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Chapter LXV:
Elevation Of Timour Or Tamerlane, And His Death
Part I.
Elevation Of Timour Or Tamerlane To The Throne Of Samarcand.
- His Conquests In Persia, Georgia, Tartary Russia, India, Syria, And Anatolia. - His Turkish War. - Defeat And Captivity Of Bajazet. - Death Of Timour. - Civil War Of The Sons Of Bajazet. - Restoration Of The Turkish Monarchy By Mahomet The First. - Siege Of Constantinople By Amurath The Second.
The conquest and monarchy of the world was the first object
of the ambition of Timour. To live in the memory and esteem of future ages was the second wish of his magnanimous spirit. All the civil and military transactions of his reign were diligently recorded in the journals of his secretaries: ^1 the authentic narrative was revised by the persons best informed of each particular transaction; and it is believed in the empire and family of Timour, that the monarch himself composed the commentaries ^2 of his life, and the institutions ^3 of his government. ^4 But these cares were ineffectual for the preservation of his fame, and these precious memorials in the Mogul or Persian language were concealed from the world, or, at least, from the knowledge of Europe. The nations which he vanquished exercised a base and impotent revenge; and ignorance has long repeated the tale of calumny, ^5 which had disfigured the birth and character, the person, and even the name, of Tamerlane. ^6 Yet his real merit would be enhanced, rather than