ier, (Alexias, l. vi. p. 177, 178.)]

Chapter LVII: The Turks.--Part III.

The greatness and unity of the Turkish empire expired in the person of
Malek Shah. His vacant throne was disputed by his brother and his
four sons; [461] and, after a series of civil wars, the treaty which
reconciled the surviving candidates confirmed a lasting separation in
the Persian dynasty, the eldest and principal branch of the house of
Seljuk. The three younger dynasties were those of Kerman, of Syria, and
of Roum: the first of these commanded an extensive, though obscure, [47]
dominion on the shores of the Indian Ocean: [48] the second expelled
the Arabian princes of Aleppo and Damascus; and the third, our peculiar
care, invaded the Roman provinces of Asia Minor. The generous policy
of Malek contributed to their elevation: he allowed the princes of
his blood, even those whom he had vanquished in the field, to seek
new kingdoms worthy of their ambition; nor was he displeased that they
should draw away the more ardent spirits, who might have disturbed the
tranquillity of his reign. As the supreme head of his family and nation,
the great sultan of Persia commanded the obedience and tribute of his
royal brethren: the thrones of Kerman and Nice, of Aleppo and Damascus;
the Atabeks, and emirs of Syria and Mesopotamia, erected their standards
under the shadow of his sceptre: [49] and the hordes of Turkmans
overspread the plains of the Western Asia.

After the death of Malek, the bands of union and subordination were
relaxed and finally dissolved: the indulgence of the house of Seljuk
invested their slaves with the inheritance of kingdoms; and, in the
Oriental style, a crowd of princes arose from the dust of their feet.
[50]

[Footnote 461: See Von Hammer, Osmanische Geschichte, vol. i. p. 16. The
Seljukian dominions were for a time reunited in the person of Sandjar,
one of the sons of Malek Shah, who ruled "from Kashgar to Antioch, from
the Caspian to the Straits of Babelmandel."--M.]

[Footnote 47: So obscure, that the industry of M. De Guignes could only
copy (tom. i. p. 244, tom. iii. part i. p. 269, &c.) the history, or
rather list, of the Seljukides of Kerman, in Bibliotheque Orientale.
They were extinguished before the end of the xiith century.]

[Footnote 48: Tavernier, perhaps the only traveller who has visited
Kerman, describes the capital as a great ruinous village, twenty-five
days' journey from Ispahan, and twenty-seven f