[36] The imperial posts were, as in the ancient Persian empire, well managed,—not, however, for general use, but only for that of government.
[37] As Caliph, Mahdí afterwards restored the whole sum once more to the poet.
[38] It is much to be regretted that none of these reports have come down to us. Altogether, we have extremely few original documents for the history of the Arabian empire; nor are those very numerous even which have been preserved for us, either wholly, or in substance, in extant works. On the other hand, the narrative of the history of the caliphate is copious.
[39] “At a time when no conception of any such thing as operation on the credit of the State had been thought of, whenever receipts fell short of expenditure, there was no other way of raising money but that of taking it where it was to be had. The State, that is, the Caliph, did this in the form of money fines, by taking from people of notorious wealth a portion, or the whole, of their generally ill-gotten gains.. .. The people, as a whole, found themselves under this system much better off than if ever-increasing burdens had been accumulated upon them by a universal raising of customs and dues, and for this reason, doubtless, I find no word of complaint on the subject in any of the historians of the period.” A. von Kremer, in his exceedingly instructive dissertation, Ueber das Einnahme budget des Abbasiden-Reiches vom Jahre 306 H. (Vienna 1887) p. 11.
[40] More correctly, Bactrian.
[41] It recalls the anecdotes in the pseudo-Aristotelic Oeconomica, Bk. ii.
[42] So we read; but we may be sure that only heads of families are meant.
[43] In saying this, I do not mean that we Europeans live in a political Paradise.
[44] “Tantum relligio potuit suadere malorum,” wrote Lucretius, without any inkling of the misery yet destined to come upon the world through the aggressiveness of Semitic religious zeal.
[45] The exact year is unknown.