eda, (p. 121, 133,) Gagnier, (tom. iii. p. 119-219,)
Elmacin, (p. 10, 11,) Abulpharagius, (p. 103.) The ixth of the Hegira
was styled the Year of Embassies, (Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. p. 121.)]

When Heraclius returned in triumph from the Persian war, he entertained,
at Emesa, one of the ambassadors of Mahomet, who invited the princes and
nations of the earth to the profession of Islam. On this foundation the
zeal of the Arabians has supposed the secret conversion of the Christian
emperor: the vanity of the Greeks has feigned a personal visit of 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 intrusted 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 authorized to elect their general. The three leaders were slain
in the battle of Muta, [146] the first military action, which tried the
valor 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 honorable
wounds. [1461] "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 valor 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 o