OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 21 of the Nile.* His speed was urged by the incessant diligence Fau of the of Abdallah, who in every step of the pursuit acquired strength a"d. tm^ ' and reputation ; the remains of the white faction were finally vanquished in Egypt ; and the lance, which terminated the life and anxiety of Mervan, was not less welcome perhaps to the un- fortunate than to the victorious chief. The merciless inquisition of the conqueror eradicated the most distant branches of the hostile race : their bones were scattered, their memory was accursed, and the martyrdom of Hossein was abundantly re- venged on the postei'ity of his tyrants. Fourscore of the Om- miades, who had yielded to the faith or clemency of their foes, were invited to a banquet at Damascus. The laws of hospitality were violated by a promiscuous massacre ; the board was spread over their fallen bodies ; and the festivity of the guests was enlivened by the music of their dying groans. By the event of the civil war the dynasty of the Abbassides was firmly established ; but the Christians only could triumph in the mutual hatred and common loss of the disciples of Mahomet.^' Yet the thousands who were swept away by the sword of war Revolt of might have been speedily retrieved in the succeeding generation, a^d"?^ if the consequences of the revolution had not tended to dissolve the power and unity of the empire of the Saracens. In the pro- scription of the Ommiades, a royal youth of the name of Abdal- rahman alone escaped the rage of his enemies, who hunted the wandering exile from the banks of the Euphrates to the valleys of mount Atlas. His presence in the neighbourhood of Spain revived the zeal of the white faction. The name and cause of the Abbassides had been first vindicated by the Persians ; the
- " Four several places, all in Egypt, bore the name of Busir. or Busiris, so famous
in Greek fable. The first, where Mervan was slain, was to the west of the Nile, in the province of Fium, or Arsinoe ; the second in the Delta, in the Sebennytic nome; the third, near the pyramids ; the fourth, which was destroyed by Diocle- tian (see above, vol. i. p. 439), in the Thebais. I shall here transcribe a note of the learned and orthodox Michaelis : Videntur in pluribus .lEgypti superioris urbibus Busiri Coptoque arm.-i sumpsisse Christian!, libertatemque de religione sentiendi defendisse, sed succubuisse quo in bello Coptos et Busuris diruta, et circa Esnam magna strages edita. Bellum narrant sed causam belli ignorant scriptores Byzan- tini, alioqui Coptum et Busirim non rebellasse dicturi, sed causam Christianorum suscepturi (Not. 211, p. 100). For the geography of the four Busirs, see Abulfeda (Descript. Aigypt. p. 9, vers. Michaelis. GottingjE, 1776, in 4to), Michaelis (Not. 122-127, p. 58-63), and d'Anville (M^moire sur I'Egypte, p. 85, 147, 205).
- "See Abulfeda (Annal. Moslem, p. 136-145), Eutychius (Annal. torn. ii. p.
393, vers. Pocock), Elmacin (Hist. Saracen, p. 109-121], Abulpharagius (Hist. Dynast, p. 134-140), Roderic of Toledo (Hist. Arabum, c. 18, p. 33), Theophanes (Chronograph, p. 356, 357 [a.m. 6240, 6241], who speaks of the Abbassides under the names of XajpoLcravlrai and Mavpo*ripoi), and the Bibliotheque of d'Herbelot, in the articles of Ommiades, Abbassides, Mcervan, Ibrahim, Saffah, Abou Moslem. [Tabari, vol. iii. 44-51.]
