History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5Gibbon, Edward
History
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 5
Gibbon, Edward
Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
citron-wood, and the shores of the ocean for the purple shell-fish.
The fearless Akbah plunged into the heart of the country, traversed the
wilderness in which his successors erected the splendid capitals of Fez
and Morocco, and at length penetrated to the verge of the Atlantic and
the great desert. The river Sus descends from the western sides of Mount
Atlas, fertilizes, like the Nile, the adjacent soil, and falls into the
sea at a moderate distance from the Canary, or Fortunate Islands.
Its banks were inhabited by the last of the Moors, a race of savages,
without laws, or discipline, or religion; they were astonished by the
strange and irresistible terrors of the Oriental arms; and as they
possessed neither gold nor silver, the riches spoil was the beauty of
the female captives, some of whom were afterwards sold for a thousand
pieces of gold. The career, though not the zeal, of Akbah was checked by
the prospect of a boundless ocean. He spurred his horse into the waves,
and raising his eyes to heaven, exclaimed with a tone of a fanatic,
"Great God! if my course were not stopped by this sea, I would still go
on, to the unknown kingdoms of the West, preaching the unity of thy holy
name, and putting to the sword the rebellious nations who worship any
other Gods than thee." Yet this Mahometan Alexander, who sighed for new
worlds, was unable to preserve his recent conquests. By the universal
defection of the Greeks and Africans, he was recalled from the shores of
the Atlantic, and the surrounding multitudes left him only the resource
of an honorable death. The last scene was dignified by an example of
national virtue. An ambitious chief, who had disputed the command and
failed in the attempt, was led about as a prisoner in the camp of
the Arabian general. The insurgents had trusted to his discontent and
revenge; he disdained their offers, and revealed their designs. In the
hour of danger, the grateful Akbah unlocked his fetters, and advised him
to retire; he chose to die under the banner of his rival. Embracing
as friends and martyrs, they unsheathed their cimeters, broke their
scabbards, and maintained an obstinate combat, till they fell by each
other's side on the last of their slaughtered countrymen. The third
general or governor of Africa, Zuheir, avenged and encountered the fate
of his predecessor. He vanquished the natives in many battles; he was
overthrown by a powerful army, which Constantinople had sent to the
relief of Carthage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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