412 THE DECLINE AND FALL justly compared with the Antonines of Rome ; his people enjoyed the blessings of prosperity and peace ; and his dominion was acknowledged by forty-four hordes of the barbarians of Tartary. His last garrisons of Cashgar and Khoten maintained a frequent intercourse with their neighbours of the Jaxartes and Oxus ; a recent colony of Persians had introduced into China the as- tronomy of the Magi ; and Taitsong might be alarmed by the rapid progress and dangerous vicinity of the Arabs. The in- fluence, and perhaps the supplies, of China revived the hopes of Yezdegerd and the zeal of the worshippers of fire ; and he returned with an army of Turks to conquer the inheritance of his fathers. The fortunate Moslems, without unsheathing their swords, were the spectators of his ruin and death. The grandson of Chosroes was betrayed by his servant, insulted by the seditious inhabitants of Mei'ou, and oppressed, defeated, and pursued by his barbarian allies. He reached the banks of a river, and offered his rings and bracelets for an instant passage in a miller's boat. Ignorant or insensible of royal distress, the rustic replied that four drachms of silver were the daily profit of his mill, and that he would not suspend his work unless the loss were repaid. In this moment of hesitation and delay, the last of the Sassanian kings was overtaken and slaughtered by the Turkish cavalry, in the nineteenth year of his unhappy reign.^^ His son Firuz, an humble client of the Chinese emperor, accepted the station of captain of his guards ; and the Magian worship was long preserved by a colony of loyal exiles in the province of Bucharia. His grandson inherited the regal name ; but after a faint and fi'uitless enter- prise he returned to China and ended his days in the palace of Sigan. The male line of the Sassanides was extinct ; but the female captives, the daughters of Persia, were given to the con- querors in servitude or marriage ; and the race of the caliphs and imams was ennobled by the blood of their royal mothers.""^
- ' I have endeavoured to harmonize the various narratives of Ehnacin (Hist.
Saracen, p. 37), Abulpharagius (Dynast, p. 116), Abulfeda (Annal. p. 74, 79), and d'Herbe'.ot (p. 485). The end of Yezdegerd was not only unfortunate but obscure. [In Tabari the story is different. Yezdegerd obtains a night's lodging from a miller, who, coveting his gold-embroidered dress, kills him with a hatchet; op. cit. iii. p. 505 ; cp. the Arabic text of de Goeje, i. 2690.] ■I'^The two daughters of Yezdegerd married Hassan, the son of AH, and Mohammed, the son of Abubeker ; and the first of these was the father of a numerous progeny. The daughter of Phirouz became the wife of the caliph Walid, and their son Yezid derived his genuine or fabulous descent from the Chos- roes of Persia, the Caesars of Rome, and the Chagans of the Turks or .^vars (d'Herbelot. Bibliot. Orientale, p. 96, 487).
