As to Sogdiana, we have already reviewed one season of power and then in turn of reverse which there befell the Turks; and next a more remarkable outbreak and its reaction mark their presence in Persia. I have spoken of the formidable force, 5 consisting of Turks, which formed the guard of the Caliphs immediately after the time of Harun al Raschid: suddenly they rebelled against their master, burst into his apartment at the hour of supper, murdered him, and cut his body 10 into seven pieces. They got possession of the symbols of imperial power, the garment and the staff of Mahomet, and proceeded to make and unmake Caliphs at their pleasure. In the course of four years they had elevated, deposed, and 15 murdered as many as three. At their wanton caprice, they made these successors of the false prophet the sport of their insults and their blows. They dragged them by the feet, stripped them, and exposed them to the burning sun, beat them 20 with iron clubs, and left them for days without food. At length, however, the people of Bagdad were roused in defense of the Caliphate, and the Turks for a time were brought under; but they remained in the country, or rather, by the 25 short-sighted policy of the moment, were dispersed throughout it, and thus became in the sequel ready-made elements of revolution for the purposes of other traitors of their own race, who, at a later period, as we shall presently see, descended 30 on Persia from Turkistan.