The Dillon tribune., 1882-07-15
HA1ouN.AI-RASC1In>~

HAROUN. AL-RAeCHlD was splendid IN HI.
entertainments, unstinting in his preaen ~
% his courtiers and any one whom ha h.S
! momentary fancy to enrich would nav
ior poems BY the line in gold pieces. and
shower jewels and precious stuf{s unon
those who accomplished the perilons mo- ,.
,ess Of pleasing him. Il II recorded a. ~.
,izisr, Yabya the Barmecide, that he r.ed
whenever he went out, to convey with 4 :,
bags containing nearly pounds we;Oht -
liver coins apiece, to distribute 70 anv
DOOR people he might meet; and TIA ~.
iiph's lavish munincence was not ikalv -
be inferior to his Minister'S. Yet Hsrc,,,
left in his treasury the enormon. .m,.
OF 9OO, 1000, 900 dinars, or g4OO. 000. On
whence it appea that fabulous a. liz 49,
penditure was. h. income was even mo-.
astounding A comparatively email nsrt
OF this. however, was honestly come hv. r.
was this good Caliph's custom whenever
he found himself out Of pocket. to cali liz
faithful headsman and order him 70 !. -
to such and such person, and tell him -
send me 10 many hundred thousand MACS.
Of silver-or e'se cut of his head" Where
he removed . governor, It was Haronn's
practice to lay immediate and violent hands
upo, everything tha depostsi lieutenant
possessed-and the laborious extortiona and
POPULATIONS OF years OF infamous govern.
mem, passed in a brief morning into. not
the pc ,kets OF the oppressed taxpayers. but
the Golfers OF the head extort,oner Of ,the
empire, 1.-The good Haroun. AL. Raschid. !"
lie asked no excuse Tor his high. banded
robberries; he waited the money, and that
was enough. r,r ~
And this 10 our old friend of the "Ar,.
bian Nights!" The agreeable listener to
the tales of the One. eyet ,alenlers proves
to he n robber. n,nrierer. the alaughterer
Of his Kindred and hest friends, 4 periured
tra tor. drum ard. and d hanches. In.
deed to associate with him WIS to live with
the Seven Dea ly Sins in per.on. His only
virtue WINS "c"lture and his intellectusl
cruces only accentuate his want of every
aohls qnalityof tn, heart He came into
IN empire such az Alexander might have
snvIed; he governed it infamously, and
died III the inidso of rebellion and disoon.
tent. He was given such counsellors and
friends Is few Eastern m0naicha have ever
possessed; he tranpled on them. massacred
them. tortured them. till no man would
trust HIM. and slave W .tched his death.
bed. He was m"n who might have 40
c'," lshed anything but ruined BY power,
by The nlonstrous position in which he was
paced. and by the boundless opportunities
Of gratifying IN unbridied sensuality, hs
accomplished nothing. The briliianoy Of
his court has made him type and model
in the writings Of his countrymen but the
AZ. WIS not Of his making. and the glory IL
not his. He was the pivot upon which the
machinery turned but he was not the mo-
tive. nor ven the regulating, power. Al
in the :. Arabian Nights, 30 in actual his.
tory. he was not the picture, but the frame.
He had the good fortune to be Caliph at
Bag'lad when the golde age of Mohamme.
dan lit nature was in its first glory. and,
like Lorenzo do Medici. he deserves to be
remembered for his share in great epoch.
Temple Bar. 80.