ASSASSINS, or HASSASSINS, from the Arabic word hass, to kill, is the name given to a people in Persia and Syria, who inhabited the mountains south of the Cas pian. They were under the command of a superior, whom they called Sheikh Al Jebal, the " Chief of the Mountainous Country," or the " Old Man of the Moun tain," and who possessed the most unlimited controul over his subjects. Convinced that the highest bliss of paradise was the reward of their obedience, they cheer fully sacrificed their lives to the will of their prince, and regarded assassination as one of the greatest vir tues when sanctioned by his authority. With such mes sengers of death at his command, the Chief of the Mountain carried terror and dismay into every country where his name was known ; and at the recital of his bloody deeds, the most powerful princes of Europe and Asia trembled on their thrones. No sooner was a victim singled out for their attack, than the banditti were se cretly dispatched to the place of his residence. Em ploying the language and assuming the dress of the country, they insinuated themselves into his presence, and never failed in executing their sanguinary commis sion. In order to rouse their courage, the most volup tuous images were presented to their minds, as speci mens of the bliss which was reserved in paradise for the most daring and obedient. Soporific drinks of delicious quality lulled them into serene repose ; and under the influence of this luxurious intoxication, they were con veyed into the most delightful gardens, where every al lurement gratified their senses, and every gratification confirmed their blind attachment to their superior. This system of training naturally excited among the Assas sins the strongest emulation, and prompted them to deeds of valour and suffering, which have scarcely been equalled by the penances and mortifications of the pil lar saints and grazing fanatics of Europe. When Henry
Count of Champagne was travelling through Syria, and boasting of his power at home, the Man of the Moun tain asked, " Arc your subjects as willing in their obe dience as mine ?" and, without waiting for an answer, he gave a signal with his hand, at which ten young men clothed in white, and standing on a neighbouring tower, instantly precipitated themselves from the top. When the Sultan Malek Shah was summoning the Sheik to submit to his power, the determined chief turned to one of his guards, and exclaimed, " Unsheath your dagger, and plunge it into your breast !" The mandate was im mediately obeyed ; and the chief replied to the Sultan's envoy, " Go to thy master, and tell him, that I have many thousand subjects as obedient as this." After a series of atrocities during the space of one hundred and sixty years, these assassins, amounting to about 40,000, and defended by about ten castles, which they had founded on the hills above Tortosa, were extirpated by the Mamelukes about the year 1280. Farther informa tion respecting these sectaries, and an account of some of their murders, may be found in Hume's History, chap. x. vol. ii. p. 19. Gibbon's History, chap. lxiv. vol. vi. p. 356. Jortin's Remarks on Eccles. Hist. l'01. v. p. 237. Mod. Univers. Hist. vol. iii. p. 60. A com plete account of all that is known respecting the Assas sins will be found in two memoirs by M. Falconet, pub. fished among the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, torn. xvii. p. 127, 170. (a)