ans to the
Greeks, and we know what was the result of the collision between Greece
and Rome. The Persians were poets, the Saracens were philosophers. The
mathematics, astronomy, and botany were especial subjects of the studies
of the latter. Their observatories were celebrated, and they may be
considered to have originated the science of chemistry. The Turks, on
the other hand, though they are said to have a literature, and though
certain of their princes have been patrons of letters, have never
distinguished themselves in exercises of pure intellect; but they have
had an energy of character, a pertinacity, a perseverance, and a
political talent, in a word, they then had the qualities of mind
necessary for ruling, in far greater measure, than the people they were
serving. The Saracens, like the Greeks, carried their arms over the
surface of the earth with an unrivalled brilliancy and an unchequered
success; but their dominion, like that of Greece, did not last for more
than 200 or 300 years. Rome grew slowly through many centuries, and its
influence lasts to this day; the Turkish race battled with difficulties
and reverses, and made its way on amid tumult and complication, for a
good 1,000 years from first to last, till at length it found itself in
possession of Constantinople, and a terror to the whole of Europe. It
has ended its career upon the throne of Constantine; it began it as the
slave and hireling of the rulers of a great empire, of Persia and
Sogdiana.

3.

As to Sogdiana, we have already reviewed one season of power and then in
turn of reverse which there befell the Turks; and next a more remarkable
outbreak and its reaction mark their presence in Persia. I have spoken
of the formidable force, consisting of Turks, which formed the guard of
the Caliphs immediately after the time of Harun al Raschid:--suddenly
they rebelled against their master, burst into his apartment at the hour
of supper, murdered him, and cut his body into seven pieces. They got
possession of the symbols of imperial power, the garment and the staff
of Mahomet, and proceeded to make and unmake Caliphs at their pleasure.
In the course of four years they had elevated, deposed, and murdered as
many as three. At their wanton caprice, they made these successors of
the false prophet the sport of their insults and their blows. They
dragged them by the feet, stripped them, and exposed them to the burning
sun, beat them with iron clubs, and left