The curse that was said to be upon Tyre was removed after a
considerable time: it received the gospel at an early period, and was
for ages a flourishing city. Before the discovery of the passage round
the Cape of Good Hope, a place so situated as Tyre was could not fail
of being a mart of trade; and as soon as the back of a conqueror,
attracted by its wealth, was turned, it was quickly partially
re-peopled and its industry revived.
But at length came the great Mussulman eruption; Mahomet and his
generals led their triumphant armies through Asia with that astonishing
rapidity and success which have ever attended eastern conquests. In
the West, a conquest may be compared to a shower, which, insidiously
and with time, permeates the soil; in the East, it is a flood or an
avalanche, which overwhelms, devastates, and changes everything in a
moment.
Whilst the intrepid Amrou was making Syria tremble with the fame of
his victories, the perfidious Ioukinna accelerated the triumphs of
Mohammedanism by his stratagems. The master of a fleet which had
come to the succour of Tripoli, he hoisted the Roman standard, and
presented himself before Tyre. His arrival caused much joy, for he was
supposed to bring ammunition and troops to put the place in a state of
defence. He landed with nine hundred men, and was admitted into the
city, but being betrayed by one of his own people, the little band were
surrounded and taken prisoners. Their lives were only saved by a new
subject of alarm. Jëzid, a Saracen captain, appeared off Tyre with a
force of two thousand men. The governor, with his garrison, went out
to meet him, and, whilst the two parties were on the walls, Ioukinna
and his soldiers were set at liberty by a Roman, who was looking for an
opportunity to win the favour of the Saracens. Ioukinna conveyed the
intelligence of his freedom to the soldiers he had left on board the
fleet; they joined him, and he informed Jëzid of what was going on in
Tyre. Jëzid not only defeated the governor and his party, but cut off
his retreat. The gates were thrown open, and the Saracens, within and
without, made a frightful slaughter of the inhabitants. Most of those
who escaped embraced Islamism, to avoid death or slavery.