Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/391

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 369 advanced with secrecy and speed to surprise the conqueror ; they pitied and despised the supine negligence of the Koreish, but they depended on the wishes, and perhaps the aid, of a people who had so lately renounced their gods and bowed beneath the yoke of their enemy. The banners of Medina and Mecca were displayed by the prophet ; a crowd of Bedoweens increased the strength or numbers of the army, and twelve thousand Musul- mans entertained a rash and sinful presumption of their invin- cible strength. They descended without precaution into the t^J'-^^P' 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 at- tempted 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 succour ! " His uncle Abbas, 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 re- stored 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 desert. 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 freedom 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 un- believing city. The spoil of this fortunate expedition amounted engines and engineers of the tribe of Daws. The fertile spot of Tayef was supposed to be a piece of the land of Syria detached and dropped in the general deluge. VOL. V. 24