easy obedience that pervaded
the government of Augustus and the Antonines; but the progress of the
Mahometan religion diffused over this ample space a general resemblance
of manners and opinions. The language and laws of the Koran were studied
with equal devotion at Samarcand and Seville: the Moor and the Indian
embraced as countrymen and brothers in the pilgrimage of Mecca; and the
Arabian language was adopted as the popular idiom in all the provinces
to the westward of the Tigris.

Chapter LII: More Conquests By The Arabs.--Part I.

The Two Sieges Of Constantinople By The Arabs.--Their
Invasion Of France, And Defeat By Charles Martel.--Civil War
Of The Ommiades And Abbassides.--Learning Of The Arabs.--
Luxury Of The Caliphs.--Naval Enterprises On Crete, Sicily,
And Rome.--Decay And Division Of The Empire Of The Caliphs.--
Defeats And Victories Of The Greek Emperors.

When the Arabs first issued from the desert, they must have been
surprised at the ease and rapidity of their own success. But when they
advanced in the career of victory to the banks of the Indus and the
summit of the Pyrenees; when they had repeatedly tried the edge of their
cimeters and the energy of their faith, they might be equally astonished
that any nation could resist their invincible arms; that any boundary
should confine the dominion of the successor of the prophet. The
confidence of soldiers and fanatics may indeed be excused, since the
calm historian of the present hour, who strives to follow the rapid
course of the Saracens, must study to explain by what means the church
and state were saved from this impending, and, as it should seem, from
this inevitable, danger. The deserts of Scythia and Sarmatia might be
guarded by their extent, their climate, their poverty, and the courage
of the northern shepherds; China was remote and inaccessible; but
the greatest part of the temperate zone was subject to the Mahometan
conquerors, the Greeks were exhausted by the calamities of war and the
loss of their fairest provinces, and the Barbarians of Europe might
justly tremble at the precipitate fall of the Gothic monarchy. In this
inquiry I shall unfold the events that rescued our ancestors of Britain,
and our neighbors of Gaul, from the civil and religious yoke of the
Koran; that protected the majesty of Rome, and delayed the servitude
of Constantinople; that invigorated the defence of the Christians, and
scattered a