prescribing prayer, manual labour, study, and the instruction of youth, enjoined the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The administration and discipline of each community were intrusted to an abbot, chosen from the society by the free suffrages of the monks. In 595, Gregory accorded the apostolic sanction, permitting the inmates to possess an oratory, and to enjoy the spiritual labours of a priest taken from the bosom of their fraternity. In time, most of the cenobites entered the priesthood, without renouncing their condition. The Nicene council of 787 conferred on the abbots the right of admitting monks into the inferior orders of the clergy.

The Benedictines were industrious and charitable men. In the midst of deserts they reared convents, the asylum of misfortune in an age of brutal violence and rapine. The active inhabitants tilled the earth, drained marshes, cleared forests; hamlets, villages, and considerable towns sprang up around their walls; and in the convents were deposited the literary treasures of antiquity, which in many instances were indebted to them for preservation.

SEVENTH CENTURY.

GREEK EMPIRE.-602, Phocas.-610, Heraclius.-622, Chosroes defeated. -672, Constantinople besieged by the Saracens.-685, Justinian II. PERSIA.-618, Chosroes, d.

ARABIA.-570, MOHAMMED born.-622, HEGIRA.-Koran; Sonna.634, Omar,-640, Alexandrian Library burnt.-660, OMMIADES. ITALY.-643, Lombard Code.-697, Venice.-First sole Doge, Anafesto. FRANCE. 613, Clotaire.-638, Sluggard Kings-Mayors of the Palace. SPAIN.-600, Christian Religion introduced.

THE CHURCH.-606, Papal Supremacy; Ecumenical-Image Worship. LITERATURE.-Fortunatus; Isidore of Seville; Gregory the Great. INVENTIONS. Quills for Writing.-Chess in India.

GREEK EMPIRE.

PHOCAS, A. D. 602, repulsive in person as well as in character, commenced his tyranny by the massacre of all the imperial family. Maurice was dragged from the sanctuary in which he had taken refuge, and his five sons were murdered before his eyes; after which the heads of the deposed monarch and his children were exposed on the walls of Constantinople. The wife of the emperor was afterwards decapitated with her three daughters in the place which had witnessed the murder of her husband. Every province was ripe for rebellion, which was

encouraged and headed by Priscus, Maurice's son-in-law, and by Heraclius, exarch of Africa. A fleet from Carthage boldly sailed up to Constantinople, and in a short time the cruel despot, by his death, paid the penalty of his crimes.

HERACLIUS, the deliverer of the empire, was elected to the vacant throne, A. D. 610; and soon after was compelled to turn his attention to the Persian war. Chosroes II. had been forced by internal dissension to take refuge in Constantinople; but, aided by Narses, he defeated his rivals and recovered his crown, 591. At a later period, simulating disgust at the crimes of Phocas, he made war upon the Greeks, overran the country westward of the Euphrates, and conquered Syria, 611. Palestine was subdued in 614; and twenty-six thousand Jews, who followed his banners to attack Jerusalem, are said to have massacred ninety thousand Christians.

The victorious career of the Persian monarch reduced Heraclius to great distress, which was increased by the devastations of the Avars, who nearly succeeded in taking his capital, 619; and in their retreat carried off 270,000 captives. A series of misfortunes had so depressed the spirit of Heraclius that he meditated the removal of the seat of government to Carthage; but the patriarch was opposed to the change, and the empire was saved by the liberality of the clergy. Peace was made with Chosroes on ignominious terms, the annual payment of 1000 talents of gold, and the same amount of silver, silken robes, horses, and fair maidens. Fortune now deserted the Persian arms, when the emperor, in six adventurous campaigns, beginning in 622, retrieved his own honour and that of his country. Boldly carrying the war into the enemy's territories, he landed a numerous and enthusiastic army in Cilicia and defeated Chosroes. The vanquished prince was compelled to recall his armies to defend their own country, and the rapid conquests of Heraclius may remind us of Hannibal or Napoleon. The battle of Nineveh, 627, fought on the ground once covered by that remarkable city, was followed next year by an honourable peace, concluded with Siroes, the successor of Chosroes (who had been deposed by his subjects, and compelled to witness the murder of his eighteen sons). The return of the conqueror to Europe was one continued triumph. Ambassadors from the Franks and from India came to offer their congratulations; but the empire was exhausted by these victories; and in order to repay the sums advanced by the church, it was necessary to raise a second time from

the devastated provinces the amount of taxes which had been already paid. Two hundred thousand soldiers had perished; and at the same time there appeared on the frontiers of Syria an enemy more terrible than any that had hitherto menaced the empire.

Heraclius, attacked by the Mussulmans in 632, lost Syria and Egypt; and the emperor terminated his reign by a theological discussion and a religious war. His death, in 641, was hastened by intelligence of the capture of Alexandria, which event he survived only a few weeks. Seven rulers of the Heraclian family successively mounted the throne, which they stained less by bloodshed than by personal vice. The first was Constantine III., whose hundred days of empire were terminated by poison, and Heracleonas succeeded, only to be deposed, before the year expired, in favour of Constans II., 641. Ascending the throne when scarcely twelve years of age, he thus addressed the senate :— By divine Providence, Martina and her incestuous progeny have been driven out; and I exhort and beseech you to stand forth as the counsellors and judges of the common safety." But the murder of his brother Theodosius proved that these sentiments were not very deeply seated. The astonished people and army drove this second Cain into exile, when, odious to himself and mankind, he perished at Syracuse by the hand of a slave, 668. Constantine IV. (Pogonatus) put out the eyes of his two brothers, and left the crown to Justinian II., a vicious and foolish boy, who dishonoured his name by his cruelties, and by the choice of the ministers of his pleasures. For ten years he filled the city and country with sounds of horror, when Leontius, who had been released from a tedious imprisonment, and raised to the government of Greece, headed a successful revolt. "Christians! to St Sophia's!" was the cry; and there the patriarch delivered an inflammatory discourse on the text "This is the day of the Lord!" Justinian was deposed, and, after mutilation, exiled to Chersone, in the Crimea, 695, where he learnt that his successor had been dethroned in his turn, and Tiberius (Apsimar) elevated in his stead, 698. He therefore renewed his claim to the empire; and, uniting with the Bulgarians, appeared before the capital with 15,000 horse, and was restored without striking a blow. His revenge was sweeping: the Chersonites, who had displeased him during his exile, were devoted to slaughter"All are guilty, and all must equally perish," being his savage mandate. The nobles were executed at their own doors, drowned

in sacks, or killed by pouring molten lead down their throats. Johannicius of Ravenna was permitted to write his will with his own blood: "Oh God! deliver us from the tyrant!" was all he wrote, before he dashed his brains out against the wall. The patience of his subjects became exhausted; the troops and provinces renounced their allegiance; Justinian fell by the stroke of an assassin; and with his son Tiberius, who had vainly taken refuge in a church, perished the family of Heraclius, 711.

PERSIA.

CHOSROES II.-Under the pretence of avenging Maurice, Chosroes invaded the Byzantine provinces of Asia, 603. Syria and Palestine yielded to his arms; Pelusium, the key of Egypt, capitulated; and the Persian trophies were fixed on the ruins of the Greek colony of Cyrene. Another army

advanced to the Thracian Bosphorus; Chalcedon was taken after a long siege; and the Persian army encamped for more than ten years in sight of Constantinople. If Chosroes had possessed a fleet, it would have been difficult to assign bounds to the progress of his victorious arms. Yet the difference of manners and language, the intolerance of the magi and schismatic Christians who followed in his train, were an inseparable barrier between the conquered and the conquerors, and would soon have shattered to pieces the mightiest empire. He himself appeared to mistrust the stability of his power, by exhausting the tributary nations with heavy exactions, and transporting into Persia all the riches of the vanquished provinces.

At the end of six years, Chosroes demanded a large sum as the condition of abandoning the siege of the Grecian capital; but the inhabitants, finding courage in their despair, resolved to employ their means in combating rather than in enriching their enemies. The victories of Heraclius have been already described, the results of which were the capture of the Persian treasures, the recovery of three hundred standards, and the delivery of a numerous body of prisoners in 627. The fugitive did not think himself secure until he had placed the Tigris between him and the Romans. But his pride was not yet completely humbled: his obstinacy irritated the Persians; and Siroes, one of his sons, conspired with the discontented to seize the throne, to the prejudice of his younger brother, who had been appointed successor. Chosroes was deposed; eighteen of his children (as has been already stated), were put to

death before his eyes; and he himself died in prison at the end of five days, 628. With him ended the glory of the Sassanides. His unnatural son enjoyed the fruits of his crime only eight months; and eight competitors assumed the kingly title within four years. This anarchy continued eight years longer, until the country was subdued by the Arabs.

To Chosroes belongs the distinction of restoring the ancient limits of the Persian monarchy from the Hellespont to the Nile, and thus contributing indirectly to the propagation of Mohammedanism. His magnificence rivalled that of Xerxes. Nine hundred and sixty elephants, with 20,000 camels, and 6000 horses, were maintained for the transport of his baggage or for the pleasures of the chase. Eighteen thousand guards in succession were stationed within and around his palace. Forty thousand plated columns with a thousand golden globes supported the roof of his palace; and a hundred vaults were filled with gold, silver, precious stones, and all the subsidiaries of luxury and refinement.

ARABIA.

At the beginning of this century the Arabian peninsula became the scene of a remarkable revolution, the effects of which may still be traced over great part of two continents, and some of the fairest portions of Europe. Remote from the civilized world, that country was scarcely known but as the land of spices or of frankincense; and the inhabitants, with few brief exceptions, continued to preserve their independence. They were a hardy, hospitable people, inured to habits of war by the discipline of a pastoral life. In their native deserts they are invincible; and the legions of Napoleon as well as those of Augustus found in them an untiring enemy. The various tribes are independent, but unite in periods of emergency under some popular sheik or chief. They, particularly the Bedouins, are robbers by profession; stranger and enemy being with them, as among the ancient Romans, synonymous terms. Their language is exceedingly copious; their poems, tales, and proverbs proclaim their wit and fancy. Sabaism, or the worship of the heavenly bodies, was the prevailing superstition; and the temple or Caaba* of Mecca was known even to the Greek writers. Their altars were sometimes polluted by human sacrifices. The revolutions of surrounding nations had driven many peaceable men to seek the Arabian deserts, in search of that quiet which the Byzantine court was unable to afford them. Six hundred years before Mohammed, Jews had settled in that country; and the Himyarite kings of Yemen had embraced the Jewish religion at the commencement of the fourth century A. D. The Bible was already translated into Arabic, and the Christians successively

* Arabian traditions relate that Ishmael took up his abode and built a temple on the spot where the angel showed the fountain to his wearied mother. This is the famous Caaba, the centre of Mussulman worship, the point to which every Mohammedan turns at his devotions, in what part soever of the world he may be. The well of Zem-zem, near the temple, is said to be the well of Hagar; and there is still to be seen on a black stone what is called the imprint of Abraham's feet. Around the Caaba the town of Mecca was formed by the children of Ishmael and the concourse of devotional strangers.