OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 35 name of Al Rashid (the Just) is sullied by the extirpation of the generous, perhaps the innocent, Barmecides ; yet he could listen to the complaint of a poor widow who had been pillaged by his troops, and who dared, in a passage of the Koran, to threaten the inattentive despot with the judgment of God and posterity. His court was adorned with luxury and science ; but, in a reign [a..d. tss-sot] of three-and-twenty years, Harun repeatedly visited his provinces from Chorasan to Egypt ; nine times he performed the pilgrim- age of Mecca ; eight times he invaded the territories of the Romans ; and, as often as they declined the payment of the tribute, they were taught to feel that a month of depredation was more costly than a year of submission. But, when the un-[A.D. 802] natural mother of Constantine was deposed and banished, her successor Nicephorus resolved to obliterate this badge of servi- tude and disgrace. The epistle of the emperor to the caliph was pointed with an allusion to the game of chess, which had already spread from Persia to Greece. " The queen (he spoke of Irene) considered you as a rook and herself as a pawn. That pusillani- mous female submitted to pay a tribute, the double of which she ought to have exacted from the barbarians. Restore therefore the fruits of your injustice, or abide the determination of the sword." At these words the ambassadors cast a bundle of swords before the foot of the throne. The caliph smiled at the menace, and drawing his scymetar, samsamah, a weapon of historic or fabulous renown,^*^ he cut asunder the feeble arms of the Greeks, without turning the edge or endangering the temper of his blade. He then dictated an epistle of tremendous brevity ; " In the name of the most merciful God, Harun al Rashid, com- mander of the faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman dog. I have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou shalt not hear, thou shalt behold, my reply." It was written in characters of blood and fire on the plains of Phrygia ; and the warlike celerity of the Arabs could only be checked by the arts of deceit and the show of repentance. The triumphant caliph retired, after the fatigues of the campaign, to his favourite palace of Racca, on the Euphrates ; ^'^ but the distance of five hundred 88a [Samsama,= " inflexible sword," was particularly the name of the sword of the Arab hero Amr ibn Madi Kerib.] 89 For the situation of Racca, the old Nicephorium, consult d'Anville(rEuphrate et le Tigre, p. 24-27). The .'rabian Nights represent Harun al Rashid as alniost stationary in Bagdad. He respected the royal seat of the .bba5sides, but the vices of the inhabitants had driven him from the city (Abulfed. Annal. p. 167). ["The extirpation of the Barmecides made such a bad impression in Bagdad, where the family was held in high respect, that Harun was probably induced thereby to transfer his residence to Rakka." Weil, op. cit., vol. ii. p. 144.]
