TIMUR BEG. 
79 
overthrew their battalions, and gained an impor- 
tant post in their rear. Seeing the emperor, who 
was gazing with admiration at the valour of his foe, 
accompanied only by fifteen horsemen, Mansur rode 
up and attacked him with desperate energy. Timur, 
though armed with his scimitar only, struck the Per- 
sian twice upon his helmet with such strength that 
the latter reeled under the force of the blow : but the 
Jagatay monarch, unprotected by armour, would pro- 
bably have fallen a victim to the resolution of his 
enemy, had not an attendant raised a buckler over 
his head, while the officers by whom he was attend- 
ed repulsed his furious assailant. Meanwhile, the 
Turks, who had rallied, attacked the Persians with 
such vigour that they gave way on all sides ; then 
Mirza Shah Rukh, who, though only seventeen years 
old, had distinguished himself by his heroic bravery, 
having cut off Mansur’s retreat, took him prisoner 
and cast his head at the emperor’s feet. The de- 
lighted father received with joy the trophy of his son’s 
triumph. 
After this signal victory, the conqueror made his 
public entry into Shiraz. The treasures of Shah Man- 
sur were distributed among his nobles, and, as usual, 
a heavy ransom imposed upon the inhabitants. The 
same thing was done at Ispahan. He subsequent- 
ly ordered all the princes of the house of Mu- 
zaffer to be put to death. tc He declared,” says 
Gibbon in his usual caustic style, “ his esteem for 
the valour of a foe by extirpating all the males of 
so intrepid a race.”* Two alone escaped, who had 
* Decline and Fall, vol. i. p. 9. 
