The Conquest Of Persia, Syria, Egypt, Af_The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes)

Arabs Or Saracens.—Empire Of The Caliphs, Or Successors Of

Mahomet.—State Of The Christians, &c., Under Their Government.

The revolution of Arabia had not changed the character of the

Arabs: the death of Mahomet was the signal of independence; and

the hasty structure of his power and religion tottered to its

foundations. A small and faithful band of his primitive disciples

had listened to his eloquence, and shared his distress; had fled

with the apostle from the persecution of Mecca, or had received

the fugitive in the walls of Medina. The increasing myriads, who

acknowledged Mahomet as their king and prophet, had been

compelled by his arms, or allured by his prosperity. The

polytheists were confounded by the simple idea of a solitary and

invisible God; the pride of the Christians and Jews disdained the

yoke of a mortal and contemporary legislator. The habits of faith

and obedience were not sufficiently confirmed; and many of the

new converts regretted the venerable antiquity of the law of

Moses, or the rites and mysteries of the Catholic church; or the

idols, the sacrifices, the joyous festivals, of their Pagan

ancestors. The jarring interests and hereditary feuds of the

Arabian tribes had not yet coalesced in a system of union and

subordination; and the Barbarians were impatient of the mildest

and most salutary laws that curbed their passions, or violated

their customs. They submitted with reluctance to the religious

precepts of the Koran, the abstinence from wine, the fast of the

Ramadan, and the daily repetition of five prayers; and the alms

and tithes, which were collected for the treasury of Medina,

could be distinguished only by a name from the payment of a

perpetual and ignominious tribute. The example of Mahomet had

excited a spirit of fanaticism or imposture, and several of his

rivals presumed to imitate the conduct, and defy the authority,

of the living prophet. At the head of the fugitives and

auxiliaries, the first caliph was reduced to the cities of Mecca,

Medina, and Tayef; and perhaps the Koreish would have restored

the idols of the Caaba, if their levity had not been checked by a

seasonable reproof. “Ye men of Mecca, will ye be the last to

embrace, and the first to abandon, the religion of Islam?” After

exhorting the Moslems to confide in the aid of God and his

apostle, Abubeker resolved, by a vigorous attack, to prevent the

junction of the rebels. The women and children were safely lodged

in the cavities of the mountains: the warriors, marching under

eleven banners, diffused the terror of their arms; and the

appearance of a military force revived and confirmed the loyalty

of the faithful. The inconstant tribes accepted, with humble

repentance, the duties of prayer, and fasting, and alms; and,

after some examples of success and severity, the most daring

apostates fell prostrate before the sword of the Lord and of

Caled. In the fertile province of Yemanah, 1 between the Red Sea

and the Gulf of Persia, in a city not inferior to Medina itself,

a powerful chief (his name was Moseilama) had assumed the

character of a prophet, and the tribe of Hanifa listened to his

voice. A female prophetess 1111 was attracted by his reputation;

the decencies of words and actions were spurned by these

favorites of Heaven; 2 and they employed several days in mystic

and amorous converse. An obscure sentence of his Koran, or book,

is yet extant; 3 and in the pride of his mission, Moseilama

condescended to offer a partition of the earth. The proposal was

answered by Mahomet with contempt; but the rapid progress of the

impostor awakened the fears of his successor: forty thousand

Moslems were assembled under the standard of Caled; and the

existence of their faith was resigned to the event of a decisive

battle. 3111 In the first action they were repulsed by the loss

of twelve hundred men; but the skill and perseverance of their

general prevailed; their defeat was avenged by the slaughter of

ten thousand infidels; and Moseilama himself was pierced by an

Aethiopian slave with the same javelin which had mortally wounded

the uncle of Mahomet. The various rebels of Arabia without a

chief or a cause, were speedily suppressed by the power and

discipline of the rising monarchy; and the whole nation again

professed, and more steadfastly held, the religion of the Koran.

The ambition of the caliphs provided an immediate exercise for

the restless spirit of the Saracens: their valor was united in

the prosecution of a holy war; and their enthusiasm was equally

confirmed by opposition and victory.

1 (return) [ See the description of the city and country of Al

Yamanah, in Abulfeda, Descript. Arabiae, p. 60, 61. In the xiiith

century, there were some ruins, and a few palms; but in the

present century, the same ground is occupied by the visions and

arms of a modern prophet, whose tenets are imperfectly known,

(Niebuhr, Description de l’Arabie, p. 296-302.)]

1111 (return) [ This extraordinary woman was a Christian; she was

at the head of a numerous and flourishing sect; Moseilama

professed to recognize her inspiration. In a personal interview

he proposed their marriage and the union of their sects. The

handsome person, the impassioned eloquence, and the arts of

Moseilama, triumphed over the virtue of the prophetesa who was

rejected with scorn by her lover, and by her notorious unchastity

ost her influence with her own followers. Gibbon, with that

propensity too common, especially in his later volumes, has

selected only the grosser part of this singular adventure.—M.]

2 (return) [ The first salutation may be transcribed, but cannot

be translated. It was thus that Moseilama said or sung:—

Surge tandem itaque strenue permolenda; nam stratus tibi thorus est.

Aut in propatulo tentorio si velis, aut in abditiore cubiculo si

malis; Aut supinam te humi exporrectam fustigabo, si velis, Aut si

malis manibus pedibusque nixam. Aut si velis ejus (Priapi) gemino

triente aut si malis totus veniam. Imo, totus venito, O Apostole Dei,

clamabat foemina. Id ipsum, dicebat Moseilama, mihi quoque suggessit

Deus.

The prophetess Segjah, after the fall of her lover, returned to

idolatry; but under the reign of Moawiyah, she became a

Mussulman, and died at Bassora, (Abulfeda, Annal. vers. Reiske,

p. 63.)]

3 (return) [ See this text, which demonstrates a God from the

work of generation, in Abulpharagius (Specimen Hist. Arabum, p.

13, and Dynast. p. 103) and Abulfeda, (Annal. p. 63.)]

3111 (return) [ Compare a long account of this battle in Price,

p. 42.—M.]

From the rapid conquests of the Saracens a presumption will

naturally arise, that the caliphs 311 commanded in person the

armies of the faithful, and sought the crown of martyrdom in the

foremost ranks of the battle. The courage of Abubeker, 4 Omar, 5

and Othman, 6 had indeed been tried in the persecution and wars

of the prophet; and the personal assurance of paradise must have

taught them to despise the pleasures and dangers of the present

world. But they ascended the throne in a venerable or mature age;

and esteemed the domestic cares of religion and justice the most

important duties of a sovereign. Except the presence of Omar at

the siege of Jerusalem, their longest expeditions were the

frequent pilgrimage from Medina to Mecca; and they calmly

received the tidings of victory as they prayed or preached before

the sepulchre of the prophet. The austere and frugal measure of

their lives was the effect of virtue or habit, and the pride of

their simplicity insulted the vain magnificence of the kings of

the earth. When Abubeker assumed the office of caliph, he

enjoined his daughter Ayesha to take a strict account of his

private patrimony, that it might be evident whether he were

enriched or impoverished by the service of the state. He thought

himself entitled to a stipend of three pieces of gold, with the

sufficient maintenance of a single camel and a black slave; but

on the Friday of each week he distributed the residue of his own

and the public money, first to the most worthy, and then to the

most indigent, of the Moslems. The remains of his wealth, a

coarse garment, and five pieces of gold, were delivered to his

successor, who lamented with a modest sigh his own inability to

equal such an admirable model. Yet the abstinence and humility of

Omar were not inferior to the virtues of Abubeker: his food

consisted of barley bread or dates; his drink was water; he

preached in a gown that was torn or tattered in twelve places;

and the Persian satrap, who paid his homage to the conqueror,

found him asleep among the beggars on the steps of the mosch of

Medina. Oeeconomy is the source of liberality, and the increase

of the revenue enabled Omar to establish a just and perpetual

reward for the past and present services of the faithful.

Careless of his own emolument, he assigned to Abbas, the uncle of

the prophet, the first and most ample allowance of twenty-five

thousand drachms or pieces of silver. Five thousand were allotted

to each of the aged warriors, the relics of the field of Beder;

and the last and meanest of the companions of Mahomet was

distinguished by the annual reward of three thousand pieces. One

thousand was the stipend of the veterans who had fought in the

first battles against the Greeks and Persians; and the decreasing

pay, as low as fifty pieces of silver, was adapted to the

respective merit and seniority of the soldiers of Omar. Under his

reign, and that of his predecessor, the conquerors of the East

were the trusty servants of God and the people; the mass of the

public treasure was consecrated to the expenses of peace and war;

a prudent mixture of justice and bounty maintained the discipline

of the Saracens, and they united, by a rare felicity, the

despatch and execution of despotism with the equal and frugal

maxims of a republican government. The heroic courage of Ali, 7

the consummate prudence of Moawiyah, 8 excited the emulation of

their subjects; and the talents which had been exercised in the

school of civil discord were more usefully applied to propagate

the faith and dominion of the prophet. In the sloth and vanity of

the palace of Damascus, the succeeding princes of the house of

Ommiyah were alike destitute of the qualifications of statesmen

and of saints. 9 Yet the spoils of unknown nations were

continually laid at the foot of their throne, and the uniform

ascent of the Arabian greatness must be ascribed to the spirit of

the nation rather than the abilities of their chiefs. A large

deduction must be allowed for the weakness of their enemies. The

birth of Mahomet was fortunately placed in the most degenerate

and disorderly period of the Persians, the Romans, and the

Barbarians of Europe: the empires of Trajan, or even of

Constantine or Charlemagne, would have repelled the assault of

the naked Saracens, and the torrent of fanaticism might have been

obscurely lost in the sands of Arabia.

311 (return) [ In Arabic, “successors.” V. Hammer Geschichte der

Assas. p. 14—M.]

4 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 251. Elmacin, p.

18. Abulpharagius, p. 108. Abulfeda, p. 60. D’Herbelot, p. 58.]

5 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, p. 264. Elmacin, p. 24.

Abulpharagius, p. 110. Abulfeda, p. 66. D’Herbelot, p. 686.]

6 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, p. 323. Elmacin, p. 36.

Abulpharagius, p. 115. Abulfeda, p. 75. D’Herbelot, p. 695.]

7 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, p. 343. Elmacin, p. 51.

Abulpharagius, p. 117. Abulfeda, p. 83. D’Herbelot, p. 89.]

8 (return) [ His reign in Eutychius, p. 344. Elmacin, p. 54.

Abulpharagius, p. 123. Abulfeda, p. 101. D’Herbelot, p. 586.]

9 (return) [ Their reigns in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 360-395.

Elmacin, p. 59-108. Abulpharagius, Dynast. ix. p. 124-139.

Abulfeda, p. 111-141. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 691,

and the particular articles of the Ommiades.]

In the victorious days of the Roman republic, it had been the aim

of the senate to confine their councils and legions to a single

war, and completely to suppress a first enemy before they

provoked the hostilities of a second. These timid maxims of

policy were disdained by the magnanimity or enthusiasm of the

Arabian caliphs. With the same vigor and success they invaded the

successors of Augustus and those of Artaxerxes; and the rival

monarchies at the same instant became the prey of an enemy whom

they had been so long accustomed to despise. In the ten years of

the administration of Omar, the Saracens reduced to his obedience

thirty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed four thousand

churches or temples of the unbelievers, and edified fourteen

hundred moschs for the exercise of the religion of Mahomet. One

hundred years after his flight from Mecca, the arms and the reign

of his successors extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean, over

the various and distant provinces, which may be comprised under

the names of, I. Persia; II. Syria; III. Egypt; IV. Africa; and,

V. Spain. Under this general division, I shall proceed to unfold

these memorable transactions; despatching with brevity the remote

and less interesting conquests of the East, and reserving a

fuller narrative for those domestic countries which had been

included within the pale of the Roman empire. Yet I must excuse

my own defects by a just complaint of the blindness and

insufficiency of my guides. The Greeks, so loquacious in

controversy, have not been anxious to celebrate the triumphs of

their enemies. 10 After a century of ignorance, the first annals

of the Mussulmans were collected in a great measure from the

voice of tradition. 11 Among the numerous productions of Arabic

and Persian literature, 12 our interpreters have selected the

imperfect sketches of a more recent age. 13 The art and genius of

history have ever been unknown to the Asiatics; 14 they are

ignorant of the laws of criticism; and our monkish chronicle of

the same period may be compared to their most popular works,

which are never vivified by the spirit of philosophy and freedom.

The Oriental library of a Frenchman 15 would instruct the most

learned mufti of the East; and perhaps the Arabs might not find

in a single historian so clear and comprehensive a narrative of

their own exploits as that which will be deduced in the ensuing

sheets.

10 (return) [ For the viith and viiith century, we have scarcely

any original evidence of the Byzantine historians, except the

chronicles of Theophanes (Theophanis Confessoris Chronographia,

Gr. et Lat. cum notis Jacobi Goar. Paris, 1665, in folio) and the

Abridgment of Nicephorus, (Nicephori Patriarchae C. P. Breviarium

Historicum, Gr. et Lat. Paris, 1648, in folio,) who both lived in

the beginning of the ixth century, (see Hanckius de Scriptor.

Byzant. p. 200-246.) Their contemporary, Photius, does not seem

to be more opulent. After praising the style of Nicephorus, he

adds, and only complains of his extreme brevity, (Phot. Bibliot.

Cod. lxvi. p. 100.) Some additions may be gleaned from the more

recent histories of Cedrenus and Zonaras of the xiith century.]

11 (return) [ Tabari, or Al Tabari, a native of Taborestan, a

famous Imam of Bagdad, and the Livy of the Arabians, finished his

general history in the year of the Hegira 302, (A.D. 914.) At the

request of his friends, he reduced a work of 30,000 sheets to a

more reasonable size. But his Arabic original is known only by

the Persian and Turkish versions. The Saracenic history of Ebn

Amid, or Elmacin, is said to be an abridgment of the great

Tabari, (Ockley’s Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. preface, p.

xxxix. and list of authors, D’Herbelot, p. 866, 870, 1014.)]

12 (return) [ Besides the list of authors framed by Prideaux,

(Life of Mahomet, p. 179-189,) Ockley, (at the end of his second

volume,) and Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Gengiscan, p. 525-550,)

we find in the Bibliotheque Orientale Tarikh, a catalogue of two

or three hundred histories or chronicles of the East, of which

not more than three or four are older than Tabari. A lively

sketch of Oriental literature is given by Reiske, (in his

Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalifae librum memorialem ad calcem

Abulfedae Tabulae Syriae, Lipsiae, 1776;) but his project and the

French version of Petit de la Croix (Hist. de Timur Bec, tom. i.

preface, p. xlv.) have fallen to the ground.]

13 (return) [ The particular historians and geographers will be

occasionally introduced. The four following titles represent the

Annals which have guided me in this general narrative. 1. Annales

Eutychii, Patriarchoe Alexandrini, ab Edwardo Pocockio, Oxon.

1656, 2 vols. in 4to. A pompous edition of an indifferent author,

translated by Pocock to gratify the Presbyterian prejudices of

his friend Selden. 2. Historia Saracenica Georgii Elmacini, opera

et studio Thomae Erpenii, in 4to., Lugd. Batavorum, 1625. He is

said to have hastily translated a corrupt Ms., and his version is

often deficient in style and sense. 3. Historia compendiosa

Dynastiarum a Gregorio Abulpharagio, interprete Edwardo Pocockio,

in 4to., Oxon. 1663. More useful for the literary than the civil

history of the East. 4. Abulfedoe Annales Moslemici ad Ann.

Hegiroe ccccvi. a Jo. Jac. Reiske, in 4to., Lipsioe, 1754. The

best of our chronicles, both for the original and version, yet

how far below the name of Abulfeda! We know that he wrote at

Hamah in the xivth century. The three former were Christians of

the xth, xiith, and xiiith centuries; the two first, natives of

Egypt; a Melchite patriarch, and a Jacobite scribe.]

14 (return) [ M. D. Guignes (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. pref. p.

xix. xx.) has characterized, with truth and knowledge, the two

sorts of Arabian historians—the dry annalist, and the tumid and

flowery orator.]

15 (return) [ Bibliotheque Orientale, par M. D’Herbelot, in

folio, Paris, 1697. For the character of the respectable author,

consult his friend Thevenot, (Voyages du Levant, part i. chap.

1.) His work is an agreeable miscellany, which must gratify every

taste; but I never can digest the alphabetical order; and I find

him more satisfactory in the Persian than the Arabic history. The

recent supplement from the papers of Mm. Visdelou, and Galland,

(in folio, La Haye, 1779,) is of a different cast, a medley of

tales, proverbs, and Chinese antiquities.]

I. In the first year of the first caliph, his lieutenant Caled,

the Sword of God, and the scourge of the infidels, advanced to

the banks of the Euphrates, and reduced the cities of Anbar and

Hira. Westward of the ruins of Babylon, a tribe of sedentary

Arabs had fixed themselves on the verge of the desert; and Hira

was the seat of a race of kings who had embraced the Christian

religion, and reigned above six hundred years under the shadow of

the throne of Persia. 16 The last of the Mondars 1611 was

defeated and slain by Caled; his son was sent a captive to

Medina; his nobles bowed before the successor of the prophet; the

people was tempted by the example and success of their

countrymen; and the caliph accepted as the first-fruits of

foreign conquest an annual tribute of seventy thousand pieces of

gold. The conquerors, and even their historians, were astonished

by the dawn of their future greatness: “In the same year,” says

Elmacin, “Caled fought many signal battles: an immense multitude

of the infidels was slaughtered; and spoils infinite and

innumerable were acquired by the victorious Moslems.” 17 But the

invincible Caled was soon transferred to the Syrian war: the

invasion of the Persian frontier was conducted by less active or

less prudent commanders: the Saracens were repulsed with loss in

the passage of the Euphrates; and, though they chastised the

insolent pursuit of the Magians, their remaining forces still

hovered in the desert of Babylon. 1711

16 (return) [ Pocock will explain the chronology, (Specimen Hist.

Arabum, p. 66-74,) and D’Anville the geography, (l’Euphrate, et

le Tigre, p. 125,) of the dynasty of the Almondars. The English

scholar understood more Arabic than the mufti of Aleppo, (Ockley,

vol. ii. p. 34: ) the French geographer is equally at home in

every age and every climate of the world.]

1611 (return) [ Eichhorn and Silvestre de Sacy have written on

the obscure history of the Mondars.—M.]

17 (return) [ Fecit et Chaled plurima in hoc anno praelia, in

quibus vicerunt Muslimi, et infidelium immensa multitudine occisa

spolia infinita et innumera sunt nacti, (Hist. Saracenica, p.

20.) The Christian annalist slides into the national and

compendious term of infidels, and I often adopt (I hope without

scandal) this characteristic mode of expression.]

1711 (return) [ Compare throughout Malcolm, vol. ii. p. 136.—M.]

The indignation and fears of the Persians suspended for a moment

their intestine divisions. By the unanimous sentence of the

priests and nobles, their queen Arzema was deposed; the sixth of

the transient usurpers, who had arisen and vanished in three or

four years since the death of Chosroes, and the retreat of

Heraclius. Her tiara was placed on the head of Yezdegerd, the

grandson of Chosroes; and the same aera, which coincides with an

astronomical period, 18 has recorded the fall of the Sassanian

dynasty and the religion of Zoroaster. 19 The youth and

inexperience of the prince (he was only fifteen years of age)

declined a perilous encounter: the royal standard was delivered

into the hands of his general Rustam; and a remnant of thirty

thousand regular troops was swelled in truth, or in opinion, to

one hundred and twenty thousand subjects, or allies, of the great

king. The Moslems, whose numbers were reenforced from twelve to

thirty thousand, had pitched their camp in the plains of Cadesia:

20 and their line, though it consisted of fewer men, could

produce more soldiers, than the unwieldy host of the infidels. I

shall here observe, what I must often repeat, that the charge of

the Arabs was not, like that of the Greeks and Romans, the effort

of a firm and compact infantry: their military force was chiefly

formed of cavalry and archers; and the engagement, which was

often interrupted and often renewed by single combats and flying

skirmishes, might be protracted without any decisive event to the

continuance of several days. The periods of the battle of Cadesia

were distinguished by their peculiar appellations. The first,

from the well-timed appearance of six thousand of the Syrian

brethren, was denominated the day of succor. The day of

concussion might express the disorder of one, or perhaps of both,

of the contending armies. The third, a nocturnal tumult, received

the whimsical name of the night of barking, from the discordant

clamors, which were compared to the inarticulate sounds of the

fiercest animals. The morning of the succeeding day 2011

determined the fate of Persia; and a seasonable whirlwind drove a

cloud of dust against the faces of the unbelievers. The clangor

of arms was reechoed to the tent of Rustam, who, far unlike the

ancient hero of his name, was gently reclining in a cool and

tranquil shade, amidst the baggage of his camp, and the train of

mules that were laden with gold and silver. On the sound of

danger he started from his couch; but his flight was overtaken by

a valiant Arab, who caught him by the foot, struck off his head,

hoisted it on a lance, and instantly returning to the field of

battle, carried slaughter and dismay among the thickest ranks of

the Persians. The Saracens confess a loss of seven thousand five

hundred men; 2012 and the battle of Cadesia is justly described

by the epithets of obstinate and atrocious. 21 The standard of

the monarchy was overthrown and captured in the field—a leathern

apron of a blacksmith, who in ancient times had arisen the

deliverer of Persia; but this badge of heroic poverty was

disguised, and almost concealed, by a profusion of precious gems.

22 After this victory, the wealthy province of Irak, or Assyria,

submitted to the caliph, and his conquests were firmly

established by the speedy foundation of Bassora, 23 a place which

ever commands the trade and navigation of the Persians. As the

distance of fourscore miles from the Gulf, the Euphrates and

Tigris unite in a broad and direct current, which is aptly styled

the river of the Arabs. In the midway, between the junction and

the mouth of these famous streams, the new settlement was planted

on the western bank: the first colony was composed of eight

hundred Moslems; but the influence of the situation soon reared a

flourishing and populous capital. The air, though excessively

hot, is pure and healthy: the meadows are filled with palm-trees

and cattle; and one of the adjacent valleys has been celebrated

among the four paradises or gardens of Asia. Under the first

caliphs the jurisdiction of this Arabian colony extended over the

southern provinces of Persia: the city has been sanctified by the

tombs of the companions and martyrs; and the vessels of Europe

still frequent the port of Bassora, as a convenient station and

passage of the Indian trade.

18 (return) [ A cycle of 120 years, the end of which an

intercalary month of 30 days supplied the use of our Bissextile,

and restored the integrity of the solar year. In a great

revolution of 1440 years this intercalation was successively

removed from the first to the twelfth month; but Hyde and Freret

are involved in a profound controversy, whether the twelve, or

only eight of these changes were accomplished before the aera of

Yezdegerd, which is unanimously fixed to the 16th of June, A.D.

632. How laboriously does the curious spirit of Europe explore

the darkest and most distant antiquities! (Hyde de Religione

Persarum, c. 14-18, p. 181-211. Freret in the Mem. de l’Academie

des Inscriptions, tom. xvi. p. 233-267.)]

19 (return) [ Nine days after the death of Mahomet (7th June,

A.D. 632) we find the aera of Yezdegerd, (16th June, A.D. 632,)

and his accession cannot be postponed beyond the end of the first

year. His predecessors could not therefore resist the arms of the

caliph Omar; and these unquestionable dates overthrow the

thoughtless chronology of Abulpharagius. See Ockley’s Hist. of

the Saracens, vol. i. p. 130. * Note: The Rezont Uzzuffa (Price,

p. 105) has a strange account of an embassy to Yezdegerd. The

Oriental historians take great delight in these embassies, which

give them an opportunity of displaying their Asiatic

eloquence—M.]

20 (return) [ Cadesia, says the Nubian geographer, (p. 121,) is

in margine solitudinis, 61 leagues from Bagdad, and two stations

from Cufa. Otter (Voyage, tom. i. p. 163) reckons 15 leagues, and

observes, that the place is supplied with dates and water.]

2011 (return) [ The day of cormorants, or according to another

reading the day of reinforcements. It was the night which was

called the night of snarling. Price, p. 114.—M.]

2012 (return) [ According to Malcolm’s authorities, only three

thousand; but he adds “This is the report of Mahomedan

historians, who have a great disposition of the wonderful, in

relating the first actions of the faithful” Vol. i. p. 39.—M.]

21 (return) [ Atrox, contumax, plus semel renovatum, are the

well-chosen expressions of the translator of Abulfeda, (Reiske,

p. 69.)]

22 (return) [ D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 297, 348.]

23 (return) [ The reader may satisfy himself on the subject of

Bassora by consulting the following writers: Geograph, Nubiens.

p. 121. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 192. D’Anville,

l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 130, 133, 145. Raynal, Hist.

Philosophique des deux Indes, tom. ii. p. 92-100. Voyages di

Pietro della Valle, tom. iv. p. 370-391. De Tavernier, tom. i. p.

240-247. De Thevenot, tom. ii. p. 545-584. D Otter, tom. ii. p.

45-78. De Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 172-199.]

Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs.—Part II.

After the defeat of Cadesia, a country intersected by rivers and

canals might have opposed an insuperable barrier to the

victorious cavalry; and the walls of Ctesiphon or Madayn, which

had resisted the battering-rams of the Romans, would not have

yielded to the darts of the Saracens. But the flying Persians

were overcome by the belief, that the last day of their religion

and empire was at hand; the strongest posts were abandoned by

treachery or cowardice; and the king, with a part of his family

and treasures, escaped to Holwan at the foot of the Median hills.

In the third month after the battle, Said, the lieutenant of

Omar, passed the Tigris without opposition; the capital was taken

by assault; and the disorderly resistance of the people gave a

keener edge to the sabres of the Moslems, who shouted with

religious transport, “This is the white palace of Chosroes; this

is the promise of the apostle of God!” The naked robbers of the

desert were suddenly enriched beyond the measure of their hope or

knowledge. Each chamber revealed a new treasure secreted with

art, or ostentatiously displayed; the gold and silver, the

various wardrobes and precious furniture, surpassed (says

Abulfeda) the estimate of fancy or numbers; and another historian

defines the untold and almost infinite mass, by the fabulous

computation of three thousands of thousands of thousands of

pieces of gold. 24 Some minute though curious facts represent the

contrast of riches and ignorance. From the remote islands of the

Indian Ocean a large provision of camphire 25 had been imported,

which is employed with a mixture of wax to illuminate the palaces

of the East. Strangers to the name and properties of that

odoriferous gum, the Saracens, mistaking it for salt, mingled the

camphire in their bread, and were astonished at the bitterness of

the taste. One of the apartments of the palace was decorated with

a carpet of silk, sixty cubits in length, and as many in breadth:

a paradise or garden was depictured on the ground: the flowers,

fruits, and shrubs, were imitated by the figures of the gold

embroidery, and the colors of the precious stones; and the ample

square was encircled by a variegated and verdant border. 251 The

Arabian general persuaded his soldiers to relinquish their claim,

in the reasonable hope that the eyes of the caliph would be

delighted with the splendid workmanship of nature and industry.

Regardless of the merit of art, and the pomp of royalty, the

rigid Omar divided the prize among his brethren of Medina: the

picture was destroyed; but such was the intrinsic value of the

materials, that the share of Ali alone was sold for twenty

thousand drams. A mule that carried away the tiara and cuirass,

the belt and bracelets of Chosroes, was overtaken by the

pursuers; the gorgeous trophy was presented to the commander of

the faithful; and the gravest of the companions condescended to

smile when they beheld the white beard, the hairy arms, and

uncouth figure of the veteran, who was invested with the spoils

of the Great King. 26 The sack of Ctesiphon was followed by its

desertion and gradual decay. The Saracens disliked the air and

situation of the place, and Omar was advised by his general to

remove the seat of government to the western side of the

Euphrates. In every age, the foundation and ruin of the Assyrian

cities has been easy and rapid: the country is destitute of stone

and timber; and the most solid structures 27 are composed of

bricks baked in the sun, and joined by a cement of the native

bitumen. The name of Cufa 28 describes a habitation of reeds and

earth; but the importance of the new capital was supported by the

numbers, wealth, and spirit, of a colony of veterans; and their

licentiousness was indulged by the wisest caliphs, who were

apprehensive of provoking the revolt of a hundred thousand

swords: “Ye men of Cufa,” said Ali, who solicited their aid, “you

have been always conspicuous by your valor. You conquered the

Persian king, and scattered his forces, till you had taken

possession of his inheritance.” This mighty conquest was achieved

by the battles of Jalula and Nehavend. After the loss of the

former, Yezdegerd fled from Holwan, and concealed his shame and

despair in the mountains of Farsistan, from whence Cyrus had

descended with his equal and valiant companions. The courage of

the nation survived that of the monarch: among the hills to the

south of Ecbatana or Hamadan, one hundred and fifty thousand

Persians made a third and final stand for their religion and

country; and the decisive battle of Nehavend was styled by the

Arabs the victory of victories. If it be true that the flying

general of the Persians was stopped and overtaken in a crowd of

mules and camels laden with honey, the incident, however slight

and singular, will denote the luxurious impediments of an

Oriental army. 29

24 (return) [ Mente vix potest numerove comprehendi quanta spolia

nostris cesserint. Abulfeda, p. 69. Yet I still suspect, that the

extravagant numbers of Elmacin may be the error, not of the text,

but of the version. The best translators from the Greek, for

instance, I find to be very poor arithmeticians. * Note: Ockley

(Hist. of Saracens, vol. i. p. 230) translates in the same manner

three thousand million of ducats. See Forster’s Mahometanism

Unveiled, vol. ii. p. 462; who makes this innocent doubt of

Gibbon, in which, is to the amount of the plunder, I venture to

concur, a grave charge of inaccuracy and disrespect to the memory

of Erpenius. The Persian authorities of Price (p. 122) make the

booty worth three hundred and thirty millions sterling!—M]

25 (return) [ The camphire-tree grows in China and Japan; but

many hundred weight of those meaner sorts are exchanged for a

single pound of the more precious gum of Borneo and Sumatra,

(Raynal, Hist. Philosoph. tom. i. p. 362-365. Dictionnaire

d’Hist. Naturelle par Bomare Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary.)

These may be the islands of the first climate from whence the

Arabians imported their camphire (Geograph. Nub. p. 34, 35.

D’Herbelot, p. 232.)]

251 (return) [ Compare Price, p. 122.—M.]

26 (return) [ See Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 376, 377. I

may credit the fact, without believing the prophecy.]

27 (return) [ The most considerable ruins of Assyria are the

tower of Belus, at Babylon, and the hall of Chosroes, at

Ctesiphon: they have been visited by that vain and curious

traveller Pietro della Valle, (tom. i. p. 713-718, 731-735.) *

Note: The best modern account is that of Claudius Rich Esq. Two

Memoirs of Babylon. London, 1818.—M.]

28 (return) [ Consult the article of Coufah in the Bibliotheque

of D’Herbelot ( p. 277, 278,) and the second volume of Ockley’s

History, particularly p. 40 and 153.]

29 (return) [ See the article of Nehavend, in D’Herbelot, p. 667,

668; and Voyages en Turquie et en Perse, par Otter, tom. i. 191.

* Note: Malcolm vol. i. p. 141.—M.]

The geography of Persia is darkly delineated by the Greeks and

Latins; but the most illustrious of her cities appear to be more

ancient than the invasion of the Arabs. By the reduction of

Hamadan and Ispahan, of Caswin, Tauris, and Rei, they gradually

approached the shores of the Caspian Sea: and the orators of

Mecca might applaud the success and spirit of the faithful, who

had already lost sight of the northern bear, and had almost

transcended the bounds of the habitable world. 30 Again, turning

towards the West and the Roman empire, they repassed the Tigris

over the bridge of Mosul, and, in the captive provinces of

Armenia and Mesopotamia, embraced their victorious brethren of

the Syrian army. From the palace of Madayn their Eastern progress

was not less rapid or extensive. They advanced along the Tigris

and the Gulf; penetrated through the passes of the mountains into

the valley of Estachar or Persepolis, and profaned the last

sanctuary of the Magian empire. The grandson of Chosroes was

nearly surprised among the falling columns and mutilated figures;

a sad emblem of the past and present fortune of Persia: 31 he

fled with accelerated haste over the desert of Kirman, implored

the aid of the warlike Segestans, and sought an humble refuge on

the verge of the Turkish and Chinese power. But a victorious army

is insensible of fatigue: the Arabs divided their forces in the

pursuit of a timorous enemy; and the caliph Othman promised the

government of Chorasan to the first general who should enter that

large and populous country, the kingdom of the ancient Bactrians.

The condition was accepted; the prize was deserved; the standard

of Mahomet was planted on the walls of Herat, Merou, and Balch;

and the successful leader neither halted nor reposed till his

foaming cavalry had tasted the waters of the Oxus. In the public

anarchy, the independent governors of the cities and castles

obtained their separate capitulations: the terms were granted or

imposed by the esteem, the prudence, or the compassion, of the

victors; and a simple profession of faith established the

distinction between a brother and a slave. After a noble defence,

Harmozan, the prince or satrap of Ahwaz and Susa, was compelled

to surrender his person and his state to the discretion of the

caliph; and their interview exhibits a portrait of the Arabian

manners. In the presence, and by the command, of Omar, the gay

Barbarian was despoiled of his silken robes embroidered with

gold, and of his tiara bedecked with rubies and emeralds: “Are

you now sensible,” said the conqueror to his naked captive—“are

you now sensible of the judgment of God, and of the different

rewards of infidelity and obedience?” “Alas!” replied Harmozan,

“I feel them too deeply. In the days of our common ignorance, we

fought with the weapons of the flesh, and my nation was superior.

God was then neuter: since he has espoused your quarrel, you have

subverted our kingdom and religion.” Oppressed by this painful

dialogue, the Persian complained of intolerable thirst, but

discovered some apprehension lest he should be killed whilst he

was drinking a cup of water. “Be of good courage,” said the

caliph; “your life is safe till you have drunk this water:” the

crafty satrap accepted the assurance, and instantly dashed the

vase against the ground. Omar would have avenged the deceit, but

his companions represented the sanctity of an oath; and the

speedy conversion of Harmozan entitled him not only to a free

pardon, but even to a stipend of two thousand pieces of gold. The

administration of Persia was regulated by an actual survey of the

people, the cattle, and the fruits of the earth; 32 and this

monument, which attests the vigilance of the caliphs, might have

instructed the philosophers of every age. 33

30 (return) [ It is in such a style of ignorance and wonder that

the Athenian orator describes the Arctic conquests of Alexander,

who never advanced beyond the shores of the Caspian. Aeschines

contra Ctesiphontem, tom. iii. p. 554, edit. Graec. Orator.

Reiske. This memorable cause was pleaded at Athens, Olymp. cxii.

3, (before Christ 330,) in the autumn, (Taylor, praefat. p. 370,

&c.,) about a year after the battle of Arbela; and Alexander, in

the pursuit of Darius, was marching towards Hyrcania and

Bactriana.]

31 (return) [ We are indebted for this curious particular to the

Dynasties of Abulpharagius, p. 116; but it is needless to prove

the identity of Estachar and Persepolis, (D’Herbelot, p. 327;)

and still more needless to copy the drawings and descriptions of

Sir John Chardin, or Corneillo le Bruyn.]

32 (return) [ After the conquest of Persia, Theophanes adds,

(Chronograph p. 283.)]

33 (return) [ Amidst our meagre relations, I must regret that

D’Herbelot has not found and used a Persian translation of

Tabari, enriched, as he says, with many extracts from the native

historians of the Ghebers or Magi, (Bibliotheque Orientale, p.

1014.)]

The flight of Yezdegerd had carried him beyond the Oxus, and as

far as the Jaxartes, two rivers 34 of ancient and modern renown,

which descend from the mountains of India towards the Caspian

Sea. He was hospitably entertained by Takhan, prince of Fargana,

35 a fertile province on the Jaxartes: the king of Samarcand,

with the Turkish tribes of Sogdiana and Scythia, were moved by

the lamentations and promises of the fallen monarch; and he

solicited, by a suppliant embassy, the more solid and powerful

friendship of the emperor of China. 36 The virtuous Taitsong, 37

the first of the dynasty of the Tang may be justly compared with

the Antonines of Rome: his people enjoyed the blessings of

prosperity and peace; and his dominion was acknowledged by

forty-four hordes of the Barbarians of Tartary. His last

garrisons of Cashgar and Khoten maintained a frequent intercourse

with their neighbors of the Jaxartes and Oxus; a recent colony of

Persians had introduced into China the astronomy of the Magi; and

Taitsong might be alarmed by the rapid progress and dangerous

vicinity of the Arabs. The influence, and perhaps the supplies,

of China revived the hopes of Yezdegerd and the zeal of the

worshippers of fire; and he returned with an army of Turks to

conquer the inheritance of his fathers. The fortunate Moslems,

without unsheathing their swords, were the spectators of his ruin

and death. The grandson of Chosroes was betrayed by his servant,

insulted by the seditious inhabitants of Merou, and oppressed,

defeated, and pursued by his Barbarian allies. He reached the

banks of a river, and offered his rings and bracelets for an

instant passage in a miller’s boat. Ignorant or insensible of

royal distress, the rustic replied, that four drams of silver

were the daily profit of his mill, and that he would not suspend

his work unless the loss were repaid. In this moment of

hesitation and delay, the last of the Sassanian kings was

overtaken and slaughtered by the Turkish cavalry, in the

nineteenth year of his unhappy reign. 38 3811 His son Firuz, an

humble client of the Chinese emperor, accepted the station of

captain of his guards; and the Magian worship was long preserved

by a colony of loyal exiles in the province of Bucharia. 3812 His

grandson inherited the regal name; but after a faint and

fruitless enterprise, he returned to China, and ended his days in

the palace of Sigan. The male line of the Sassanides was extinct;

but the female captives, the daughters of Persia, were given to

the conquerors in servitude, or marriage; and the race of the

caliphs and imams was ennobled by the blood of their royal

mothers. 39

34 (return) [ The most authentic accounts of the two rivers, the

Sihon (Jaxartes) and the Gihon, (Oxus,) may be found in Sherif al

Edrisi (Geograph. Nubiens. p. 138,) Abulfeda, (Descript.

Chorasan. in Hudson, tom. iii. p. 23,) Abulghazi Khan, who

reigned on their banks, (Hist. Genealogique des Tatars, p. 32,

57, 766,) and the Turkish Geographer, a MS. in the king of

France’s library, (Examen Critique des Historiens d’Alexandre, p.

194-360.)]

35 (return) [ The territory of Fergana is described by Abulfeda,

p. 76, 77.]

36 (return) [ Eo redegit angustiarum eundem regem exsulem, ut

Turcici regis, et Sogdiani, et Sinensis, auxilia missis literis

imploraret, (Abulfed. Annal. p. 74) The connection of the Persian

and Chinese history is illustrated by Freret (Mem. de l’Academie,

tom. xvi. p. 245-255) and De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p.

54-59,) and for the geography of the borders, tom. ii. p. 1-43.]

37 (return) [ Hist. Sinica, p. 41-46, in the iiid part of the

Relations Curieuses of Thevenot.]

38 (return) [ I have endeavored to harmonize the various

narratives of Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 37,) Abulpharagius,

(Dynast. p. 116,) Abulfeda, (Annal. p. 74, 79,) and D’Herbelot,

(p. 485.) The end of Yezdegerd, was not only unfortunate but

obscure.]

3811 (return) [ The account of Yezdegerd’s death in the Habeib

‘usseyr and Rouzut uzzuffa (Price, p. 162) is much more probable.

On the demand of the few dhirems, he offered to the miller his

sword, and royal girdle, of inesturable value. This awoke the

cupidity of the miller, who murdered him, and threw the body into

the stream.—M.]

3812 (return) [ Firouz died leaving a son called Ni-ni-cha by the

Chinese, probably Narses. Yezdegerd had two sons, Firouz and

Bahram St. Martin, vol. xi. p. 318.—M.]

39 (return) [ The two daughters of Yezdegerd married Hassan, the

son of Ali, and Mohammed, the son of Abubeker; and the first of

these was the father of a numerous progeny. The daughter of

Phirouz became the wife of the caliph Walid, and their son Yezid

derived his genuine or fabulous descent from the Chosroes of

Persia, the Caesars of Rome, and the Chagans of the Turks or

Avars, (D’Herbelot, Bibliot. Orientale, p. 96, 487.)]

After the fall of the Persian kingdom, the River Oxus divided the

territories of the Saracens and of the Turks. This narrow

boundary was soon overleaped by the spirit of the Arabs; the

governors of Chorasan extended their successive inroads; and one

of their triumphs was adorned with the buskin of a Turkish queen,

which she dropped in her precipitate flight beyond the hills of

Bochara. 40 But the final conquest of Transoxiana, 41 as well as

of Spain, was reserved for the glorious reign of the inactive

Walid; and the name of Catibah, the camel driver, declares the

origin and merit of his successful lieutenant. While one of his

colleagues displayed the first Mahometan banner on the banks of

the Indus, the spacious regions between the Oxus, the Jaxartes,

and the Caspian Sea, were reduced by the arms of Catibah to the

obedience of the prophet and of the caliph. 42 A tribute of two

millions of pieces of gold was imposed on the infidels; their

idols were burnt or broken; the Mussulman chief pronounced a

sermon in the new mosch of Carizme; after several battles, the

Turkish hordes were driven back to the desert; and the emperors

of China solicited the friendship of the victorious Arabs. To

their industry, the prosperity of the province, the Sogdiana of

the ancients, may in a great measure be ascribed; but the

advantages of the soil and climate had been understood and

cultivated since the reign of the Macedonian kings. Before the

invasion of the Saracens, Carizme, Bochara, and Samarcand were

rich and populous under the yoke of the shepherds of the north.

4211 These cities were surrounded with a double wall; and the

exterior fortification, of a larger circumference, enclosed the

fields and gardens of the adjacent district. The mutual wants of

India and Europe were supplied by the diligence of the Sogdian

merchants; and the inestimable art of transforming linen into

paper has been diffused from the manufacture of Samarcand over

the western world. 43

40 (return) [ It was valued at 2000 pieces of gold, and was the

prize of Obeidollah, the son of Ziyad, a name afterwards infamous

by the murder of Hosein, (Ockley’s History of the Saracens, vol.

ii. p. 142, 143,) His brother Salem was accompanied by his wife,

the first Arabian woman (A.D. 680) who passed the Oxus: she

borrowed, or rather stole, the crown and jewels of the princess

of the Sogdians, (p. 231, 232.)]

41 (return) [ A part of Abulfeda’s geography is translated by

Greaves, inserted in Hudson’s collection of the minor

geographers, (tom. iii.,) and entitled Descriptio Chorasmiae et

Mawaralnahroe, id est, regionum extra fluvium, Oxum, p. 80. The

name of Transoxiana, softer in sound, equivalent in sense, is

aptly used by Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Gengiscan, &c.,) and

some modern Orientalists, but they are mistaken in ascribing it

to the writers of antiquity.]

42 (return) [ The conquests of Catibah are faintly marked by

Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 84,) D’Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient.

Catbah, Samarcand Valid.,) and De Guignes, (Hist. des Huns, tom.

i. p. 58, 59.)]

4211 (return) [ The manuscripts Arabian and Persian writers in

the royal library contain very circumstantial details on the

contest between the Persians and Arabians. M. St. Martin declined

this addition to the work of Le Beau, as extending to too great a

length. St. Martin vol. xi. p. 320.—M.]

43 (return) [ A curious description of Samarcand is inserted in

the Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, tom. i. p. 208, &c. The

librarian Casiri (tom. ii. 9) relates, from credible testimony,

that paper was first imported from China to Samarcand, A. H. 30,

and invented, or rather introduced, at Mecca, A. H. 88. The

Escurial library contains paper Mss. as old as the ivth or vth

century of the Hegira.]

II. No sooner had Abubeker restored the unity of faith and

government, than he despatched a circular letter to the Arabian

tribes. “In the name of the most merciful God, to the rest of the

true believers. Health and happiness, and the mercy and blessing

of God, be upon you. I praise the most high God, and I pray for

his prophet Mahomet. This is to acquaint you, that I intend to

send the true believers into Syria 44 to take it out of the hands

of the infidels. And I would have you know, that the fighting for

religion is an act of obedience to God.” His messengers returned

with the tidings of pious and martial ardor which they had

kindled in every province; and the camp of Medina was

successively filled with the intrepid bands of the Saracens, who

panted for action, complained of the heat of the season and the

scarcity of provisions, and accused with impatient murmurs the

delays of the caliph. As soon as their numbers were complete,

Abubeker ascended the hill, reviewed the men, the horses, and the

arms, and poured forth a fervent prayer for the success of their

undertaking. In person, and on foot, he accompanied the first

day’s march; and when the blushing leaders attempted to dismount,

the caliph removed their scruples by a declaration, that those

who rode, and those who walked, in the service of religion, were

equally meritorious. His instructions 45 to the chiefs of the

Syrian army were inspired by the warlike fanaticism which

advances to seize, and affects to despise, the objects of earthly

ambition. “Remember,” said the successor of the prophet, “that

you are always in the presence of God, on the verge of death, in

the assurance of judgment, and the hope of paradise. Avoid

injustice and oppression; consult with your brethren, and study

to preserve the love and confidence of your troops. When you

fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men,

without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained

with the blood of women or children. Destroy no palm-trees, nor

burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any

mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make

any covenant or article, stand to it, and be as good as your

word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live

retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God

that way: let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their

monasteries: 46 And you will find another sort of people, that

belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; 47 be

sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they

either turn Mahometans or pay tribute.” All profane or frivolous

conversation, all dangerous recollection of ancient quarrels, was

severely prohibited among the Arabs: in the tumult of a camp, the

exercises of religion were assiduously practised; and the

intervals of action were employed in prayer, meditation, and the

study of the Koran. The abuse, or even the use, of wine was

chastised by fourscore strokes on the soles of the feet, and in

the fervor of their primitive zeal, many secret sinners revealed

their fault, and solicited their punishment. After some

hesitation, the command of the Syrian army was delegated to Abu

Obeidah, one of the fugitives of Mecca, and companions of

Mahomet; whose zeal and devotion was assuaged, without being

abated, by the singular mildness and benevolence of his temper.

But in all the emergencies of war, the soldiers demanded the

superior genius of Caled; and whoever might be the choice of the

prince, the Sword of God was both in fact and fame the foremost

leader of the Saracens. He obeyed without reluctance; 4711 he was

consulted without jealousy; and such was the spirit of the man,

or rather of the times, that Caled professed his readiness to

serve under the banner of the faith, though it were in the hands

of a child or an enemy. Glory, and riches, and dominion, were

indeed promised to the victorious Mussulman; but he was carefully

instructed, that if the goods of this life were his only

incitement, they likewise would be his only reward.

44 (return) [ A separate history of the conquest of Syria has

been composed by Al Wakidi, cadi of Bagdad, who was born A.D.

748, and died A.D. 822; he likewise wrote the conquest of Egypt,

of Diarbekir, &c. Above the meagre and recent chronicles of the

Arabians, Al Wakidi has the double merit of antiquity and

copiousness. His tales and traditions afford an artless picture

of the men and the times. Yet his narrative is too often

defective, trifling, and improbable. Till something better shall

be found, his learned and spiritual interpreter (Ockley, in his

History of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 21-342) will not deserve the

petulant animadversion of Reiske, (Prodidagmata ad Magji Chalifae

Tabulas, p. 236.) I am sorry to think that the labors of Ockley

were consummated in a jail, (see his two prefaces to the 1st A.D.

1708, to the 2d, 1718, with the list of authors at the end.) *

Note: M. Hamaker has clearly shown that neither of these works

can be inscribed to Al Wakidi: they are not older than the end of

the xith century or later than the middle of the xivth. Praefat.

in Inc. Auct. LIb. de Expugnatione Memphidis, c. ix. x.—M.]

45 (return) [ The instructions, &c., of the Syrian war are

described by Al Wakidi and Ockley, tom. i. p. 22-27, &c. In the

sequel it is necessary to contract, and needless to quote, their

circumstantial narrative. My obligations to others shall be

noticed.]

46 (return) [ Notwithstanding this precept, M. Pauw (Recherches

sur les Egyptiens, tom. ii. p. 192, edit. Lausanne) represents

the Bedoweens as the implacable enemies of the Christian monks.

For my own part, I am more inclined to suspect the avarice of the

Arabian robbers, and the prejudices of the German philosopher. *

Note: Several modern travellers (Mr. Fazakerley, in Walpole’s

Travels in the East, vol. xi. 371) give very amusing accounts of

the terms on which the monks of Mount Sinai live with the

neighboring Bedoweens. Such, probably, was their relative state

in older times, wherever the Arab retained his Bedoween

habits.—M.]

47 (return) [ Even in the seventh century, the monks were

generally laymen: They wore their hair long and dishevelled, and

shaved their heads when they were ordained priests. The circular

tonsure was sacred and mysterious; it was the crown of thorns;

but it was likewise a royal diadem, and every priest was a king,

&c., (Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. p. 721-758,

especially p. 737, 738.)]

4711 (return) [ Compare Price, p. 90.—M.]

Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs.—Part III.

One of the fifteen provinces of Syria, the cultivated lands to

the eastward of the Jordan, had been decorated by Roman vanity

with the name of _Arabia_; and the first arms of the Saracens

were justified by the semblance of a national right. The country

was enriched by the various benefits of trade; by the vigilance

of the emperors it was covered with a line of forts; and the

populous cities of Gerasa, Philadelphia, and Bosra, were secure,

at least from a surprise, by the solid structure of their walls.

The last of these cities was the eighteenth station from Medina:

the road was familiar to the caravans of Hejaz and Irak, who

annually visited this plenteous market of the province and the

desert: the perpetual jealousy of the Arabs had trained the

inhabitants to arms; and twelve thousand horse could sally from

the gates of Bosra, an appellation which signifies, in the Syriac

language, a strong tower of defence. Encouraged by their first

success against the open towns and flying parties of the borders,

a detachment of four thousand Moslems presumed to summon and

attack the fortress of Bosra. They were oppressed by the numbers

of the Syrians; they were saved by the presence of Caled, with

fifteen hundred horse: he blamed the enterprise, restored the

battle, and rescued his friend, the venerable Serjabil, who had

vainly invoked the unity of God and the promises of the apostle.

After a short repose, the Moslems performed their ablutions with

sand instead of water; and the morning prayer was recited by

Caled before they mounted on horseback. Confident in their

strength, the people of Bosra threw open their gates, drew their

forces into the plain, and swore to die in the defence of their

religion. But a religion of peace was incapable of withstanding

the fanatic cry of “Fight, fight! Paradise, paradise!” that

reechoed in the ranks of the Saracens; and the uproar of the

town, the ringing of bells, and the exclamations of the priests

and monks increased the dismay and disorder of the Christians.

With the loss of two hundred and thirty men, the Arabs remained

masters of the field; and the ramparts of Bosra, in expectation

of human or divine aid, were crowded with holy crosses and

consecrated banners. The governor Romanus had recommended an

early submission: despised by the people, and degraded from his

office, he still retained the desire and opportunity of revenge.

In a nocturnal interview, he informed the enemy of a

subterraneous passage from his house under the wall of the city;

the son of the caliph, with a hundred volunteers, were committed

to the faith of this new ally, and their successful intrepidity

gave an easy entrance to their companions. After Caled had

imposed the terms of servitude and tribute, the apostate or

convert avowed in the assembly of the people his meritorious

treason: “I renounce your society,” said Romanus, “both in this

world and the world to come. And I deny him that was crucified,

and whosoever worships him. And I choose God for my Lord, Islam

for my faith, Mecca for my temple, the Moslems for my brethren,

and Mahomet for my prophet; who was sent to lead us into the

right way, and to exalt the true religion in spite of those who

join partners with God.”

The conquest of Bosra, four days’ journey from Damascus,

encouraged the Arabs to besiege the ancient capital of Syria. At

some distance from the walls, they encamped among the groves and

fountains of that delicious territory, and the usual option of

the Mahometan faith, of tribute or of war, was proposed to the

resolute citizens, who had been lately strengthened by a

reenforcement of five thousand Greeks. In the decline, as in the

infancy, of the military art, a hostile defiance was frequently

offered and accepted by the generals themselves: many a lance was

shivered in the plain of Damascus, and the personal prowess of

Caled was signalized in the first sally of the besieged. After an

obstinate combat, he had overthrown and made prisoner one of the

Christian leaders, a stout and worthy antagonist. He instantly

mounted a fresh horse, the gift of the governor of Palmyra, and

pushed forwards to the front of the battle. “Repose yourself for

a moment,” said his friend Derar, “and permit me to supply your

place: you are fatigued with fighting with this dog.” “O Dear!”

replied the indefatigable Saracen, “we shall rest in the world to

come. He that labors to-day shall rest to-morrow.” With the same

unabated ardor, Caled answered, encountered, and vanquished a

second champion; and the heads of his two captives who refused to

abandon their religion were indignantly hurled into the midst of

the city. The event of some general and partial actions reduced

the Damascenes to a closer defence: but a messenger, whom they

dropped from the walls, returned with the promise of speedy and

powerful succor, and their tumultuous joy conveyed the

intelligence to the camp of the Arabs. After some debate, it was

resolved by the generals to raise, or rather to suspend, the

siege of Damascus, till they had given battle to the forces of

the emperor. In the retreat, Caled would have chosen the more

perilous station of the rear-guard; he modestly yielded to the

wishes of Abu Obeidah. But in the hour of danger he flew to the

rescue of his companion, who was rudely pressed by a sally of six

thousand horse and ten thousand foot, and few among the

Christians could relate at Damascus the circumstances of their

defeat. The importance of the contest required the junction of

the Saracens, who were dispersed on the frontiers of Syria and

Palestine; and I shall transcribe one of the circular mandates

which was addressed to Amrou, the future conqueror of Egypt. “In

the name of the most merciful God: from Caled to Amrou, health

and happiness. Know that thy brethren the Moslems design to march

to Aiznadin, where there is an army of seventy thousand Greeks,

who purpose to come against us, _that they may extinguish the

light of God with their mouths; but God preserveth his light in

spite of the infidels_. As soon therefore as this letter of mine

shall be delivered to thy hands, come with those that are with

thee to Aiznadin, where thou shalt find us if it please the most

high God.” The summons was cheerfully obeyed, and the forty-five

thousand Moslems, who met on the same day, on the same spot

ascribed to the blessing of Providence the effects of their

activity and zeal.

About four years after the triumph of the Persian war, the repose

of Heraclius and the empire was again disturbed by a new enemy,

the power of whose religion was more strongly felt, than it was

clearly understood, by the Christians of the East. In his palace

of Constantinople or Antioch, he was awakened by the invasion of

Syria, the loss of Bosra, and the danger of Damascus. An army of

seventy thousand veterans, or new levies, was assembled at Hems

or Emesa, under the command of his general Werdan: and these

troops consisting chiefly of cavalry, might be indifferently

styled either Syrians, or Greeks, or Romans: _Syrians_, from the

place of their birth or warfare; _Greeks_ from the religion and

language of their sovereign; and _Romans_, from the proud

appellation which was still profaned by the successors of

Constantine. On the plain of Aiznadin, as Werdan rode on a white

mule decorated with gold chains, and surrounded with ensigns and

standards, he was surprised by the near approach of a fierce and

naked warrior, who had undertaken to view the state of the enemy.

The adventurous valor of Derar was inspired, and has perhaps been

adorned, by the enthusiasm of his age and country. The hatred of

the Christians, the love of spoil, and the contempt of danger,

were the ruling passions of the audacious Saracen; and the

prospect of instant death could never shake his religious

confidence, or ruffle the calmness of his resolution, or even

suspend the frank and martial pleasantry of his humor. In the

most hopeless enterprises, he was bold, and prudent, and

fortunate: after innumerable hazards, after being thrice a

prisoner in the hands of the infidels, he still survived to

relate the achievements, and to enjoy the rewards, of the Syrian

conquest. On this occasion, his single lance maintained a flying

fight against thirty Romans, who were detached by Werdan; and,

after killing or unhorsing seventeen of their number, Derar

returned in safety to his applauding brethren. When his rashness

was mildly censured by the general, he excused himself with the

simplicity of a soldier. “Nay,” said Derar, “I did not begin

first: but they came out to take me, and I was afraid that God

should see me turn my back: and indeed I fought in good earnest,

and without doubt God assisted me against them; and had I not

been apprehensive of disobeying your orders, I should not have

come away as I did; and I perceive already that they will fall

into our hands.” In the presence of both armies, a venerable

Greek advanced from the ranks with a liberal offer of peace; and

the departure of the Saracens would have been purchased by a gift

to each soldier, of a turban, a robe, and a piece of gold; ten

robes and a hundred pieces to their leader; one hundred robes and

a thousand pieces to the caliph. A smile of indignation expressed

the refusal of Caled. “Ye Christian dogs, you know your option;

the Koran, the tribute, or the sword. We are a people whose

delight is in war, rather than in peace: and we despise your

pitiful alms, since we shall be speedily masters of your wealth,

your families, and your persons.” Notwithstanding this apparent

disdain, he was deeply conscious of the public danger: those who

had been in Persia, and had seen the armies of Chosroes confessed

that they never beheld a more formidable array. From the

superiority of the enemy, the artful Saracen derived a fresh

incentive of courage: “You see before you,” said he, “the united

force of the Romans; you cannot hope to escape, but you may

conquer Syria in a single day. The event depends on your

discipline and patience. Reserve yourselves till the evening. It

was in the evening that the Prophet was accustomed to vanquish.”

During two successive engagements, his temperate firmness

sustained the darts of the enemy, and the murmurs of his troops.

At length, when the spirits and quivers of the adverse line were

almost exhausted, Caled gave the signal of onset and victory. The

remains of the Imperial army fled to Antioch, or Cæsarea, or

Damascus; and the death of four hundred and seventy Moslems was

compensated by the opinion that they had sent to hell above fifty

thousand of the infidels. The spoil was inestimable; many banners

and crosses of gold and silver, precious stones, silver and gold

chains, and innumerable suits of the richest armor and apparel.

The general distribution was postponed till Damascus should be

taken; but the seasonable supply of arms became the instrument of

new victories. The glorious intelligence was transmitted to the

throne of the caliph; and the Arabian tribes, the coldest or most

hostile to the prophet’s mission, were eager and importunate to

share the harvest of Syria.

The sad tidings were carried to Damascus by the speed of grief

and terror; and the inhabitants beheld from their walls the

return of the heroes of Aiznadin. Amrou led the van at the head

of nine thousand horse: the bands of the Saracens succeeded each

other in formidable review; and the rear was closed by Caled in

person, with the standard of the black eagle. To the activity of

Derar he intrusted the commission of patrolling round the city

with two thousand horse, of scouring the plain, and of

intercepting all succor or intelligence. The rest of the Arabian

chiefs were fixed in their respective stations before the seven

gates of Damascus; and the siege was renewed with fresh vigor and

confidence. The art, the labor, the military engines, of the

Greeks and Romans are seldom to be found in the simple, though

successful, operations of the Saracens: it was sufficient for

them to invest a city with arms, rather than with trenches; to

repel the allies of the besieged; to attempt a stratagem or an

assault; or to expect the progress of famine and discontent.

Damascus would have acquiesced in the trial of Aiznadin, as a

final and peremptory sentence between the emperor and the caliph;

her courage was rekindled by the example and authority of Thomas,

a noble Greek, illustrious in a private condition by the alliance

of Heraclius. The tumult and illumination of the night proclaimed

the design of the morning sally; and the Christian hero, who

affected to despise the enthusiasm of the Arabs, employed the

resource of a similar superstition. At the principal gate, in the

sight of both armies, a lofty crucifix was erected; the bishop,

with his clergy, accompanied the march, and laid the volume of

the New Testament before the image of Jesus; and the contending

parties were scandalized or edified by a prayer that the Son of

God would defend his servants and vindicate his truth. The battle

raged with incessant fury; and the dexterity of Thomas, an

incomparable archer, was fatal to the boldest Saracens, till

their death was revenged by a female heroine. The wife of Aban,

who had followed him to the holy war, embraced her expiring

husband. “Happy,” said she, “happy art thou, my dear: thou art

gone to thy Lord, who first joined us together, and then parted

us asunder. I will revenge thy death, and endeavor to the utmost

of my power to come to the place where thou art, because I love

thee. Henceforth shall no man ever touch me more, for I have

dedicated myself to the service of God.” Without a groan, without

a tear, she washed the corpse of her husband, and buried him with

the usual rites. Then grasping the manly weapons, which in her

native land she was accustomed to wield, the intrepid widow of

Aban sought the place where his murderer fought in the thickest

of the battle. Her first arrow pierced the hand of his

standard-bearer; her second wounded Thomas in the eye; and the

fainting Christians no longer beheld their ensign or their

leader. Yet the generous champion of Damascus refused to withdraw

to his palace: his wound was dressed on the rampart; the fight

was continued till the evening; and the Syrians rested on their

arms. In the silence of the night, the signal was given by a

stroke on the great bell; the gates were thrown open, and each

gate discharged an impetuous column on the sleeping camp of the

Saracens. Caled was the first in arms: at the head of four

hundred horse he flew to the post of danger, and the tears

trickled down his iron cheeks, as he uttered a fervent

ejaculation; “O God, who never sleepest, look upon they servants,

and do not deliver them into the hands of their enemies.” The

valor and victory of Thomas were arrested by the presence of the

_Sword of God_; with the knowledge of the peril, the Moslems

recovered their ranks, and charged the assailants in the flank

and rear. After the loss of thousands, the Christian general

retreated with a sigh of despair, and the pursuit of the Saracens

was checked by the military engines of the rampart.

After a siege of seventy days, the patience, and perhaps the

provisions, of the Damascenes were exhausted; and the bravest of

their chiefs submitted to the hard dictates of necessity. In the

occurrences of peace and war, they had been taught to dread the

fierceness of Caled, and to revere the mild virtues of Abu

Obeidah. At the hour of midnight, one hundred chosen deputies of

the clergy and people were introduced to the tent of that

venerable commander. He received and dismissed them with

courtesy. They returned with a written agreement, on the faith of

a companion of Mahomet, that all hostilities should cease; that

the voluntary emigrants might depart in safety, with as much as

they could carry away of their effects; and that the tributary

subjects of the caliph should enjoy their lands and houses, with

the use and possession of seven churches. On these terms, the

most respectable hostages, and the gate nearest to his camp, were

delivered into his hands: his soldiers imitated the moderation of

their chief; and he enjoyed the submissive gratitude of a people

whom he had rescued from destruction. But the success of the

treaty had relaxed their vigilance, and in the same moment the

opposite quarter of the city was betrayed and taken by assault. A

party of a hundred Arabs had opened the eastern gate to a more

inexorable foe. “No quarter,” cried the rapacious and sanguinary

Caled, “no quarter to the enemies of the Lord:” his trumpets

sounded, and a torrent of Christian blood was poured down the

streets of Damascus. When he reached the church of St. Mary, he

was astonished and provoked by the peaceful aspect of his

companions; their swords were in the scabbard, and they were

surrounded by a multitude of priests and monks. Abu Obeidah

saluted the general: “God,” said he, “has delivered the city into

my hands by way of surrender, and has saved the believers the

trouble of fighting.” “And am I not,” replied the indignant

Caled, “am I not the lieutenant of the commander of the faithful?

Have I not taken the city by storm? The unbelievers shall perish

by the sword. Fall on.” The hungry and cruel Arabs would have

obeyed the welcome command; and Damascus was lost, if the

benevolence of Abu Obeidah had not been supported by a decent and

dignified firmness. Throwing himself between the trembling

citizens and the most eager of the Barbarians, he adjured them,

by the holy name of God, to respect his promise, to suspend their

fury, and to wait the determination of their chiefs. The chiefs

retired into the church of St. Mary; and after a vehement debate,

Caled submitted in some measure to the reason and authority of

his colleague; who urged the sanctity of a covenant, the

advantage as well as the honor which the Moslems would derive

from the punctual performance of their word, and the obstinate

resistance which they must encounter from the distrust and

despair of the rest of the Syrian cities. It was agreed that the

sword should be sheathed, that the part of Damascus which had

surrendered to Abu Obeidah, should be immediately entitled to the

benefit of his capitulation, and that the final decision should

be referred to the justice and wisdom of the caliph. A large

majority of the people accepted the terms of toleration and

tribute; and Damascus is still peopled by twenty thousand

Christians. But the valiant Thomas, and the free-born patriots

who had fought under his banner, embraced the alternative of

poverty and exile. In the adjacent meadow, a numerous encampment

was formed of priests and laymen, of soldiers and citizens, of

women and children: they collected, with haste and terror, their

most precious movables; and abandoned, with loud lamentations, or

silent anguish, their native homes, and the pleasant banks of the

Pharpar. The inflexible soul of Caled was not touched by the

spectacle of their distress: he disputed with the Damascenes the

property of a magazine of corn; endeavored to exclude the

garrison from the benefit of the treaty; consented, with

reluctance, that each of the fugitives should arm himself with a

sword, or a lance, or a bow; and sternly declared, that, after a

respite of three days, they might be pursued and treated as the

enemies of the Moslems.

The passion of a Syrian youth completed the ruin of the exiles of

Damascus. A nobleman of the city, of the name of Jonas, was

betrothed to a wealthy maiden; but her parents delayed the

consummation of his nuptials, and their daughter was persuaded to

escape with the man whom she had chosen. They corrupted the

nightly watchmen of the gate Keisan; the lover, who led the way,

was encompassed by a squadron of Arabs; but his exclamation in

the Greek tongue, “The bird is taken,” admonished his mistress to

hasten her return. In the presence of Caled, and of death, the

unfortunate Jonas professed his belief in one God and his apostle

Mahomet; and continued, till the season of his martyrdom, to

discharge the duties of a brave and sincere Mussulman. When the

city was taken, he flew to the monastery, where Eudocia had taken

refuge; but the lover was forgotten; the apostate was scorned;

she preferred her religion to her country; and the justice of

Caled, though deaf to mercy, refused to detain by force a male or

female inhabitant of Damascus. Four days was the general confined

to the city by the obligation of the treaty, and the urgent cares

of his new conquest. His appetite for blood and rapine would have

been extinguished by the hopeless computation of time and

distance; but he listened to the importunities of Jonas, who

assured him that the weary fugitives might yet be overtaken. At

the head of four thousand horse, in the disguise of Christian

Arabs, Caled undertook the pursuit. They halted only for the

moments of prayer; and their guide had a perfect knowledge of the

country. For a long way the footsteps of the Damascenes were

plain and conspicuous: they vanished on a sudden; but the

Saracens were comforted by the assurance that the caravan had

turned aside into the mountains, and must speedily fall into

their hands. In traversing the ridges of the Libanus, they

endured intolerable hardships, and the sinking spirits of the

veteran fanatics were supported and cheered by the unconquerable

ardor of a lover. From a peasant of the country, they were

informed that the emperor had sent orders to the colony of exiles

to pursue without delay the road of the sea-coast, and of

Constantinople, apprehensive, perhaps, that the soldiers and

people of Antioch might be discouraged by the sight and the story

of their sufferings. The Saracens were conducted through the

territories of Gabala and Laodicea, at a cautious distance from

the walls of the cities; the rain was incessant, the night was

dark, a single mountain separated them from the Roman army; and

Caled, ever anxious for the safety of his brethren, whispered an

ominous dream in the ear of his companion. With the dawn of day,

the prospect again cleared, and they saw before them, in a

pleasant valley, the tents of Damascus. After a short interval of

repose and prayer, Caled divided his cavalry into four squadrons,

committing the first to his faithful Derar, and reserving the

last for himself. They successively rushed on the promiscuous

multitude, insufficiently provided with arms, and already

vanquished by sorrow and fatigue. Except a captive, who was

pardoned and dismissed, the Arabs enjoyed the satisfaction of

believing that not a Christian of either sex escaped the edge of

their cimeters. The gold and silver of Damascus was scattered

over the camp, and a royal wardrobe of three hundred load of silk

might clothe an army of naked Barbarians. In the tumult of the

battle, Jonas sought and found the object of his pursuit: but her

resentment was inflamed by the last act of his perfidy; and as

Eudocia struggled in his hateful embraces, she struck a dagger to

her heart. Another female, the widow of Thomas, and the real or

supposed daughter of Heraclius, was spared and released without a

ransom; but the generosity of Caled was the effect of his

contempt; and the haughty Saracen insulted, by a message of

defiance, the throne of the Cæsars. Caled had penetrated above a

hundred and fifty miles into the heart of the Roman province: he

returned to Damascus with the same secrecy and speed On the

accession of Omar, the _Sword of God_ was removed from the

command; but the caliph, who blamed the rashness, was compelled

to applaud the vigor and conduct, of the enterprise.

Another expedition of the conquerors of Damascus will equally

display their avidity and their contempt for the riches of the

present world. They were informed that the produce and

manufactures of the country were annually collected in the fair

of Abyla, 64 about thirty miles from the city; that the cell of a

devout hermit was visited at the same time by a multitude of

pilgrims; and that the festival of trade and superstition would

be ennobled by the nuptials of the daughter of the governor of

Tripoli. Abdallah, the son of Jaafar, a glorious and holy martyr,

undertook, with a banner of five hundred horse, the pious and

profitable commission of despoiling the infidels. As he

approached the fair of Abyla, he was astonished by the report of

this mighty concourse of Jews and Christians, Greeks, and

Armenians, of natives of Syria and of strangers of Egypt, to the

number of ten thousand, besides a guard of five thousand horse

that attended the person of the bride. The Saracens paused: “For

my own part,” said Abdallah, “I dare not go back: our foes are

many, our danger is great, but our reward is splendid and secure,

either in this life or in the life to come. Let every man,

according to his inclination, advance or retire.” Not a Mussulman

deserted his standard. “Lead the way,” said Abdallah to his

Christian guide, “and you shall see what the companions of the

prophet can perform.” They charged in five squadrons; but after

the first advantage of the surprise, they were encompassed and

almost overwhelmed by the multitude of their enemies; and their

valiant band is fancifully compared to a white spot in the skin

of a black camel. 65 About the hour of sunset, when their weapons

dropped from their hands, when they panted on the verge of

eternity, they discovered an approaching cloud of dust; they

heard the welcome sound of the tecbir, 66 and they soon perceived

the standard of Caled, who flew to their relief with the utmost

speed of his cavalry. The Christians were broken by his attack,

and slaughtered in their flight, as far as the river of Tripoli.

They left behind them the various riches of the fair; the

merchandises that were exposed for sale, the money that was

brought for purchase, the gay decorations of the nuptials, and

the governor’s daughter, with forty of her female attendants.

The fruits, provisions, and furniture, the money, plate, and

jewels, were diligently laden on the backs of horses, asses, and

mules; and the holy robbers returned in triumph to Damascus. The

hermit, after a short and angry controversy with Caled, declined

the crown of martyrdom, and was left alive in the solitary scene

of blood and devastation.

64 (return) [ Dair Abil Kodos. After retrenching the last word,

the epithet, holy, I discover the Abila of Lysanias between

Damascus and Heliopolis: the name (Abil signifies a vineyard)

concurs with the situation to justify my conjecture, (Reland,

Palestin. tom. i. p 317, tom. ii. p. 526, 527.)]

65 (return) [ I am bolder than Mr. Ockley, (vol. i. p. 164,) who

dares not insert this figurative expression in the text, though

he observes in a marginal note, that the Arabians often borrow

their similes from that useful and familiar animal. The reindeer

may be equally famous in the songs of the Laplanders.]

66 (return) [ We hear the tecbir; so the Arabs call Their shout

of onset, when with loud appeal They challenge heaven, as if

demanding conquest. This word, so formidable in their holy wars,

is a verb active, (says Ockley in his index,) of the second

conjugation, from Kabbara, which signifies saying Alla Acbar, God

is most mighty!]

Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs.—Part IV.

Syria, 67 one of the countries that have been improved by the

most early cultivation, is not unworthy of the preference. 68 The

heat of the climate is tempered by the vicinity of the sea and

mountains, by the plenty of wood and water; and the produce of a

fertile soil affords the subsistence, and encourages the

propagation, of men and animals. From the age of David to that of

Heraclius, the country was overspread with ancient and

flourishing cities: the inhabitants were numerous and wealthy;

and, after the slow ravage of despotism and superstition, after

the recent calamities of the Persian war, Syria could still

attract and reward the rapacious tribes of the desert. A plain,

of ten days’ journey, from Damascus to Aleppo and Antioch, is

watered, on the western side, by the winding course of the

Orontes. The hills of Libanus and Anti-Libanus are planted from

north to south, between the Orontes and the Mediterranean; and

the epithet of hollow (Coelesyria) was applied to a long and

fruitful valley, which is confined in the same direction, by the

two ridges of snowy mountains. 69 Among the cities, which are

enumerated by Greek and Oriental names in the geography and

conquest of Syria, we may distinguish Emesa or Hems, Heliopolis

or Baalbec, the former as the metropolis of the plain, the latter

as the capital of the valley. Under the last of the Caesars, they

were strong and populous; the turrets glittered from afar: an

ample space was covered with public and private buildings; and

the citizens were illustrious by their spirit, or at least by

their pride; by their riches, or at least by their luxury. In the

days of Paganism, both Emesa and Heliopolis were addicted to the

worship of Baal, or the sun; but the decline of their

superstition and splendor has been marked by a singular variety

of fortune. Not a vestige remains of the temple of Emesa, which

was equalled in poetic style to the summits of Mount Libanus, 70

while the ruins of Baalbec, invisible to the writers of

antiquity, excite the curiosity and wonder of the European

traveller. 71 The measure of the temple is two hundred feet in

length, and one hundred in breadth: the front is adorned with a

double portico of eight columns; fourteen may be counted on

either side; and each column, forty-five feet in height, is

composed of three massy blocks of stone or marble. The

proportions and ornaments of the Corinthian order express the

architecture of the Greeks: but as Baalbec has never been the

seat of a monarch, we are at a loss to conceive how the expense

of these magnificent structures could be supplied by private or

municipal liberality. 72 From the conquest of Damascus the

Saracens proceeded to Heliopolis and Emesa: but I shall decline

the repetition of the sallies and combats which have been already

shown on a larger scale. In the prosecution of the war, their

policy was not less effectual than their sword. By short and

separate truces they dissolved the union of the enemy; accustomed

the Syrians to compare their friendship with their enmity;

familiarized the idea of their language, religion, and manners;

and exhausted, by clandestine purchase, the magazines and

arsenals of the cities which they returned to besiege. They

aggravated the ransom of the more wealthy, or the more obstinate;

and Chalcis alone was taxed at five thousand ounces of gold, five

thousand ounces of silver, two thousand robes of silk, and as

many figs and olives as would load five thousand asses. But the

terms of truce or capitulation were faithfully observed; and the

lieutenant of the caliph, who had promised not to enter the walls

of the captive Baalbec, remained tranquil and immovable in his

tent till the jarring factions solicited the interposition of a

foreign master. The conquest of the plain and valley of Syria was

achieved in less than two years. Yet the commander of the

faithful reproved the slowness of their progress; and the

Saracens, bewailing their fault with tears of rage and

repentance, called aloud on their chiefs to lead them forth to

fight the battles of the Lord. In a recent action, under the

walls of Emesa, an Arabian youth, the cousin of Caled, was heard

aloud to exclaim, “Methinks I see the black-eyed girls looking

upon me; one of whom, should she appear in this world, all

mankind would die for love of her. And I see in the hand of one

of them a handkerchief of green silk, and a cap of precious

stones, and she beckons me, and calls out, Come hither quickly,

for I love thee.” With these words, charging the Christians, he

made havoc wherever he went, till, observed at length by the

governor of Hems, he was struck through with a javelin.

67 (return) [ In the Geography of Abulfeda, the description of

Syria, his native country, is the most interesting and authentic

portion. It was published in Arabic and Latin, Lipsiae, 1766, in

quarto, with the learned notes of Kochler and Reiske, and some

extracts of geography and natural history from Ibn Ol Wardii.

Among the modern travels, Pocock’s Description of the East (of

Syria and Mesopotamia, vol. ii. p. 88-209) is a work of superior

learning and dignity; but the author too often confounds what he

had seen and what he had read.]

68 (return) [ The praises of Dionysius are just and lively.

Syria, (in Periegesi, v. 902, in tom. iv. Geograph. Minor.

Hudson.) In another place he styles the country differently, (v.

898.) This poetical geographer lived in the age of Augustus, and

his description of the world is illustrated by the Greek

commentary of Eustathius, who paid the same compliment to Homer

and Dionysius, (Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. l. iv. c. 2, tom. iii. p.

21, &c.)]

69 (return) [ The topography of the Libanus and Anti-Libanus is

excellently described by the learning and sense of Reland,

(Palestin. tom. i. p. 311-326)]

70 (return) [

—Emesae fastigia celsa renident. Nam diffusa solo latus explicat; ac

subit auras Turribus in coelum nitentibus: incola claris Cor studiis

acuit... Denique flammicomo devoti pectora soli Vitam agitant.

Libanus frondosa cacumina turget. Et tamen his certant celsi fastigia

templi.

These verses of the Latin version of Rufus Avienus are wanting in

the Greek original of Dionysius; and since they are likewise

unnoticed by Eustathius, I must, with Fabricius, (Bibliot. Latin.

tom. iii. p. 153, edit. Ernesti,) and against Salmasius, (ad

Vopiscum, p. 366, 367, in Hist. August.,) ascribed them to the

fancy, rather than the Mss., of Avienus.]

71 (return) [ I am much better satisfied with Maundrell’s slight

octavo, (Journey, p. 134-139), than with the pompous folio of Dr.

Pocock, (Description of the East, vol. ii. p. 106-113;) but every

preceding account is eclipsed by the magnificent description and

drawings of Mm. Dawkins and Wood, who have transported into

England the ruins of Pamyra and Baalbec.]

72 (return) [ 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.)]

It was incumbent on the Saracens to exert the full powers of

their valor and enthusiasm against the forces of the emperor, who

was taught, by repeated losses, that the rovers of the desert had

undertaken, and would speedily achieve, a regular and permanent

conquest. From the provinces of Europe and Asia, fourscore

thousand soldiers were transported by sea and land to Antioch and

Caesarea: the light troops of the army consisted of sixty

thousand Christian Arabs of the tribe of Gassan. Under the banner

of Jabalah, the last of their princes, they marched in the van;

and it was a maxim of the Greeks, that for the purpose of cutting

diamond, a diamond was the most effectual. Heraclius withheld his

person from the dangers of the field; but his presumption, or

perhaps his despondency, suggested a peremptory order, that the

fate of the province and the war should be decided by a single

battle. The Syrians were attached to the standard of Rome and of

the cross: but the noble, the citizen, the peasant, were

exasperated by the injustice and cruelty of a licentious host,

who oppressed them as subjects, and despised them as strangers

and aliens. 73 A report of these mighty preparations was conveyed

to the Saracens in their camp of Emesa, and the chiefs, though

resolved to fight, assembled a council: the faith of Abu Obeidah

would have expected on the same spot the glory of martyrdom; the

wisdom of Caled advised an honorable retreat to the skirts of

Palestine and Arabia, where they might await the succors of their

friends, and the attack of the unbelievers. A speedy messenger

soon returned from the throne of Medina, with the blessings of

Omar and Ali, the prayers of the widows of the prophet, and a

reenforcement of eight thousand Moslems. In their way they

overturned a detachment of Greeks, and when they joined at Yermuk

the camp of their brethren, they found the pleasing intelligence,

that Caled had already defeated and scattered the Christian Arabs

of the tribe of Gassan. In the neighborhood of Bosra, the springs

of Mount Hermon descend in a torrent to the plain of Decapolis,

or ten cities; and the Hieromax, a name which has been corrupted

to Yermuk, is lost, after a short course, in the Lake of

Tiberias. 74 The banks of this obscure stream were illustrated by

a long and bloody encounter. 7411 On this momentous occasion, the

public voice, and the modesty of Abu Obeidah, restored the

command to the most deserving of the Moslems. Caled assumed his

station in the front, his colleague was posted in the rear, that

the disorder of the fugitive might be checked by his venerable

aspect, and the sight of the yellow banner which Mahomet had

displayed before the walls of Chaibar. The last line was occupied

by the sister of Derar, with the Arabian women who had enlisted

in this holy war, who were accustomed to wield the bow and the

lance, and who in a moment of captivity had defended, against the

uncircumcised ravishers, their chastity and religion. 75 The

exhortation of the generals was brief and forcible: “Paradise is

before you, the devil and hell-fire in your rear.” Yet such was

the weight of the Roman cavalry, that the right wing of the Arabs

was broken and separated from the main body. Thrice did they

retreat in disorder, and thrice were they driven back to the

charge by the reproaches and blows of the women. In the intervals

of action, Abu Obeidah visited the tents of his brethren,

prolonged their repose by repeating at once the prayers of two

different hours, bound up their wounds with his own hands, and

administered the comfortable reflection, that the infidels

partook of their sufferings without partaking of their reward.

Four thousand and thirty of the Moslems were buried in the field

of battle; and the skill of the Armenian archers enabled seven

hundred to boast that they had lost an eye in that meritorious

service. The veterans of the Syrian war acknowledged that it was

the hardest and most doubtful of the days which they had seen.

But it was likewise the most decisive: many thousands of the

Greeks and Syrians fell by the swords of the Arabs; many were

slaughtered, after the defeat, in the woods and mountains; many,

by mistaking the ford, were drowned in the waters of the Yermuk;

and however the loss may be magnified, 76 the Christian writers

confess and bewail the bloody punishment of their sins. 77

Manuel, the Roman general, was either killed at Damascus, or took

refuge in the monastery of Mount Sinai. An exile in the Byzantine

court, Jabalah lamented the manners of Arabia, and his unlucky

preference of the Christian cause. 78 He had once inclined to the

profession of Islam; but in the pilgrimage of Mecca, Jabalah was

provoked to strike one of his brethren, and fled with amazement

from the stern and equal justice of the caliph. These victorious

Saracens enjoyed at Damascus a month of pleasure and repose: the

spoil was divided by the discretion of Abu Obeidah: an equal

share was allotted to a soldier and to his horse, and a double

portion was reserved for the noble coursers of the Arabian breed.

73 (return) [ I have read somewhere in Tacitus, or Grotius,

Subjectos habent tanquam suos, viles tanquam alienos. Some Greek

officers ravished the wife, and murdered the child, of their

Syrian landlord; and Manuel smiled at his undutiful complaint.]

74 (return) [ See Reland, Palestin. tom. i. p. 272, 283, tom. ii.

p. 773, 775. This learned professor was equal to the task of

describing the Holy Land, since he was alike conversant with

Greek and Latin, with Hebrew and Arabian literature. The Yermuk,

or Hieromax, is noticed by Cellarius (Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii.

p. 392) and D’Anville, (Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 185.)

The Arabs, and even Abulfeda himself, do not seem to recognize

the scene of their victory.]

7411 (return) [ Compare Price, p. 79. The army of the Romans is

swoller to 400,000 men of which 70,000 perished.—M.]

75 (return) [ These women were of the tribe of the Hamyarites,

who derived their origin from the ancient Amalekites. Their

females were accustomed to ride on horseback, and to fight like

the Amazons of old, (Ockley, vol. i. p. 67.)]

76 (return) [ We killed of them, says Abu Obeidah to the caliph,

one hundred and fifty thousand, and made prisoners forty

thousand, (Ockley vol. i. p. 241.) As I cannot doubt his

veracity, nor believe his computation, I must suspect that the

Arabic historians indulge themselves in the practice of comparing

speeches and letters for their heroes.]

77 (return) [ After deploring the sins of the Christians,

Theophanes, adds, (Chronograph. p. 276,) does he mean Aiznadin?

His account is brief and obscure, but he accuses the numbers of

the enemy, the adverse wind, and the cloud of dust. (Chronograph.

p. 280.)]

78 (return) [ See Abulfeda, (Annal. Moslem. p. 70, 71,) who

transcribes the poetical complaint of Jabalah himself, and some

panegyrical strains of an Arabian poet, to whom the chief of

Gassan sent from Constantinople a gift of five hundred pieces of

gold by the hands of the ambassador of Omar.]

After the battle of Yermuk, the Roman army no longer appeared in

the field; and the Saracens might securely choose, among the

fortified towns of Syria, the first object of their attack. They

consulted the caliph whether they should march to Caesarea or

Jerusalem; and the advice of Ali determined the immediate siege

of the latter. To a profane eye, Jerusalem was the first or

second capital of Palestine; but after Mecca and Medina, it was

revered and visited by the devout Moslems, as the temple of the

Holy Land which had been sanctified by the revelation of Moses,

of Jesus, and of Mahomet himself. The son of Abu Sophian was sent

with five thousand Arabs to try the first experiment of surprise

or treaty; but on the eleventh day, the town was invested by the

whole force of Abu Obeidah. He addressed the customary summons to

the chief commanders and people of Aelia. 79

79 (return) [ In the name of the city, the profane prevailed over

the sacred Jerusalem was known to the devout Christians, (Euseb.

de Martyr Palest. c xi.;) but the legal and popular appellation

of Aelia (the colony of Aelius Hadrianus) has passed from the

Romans to the Arabs. (Reland, Palestin. tom. i. p. 207, tom. ii.

p. 835. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, Cods, p. 269, Ilia,

p. 420.) The epithet of Al Cods, the Holy, is used as the proper

name of Jerusalem.]

“Health and happiness to every one that follows the right way! We

require of you to testify that there is but one God, and that

Mahomet is his apostle. If you refuse this, consent to pay

tribute, and be under us forthwith. Otherwise I shall bring men

against you who love death better than you do the drinking of

wine or eating hog’s flesh. Nor will I ever stir from you, if it

please God, till I have destroyed those that fight for you, and

made slaves of your children.” But the city was defended on every

side by deep valleys and steep ascents; since the invasion of

Syria, the walls and towers had been anxiously restored; the

bravest of the fugitives of Yermuk had stopped in the nearest

place of refuge; and in the defence of the sepulchre of Christ,

the natives and strangers might feel some sparks of the

enthusiasm, which so fiercely glowed in the bosoms of the

Saracens. The siege of Jerusalem lasted four months; not a day

was lost without some action of sally or assault; the military

engines incessantly played from the ramparts; and the inclemency

of the winter was still more painful and destructive to the

Arabs. The Christians yielded at length to the perseverance of

the besiegers. The patriarch Sophronius appeared on the walls,

and by the voice of an interpreter demanded a conference. 7911

After a vain attempt to dissuade the lieutenant of the caliph

from his impious enterprise, he proposed, in the name of the

people, a fair capitulation, with this extraordinary clause, that

the articles of security should be ratified by the authority and

presence of Omar himself. The question was debated in the council

of Medina; the sanctity of the place, and the advice of Ali,

persuaded the caliph to gratify the wishes of his soldiers and

enemies; and the simplicity of his journey is more illustrious

than the royal pageants of vanity and oppression. The conqueror

of Persia and Syria was mounted on a red camel, which carried,

besides his person, a bag of corn, a bag of dates, a wooden dish,

and a leathern bottle of water. Wherever he halted, the company,

without distinction, was invited to partake of his homely fare,

and the repast was consecrated by the prayer and exhortation of

the commander of the faithful. 80 But in this expedition or

pilgrimage, his power was exercised in the administration of

justice: he reformed the licentious polygamy of the Arabs,

relieved the tributaries from extortion and cruelty, and

chastised the luxury of the Saracens, by despoiling them of their

rich silks, and dragging them on their faces in the dirt. When he

came within sight of Jerusalem, the caliph cried with a loud

voice, “God is victorious. O Lord, give us an easy conquest!”

and, pitching his tent of coarse hair, calmly seated himself on

the ground. After signing the capitulation, he entered the city

without fear or precaution; and courteously discoursed with the

patriarch concerning its religious antiquities. 81 Sophronius

bowed before his new master, and secretly muttered, in the words

of Daniel, “The abomination of desolation is in the holy place.”

82 At the hour of prayer they stood together in the church of the

resurrection; but the caliph refused to perform his devotions,

and contented himself with praying on the steps of the church of

Constantine. To the patriarch he disclosed his prudent and

honorable motive. “Had I yielded,” said Omar, “to your request,

the Moslems of a future age would have infringed the treaty under

color of imitating my example.” By his command the ground of the

temple of Solomon was prepared for the foundation of a mosch; 83

and, during a residence of ten days, he regulated the present and

future state of his Syrian conquests. Medina might be jealous,

lest the caliph should be detained by the sanctity of Jerusalem

or the beauty of Damascus; her apprehensions were dispelled by

his prompt and voluntary return to the tomb of the apostle. 84

7911 (return) [ See the explanation of this in Price, with the

prophecy which was hereby fulfilled, p 85.—M]

80 (return) [ The singular journey and equipage of Omar are

described (besides Ockley, vol. i. p. 250) by Murtadi,

(Merveilles de l’Egypte, p. 200-202.)]

81 (return) [ The Arabs boast of an old prophecy preserved at

Jerusalem, and describing the name, the religion, and the person

of Omar, the future conqueror. By such arts the Jews are said to

have soothed the pride of their foreign masters, Cyrus and

Alexander, (Joseph. Ant. Jud. l. xi c. 1, 8, p. 447, 579-582.)]

82 (return) [ Theophan. Chronograph. p. 281. This prediction,

which had already served for Antiochus and the Romans, was again

refitted for the present occasion, by the economy of Sophronius,

one of the deepest theologians of the Monothelite controversy.]

83 (return) [ According to the accurate survey of D’Anville,

(Dissertation sun l’ancienne Jerusalem, p. 42-54,) the mosch of

Omar, enlarged and embellished by succeeding caliphs, covered the

ground of the ancient temple, (says Phocas,) a length of 215, a

breadth of 172, toises. The Nubian geographer declares, that this

magnificent structure was second only in size and beauty to the

great mosch of Cordova, (p. 113,) whose present state Mr.

Swinburne has so elegantly represented, (Travels into Spain, p.

296-302.)]

84 (return) [ Of the many Arabic tarikhs or chronicles of

Jerusalem, (D’Herbelot, p. 867,) Ockley found one among the

Pocock Mss. of Oxford, (vol. i. p. 257,) which he has used to

supply the defective narrative of Al Wakidi.]

To achieve what yet remained of the Syrian war the caliph had

formed two separate armies; a chosen detachment, under Amrou and

Yezid, was left in the camp of Palestine; while the larger

division, under the standard of Abu Obeidah and Caled, marched

away to the north against Antioch and Aleppo. The latter of

these, the Beraea of the Greeks, was not yet illustrious as the

capital of a province or a kingdom; and the inhabitants, by

anticipating their submission and pleading their poverty,

obtained a moderate composition for their lives and religion. But

the castle of Aleppo, 85 distinct from the city, stood erect on a

lofty artificial mound; the sides were sharpened to a precipice,

and faced with free-stone; and the breadth of the ditch might be

filled with water from the neighboring springs. After the loss of

three thousand men, the garrison was still equal to the defence;

and Youkinna, their valiant and hereditary chief, had murdered

his brother, a holy monk, for daring to pronounce the name of

peace. In a siege of four or five months, the hardest of the

Syrian war, great numbers of the Saracens were killed and

wounded: their removal to the distance of a mile could not seduce

the vigilance of Youkinna; nor could the Christians be terrified

by the execution of three hundred captives, whom they beheaded

before the castle wall. The silence, and at length the

complaints, of Abu Obeidah informed the caliph that their hope

and patience were consumed at the foot of this impregnable

fortress. “I am variously affected,” replied Omar, “by the

difference of your success; but I charge you by no means to raise

the siege of the castle. Your retreat would diminish the

reputation of our arms, and encourage the infidels to fall upon

you on all sides. Remain before Aleppo till God shall determine

the event, and forage with your horse round the adjacent

country.” The exhortation of the commander of the faithful was

fortified by a supply of volunteers from all the tribes of

Arabia, who arrived in the camp on horses or camels. Among these

was Dames, of a servile birth, but of gigantic size and intrepid

resolution. The forty-seventh day of his service he proposed,

with only thirty men, to make an attempt on the castle. The

experience and testimony of Caled recommended his offer; and Abu

Obeidah admonished his brethren not to despise the baser origin

of Dames, since he himself, could he relinquish the public care,

would cheerfully serve under the banner of the slave. His design

was covered by the appearance of a retreat; and the camp of the

Saracens was pitched about a league from Aleppo. The thirty

adventurers lay in ambush at the foot of the hill; and Dames at

length succeeded in his inquiries, though he was provoked by the

ignorance of his Greek captives. “God curse these dogs,” said the

illiterate Arab; “what a strange barbarous language they speak!”

At the darkest hour of the night, he scaled the most accessible

height, which he had diligently surveyed, a place where the

stones were less entire, or the slope less perpendicular, or the

guard less vigilant. Seven of the stoutest Saracens mounted on

each other’s shoulders, and the weight of the column was

sustained on the broad and sinewy back of the gigantic slave. The

foremost in this painful ascent could grasp and climb the lowest

part of the battlements; they silently stabbed and cast down the

sentinels; and the thirty brethren, repeating a pious

ejaculation, “O apostle of God, help and deliver us!” were

successively drawn up by the long folds of their turbans. With

bold and cautious footsteps, Dames explored the palace of the

governor, who celebrated, in riotous merriment, the festival of

his deliverance. From thence, returning to his companions, he

assaulted on the inside the entrance of the castle. They

overpowered the guard, unbolted the gate, let down the

drawbridge, and defended the narrow pass, till the arrival of

Caled, with the dawn of day, relieved their danger and assured

their conquest. Youkinna, a formidable foe, became an active and

useful proselyte; and the general of the Saracens expressed his

regard for the most humble merit, by detaining the army at Aleppo

till Dames was cured of his honorable wounds. The capital of

Syria was still covered by the castle of Aazaz and the iron

bridge of the Orontes. After the loss of those important posts,

and the defeat of the last of the Roman armies, the luxury of

Antioch 86 trembled and obeyed. Her safety was ransomed with

three hundred thousand pieces of gold; but the throne of the

successors of Alexander, the seat of the Roman government of the

East, which had been decorated by Caesar with the titles of free,

and holy, and inviolate was degraded under the yoke of the

caliphs to the secondary rank of a provincial town. 87

85 (return) [ The Persian historian of Timur (tom. iii. l. v. c.

21, p. 300) describes the castle of Aleppo as founded on a rock

one hundred cubits in height; a proof, says the French

translator, that he had never visited the place. It is now in the

midst of the city, of no strength with a single gate; the circuit

is about 500 or 600 paces, and the ditch half full of stagnant

water, (Voyages de Tavernier, tom. i. p. 149 Pocock, vol. ii.

part i. p. 150.) The fortresses of the East are contemptible to a

European eye.]

86 (return) [ The date of the conquest of Antioch by the Arabs is

of some importance. By comparing the years of the world in the

chronography of Theophanes with the years of the Hegira in the

history of Elmacin, we shall determine, that it was taken between

January 23d and September 1st of the year of Christ 638, (Pagi,

Critica, in Baron. Annal. tom. ii. p. 812, 813.) Al Wakidi

(Ockley, vol. i. p. 314) assigns that event to Tuesday, August

21st, an inconsistent date; since Easter fell that year on April

5th, the 21st of August must have been a Friday, (see the Tables

of the Art de Verifier les Dates.)]

87 (return) [ His bounteous edict, which tempted the grateful

city to assume the victory of Pharsalia for a perpetual aera, is

given. John Malala, in Chron. p. 91, edit. Venet. We may

distinguish his authentic information of domestic facts from his

gross ignorance of general history.]

In the life of Heraclius, the glories of the Persian war are

clouded on either hand by the disgrace and weakness of his more

early and his later days. When the successors of Mahomet

unsheathed the sword of war and religion, he was astonished at

the boundless prospect of toil and danger; his nature was

indolent, nor could the infirm and frigid age of the emperor be

kindled to a second effort. The sense of shame, and the

importunities of the Syrians, prevented the hasty departure from

the scene of action; but the hero was no more; and the loss of

Damascus and Jerusalem, the bloody fields of Aiznadin and Yermuk,

may be imputed in some degree to the absence or misconduct of the

sovereign. Instead of defending the sepulchre of Christ, he

involved the church and state in a metaphysical controversy for

the unity of his will; and while Heraclius crowned the offspring

of his second nuptials, he was tamely stripped of the most

valuable part of their inheritance. In the cathedral of Antioch,

in the presence of the bishops, at the foot of the crucifix, he

bewailed the sins of the prince and people; but his confession

instructed the world, that it was vain, and perhaps impious, to

resist the judgment of God. The Saracens were invincible in fact,

since they were invincible in opinion; and the desertion of

Youkinna, his false repentance and repeated perfidy, might

justify the suspicion of the emperor, that he was encompassed by

traitors and apostates, who conspired to betray his person and

their country to the enemies of Christ. In the hour of adversity,

his superstition was agitated by the omens and dreams of a

falling crown; and after bidding an eternal farewell to Syria, he

secretly embarked with a few attendants, and absolved the faith

of his subjects. 88 Constantine, his eldest son, had been

stationed with forty thousand men at Caesarea, the civil

metropolis of the three provinces of Palestine. But his private

interest recalled him to the Byzantine court; and, after the

flight of his father, he felt himself an unequal champion to the

united force of the caliph. His vanguard was boldly attacked by

three hundred Arabs and a thousand black slaves, who, in the

depth of winter, had climbed the snowy mountains of Libanus, and

who were speedily followed by the victorious squadrons of Caled

himself. From the north and south the troops of Antioch and

Jerusalem advanced along the sea-shore till their banners were

joined under the walls of the Phoenician cities: Tripoli and Tyre

were betrayed; and a fleet of fifty transports, which entered

without distrust the captive harbors, brought a seasonable supply

of arms and provisions to the camp of the Saracens. Their labors

were terminated by the unexpected surrender of Caesarea: the

Roman prince had embarked in the night; 89 and the defenceless

citizens solicited their pardon with an offering of two hundred

thousand pieces of gold. The remainder of the province, Ramlah,

Ptolemais or Acre, Sichem or Neapolis, Gaza, Ascalon, Berytus,

Sidon, Gabala, Laodicea, Apamea, Hierapolis, no longer presumed

to dispute the will of the conqueror; and Syria bowed under the

sceptre of the caliphs seven hundred years after Pompey had

despoiled the last of the Macedonian kings. 90

88 (return) [ See Ockley, (vol. i. p. 308, 312,) who laughs at

the credulity of his author. When Heraclius bade farewell to

Syria, Vale Syria et ultimum vale, he prophesied that the Romans

should never reenter the province till the birth of an

inauspicious child, the future scourge of the empire. Abulfeda,

p. 68. I am perfectly ignorant of the mystic sense, or nonsense,

of this prediction.]

89 (return) [ In the loose and obscure chronology of the times, I

am guided by an authentic record, (in the book of ceremonies of

Constantine Porphyrogenitus,) which certifies that, June 4, A.D.

638, the emperor crowned his younger son Heraclius, in the

presence of his eldest, Constantine, and in the palace of

Constantinople; that January 1, A.D. 639, the royal procession

visited the great church, and on the 4th of the same month, the

hippodrome.]

90 (return) [ Sixty-five years before Christ, Syria Pontusque

monumenta sunt Cn. Pompeii virtutis, (Vell. Patercul. ii. 38,)

rather of his fortune and power: he adjudged Syria to be a Roman

province, and the last of the Seleucides were incapable of

drawing a sword in the defence of their patrimony (see the

original texts collected by Usher, Annal. p. 420)]

Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs.—Part V.

The sieges and battles of six campaigns had consumed many

thousands of the Moslems. They died with the reputation and the

cheerfulness of martyrs; and the simplicity of their faith may be

expressed in the words of an Arabian youth, when he embraced, for

the last time, his sister and mother: “It is not,” said he, “the

delicacies of Syria, or the fading delights of this world, that

have prompted me to devote my life in the cause of religion. But

I seek the favor of God and his apostle; and I have heard, from

one of the companions of the prophet, that the spirits of the

martyrs will be lodged in the crops of green birds, who shall

taste the fruits, and drink of the rivers, of paradise. Farewell,

we shall meet again among the groves and fountains which God has

provided for his elect.” The faithful captives might exercise a

passive and more arduous resolution; and a cousin of Mahomet is

celebrated for refusing, after an abstinence of three days, the

wine and pork, the only nourishment that was allowed by the

malice of the infidels. The frailty of some weaker brethren

exasperated the implacable spirit of fanaticism; and the father

of Amer deplored, in pathetic strains, the apostasy and damnation

of a son, who had renounced the promises of God, and the

intercession of the prophet, to occupy, with the priests and

deacons, the lowest mansions of hell. The more fortunate Arabs,

who survived the war and persevered in the faith, were restrained

by their abstemious leader from the abuse of prosperity. After a

refreshment of three days, Abu Obeidah withdrew his troops from

the pernicious contagion of the luxury of Antioch, and assured

the caliph that their religion and virtue could only be preserved

by the hard discipline of poverty and labor. But the virtue of

Omar, however rigorous to himself, was kind and liberal to his

brethren. After a just tribute of praise and thanksgiving, he

dropped a tear of compassion; and sitting down on the ground,

wrote an answer, in which he mildly censured the severity of his

lieutenant: “God,” said the successor of the prophet, “has not

forbidden the use of the good things of this worl to faithful

men, and such as have performed good works. Therefore you ought

to have given them leave to rest themselves, and partake freely

of those good things which the country affordeth. If any of the

Saracens have no family in Arabia, they may marry in Syria; and

whosoever of them wants any female slaves, he may purchase as

many as he hath occasion for.” The conquerors prepared to use, or

to abuse, this gracious permission; but the year of their triumph

was marked by a mortality of men and cattle; and twenty-five

thousand Saracens were snatched away from the possession of

Syria. The death of Abu Obeidah might be lamented by the

Christians; but his brethren recollected that he was one of the

ten elect whom the prophet had named as the heirs of paradise. 91

Caled survived his brethren about three years: and the tomb of

the Sword of God is shown in the neighborhood of Emesa. His

valor, which founded in Arabia and Syria the empire of the

caliphs, was fortified by the opinion of a special providence;

and as long as he wore a cap, which had been blessed by Mahomet,

he deemed himself invulnerable amidst the darts of the infidels.

9111

91 (return) [ Abulfeda, Annal. Moslem. p. 73. Mahomet could

artfully vary the praises of his disciples. Of Omar he was

accustomed to say, that if a prophet could arise after himself,

it would be Omar; and that in a general calamity, Omar would be

accepted by the divine justice, (Ockley, vol. i. p. 221.)]

9111 (return) [ Khaled, according to the Rouzont Uzzuffa, (Price,

p. 90,) after having been deprived of his ample share of the

plunder of Syria by the jealousy of Omar, died, possessed only of

his horse, his arms, and a single slave. Yet Omar was obliged to

acknowledge to his lamenting parent. that never mother had

produced a son like Khaled.—M.]

The place of the first conquerors was supplied by a new

generation of their children and countrymen: Syria became the

seat and support of the house of Ommiyah; and the revenue, the

soldiers, the ships of that powerful kingdom were consecrated to

enlarge on every side the empire of the caliphs. But the Saracens

despise a superfluity of fame; and their historians scarcely

condescend to mention the subordinate conquests which are lost in

the splendor and rapidity of their victorious career.

To the north of Syria, they passed Mount Taurus, and reduced to

their obedience the province of Cilicia, with its capital Tarsus,

the ancient monument of the Assyrian kings. Beyond a second ridge

of the same mountains, they spread the flame of war, rather than

the light of religion, as far as the shores of the Euxine, and

the neighborhood of Constantinople. To the east they advanced to

the banks and sources of the Euphrates and Tigris: 92 the long

disputed barrier of Rome and Persia was forever confounded; the

walls of Edessa and Amida, of Dara and Nisibis, which had

resisted the arms and engines of Sapor or Nushirvan, were

levelled in the dust; and the holy city of Abgarus might vainly

produce the epistle or the image of Christ to an unbelieving

conqueror. To the west the Syrian kingdom is bounded by the sea:

and the ruin of Aradus, a small island or peninsula on the coast,

was postponed during ten years. But the hills of Libanus abounded

in timber; the trade of Phoenicia was populous in mariners; and a

fleet of seventeen hundred barks was equipped and manned by the

natives of the desert. The Imperial navy of the Romans fled

before them from the Pamphylian rocks to the Hellespont; but the

spirit of the emperor, a grandson of Heraclius, had been subdued

before the combat by a dream and a pun. 93 The Saracens rode

masters of the sea; and the islands of Cyprus, Rhodes, and the

Cyclades, were successively exposed to their rapacious visits.

Three hundred years before the Christian aera, the memorable

though fruitless siege of Rhodes 94 by Demetrius had furnished

that maritime republic with the materials and the subject of a

trophy. A gigantic statue of Apollo, or the sun, seventy cubits

in height, was erected at the entrance of the harbor, a monument

of the freedom and the arts of Greece. After standing fifty-six

years, the colossus of Rhodes was overthrown by an earthquake;

but the massy trunk, and huge fragments, lay scattered eight

centuries on the ground, and are often described as one of the

wonders of the ancient world. They were collected by the

diligence of the Saracens, and sold to a Jewish merchant of

Edessa, who is said to have laden nine hundred camels with the

weight of the brass metal; an enormous weight, though we should

include the hundred colossal figures, 95 and the three thousand

statues, which adorned the prosperity of the city of the sun.

92 (return) [ Al Wakidi had likewise written a history of the

conquest of Diarbekir, or Mesopotamia, (Ockley, at the end of the

iid vol.,) which our interpreters do not appear to have seen. The

Chronicle of Dionysius of Telmar, the Jacobite patriarch, records

the taking of Edessa A.D. 637, and of Dara A.D. 641, (Asseman.

Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 103;) and the attentive may glean

some doubtful information from the Chronography of Theophanes,

(p. 285-287.) Most of the towns of Mesopotamia yielded by

surrender, (Abulpharag. p. 112.) * Note: It has been published in

Arabic by M. Ewald St. Martin, vol. xi p 248; but its

authenticity is doubted.—M.]

93 (return) [ He dreamt that he was at Thessalonica, a harmless

and unmeaning vision; but his soothsayer, or his cowardice,

understood the sure omen of a defeat concealed in that

inauspicious word, Give to another the victory, (Theoph. p. 286.

Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiv. p. 88.)]

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) · 第 59 / 79 章

The Conquest Of Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, And Spain, By The