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ful presumption of their invincible strength. They descend- CHAP. ed without precaution into the valley of Honain: the heights had been occupied by the archers and slingers of the confederates; their numbers were oppressed, their discipline was confounded, their courage was appalled, and the Koreish smiled at their impending destruction. The prophet, on his white mule, was encompassed by the enemies; he attempted to rush against their spears in search of a glorious death : ten of his faithful companions interposed their weapons and their breasts; three of these fell dead at his feet: “O my “ brethren," he repeatedly cried with sorrow and indignation, “ I am the son of Abdallah, I am the apostle of truth! “ O man stand fast in the faith! O God send down thy suc“cour!” His uncle Abdas, who, like the heroes of Homer, excelled in the loudness of his voice, made the valley resound with the recital of the gifts and promises of God: the flying Moslems returned from all sides to the holy standard; and Mahomet observed with pleasure, that the furnace was again rekindled: his conduct and example restored the battle, and he animated his victorious troops to inflict a merciless revenge on the authors of their shame. From the field of Honain, he marched without delay to the siege of Tayef, sixty-miles to the south-east of Mecca, a fortress of strength, whose fertile lands produce the fruits of Syria in the midst of the Arabian desart. A friendly tribe, instructed (I know not how) in the art of sieges, supplied him with a train of battering rams and military engines, with a body of five hundred artificers. But it was in vain that he offered free. dom to the slaves of Tayef; that he violated his own laws by the extirpation of the fruit-trees; that the ground was opened by the miners; that the breach was assaulted by the troops. After a siege of twenty days, the prophet sounded a retreat, but he retreated with a song of devout triumph, and affected to pray for the repentance and safety of the unbelieving city. The spoil of this fortunate expedition amounted to six thousand captives, twenty-four thousand camels, forty thousand sheep, and four thousand ounces of silver: a tribe who had fought at Honain, redeemed their prisoners by the sacrifice of their idols; but Mahomet compensated the loss, by resigning to the soldiers his fifth of the plunder, and wished for their sake, that he possessed as many head of

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CHAP. cattle as there were trees in the province of Tehama. In

stead of chastising the disaffection of the Koreish, he endeavoured to cut out their tongues (his own expression), and to secure their attachment by a superior measure of libera. lity: Abu Sophian alone was presented with three hundred camels and twenty ounces of silver; and Mecca was sincerely converted to the profitable religion of the Koran. The fugitives and auxiliaries complained, that they who had borne the burthen were neglected in the season of victory.

Alas,” replied their artful leader,“ suffer me to conciliate “ these recent enemies, these doubtful proselytes, by the “ gift of some perishable goods. To your guard I entrust my

life and fortunes. You are the companions of my exile, “ of my kingdom, of my paradise.” He was followed by the deputies of Tayef, who dreaded the repetition of a siege. “ Grant us, O apostle of God! a truce of three years, with the “ toleration of our ancient worship.” “ Not a month, not

an hour.” “Excuse us at least from the obligation of

prayer.” “ Without prayer religion is of no avail.” They submitted in silence; their temples were demolished, and the same sentence of destruction was executed on all the idols of Arabia. His lieutenants, on the shores of the Red Sea, the Ocean, and the Gulf of Persia, were saluted by the acclamations of a faithful people; and the ambassadors who knelt before the throne of Medina, were as numerous (says the Arabian proverb) as the dates that fall from the maturity of a palm-tree. The nation submitted to the God and the sceptre of Mahomet: the opprobrious name of tribute was abolished: the spontaneous or reluctant oblations of alms and tithes were applied to the service of religion : and one hundred and fourteen thousand Moslems ac

companied the last pilgrimage of the apostle.144 First war When Heraclius returned in triumph from the Persian

war, he entertained, at Emesa, one of the ambassadors of hometans against the Mahomet, who invited the princes and nations of the earth Roman empire,

to the profession of Islam. On this foundation the zeal of Å. D. the Arabians has supposed the secret conversion of the 629, 630.

144 The last conquests and pilgrimage of Mahomet are contained in Abulfeda (p. 121...135), Gagnier (tom. iii. p. 119.-219), Elmacin (p. 10, 11), Abulpharagius (p. 103). The ixth of the Hegira was styled the year of Em. bassies (Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed.p. 121).

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Christian emperor: the vanity of the Greeks has feigned a CHAP. personal visit to the prince of Medina, who accepted from the royal bounty a rich domain, and a secure retreat, in the province of Syria.145 But the friendship of Heraclius and Mahomet was of short continuance: the new religion had inflamed rather than assuaged the rapacious spirit of the Saracens; and the murder of an envoy afforded a decent pretence for invading, with three thousand soldiers, the territory of Palestine, that extends to the eastward of the Jordan. The holy banner was entrusted to Zeid; and such was the discipline or enthusiasm of the rising sect, that the noblest chiefs served without reluctance, under the slave of the prophet. On the event of his decease, Jaafar and Abdallah were successively substituted to the command; and if the three should perish in the war, the troops were authorised to elect their general. The three leaders were slain in the battle of Muta,146 the first military action which tried the valour of the Moslems against a foreign enemy. Zeid fell, like a soldier, in the foremost ranks: the death of Jaafar was heroic and memorable; he lost his right-hand; he shifted the standard to his left; the left was severed from his body; he embraced the standard with his bleeding stumps, till he was transfixed to the ground with fifty honourable wounds. “ Advance,” cried Abdallah, who stepped into the vacant place, “ advance with confidence; either victory " or paradise is our own.” The lance of a Roman decided the alternative ; but the falling standard was rescued by Caled, the proselyte of Mecca; nine swords were broken in his hand; and his valour withstood and repulsed the superior numbers of the Christians. In the nocturnal council of the camp he was chosen to command: his skilful evolutions of the ensuing day secured either the victory or the retreat of the Saracens: and Caled is renowned among his brethren and his enemies by the glorious appellation of the Sword of God. In the pulpit, Mahomet described, with prophetic rapture,

145 Compare the bigotted Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom.ii.p. 232...255), with the no less bigotted Greeks, Theophanes (p. 276...278), Zonaras (tom. 1. 1. xiv. p. 86), and Cedrenus (p. 421).

115 For the battle of Muta, and its consequer ces see Abulfeda(p. 100... 10%), and Gagnier (tom.ii. p.327...343). Kahedos (says Theophanes) or ne7876 Zuiper T8 0:8.

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CHAP. the crowns of the blessed martyrs; but in private he betray.

ed the feelings of human nature: he was surprised as he wept over the daughter of Zeid: “What do I see?” said the astonished votary. “ You see,” replied the apostle, “ a “ friend, 'who is deploring the loss of his most faithful “ friend.” After the conquest of Mecca the sovereign of Arabia affected to prevent the hostile preparations of Heraclius; and solemnly proclaimed war against the Romans, without attempting to disguise the hardships and dangers of the enterprise.147 The Moslems were discouraged: they alleged the want of money, or horses, or provisions; the season of harvest, and the intolerable heat of the summer: “ Hell is much hotter," said the indignant prophet. He disdained to compel their service: but on his return he admonished the most guilty, by an excommunication of fifty days. The desertion enhanced the merit of Abubeker, Othman, and the faithful companions who devoted their lives and fortunes; and Mahomet displayed his banner at the head of ten thousand horse and twenty thousand foot. Painful indeed was the distress of the march: lassitude and thirst were aggravated by the scorching and pestilential winds of the desart: ten men rode by turns on the same camel : and they were reduced to the shameful necessity of drinking the water from the belly of that useful animal. In the midway, ten days journey from Medina and Damascus, they reposed near the grove and fountain of Tabuc. Beyond that place, Mahomet declined the prosecution of the war; he declared himself satisfied with the peaceful intentions, he was more probably daunted by the martial array, of the emperor of the East. But the active and intrepid Caled spread around the terror of his name; and the prophet received the submission of the tribes and cities, from the Euphrates to Ailah, at the head of the Red Sea. To his Christian subjects, Mahomet readily granted the security of their persons, the freedom of their trade, the property of their goods, and the toleration of their worship.148 The weakness of their Arabian brethren had restrained them from opposing his CHAP.”

L. ambition: the disciples of Jesus were endeared to the enemy of the Jews; and it was the interest of a conqueror to propose a fair capitulation to the most powerful religion of the earth.

Till the age of sixty-three years, the strength of Mahomet Death of was equal to the temporal and spiritual fatigues of his mis- A. D.632, sion. His epileptic fits, an absurd calumny of the Greeks, June 7. would be an object of pity rather than abhorrence;149 but he seriously believed that he was poisoned at Chaibar by the revenge of a Jewish female.'50 During four years the health of the prophet declined; his infirmities increased; but his mortal disease was a fever of fourteen days, which deprived him by intervals of the use of reason. As soon as he was conscious of his danger, he edified his brethren by the humility of his virtue or penitence. “ If there be any man,” said the apostle from the pulpit, “whom I have unjustly“ scourged, I submit my own back to the lash of retaliation. “ Have I aspersed the reputation of a Musulman? let him “proclaim my faults in the face of the congregation. Has “any one been despoiled of his goods? the little that I pos“sess shall compensate the principal and the interest of the “ debt.” “ Yes," replied a voice from the crowd, “ I am en“ titled to three drams of silver.” Mahomet heard the comseph, and the author Libri Splendorum (Gagnier. Not. ad Abulfedam, p. 125); but Abulfeda himself, as well as Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 11), though he owns Mahomet's regard for the Christians (p. 13), only mention peace and tribute. In the year 1630, Sionita published at Paris the text and version of Mahomet’s patent in favour of the Christians; which was admitted and reprobated by the opposite taste of Salmatius and Grotius (Bayle, MAHOMET, Rem. AA). Hottinger doubts of its authenticity (Hist. Orient p. 237); Re. naudot urges the consent of the Mahometans (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 169); but Mosheim (Hist. Eccles. p. 244), shews the futility of their opinion, and inclines to believe it spurious. Yet Abulpharagius quotes the impostor's treaty with the Nestorian patriarch (Asseman. Bibliot, Orient. tom. ii. p, 418); but Abulpharagius was primate of the Jacobites.