A famous heretical sect among the Mahometans bore the name of Assassins, and settled in Persia in 1090. In Syria they possessed a large tract of land among the mountains of Lebanon. They assassinated Lewis of Bavaria in 1213, were conquered by the Tartars in 1257, and extirpated in 1272. Their chief assumed the title of “Ancient of the Mountain.” These men, some authorities inform us, were called Haschischins because the use of the haschish was common among them in the performance of certain rites, and that the ancient form has been corrupted into that now in use. M. de Sacy states that the word “assassin” has been derived from the Arabic name of hemp. It has also been declared, that during the wars of the Crusades, certain of the Saracen army while in a state of intoxication from the use of the drug, rushed madly into the Christian camp, committing great havoc, without themselves having any fear of death, and that these men were called Hashasheens, whence has arose our word “assassin.” The term “hashash,” says Mr. Lane, signifies “a smoker or an eater of hemp,” and is an appellation of obloquy; noisy and riotous people are often called “hashasheen,” which is the plural of that appellation, and the origin of our word “assassin.”
Benjamin of Tudela says, “In the vicinity of Lebanon reside the people called Assassins, who do not believe in the tenets of Mahommedanism, but in those of one whom they consider like unto the Prophet Kharmath. They fulfil whatever he commands them, whether it be a matter of life or death. He goes by the name of Sheikh-al-Hashishin, or, their old man, by whose command all the acts of these mountaineers are regulated. The Assassins are faithful to one another, by the command of their old man, and make themselves the dread of every one, because their devotion leads them gladly to risk their lives, and to kill even kings, when commanded.
In the centre of the Persian, as well as the Assyrian territory of the Assassins, that is to say, both at Alamut and Massiat, were situated, in a space surrounded by walls, splendid gardens—true eastern paradises—there were flower-beds, and thickets of fruit trees, intersected by canals; shady walks and verdant glades, where the sparkling stream bubbles at every step; bowers of roses and vineyards; luxurious halls, and porcelain kiosks, adorned with Persian carpets and Grecian stuffs, where drinking vessels of gold, silver, and crystal glittered on trays of the same costly materials; charming maidens and handsome boys, black-eyed and seductive as the houris and boys of Mahommed’s paradise, soft as the cushions on which they reposed, and intoxicating as the wine which they presented; the music of the harp was mingled with the songs of birds, and the melodious tones of the songstress harmonised with the murmur of the brooks—everything breathed pleasure, rapture, and sensuality.
A youth who was deemed worthy, by his strength and resolution, to be initiated into the Assyrian service, was invited to the table and conversation of the grand master or grand prior; he was then intoxicated with henbane (haschish) and carried into the garden, which, on awakening, he believed to be paradise. Everything around him, the houris in particular, contributed to confirm his delusion. After he had experienced as much of the pleasures of paradise—which the prophet has promised to the blessed—as his strength would admit, after quaffing enervating delight from the eyes of the houris and intoxicating wine from the glittering goblets, he sank into the lethargy produced by debility and the opiate, on awakening from which, after a few hours, he again found himself by the side of his superior. The latter endeavoured to convince him that corporeally he had not left his side, but that spiritually he had been wrapped into paradise, and had then enjoyed a foretaste of the bliss which awaits the faithful, who devote their lives to the service of the faith and the obedience of their chief. Thus did these infatuated youths blindly dedicate themselves as the tools of murder, and eagerly sought an opportunity to sacrifice their terrestrial, in order to become the partakers of eternal life.
To this day, Constantinople and Cairo show what an incredible charm opium with henbane exerts on the drowsy indolence of the Turk and the fiery imagination of the Arab, and explains the fury with which those youths the enjoyment of these rich pastiles (haschish), and the confidence produced in them, that they are able to undertake anything or everything. From the use of these pastiles they were called Hashishin (herb-eaters,) which, in the mouths of Greeks and Crusaders, has been transformed into the word Assassin, and as synonymous with murder, has immortalized the history of the order in all the languages of Europe.[23]
This is the account given by Marco Polo, as repeated by Von Hammer in his “History of the Assassins.” To this let us further add M. Sylvestre de Sacy’s, from a memoir read before the Institute of France:——“I have no doubt whatever, that denomination was given to the Ismaelites, on account of their using an intoxicating liquid or preparation, still known in the East by the name of hashish. Hemp leaves, and some other parts of the same vegetable, form the basis of this preparation, which is employed in different ways, either in liquid or in the form of pastiles, mixed with saccharine substances, or even in fumigation. The intoxication produced by the haschish, causes an ecstasy similar to that which the orientals produce by the use of opium; and from the testimony of a great number of travellers, we may affirm that those who fall into this state of delirium, imagine they enjoy the ordinary objects of their desires, and taste felicity at a cheap rate. It has not been forgotten that when the French army was in Egypt the General-in-chief Napoleon, was obliged to prohibit, under the severest penalties, the sale and use of these pernicious substances, the habit of which has made an imperious want in the inhabitants of Egypt, particularly the lower orders. Those who indulge in this custom are to this day called Hashishin, and these two different expressions explain why the Ismaelites were called by the historians of the Crusades sometimes Assissini and sometimes Assassini.”
As an instance of the blind submission of these devoted followers to the will of their chief, it is narrated that Jelaleddin Melekshah, Sultan of the Seljuks, having sent an ambassador to the Sheikh of the Assassins, to require his obedience and fealty, the son of Sahab called into his presence several of the initiated. Beckoning to one of them, he said, “Kill thyself,” and he instantly stabbed himself: to another, “Throw thyself down from the rampart;” the next instant he lay a mutilated corpse in the moat. On this the grand master, turning to the envoy, who was unnerved by terror, said—“In this way am I obeyed by seventy thousand faithful subjects. Be that my answer to thy master.”
From comparison of these notes, it will therefore appear that the order of Hashishans used the haschish, as a means whereby to induce young men to devote themselves to their cause. That it was used by the chief for its intoxicating and illusionary properties, probably without the knowledge of the members of the order, but as a secret, the divulging of which would have defeated his design, and that it was not indulged in habitually by the order; but that from its use in these initiatory rites they came to be called Haschishans, afterwards corrupted into Assassins. And ultimately, that their murderous acts procured for all those who in future times imitated them, the honour of their name.
But to return from this long digression, we still meet with the name of Haschisch and Hashasheen in Egypt, and also with preparations of hemp, which are believed as of old to transport those who indulge therein to scenes such as paradise alone is supposed to furnish.
“Where’er his eye could reach,