Note 072
The Orientals explain the prodigy by a
never-failing expedient. The edifices of Baalbec were
constructed by the fairies or the genii, Hist. de Timour
Bec, tom. iii. l. v. c. 23, p. 311, 312. Voyage d'Otter,
tom. i. p. 83.) With less absurdity, but with equal
ignorance, Abulfeda and Ibn Chaukel ascribe them to the
Sabaeans or Aadites Non sunt in omni Syria aedificia
magnificentiora his, (Tabula Syria p. 108.)]
The History Of The Decline And
Fall Of The Roman Empire
—Fall In The East
—Chapter 51