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.
was signalized by the overthrow of the rebellious or independent
kingdoms of Tartary; and he died in the fulness of years and
glory, with his last breath exhorting and instructing his sons to
achieve the conquest of the Chinese empire. 205
191 (return) [ See the particular account of this transaction,
from the Kholauesut el Akbaur, in Price, vol. ii. p. 402.—M.]
20 (return) [ M. de Voltaire, Essai sur l’Histoire Générale, tom.
iii. c. 60, p. 8. His account of Zingis and the Moguls contains,
as usual, much general sense and truth, with some particular
errors.]
204 (return) [ Every where they massacred all classes, except the
artisans, whom they made slaves. Hist. des Mongols.—M.]
205 (return) [ Their first duty, which he bequeathed to them, was
to massacre the king of Tangcoute and all the inhabitants of
Ninhia, the surrender of the city being already agreed upon,
Hist. des Mongols. vol. i. p. 286.—M.]
The harem of Zingis was composed of five hundred wives and
concubines; and of his numerous progeny, four sons, illustrious
by their birth and merit, exercised under their father the
principal offices of peace and war. Toushi was his great
huntsman, Zagatai 21 his judge, Octai his minister, and Tuli his
general; and their names and actions are often conspicuous in the
history of his conquests. Firmly united for their own and the
public interest, the three brothers and their families were
content with dependent sceptres; and Octai, by general consent,
was proclaimed great khan, or emperor of the Moguls and Tartars.
He was succeeded by his son Gayuk, after whose death the empire
devolved to his cousins Mangou and Cublai, the sons of Tuli, and
the grandsons of Zingis. In the sixty-eight years of his four
first successors, the Mogul subdued almost all Asia, and a large
portion of Europe. Without confining myself to the order of time,
without expatiating on the detail of events, I shall present a
general picture of the progress of their arms; I. In the East;
II. In the South; III. In the West; and IV. In the North.
21 (return) [ Zagatai gave his name to his dominions of
Maurenahar, or Transoxiana; and the Moguls of Hindostan, who
emigrated from that country, are styled Zagatais by the Persians.
This certain etymology, and the similar example of Uzbek, Nogai,
&c., may warn us not absolutely to reject the derivations of a
national, from a personal, name. * Note: See a curious anecdote
of Tschagatai. Hist. des Mongols, p. 370.—M.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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