OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 359 to prevent, the violence of his enemies, and to extend his hostilities to a reasonable measure of satisfaction and retalia- tion. In the free society of the Arabs, the duties of subject and citizen imposed a feeble restraint ; and Mahomet, in the exercise of a peaceful and benevolent mission, had been de- spoiled and banished by the injustice of his countrymen. The choice of an independent people had exalted the fugitive of Mecca to the rank of a sovereign ; and he was invested with the just prerogative of forming alliances and of waging offensive or defensive war. The imperfection of human rights was sup- plied and armed by the plenitude of divine power ; the prophet of Medina assumed, in his new revelations, a fiercer and more sanguinary tone, which proves that his former moderation was the effect of weakness : i^- the means of persuasion had been tried, the season of forbearance was elapsed, and he was now commanded to propagate his religion by the sword, to destroy the monuments of idolatry, and, without regarding the sanctity of days or months, to pursue the unbelieving nations of the earth. The same bloody precepts, so repeatedly inculcated in the Koran, are ascribed by the author to the Pentateuch and the Gospel. But the mild tenor of the evangelic style may explain an ambiguous text, that Jesus did not bring peace on the earth, but a sword : his patient and humble virtues should not be confounded with the intolerant zeal of princes and bishops, who have disgraced the name of his disciples. In the prosecution of religious war, Mahomet might appeal with more propriety to the example of Moses, of the judges, and the kings of Israel. The militaiy laws of the Hebrews are still more rigid than those of the Arabian legislator. ^^^ The Lord of Hosts marched in person before the Jews ; if a city resisted their summons, the males, without distinction, were put to the sword ; the seven nations of Canaan were devoted to destruction ; and neither repentance nor conversion could shield them from the inevitable doom that no creature within their precincts should be left alive. The fair option of friendship, or submission, or i"The viiith and ixth chapters of the Koran are the loudest and most vehement ; and Maracci (Prodromus, part iv. p. 59-64) has inveighed with more justice than discretion against the double dealing of the impostor. i"^The xth and xxth chapters of Deuteronomy, with the practical com- ments of Joshua, David, &c., are read with more awe than satisfaction by the pious Christians of the present age. But the bishops, as well as the rabbis of former times, have beat the drum-ecclesiastic with pleasure and success (Sale's Prelim- inary Discourse, p. 142, 143).
