narchies might flatter him with no lefs hopes in any attempt on' thofe
once formidable empires, either of which, had they been in their full
vigour, muft have crulhed Mohammedifm in its birth ; whereas nothing
nourifhed it more than the fuccefs the Arabians met with in their en-
terprizes againft thofe powers, which fuccels they failed not to attribute
to their new religion and the divine affiftance thereof.
The Roman empire declined apace after Conjlantine, whole fuccef-
fors were for the generality remarkable for their ill qualities, efpe-
cially cowardice and cruelty. By Mlohammeds time, the we Hern half
of the empire was overrun by the Goths-, and the eaftern fo reduced
by the Huns on the one fide, and the Perftans on the other, that it
was not in a capacity of Hemming the violence of a powerful mva-
fion. The emperor Maurice paid tribute to the Khagan or king of the
Huns -, and after Phocas had murdered his matter, fudh lamentable ha-
vock*there was among the foldiers, that when Heraclius came, not
above feven years after, to mufter the army there were only two foldiers
left alive, of all thofe who had born arms when Phocas firft
ufurped the empire. And tho’ Heraclius was a prince of admirable
courage and conduit, and had done what polfibly could be done to
reftore the difcipline of the army, and had had great fuccels againft
the Perfians, fo as to drive them not only out of his own dominions,
but even out of part of their own; yetftill the very vitals of the empire
feemed to be mortally wounded; that there could no time have happened,
more fatal to the empire, or more favourable to the enter-
prizes of the Arabs-, who feem to have been raifed up on purpofe
by G o d, to be a fcourge to the Chriftian church, for not living an-
fwerably to that moft holy religion which they had received \
The general luxury and degeneracy of manners into which the
Grecians were funk, alfo contributed pot a little to the enervating their
forces, which were ftill further drained by thofe two great deftroyers,
monachifm and perfecution. . . . .
The Perfians had alfo been in a declining condition for fome time
before Mohammed, occafioned chiefly by their inteftine broils and dif-
fenfions ; great part of which arofe from the devilifh doftrines of
Manes and Mazdak. The opinions of the former are tolerably well
known: the latter lived in the reign of Khofru Kobad, and pretended
himfelf a prophet fent from G o d to preach a community of women
and poffeffions, fence all men were brothers and defcended from the
fame common parents. This he imagined would put an end to all
1 Ockleys Hift. of the Saracens, Vol. I. p. 19, £Sc.
feuds,
feuds and quarrels among men, which generally arofe on account o f
one of the two. Kobad himfelf embraced the opinions o f this im-
poftor, to whom he gave leave, according to his new doftrine, to lie
with the queen his wife ; which permiffion Anufhirwan, his fon, with
much difficulty prevailed on Mazdak not to make ufe of. Thefe
fedts had certainly been the immediate ruin of the Perfian empire,
had not Anujhirwdn-, as foon as he fucceeded his father, put Mazdak
to death with all his followers, and the Manicheans alfo, reftoring the
ancient Magian religion K
In the reign of this prince, defervedly furnamed the J u ft, Mohammed
was born. He was the laft king of Perfia who deferved the throne,
which after him was almoft perpetually contended for, till fubverted
by the Arabs. His fon Hormuz loft the love of his fubjedts by his ex-
eeffive cruelty ; having had his eyes put out by his wife’s brothers;,
he was obliged to refign the crown to his fon Khofru Parviz, who at
the inftigation of Bahrdm Chubin had rebelled againft him, and was-
afterwards ftrangled. Parviz was fbon obliged to quit the throne to
Bahrdm; but obtaining fuccours o f the Greek emperor Maurice, he recovered
the crown : yet towards the latter end of a long reign he
grew fo tyrannical and hateful to his fubjedts, that they held'private ,
correfpondence with the Arabs -, and he was at length depofed, im-
prifoned, and flain by his fon Shiruyeh 2. After Parviz no lefs than
fix princes poflefied the throne in lefs than fix years. Thefe domeftic
broils effedtually brought ruin upon the Perfans-, for tho’ they did
rather by the weaknefs of the Greeks, than their own force, ravage
Syria and faek ferufalem and Damafcus under Khofru Parviz ; and,
while the Arabs- were divided and independent, had fome power in
the province o f Taman, where they fet up the four laft kings before
Mohammed; yet when attacked by the Greeks under Heraclius, they
not only loft their new conquefts, but part of their own dominions,
and no fooner were the Arabs united by Mohammedifm, than they beat
them in every battle, and in a few years totally fubdued them.
As thefe empires were weak and declining, fo Arabia, at Moham- 7 *'! flou'
med’s fetting up, was ftrong and flourifhing; having been peopled at j .
the expence of the Grecian empire, whence the violent proceedings of rabia.
the domineering lefts forced many to feek refuge in a free country, as
Arabia then was, where they who could not enjoy tranquillity and
their confcience at home, found a fecure retreat. The Arabians were
not only a populous nation, but unacquainted with the luxury and
’ V. Poc. Spec. p. 70. 3 V. Teixeira, -Relaeiones detos Rey.es de Perfia, p. 19;, See.
deli