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CHA P. 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 thy servants, and do "not deliver them into the hands of their enemies." The valour 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.

The city is taken by storm and capitulation,

A. D. 634.

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

* Abulfeda allows only seventy days for the siege of Damascus; (Annal. Moslem, p. 67. vers. Reiske,) but Elmacin, who mentions this opinion, prolongs the term to six months, and notices the use of baliste by the Saracens, (Hist. Saracen. p. 25. 32.) Even this longer period is insufficient to fill the interval between the battle of Aiznadid (July A.D. 633) and the accession of Omar, (24. July A.D. 634,) to whose reign the conquest of Damascus is unanimously ascribed, (Al Wakidi, apud Õckley, vol. i. p. 115. Abulpharagius, Dynast. p. 112. vers. Pocock.) Perhaps, as in the Trojan war, the operations were interrupied by excursions and detachments, till the last seventy days of the siege.

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dismissed them with courtesy. They returned with CHA P. 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 caliphs 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. party of an hundred Arabs had opened the eastern gate to a more inexorable foe. "No quarter," cried the rapacious and sanguinary Caled, "no

A

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 faith"ful? Have I not taken the city by storm? The "unbelievers

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CHA P. "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 honour 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

* It appears from Abulfeda, (p. 125.) and Elmacin, (p. 32.) that this distinction of the two parts of Damascus was long remembered, though not always respected, by the Mahometan sovereigns. See likewise Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 379,380.383.)

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of priests and laymen, of soldiers and citizens, c H A P. of women and children: They collected with haste and terror their most precious moveables; and abandoned, with loud lamentations or silent anguish, their native homes, and the pleasant banks of the Pharphar. 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; endeavoured 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 Da

mascenes.

The passion of a Syrian youth completed the Pursuit of 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

* On the fate of these lovers, whom he names Phocyas and Eudocia, Mr Hughes has built the siege of Damascus, one of our most popular tragedies, and which possesses the rare merit of blending nature and history, the manners of the times and the feelings of the heart. The foolish delicacy of the players compelled him to soften the guilt of the hero and the despair of the heroine. Instead of a base renegado, Phocyas serves the Arabs as an honourable ally; instead of prompting their pursuit, he flies to the succour of his countrymen, and after killing Caled and Derar, is himself mortally wounded, and expires in the presence of Eudocia, who professes her resolution to take the veil at Constantinople. A frigid catastrophe!

CHAP. "bird is taken," admonished his mistress to hasten LI. 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 the 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 ardour of a lover. From a peasant of the

country,