sons, and my neglect has been deservedly punished.
Yesterday, as from an eminence, I beheld the numbers, the discipline,
and the spirit of my armies; the earth seemed to tremble under my feet,
and I said in my heart, Surely thou art the king of the world, the
greatest and most invincible of warriors. These armies are no longer
mine; and, in the confidence of my personal strength, I now fall by the
hand of an assassin." On his tomb was engraven an inscription, conceived
in a similar spirit. "O ye, who have seen the glory of Alp Arslan
exalted to the heavens, repair to Maru, and you will behold it buried in
the dust."[42] Alp Arslan was adorned with great natural qualities both
of intellect and of soul. He was brave and liberal: just, patient, and
sincere: constant in his prayers, diligent in his alms, and, it is
added, witty in his conversation;--but his gifts availed him not.

3. It often happens in the history of states and races, in which there
is found first a rise and then a decline, that the greatest glories take
place just then when the reverse is beginning or begun. Thus, for
instance, in the history of the Ottoman Turks, to which I have not yet
come, Soliman the Magnificent is at once the last and greatest of a
series of great Sultans. So was it as regards this house of Seljuk.
Malek Shah, the son of Alp Arslan, the third sovereign, in whom its
glories ended, is represented to us in history in colours so bright and
perfect, that it is difficult to believe we are not reading the account
of some mythical personage. He came to the throne at the early age of
seventeen; he was well-shaped, handsome, polished both in manners and in
mind; wise and courageous, pious and sincere. He engaged himself even
more in the consolidation of his empire than in its extension. He
reformed abuses; he reduced the taxes; he repaired the high roads,
bridges, and canals; he built an imperial mosque at Bagdad; he founded
and nobly endowed a college. He patronised learning and poetry, and he
reformed the calendar. He provided marts for commerce; he upheld the
pure administration of justice, and protected the helpless and the
innocent. He established wells and cisterns in great numbers along the
road of pilgrimage to Mecca; he fed the pilgrims, and distributed
immense sums among the poor.

He was in every respect a great prince; he extended his conquests across
Sogdiana to the very borders of China. He subdued by his lieutenants
Syria and