History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6Gibbon, Edward
History
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6
Gibbon, Edward
Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
Armenians, 10 Syrians, 11 Arabians, 12 Greeks, 13 Russians, 14
Poles, 15 Hungarians, 16 and Latins; 17 and each nation will
deserve credit in the relation of their own disasters and
defeats. 18
501 (return) [ Before his armies entered Thibet, he sent an
embassy to Bogdosottnam-Dsimmo, a Lama high priest, with a letter
to this effect: “I have chosen thee as high priest for myself and
my empire. Repair then to me, and promote the present and future
happiness of man: I will be thy supporter and protector: let us
establish a system of religion, and unite it with the monarchy,”
&c. The high priest accepted the invitation; and the Mongol
history literally terms this step the _period of the first
respect for religion_; because the monarch, by his public
profession, made it the religion of the state. Klaproth. “Travels
in Caucasus,” ch. 7, Eng. Trans. p. 92. Neither Dshingis nor his
son and successor Oegodah had, on account of their continual
wars, much leisure for the propagation of the religion of the
Lama. By religion they understand a distinct, independent, sacred
moral code, which has but one origin, one source, and one object.
This notion they universally propagate, and even believe that the
brutes, and all created beings, have a religion adapted to their
sphere of action. The different forms of the various religions
they ascribe to the difference of individuals, nations, and
legislators. Never do you hear of their inveighing against any
creed, even against the obviously absurd Schaman paganism, or of
their persecuting others on that account. They themselves, on the
other hand, endure every hardship, and even persecutions, with
perfect resignation, and indulgently excuse the follies of
others, nay, consider them as a motive for increased ardor in
prayer, ch. ix. p. 109.—M.]
6 (return) [ A singular conformity may be found between the
religious laws of Zingis Khan and of Mr. Locke, (Constitutions of
Carolina, in his works, vol. iv. p. 535, 4to. edition, 1777.)]
601 (return) [ See the notice on Tha-tha-toung-o, the Ouogour
minister of Tchingis, in Abel Remusat’s 2d series of Recherch.
Asiat. vol. ii. p. 61. He taught the son of Tchingis to write:
“He was the instructor of the Moguls in writing, of which they
were before ignorant;” and hence the application of the Ouigour
characters to the Mogul language cannot be placed earlier than
the year 1204 or 1205, nor so late as the time of Pà-sse-pa, who
lived under Khubilai. A new alphabet, approaching to that of
Thibet, was introduced under Khubilai.—M.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account