OF THE KOMAN EMPIKE 37 the liberal Almamon, was sufficiently engaged in the restoration of domestic peace and the introduction of foreign science. Under the reign of Almamon at Bagdad, of Michael the The Arabs Stammerer at Constantinople, the islands of Crete ^-^ and Sicily iaie of cree, AD 823 were subdued by the Arabs. The former of these conquests is disdained by their own writers, who were ignorant of the fame of Jupiter and Minos, but it has not been overlooked by the Byzantine historians, who now begin to cast a clearer light on the affairs of their own times.'-'* A band of Andalusian volunteers, discontented with the climate or government of Spain, explored the adventures of the sea ; but, as they sailed in no more than ten or twenty galleys, their warfare must be branded with the name of piracy. As the subjects and sectaries of the while party, they might lawfully invade the dominions of the black caliphs. A rebellious faction introduced" them into Alexandria ; ^^ they cut in pieces both friends and foes, pillaged the churches and the mosques, sold above six thousand Christian captives, and maintained their station in the capital of Egypt, till they were oppressed by the forces and the presence of Almamon himself. From the mouth of the Nile to the Hellespont, the islands and sea- coasts, both of the Greeks and Moslems, were exposed to their depredations ; they saw, they envied, they tasted the fertility of Crete, and soon returned with forty galleys to a more serious attack. The Andalusians wandered over the land fearless and unmolested ; ^■'The authors from whom I have learned the most of the ancient and modern state of Crete are Belon (Observations, iS:c., c. 3-20, Paris, 1555), Tournefort (Voyage du Levant, torn. i. lettre ii. et iii.), and Meursius (Creta, in his works, torn. iii. p. 343-544)- Although Crete is styled by Homer TtUipa, by Dionysius kiTvapr] T« Ka .Osoro?, I cannot conceive that mountainous island to surpass, or even to equal, in fertility the greater part of Spain.
- ■* The most authentic and circumstantial intelligence is obtained from the four
books of the Continuation of Theophanes, compiled by the pen or the command of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, with the Life of his father Basil the Macedonian (Scriptores post Theophanem, p. 1-162, a Francis. Combefis. , Paris, 1685). The loss of Crete and Sicily is related, 1. ii. p. 46-52. To these we may add the secondary evidence of Joseph Genesius (1. ii. p. 21, Venet. 1733 [p. 46-49, ed. Bonn]), George Cedrenus (Compend. p. 506-508 [ii. p. 92 sqq. ed. Bonn]), and John Scylitzes Curopalata (apud Baron. Annal. Eccles. a.d. 827, No. 24, &c. ). But the modern Greeks are such notorious plagiaries that I should only quote a plurality of names. [These historiographical implications are not quite correct. Genesius is not a " secondary " authority in relation to the Scriptores post Theophanem ; on the contrary, he is a source of the Continuation of Theophanes. See above, Appendi.x I to vol. 5, p. 504 ; for the sources of Genesius himself, ib. p. 503. The order of "plagiarism" is (i) Genesius, (2) Continuation of Theophanes, (3) Scylitzes, (4) Cedrenus.] •' Renaudot (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 251-256, 268-270) has described the ra- kfages of the Andalusian Arabs in Egypt, but has forgot to connect them with the
- onquest of Crete. [Tabari places the conquest of Crete in A. 11. 210.]
