18 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



exert themselves in defence of the capital, then be- 

 sieged by his brother Almamoun, who was proclaim- 

 ed caliph in Khorasan. A body of 5000 mercenary 

 troops had joined his standard ; but, as he had 

 neither rich dresses nor pecuniary rewards to be- 

 stow, they were compelled to rest satisfied with a 

 fumigation of their beards over pans of civet, which 

 were supplied in great profusion by the caliph's 

 orders ; and from this species of luxury the inha- 

 bitants of Bagdad gave them in ridicule the appella- 

 tion of the Civet-corps. The head of this unfortu- 

 nate monarch, who was assassinated by a slave, 

 exhibited on the walls of Bagdad, announced to his 

 brother that he enjoyed an undivided throne. 



Almamoun, who, but for his own imprudence, 

 might have rendered his government as peaceful as it 

 was splendid, is generally regarded as the most mag- 

 nificent of the Abbassidan caliphs. At his nuptials 

 a thousand pearls of the largest size were showered on 

 the head of the bride, while gifts of lands and houses, 

 scattered in lottery-tickets among the populace, an- 

 nounced to the astonished holders the capricious pro- 

 fusion of the royal bounty. Before drawing his foot 

 from the stirrup, he gave away 2,400,000 gold dinars 

 (1,110,000), being four-fifths of the income of a 

 province. In the encouragement of literature he was 

 the Maecenas of the East. Learned men from all 

 parts of the world were invited to resort to* the court 

 of Bagdad, where their talents and their works re- 

 ceived the most distinguished tokens of imperial fa- 

 vour ; and in return, these happy scholars laboured 

 to the utmost of their power in extolling the glory of 

 their generous patron, and gratifying his taste by 

 collecting and presenting to him the most rare and 





