mia, to whom he frequently read and expounded the Koran.

Once, while he was haranguing his followers, in order to inspire them with sentiments of abhorrence, both of the caliph and Hejaj, he rereived a letter from Shebib, complaining of his negligence. Saleh, in his answer, assured him that he was waiting only for his arrival, in order to enter upon action. This intimation rousing Shebib, he immediately joined Saleh at Daras, in Mesopotamia, of which Mohammed Ebn Merwan was at that time governor. After this junction, they seized some of Mohammed's horses, upon which they mounted their infantry. The governor, despising their numbers, ordered Adi to march against them. He advanced to Daras, where the Safrians had posted themselves, but having no inclination to fight, notwithstanding the superiority of his numbers, he gave Saleh to understand, that if he would quit Mesopotamia, and invade some other province, he would not oppose him. This proposal Saleh rejected, unless Adi would declare himself to be of the same religious and political sentiments with the Safrians, who acknowledged him their chief. To this Adi would not agree, and soon after, not being sufficiently upon his guard, he was surprised by his enemy, who attacked him while he was saying the noon prayers, defeated him, and made themselves masters of his camp. Mohammed, receiving advice of this defeat, ordered two of his generals, with three thousand men, to advance against the Separatists, who coming up with them near Amida, a fierce conflict ensued. The rebels behaved with great

bravery, and defended themselves with unparalleled intrepidity, till the approach of night put an end to the action; though, finding themselves unable to oppose the caliph's forces, they soon after retired, with great precipitation, to Mawsel, and from thence to Descara.

Hejaj, having been informed that the Safrians under the command of Saleh and Shebib had taken post to Damascus, sent Al Hareth to drive them from thence with a body of five thousand men. The two armies faced each other at a little village upon the Tigris, where they engaged; Saleh was killed on the spot, but Shebib made his retreat in good order to a neighbouring castle; from thence he made a sally upon the enemy, wounded the general himself, and dispersed the most considerable part of the army. By this victory Shebib animated his friends, and became terrible to Hejaj, who wrote to the caliph for a reinforcement, in order to enable him to extirpate the Safrians under the command of Shebib. After he had been joined by these succours, he engaged Shebib in the plains of Cufa, and entirely defeated him. Although Shebib had several times repulsed the caliph's forces, he was at last put to flight, and his horse, by accident, threw him into the river. The first time he emerged, he said, "when God decrees a thing, it is done ;" and the second, "this is the decree of the Almighty;" upon which the Safrians, being struck with terror, cried out, "the emperor of the faithful is drowned." His body being drawn up with a net, they cut off his head, and sent it to Hejaj, who was greatly delighted at the sight of it.

VOL. X.

G

The Mussulmen soon after invaded Africa with a very considerable force; made themselves masters of Carthage, and overran the whole country, which, in the earlier ages, was subject to that city; but they were soon expelled by John, the patrician, a man of great valour and experience, whom the emperor had sent against them. The Arabs, to repair the great losses they had sustained, equipped another fleet, and, returning to Africa, obliged John to fly to the sea-coast, where he embarked with the troops under his command for Constantinople.

In the 80th year of the Hegira, the caliph sent a general, called Mohammed, with a powerful army into Persia. About the same time, Heraclius, one of Tiberius's generals, taking advantage of the divisions that now reigned amongst the Arabs, penetrated into Syria, desolated the adjacent territory, and put to the sword about two hundred thousand of the enemy.

Hejaj built a city upon the Tigris, which he called Waset. The name signifies the middle, in the Arabic language, because this city stood in the midway between Basra and Cufa. About this time the nobility of Armenia drove the Arabs out of their country, and sent to Tiberius for assistance. In the mean time, Mohammed, one of the caliph's generals, entering Armenia with a powerful army, recovered that province; and, having got the authors of the revolt into his hands, burnt them all alive. Encouraged by this success, the Mussulmen invaded Cilicia, and were, to the number of ten thousand, either cut in pieces by Heraclius, or taken prisoners and sent in chains to Constantinople. In the following

A. D.

705.

year, Abdalmalec departed this life; his son Al Walid was proclaimed caliph the same day his father died. He is said to have adorned the Temple of Jerusalem with some additional buildings, soon after his accession; and to have ordered his subjects to go on a pilgrimage thither. This caliph, also rebuilt the Temple of Medina, where Mohammed and the first caliphs lay interred; it was a much more superb and magnificent structure than the former; and, in order to render it more grand, Al Walid ordered the houses destined for the habitations of the prophet's wives to be demolished. This gave great offence to the inhabitants of Medina. Walid caused a most famous mosque to be built at Damascus, to which he joined the superb church of St. John the Baptist, that had been enriched with many invaluable ornaments by the Greek emperors. Many other towns he adorned with mosques, and was the first who founded an hospital for the sick; and built caravansaries, or inns, for the traveller and the stranger.

As a recompence for his services, Al Walid permitted Hejaj to settle in a small principality of Persia, where he lived as sovereign, and died peaceably at the age of fifty-five, although he had exterminated one hundred and twenty thousand people by the sword, and suffered eighty thousand to perish in prison, without reckoning the victims sacrificed in war, during twenty years that he commanded the armies, and governed the disaffected provinces with a rod of iron. Attempting once to justify his conduct, he made use of the following terms: "God has given me the power over you; and though I use it with

severity, do not flatter yourselves that when I am dead, you will escape chastisement; for God has a multitude of servants; and, after my death, he will send you one who will execute his orders respecting you, perhaps, with more rigour than I do. Would you have the prince mild and gentle, follow the dictates of justice, and obey his commands; your own conduct will be the principle and the cause of either the good or bad treatment that you receive from him. The sovereign and his lieutenant may be aptly compared to a looking-glass :-all that appears in this glass is but the reflexion and image of the objects placed before it."

Walking one day in the country, he met an Arab of the desert, and asked him " Who is this Hejaj they talk so much about?" A very wicked man," replied the Arab. "Dost thou know me?" resumed the governor. "No." "Well, I am that Hejaj, of whom thou speakest so harshly." Without betraying the smallest emotion, the Arab rejoined, "Do you know who I am ?" "No." "Well, I belong to the family of Zobeir, whose descendants have a fit of insanity three days in the year, and this is one of them."

Hejaj admired the ingenious evasion, and commended the Arab's presence of mind. Having condemned some officers to suffer death, one among the number petitioned Hejaj to grant him his life, on the plea of his having some time before reproved a man for speaking ill of him. "Have you any witness?" said the governor ; "I have," replied the captive immediately, naming an officer present, also under sentence of death. The latter declared it was a fact. "And