LI.!

circumcised ravishers, their chastity and religion*, C H A P. The exhortation of the general was brief and for cible; "Paradise is before you, the deviband hellu "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 admid nistered the comfortable reflèction, that the ini fidels 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 †,

T 1

the

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.)

+ We killed of them, says Abu Obeidah to the caliph, one hundred and fifty thousand, and made prisoners forty thousand,

(Ockley,

LI.

CHA P. the Christian writers confess and bewail the bloody punishment of their sins, 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 t. 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 amaze, ment from the stern and equal justice of the caliph. The 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.

After

(Ockley, vol. i. p. 241.) As I cannot doubt his veracity, nor believe his computation, I must suspect that the Arabić historians indulged themselves in the practice of composing speeches and letters for their heroes.

* After deploring the sins of the Christians, Theophanes adds, (Chronograph, p. 276.) ανέση ο ερημικος Αμαληκ τύπτων ήμας τον λαόν τε Χρισε, και γίνεται προτη φορά πτωσις το Mains SeaTE i κατα το Γαβιβαν λεγω, (does he mean Aunadin ?) και ερμεκαν, και την αθεσμον αιματοχυσίαν. His account is brief and obscure, but he accuses the numbers of the enemy," adverse wind, and the cloud of dust; doneres, (the Remans) αντιπροσωπησαι εχθροις бысь τον κονιορτον, ήττωνται, και έαντες βαλλοντες εις τας σενοδος τε Ιερμοχθες ποταμε εκεί απωλοντο άρδην, (Chronograph. p. 280.)

the

† 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.

Conquest

A. D.637.

After the battle of Yermuk, the Roman army CHAP. no longer appeared in the field; and the Saracens LL might securely chuse among the fortified towns of Syria, the first object of their attack. They of Jerusaconsulted the caliph whether they should marchem, to Cæsarea 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 Elia *. "Health and happiness to "every one that follows the right way! We re"quire 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 un"der us forthwith. Otherwise I shall bring men "against you who love death better than you "do the drinking of wine or eating hogs flesh. "Nor will I ever stir from you, if it please God, "till

I

* In the name of the city, the profane prevailed over the sacred; Jerusalem was known to the devout Christians; (Euseb. de Martyr. Paiest. c. xi.) but the legal and popular appellation of (the colony of Ælius Hadrianus) has passed from the Romans to the Arabs, (Reland, Palestin. tom. 1. 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.

CHAR "till I have destroyed those that fight for you, LI. "and made slaves of your children." But the

city was defended on every side by deep vallies 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. 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

LL.

wooden dish, and a leathern bottle of water. CHA P. 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 *. 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. Sophronius bowed before his new master, and secretly muttered, in the words of Daniel, "The abomination of desolation is in the holy place ." At the hour of prayer they stood

together

*The singular journey and equipage of Omar are described (besides Ockley, vol. i. p. 250.) by Murtadi, (Merveilles de l'Egypte, p. 200-202.)

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. 547-579+-582.)

* Το βδέλυγμα της ερημοσίως του ender διά Δανιηλ τες προφητε 650S BY TOT! ayly. Theophan. Chronograph. p. 281. This prediction, which had already served for Antiochus and the Romans, was again refitted for the present occasion, by the œconomy of Sophronius, one of the deepest Theologians of the Monothelite controversy.