With these he united the theological dogma of predestination,
and the infallible promise of paradise to such as met their fate
in the field of war. By these methods he trained an intrepid and
continually increasing army, inflamed with enthusiasm, and
greedy of death. He prepared them for the most arduous
undertakings, by continual attacks upon travelling caravans and
scattered villages: a pursuit, which, though perfectly consonant
with the institutions of his ancestors, painted him to the
civilized nations of Europe in the obnoxious character of a
robber. By degrees however, he proceeded to the greatest
enterprizes; and compelled the whole peninsula of Arabia to
confess his authority as a prince, and his mission as a prophet.
He died, like the Grecian Philip, in the moment, when having
brought his native country to co-operate in one undertaking, he
meditated the invasion of distant climates, and the destruction
of empires.
"The character of Mahomet however was exceeding different from
that of Philip, and far more worthy of the attention of a
philosopher. Philip was a mere politician, who employed the
cunning of a statesman, and the revenues of a prince, in the
corruption of a number of fallen and effeminate republics.
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