[17] But for the accident which
gave Charles Martel the victory over the Saracens at Tours,[18]
Arabic and Persian had perhaps been the classical languages, and
Islamism the religion of Europe; and where we have cathedrals and
colleges we might have had mosques and mausoleums; and America and
the Cape, the compass and the press, the steam-engine, the telescope,
and the Copernican System, might have remained still undiscovered;
and but for the accident which turned Hannibal's face from Rome after
the battle of Cannae, or that which intercepted his brother
Asdrubal's letter, we might now all be speaking the languages of Tyre
and Sidon, and roasting our own children in offerings to Siva or
Saturn, instead of saving those of the Hindoos. Poor Dara! but for
thy little jealousy of thy father and thy son, thy desire to do all
thy work without their aid, and those occasional ebullitions of
passion which alienated from thee the most powerful of all the Hindoo
princes, whom it was so much thy wish and thy interest to cherish,
thy generous heart and enlightened mind had reigned over this vast
empire, and made it, perchance, the garden it deserves to be made.
Pages:
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101