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On the accession of Omar, the sword of God was removed CHAP. from the command; but the caliph, who blamed the rashness, was compelled to applaud the vigour and conduct, of the enterprise.

Another expedition of the conquerors of Damascus will Fair of equally display their avidity and their contempt for the riches

Abyla. of the present world. They were informed that the produce and manufactures of the country were annually collected in the fair of Abyla,64 about thirty miles from the city; that the cell of a devout hermit was visited at the same time by a multitude of pilgrims; and that the festival of trade and superstition would be ennobled by the nuptials of the daughter of the governor of Tripoli. Abdallah, the son of Jaafar, a glorious and holy martyr, undertook, with a banner of five hundred horse, the pious and profitable commission of despoiling the infidels. As he approached the fair of Abyla, he was astonished by the report of the mighty concourse of Jews and Christians, Greeks and Armenians, of natives of Syria and of strangers of Egypt, to the number of ten thousand, besides a guard of five thousand horse that attended the person of the bride. The Saracens paused: "For my own part," said Abdallah, “ I dare not go back: our foes are many, our

danger is great, but our reward is splendid and secure, 66 either in this life or in the life to come. Let every man, “ according to his inclination, advance or retire.” Not a Musulman deserted his standard. “Lead the way,” said Abdallah to his Christian guide, “ and you shall see what " the companions of the prophet can perform.” They charged in five squadrons; but after the first advantage of the surprise they were encompassed and almost overwhelmed by the multitude of their enemies; and their valiant band is fancifully compared to a white spot in the skin of a black camel.95 About the hour of sunset, when their weapons dropped from their hands, when they panted on the verge of eternity, they discovered an approaching cloud of dust, they

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CHAP. heard the welcome sound of the tecbir, 66 and they soon per

ceived the standard of Caled, who flew to their relief with the utmost speed of his cavalry. The Christians were broken by his attack, and slaughtered in their flight as far as the river of Tripoli. They left behind them the various riches of the fair; the merchandises that were exposed for sale, the money that was brought for purchase, the gay decorations of the nuptials, and the governor's daughter, with forty of her female attendants. The fruits, provisions, and furniture, the money, plate and jewels, were diligently laden on the backs of horses, asses, and mules; and the holy robbers returned in triumph to Damascus. The hermit, after a short and angry controversy with Caled, declined the crown of martyrdom,

and was left alive in the solitary scene of bloodanddevastation. Sieges of Syria,67 one of the countries that have been improved by Heliopolis and Eme. the most early cultivation, is not unworthy of the prefer

Eine sa,

ence.68 The heat of the climate is tempered by the vicinA. D. 635..

ity of the sea aid mountains, by the plenty of wood and water; and the produce of a fertile soil affords the subsistence, and encourages the propagation, of men and animals. From the age of David to that of Heraclius, the country was overspread with ancient and flourishing cities: the inhabitants were numerous and wealthy; and, after the slow ravage of despotism and superstition, after the recent calamities of the

66 We heard the tecbir; so the Arabs call

Their shout of onset, when with loud appeal

They challenge heaven, as if demanding conquest.
This word, so forinidzile in their huly wars, is a verb active (says Ockley in
his index) of the second conjugation, from Kabbara, which signifies saying
Alla Abur, God is inest migher!

67 In the geography of Abulferli, the description of Syria, his native coun. try, is the most intersting and 2011 entic portion. It was published in Arabic and Latin, Lipsize, 1765, in quarto, wiih tihe learned notes of Kochler and Reste, and some extracts of geography and natural history front Ibn 01 Waidii. Among the modern travellers, P.cock's description of the East (of Syria and Mesopotamia, vol. 1. p. 83....209) is a work of superior learning and dignity; but the author ioo often confounds what he had seen and what he had read.

68 The praises of Dionysius are just and lively. Kei tmu pesy, (Syria) Tod101 TE XAU 028101 avopes €7891 (in Periegesi, v. 902. in tom. iv. Geograph. Minor. Hudson). In another place he styles the country

πολυστολις alcev (v. 898). He procceds to say,

Πασα δε τοι λιπαρη τε και ευβοτος επλετο χωρη

Μηλα τε φερβεμεναι και δενδρεσι καρπον αεξειν. V. 921, 922. This poetica! geographer ived in the age of Augustus, and his description of the world is illustra ed by the Greek commentary of Eustathius, who paid the same compliment to Humer and Dionysius (Tabric. Bibliot. Græc. 1. iv. c. 2. tom. iii p. 21, &c).

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Persian war, Syria could still attract and reward the rapa- CHAP. cious tribes of the desart. A plain, of ten days journey, from Damascus to Aleppo and Antioch, is watered, on the western side, by the winding course of the Orontes. The hills of Libanus and Anti-Libanus are planted from north to south, between the Orontes and the Mediterranean, and the epithet of hollow (Cælesyria) was applied to a long and fruitful valley, which is confined in the same direction by the two ridges of snowy mountains. Among the cities, which are enumerated by Greek and Oriental names in the geography and conquest of Syria, we may distinguish Emesa or Hems, Heliopolis or Baalbec, the former as the metropolis of the plain, the latter as the capital of the valley. Under the last of the Cæsars, they were strong and populous: the turrets glittered from afar: an ample space was covered with public and private buildings; and the citizens were illustrious by their spirit, or at least by their pride; by their riches, or at least by their luxury. In the days of paganism, both Emesa and Heliopolis were addicted to the worship of Baal, or the sun; but the decline of their superstition and splendour has been marked by a singular variety of fortune. Not a vestige remains of the temple of Emesa, which was equalled in poctic style to the summits of mount Libanus, while the ruins of Baalbec, invisible to the wri. ters of Antiquity, excite the curiosity and wonder of the European traveller.71 The measure of the temple is two hundred feet in length, and one hundred in breadth : the front is adorned with a double portico of eight columns;

70

CHAP. fourteen may be counted on either side; and each column,
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forty-five feet in height, is composed of three massy blocks
of stone or marble. The proportions and ornaments of the
Corinthian order express the architecture of the Greeks ;
but as Baalbec has never been the seat of a monarch, we are
at a loss to conceive how the expense of these magnificent
structures could be supplied by private or municipal liberal-
ity.72 From the conquest of Damascus the Saracens pro-
ceeded to Heliopolis and Emesa : but I shall decline the
repetition of the sallies and combats which have been alrea-
dy shewn on a larger scale. In the prosecution of the war,
their policy was not less effectual than their sword. By short
and separate truces they dissolved the union of the enemy;
accustomed the Syrians to compare their friendship with
their enmity; familiarised the idea of their language, reli-
gion, and manners; and exhausted, by clandestine purchase,
the magazines and arsenals of the cities which they return-
ed to besiege. They aggravated the ransom of the more
wealthy, or the more obstinate; and Chalcis alone was taxed
at five thousand ounces of gold, five thousand ounces of
silver, two thousand robes of silk, and as many figs and
olives as would load five thousand asses. But the terms of
truce or capitulation were faithfully observed; and the lieu-
tenant of the caliph, who had promised not to enter the walls
of the captive Baalbec, remained tranquil and immoveable
in his tent till the jarring factions solicited the interposition
of a foreign master. The conquest of the plain and valley
of Syria was achieved in less than two years. Yet the com-
mander of the faithful reproved the slowness of their pro-
gress, and the Saracens, bewailing their fault with tears of
rage and repentance, called aloud on their chiefs to lead
them forth to fight the battles of the Lord. In a recent ac-
tion, under the walls of Emesa, an Arabian youth, the cou-
sin of Caled, was heard aloud to exclaim, “Methinks I see
“ the black-eyed girls looking upon me; one of whom, should
“ she appear in this world, all mankind would die for love

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;

$6 of her. And I see in the hand of one of them, an hand- CHAP. “kerchief of green silk, and a cap of precious stones, and " she beckons me, and calls out, come hither quickly, for I

love thee.” With these words, charging the Christians, he made havock wherever he went, till, observed at length by the governor of Hems, he was struck through with a javelin. It was incumbent on the Saracens to exert the full powers Battle of

Yermuk, of their valour and enthusiasm against the forces of the em- A. D. 636, peror, who was taught by repeated losses, that the rovers of Novem

ber. the desart had undertaken, and would speedily achieve, a regular and permanent conquest. From the provinces of Europe and Asia, fourscore thousand soldiers were transported by sea and

and to Antioch and Cæsarea: the light troops of the army consisted of sixty thousand Christian Arabs of the tribe of Gassan. Under the banner of Jabalah, the last of their princes, they marched in the van ; and it was a maxim of the Greeks, that, for the purpose of cutting diamond, a diamond was the most effectual. Heraclius withheld his person from the dangers of the field; but his presumption, o perhaps his despondency, suggested a peremptory order, that the fate of the province and the war should be decided by a single battle. The Syrians were attached to the standard of Rome and of the cross; but the noble, the citizen, the peasant, were exasperated by the injustice and cruelty of a licentious host, who oppressed them as subjects, and despised them as strangers and aliens.73 A report of these mighty preparations was conveyed to the Saracens in their camp of Emesa; and the chiess, though resolved to fight, assembled a council: 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

73 I have read somewhere in Tacitus, or Grotius, Subjectos babent tanquam suos, viles tanquam alienos. Some Greek officers ravished the wife, and murdered the child, of their Syrian landlord ; and Manuel smiled at his undutiful complaint. VOL. VI.

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