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though resolved to fight, assembled a council: CHAP. the faith of Abu Obeidah would have expected on the same spot the glory of martyrdom; the wisdom of Caled advised an honourable retreat to the skirts of Palestine and Arabia, where they might await the succours 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 reinforcement 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 neighbourhood 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. The banks of this obscure stream were illustrated by a long and bloody encounter. 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 fugitives might

* 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, Hieromax, is noticed hy Cellarius (Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii, p. 392) aud d'Anville, (Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii, p. 185). The Arabs, and even Abulfeda himself, do not seem to recognise the scene of their victory.

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Yet

CHAP. 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 inlisted 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. The exhortation of the general was brief and forcible. " Paradise is before you, "the devil and hell-fire in your rear." 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

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).

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.....

most doubtful of the days which they had seen. CHAP. 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, 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.' He had nce 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. The victorious Saracens enjoyed at Damascus a month of pleasure and

We killed of them, says Abu Obeidah to the caliph, one hundred and fifty thousand, and made prisoners, forty thousand, (Ockley, vél. i, p. 241). As I cannot doubt his veracity, nor believe his computation, I must suspect that the Arabic 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 ὁ εξημικος Αμαληκ τύπτων ἡμας τον λαόν τε Χρισε, και γίνεται πρώτη φορά πτωσις το Ρωμαικο ςρατε κ κατα το Γαβιθαν λεγω (does he mean Aiznadin?) και Ιερμεκαν, και την αθεσμον ἁιματοχυσίαν. His account is brief and obscure, but he accuses the numbers of the eneiny, the adverse wind, and the cloud of dust: n duvnbeving (the Romans) αντιπροσωπήσαι εχθροις δια τον κονιορτον, ἥττωνται, και ἑαυτες βαλλοντες εις τας ξενοδος τε Ιερμοχθε ποταμε εκει απωλοντο άρδην, (Chronograph. p. 280).

i 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 seut from Constantinople a gift of five hundred pieces of gold by the hands of the ambassador of Omar.

CHAP. 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.

Conquest of JeruJem,

A. D. 637.

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 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 hap

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'piness 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

* In the name of the city, the profane prevailed over the sacred; Jerusalm was known to the devout Christians, (Euseb. de Martyr. Palest. c. ix); but the legal and popular appellation of Elia (the colony of Elius 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.

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apostle. If you refuse this, consent to pay CHAP. tribute, and be under us forthwith. Other"wise 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 have de"stroyed 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. 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 ad