32 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



nated within little more than three centuries after 

 the death of Mohammed. 



Mesopotamia, with the important cities of Mosul 

 and Aleppo, were occupied bj'- the Arabian princes 

 or sultans of the tribe of 'Hamadan. The poets of 

 their court could repeat without a blush, that nature 

 had formed their countenances for beauty, their 

 tongues for eloquence, and their hands for liberality 

 ahd valour. But their elevation and their reigii 

 were marked by scenes of treachery, murder, and 

 parricide. The wealth and dominion of the Bowides 

 and various other petty d5'-nasties, yielded in their 

 turn to the victorious arms of the first sultans of 

 Ghizni, w^hose authority, for a short period, extended 

 over a great part of Persia. But the chief glory of 

 these monarchs arose from their holy w^ars against 

 the infidels of India. Subuktagi, originally a Turk- 

 ish slave, took Oabul, and overran the fine prov- 

 ince of the Punjaub. Mahmoud inherited the ruling 

 passions of his father, — devotion to religion, and 

 love of military glory. vSensible of the import- 

 ance of such an ally, the caliph encouraged, him to 

 obtain a never-dying name in this world, and eternal 

 happiness in the next, by spreading the religion of 

 the Prophet ; and, in imitation of other popes, con- 

 ferred on him the titles of The Right Hand and 

 Protector of the Faith. The other vowed in return, 

 that his sw^ord through life should be consecrated to 

 the sendee of Islam ; and it would be difficult to 

 compute the millions whom he forced, b}'- that 

 powerful instrument of conversion, to embrace its 

 tenets. His eldest son, Musaood, was dignified by 

 the caliph with the title of The Light of Posterity 

 and The Beauty of Nations. On the second was 

 conferred the appellation of The Aim of Fortune 

 and The Column of the State. The last services of 

 Mahmoud, after subduing a considerable part of 

 India in twelve expeditions, were against the Turks, 



