still subsist a distinct people, and inhabit the country of their pro genitors, notwithstanding the perpetual enmity between them and the rest of mankind. It may be said perhaps that the country was not worth conquering, and its barrenness was its preservation: but this is a mistake, for by all accounts, though the greater part of it be sandy and barren deserts, yet here and there are interspersed beautiful spots and fruitful vallies. One part of the country was anciently known and distinguished by the name of 'Arabia the happy.' And now the proper Arabia is by the oriental writers generally divided into five provinces. Of these the chief is the province of Yaman, which, as a learned writer asserts upon good authorities, "has been famous from all antiquity for the happiness of its climate, its fertility and riches. The delightfulness and plenty of Yaman are owing to its mountains; for all that part which lies along the Red Sea, is a dry barren desert, in some places ten or twelve leagues over, but in return bounded by those mountains, which being well watered, enjoy an almost continual spring, and besides coffee, the peculiar produce of this country, yield great plenty and variety of fruits, and in particular excellent corn, grapes, and spices. The soil of the other provinces is much more barren than that of Yaman; the greater part of their territories being covered with dry sands, or rising into rocks, interspersed here and there with some fruitfu! spots, which receive their greatest advantages from their water and palm trees." But if the country was ever so bad, one would think it should be for the interest of the neighbouring princes and states at any hazard to root out such a pestilent race of robbers: and actually it hath several times been attempted, but never accomplished. They have from first to last. maintained their independence, and notwithstanding the most powerful efforts for their destruction, still dwell in the presence of all their brethren, and in the presence of all their enemies. We find that in the time of Moses, they were grown up into 'twelve princes according to their nations,'---Gen. xxv. 16; 'and they dwelt,' saith Moses, ver, 18, from Havilah unto Shur, that is, before Egypt, as thou goest towards Assyria:' but yet we do not find that they were ever subject to either of their powerful neighbours, the Egyptians or Assyrians. The conquests of Sesostris, the great king of Egypt, are much magnified by Diodorus Siculus; and probably he night subdue some of the western provinces of Arabia bordering upon Egypt, but he was obliged, as Sale's Prelim. Discourse to the Koran, p. 2 Diodorus informs us,* to draw a line from Heliopolis to Pelusium, to secure Egypt from the incursions of the Arabs. They were therefore not subjects, but enemies to the Egyptians; as they were likewise to the Assyrians, for they assisted Belesis and Arbaces in overturning that empire, assisted them not as fellow rebels, but as an independent state with their auxiliary forces.† The next great conquerors of the East were Cyrus and the Persians; but neither he nor any of his successors ever reduced the whole body of the Arabs to subjection. They might conquer some of the exterior, but never reached the interior parts of the country: and Herodotus, the historian, who lived nearest to those times, saith expressly, that," the Arabs were never reduced by the Persians to the condition of subjects, but were considered by them as friends, and opened to them a passage into Egypt, which without the assistance and permission of the Arabs would have been utterly impracticable;" and in another place he saith, that "while Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, and the neighbouring countries were taxed, the Arabian territories continued free from paying any tribute."§ They were then regarded as friends, but afterwards they assisted with their forces Amyrtæus, king of Egypt, against Darius Nothus,|| and Euagoras, king of Cyprus, against Artaxerxes Mnemon :¶ so that they acted as friends or enemies to the Persians, just as they thought proper, and as it suited their humour or their interest. Alexander the Great then overturned the Persian empire, and conquered Asia. The neighbouring princes sent their ambassadors to make their submission. The Arabs alone disdained to acknowledge the conqueror and scorned to send any embassy, or to take * Diod. Sic. lib. 1, p. 36, edit. Stephan.; p. 52, edit. Rhodomani. + Diod. Sic. lib. 2, p. 79, edit. Steph.; p. 111, edit. Rhod. † Αραβίοι δε έδαμα κατήκεσαν ἐπι δηλοσυνη Πέρσησι, άλλα ξεινοι ἐγενοντο, παρενιες Καμπ Ευσεα επ' Αίγυπτοι ἀεκονίων γαρ 'Αραβίων, ἐκ ἂν ἐσβαλλοιεν Πέρσαι εἰς Αἰγυπίον. Arabes nunquam a Persis in servitutem redacti sunt, sed hospites extiterunt; quum Cambysi aditum in Ægyptum permisissent: quibus invitis haudquaquam fuissent ingressi Persæ Ægyptum.-Herod. lib. 3, sect. 88, p. 198. Edit. Gale. [Translated in the text.] § Ibid. sect. 91, p, 199.------πλην μοιρης της Αραβίων, (ταυτα γαρ ἦν ἀτελεα)---... præter Arabum partem (hæc enim erat immunis.) [Except the territory of the Ara bians, which was exempt from paying tribute.] Diodorus Siculus, lib. 13, p. 355, edit. Stephani; tom. 2, p. 172, edit. Rhodomani. Prideaux Connect. part 1, b. 6. Anno 410. ¶ Diodorus Siculus, lib. 15, p. 459, edit. Stephani; tom. 2, p. 328, edit. Rhodomani Prideaux Connect. part 1, b. 7. Anno 386. any notice of him.* This slight provoked him to such a degree, that he meditated an expedition against them; and the great preparations which he made for it, shewed that he thought them a very formidable enemy: but death intervened, and put an end to all that his ambition or resentment had formed against then. Thus they happily escaped the fury of his arms, and were never subdued by any of his successors. Antigonus, one of the greatest of his successors, made two attempts upon them, one by his general Athenæus, and the other by his own son Demetrius, but both without success; the former was defeated, and the latter was glad to make peace with them, and leave them at their liberty. Neither would they suffer the people employed by Antigonus to gather the bitumen on the lake Asphaltites, whereby he hoped greatly to increase his revenue. The Arabs fiercely attacked the workmen and the guards, and forced them to desist from their undertaking. So true is the assertion of Diodorus, that "neither the Assyrians formerly, nor the kings of the Medes and Persians, nor yet of the Macedonians, were able to subdue them; nay, though they led many and great forces against them, yet they could not accomplish their attempts." We find them afterwards sometimes at peace, and sometimes at war with their neighbouring states; sometimes joining the Syrians, and sometimes the Egyptians; sometimes assisting the Jews, and sometimes plundering them; and in all respects acting like a free people, who neither feared nor courted any foreign power whatever. The Romans then invaded the east, and subdued the countries adjoining, but were never able to reduce Arabia into the form of a Roman province. It is too common with historians to say that such. or such a country was conquered, when perhaps only a part of it was so. It is thus that Plutarch asserts that the Arabs submitted to Lucullus; whereas the most that we can believe is, that he Strabo, lib. 16, p. 1076 & 1132, edit. Amstel. 1707. Arrian. lib. 7, p. 300, edit. Gronovii. + Diodorus Siculus, lib. 19, p. 722, &c. edit. Stephani; tom. 2, p 730, edit. Rhodomani. † ἐθ' οἱ ̓Ασσύριοι το παλαιον, εθ' οἱ Μήδων ται Περσων έτι δε Μακεδόνων βασιλεις ηδυνήθησαν αύτες καταδελωσασθαι, πολλας με, και μεγάλας δυνάμεις ἐπ' αὐτες άγαγοντες, έδεποτε δε τας ἐπιβολας συντελεσαντες. Nec Assyrii olim, nec Medi ac Persæ, imo nec Macedonum reges subigere illos potuere; qui licet magnis in eos copiis moverint, nunquam tamen incepta ad finem perduxere.---Diod. Sic. lib. 2, p. 92, edit. Steph.; p. 131, edit. Rhod. [Translated in the text.] Plutarch in Lucullo passim. might subdue some particular tribes; but he was recalled and the command of the Roman army in Asia was given to Pompey. Pompey, though he triumphed over the three parts of the world, could not yet conquer Arabia. He carried his arms into the country, obtained some victories, and compelled Aretas to submit ; but other affairs soon obliged him to retire, and by retiring he lost all the advantages which he had gained. His forces were no sooner withdrawn, than the Arabs made their incursions again into the Roman provinces.* Ælius Gallus in the reign of Augustus penetrated far into the country, but a strange distemper made terrible havoc in his army, and after two years spent in this unfortunate expedition, he was glad to escape with the small remainder of his forces. The emperor Trajan reduced some parts of Arabia, but he could never subdue it entirely: and when he besieged the city of the Hagerenes, as Dion says, his "soldiers were repelled by lightnings, thunderings, hail, whirlwinds, and other prodigies, and were constantly so repelled, as often as they renewed their assaults. At the same time great swarms of flies infested his camp; so that he was forced at last to raise the siege, and retired with disgrace into his own dominions." About eighty years after, the emperor Severus twice besieged the same city with a numerous army and a formidable train of military engines; but he had no better success than Trajan. “God,” says the heathen historian, "preserved the city by the backwardness of the emperor at one time, and by that of his forces at another."§ He made some assaults, but was baffled and defeated, and returned with precipitation as great as his vexation for his disappointment. And if such great emperors and ab. warriors as Trajan and Se • Plutarch in Pompeio, p. 640, &c. edit Paris. 1624. + Strabo, lib. 16, p. 1126, edit. Amstel. 1707. Dion. Cassius, lib. 53, p. 516, edit Leunclav. Hanov. 1606. Dion calls him by mistake Ælius Largus. * Έγινοντο δε βρονται, και ίριδες ὑπεφαίνοντο, ἀσραπαι τε και ζαλη, χαλαζα και κεραυνού τοις ̔Ρωμαίοις ἐνέπιπτον, όποτε προσβάλοιεν και όποτε ἐν δειπνοιεν, μυϊαι τοις βρώμασι και τοις πομασι προσιζανεσαι, δυσχέρειας άπαντα ἐνεπιμπλων. και Τραϊανος μεν ἐκεῖθεν όπως a. Ibi cœlum tonitru contremuit, irides visæ sunt, falgura, procellæ, grando, fulmina in Romanos cadebant, quoties in illos impetum facerent; quotiesque cœnarent, muscæ tam esculentis quam potulentis insidentes, cuncta nausea quadam implebant. Itaque Trajanus inde proficiscitur.-Dionis, Hist. lib. 68, p. 785, edit. Leunclav. Hanov. 1606. [Translated in the text.] 5 Και έτω θεος ὁ φυσάμενος την πολιν, της μεν σρατιώτας δυνηθέντας ἂν εἰς αὐτην εἰσελθεῖν, δια το Σεβήρω ἀνεκάλεσε, και τον Σεβήρον αὖ βοληθεντα αὐτην μετα τετο λαβείν, δια των spаTIWTWY ixwhvory. Itaque Deus urbem liberavit, qui per Severum revocavit milites, quum possent in ipsam ingredi; et Severum cupientem eandem postca capere, per milites prohibuit.-—Ibid. lib. 75, p. 855. [Translated in the text] verus could not succeed in their attempts, it is no wonder that the following emperors could prevail nothing. The Arabs continued their incursions and depredations, in Syria and other Roman provinces, with equal license and impunity. Such was the state and condition of the Arabs to the time of their famous prophet Mohammed, who laid the foundations of a mighty empire; and then for several centuries they were better known among the European nations by the name of the Sarraceni or Saracens, the Arraceni of Pliny,* and the Hagarenes† of holy scripture. Their conquests were indeed amazingly rapid; they can be compared to nothing more properly than to a sudden flood or inundation. In a few years the Saracens overran more countries, and subdued more people, than the Romans did in several centuries. They were then not only free and independent of the rest of the world, but were themselves masters of the most considerable parts of the earth. And so they continued for about three centuries; and after their empire was dissolved, and they were reduced within the limits of their native country, they still maintained their liberty against the Tartars, Mamelucs, Turks, and all foreign enemies whatever. Whoever were the conquerors of Asia, they were still unconquered, still continued their incursions and preyed upon all alike. The Turks have now for several centuries been lords of the adjacent countries; but they have been so little able to restrain the depredations of the Arabs, that they have been obliged to pay them a sort of annual tribute for the safe passage and security of the pilgrims, who usually go in great companies to Mecca; so that the Turks have rather been dependent upon them, than they upon the Turks. And they still continue the same practices, and preserve the same superiority, if we may believe the concurrent testimony of modern travellers of all nations. Two of our own nation have lately travelled into those parts, and have written and published their travels, both men of litera * Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 6, cap. 32, ubi vide notam Harduini. † Hagarenes, the descendants of Ishmael. They are called also Ishmaelites and Saracens, &c.-Calmet's Dict. The Saracens began their conquests A. D. 622, and to reign at Damascus A.D. 637. Their empire was broken and divided A. D. 936. See Dr. Blair's Chronc Tables, tab. 33 and 39; and Sir Isaac Newton on the Apocalypse, chap. 3, p 304, 305. § See Thevenot in Harris, vol. 2, book 2, chap 9; and Demetrius Cantemir's Hist of the Othman empire in Ahmed, II, p. 393. |