proved by the joint evidence of the Arabian (tom. i. c. 47. p. 391), Turkish (Annal. Leunclav. p. 321), and Persian historians (Khondemir, apud d'Herbelot, p. 882).

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