The Student's Manual of Modern History Author:William Cooke Taylor General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1866 Original Publisher: Longmans Subjects: History / Europe / General History / World History / Modern / General History / Modern / 20th Century Juvenile Nonfiction / History / Modern Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrati... more »ons and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER H. THE RISE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SARACENIC POWER. Section I. Political and Social Condition of the East at the coming of Mohammed. rPHE reign of Justin II., the nephew and successor of Justinian, - at Constantinople, was remarkable only for disgrace abroad and misery at home. At his death (a. d. 578) he bequeathed the empire to Tiberius, whose virtues amply justified his choice ; but the reign of Tiberius lasted only four years ; he was succeeded by Maurice, who inherited many of his predecessor's virtues as well as his crown. Soon after his accession, the attention of the emperor was directed to the unsettled state of Persia, which had been distracted by sanguinary civil wars since the death of the great Nushirvan. Hormuz, the son and successor of that monarch, was deposed and slain; Bahram, a brave general, but a feeble statesman, usurped the throne, and Khosrii, or Chosroes, the legitimate heir, sought shelter in the Byzantine empire. Maurice levied a powerful army to restore the royal exile, and intrusted its command to Narses, a valinnt general, who was himself of Persian descent. The expedition was crowned with success ; Babram, driven beyond the Oxus, died by poison, and Khosrii, grateful for his recovered throne, entered into close alliance with the emperor. Freed from all danger on the side of Persia, Maurice resolved to turn his arms against the Avars; but the incapacity of his generals, and his o...« less