ed by the triumph of
the Fatimites, the real or spurious progeny of Ali. Arising from the
extremity of Africa, these successful rivals extinguished, in Egypt and
Syria, both the spiritual and temporal authority of the Abbassides; and
the monarch of the Nile insulted the humble pontiff on the banks of the
Tigris.

[Footnote 108: Hic est ultimus chalifah qui multum atque saepius pro
concione peroraret.... Fuit etiam ultimus qui otium cum eruditis et
facetis hominibus fallere hilariterque agere soleret. Ultimus tandem
chalifarum cui sumtus, stipendia, reditus, et thesauri, culinae,
caeteraque omnis aulica pompa priorum chalifarum ad instar comparata
fuerint. Videbimus enim paullo post quam indignis et servilibius
ludibriis exagitati, quam ad humilem fortunam altimumque contemptum
abjecti fuerint hi quondam potentissimi totius terrarum Orientalium
orbis domini. Abulfed. Annal. Moslem. p. 261. I have given this passage
as the manner and tone of Abulfeda, but the cast of Latin eloquence
belongs more properly to Reiske. The Arabian historian (p. 255, 257,
261-269, 283, &c.) has supplied me with the most interesting facts of
this paragraph.]

[Footnote 109: Their master, on a similar occasion, showed himself of a
more indulgent and tolerating spirit. Ahmed Ebn Hanbal, the head of one
of the four orthodox sects, was born at Bagdad A. H. 164, and died there
A. H. 241. He fought and suffered in the dispute concerning the creation
of the Koran.]

[Footnote 110: The office of vizier was superseded by the emir al Omra,
Imperator Imperatorum, a title first instituted by Radhi, and which
merged at length in the Bowides and Seljukides: vectigalibus, et
tributis, et curiis per omnes regiones praefecit, jussitque in omnibus
suggestis nominis ejus in concionibus mentionem fieri, (Abulpharagius,
Dynart. p 199.) It is likewise mentioned by Elmacin, (p. 254, 255.)]

In the declining age of the caliphs, in the century which elapsed after
the war of Theophilus and Motassem, the hostile transactions of the two
nations were confined to some inroads by sea and land, the fruits of
their close vicinity and indelible hatred. But when the Eastern world
was convulsed and broken, the Greeks were roused from their lethargy
by the hopes of conquest and revenge. The Byzantine empire, since the
accession of the Basilian race, had reposed in peace and dignity; and
they might encounter with their entire strength the front of some petty
emir, whose rear w