nwhile the heredity of a thousand years
had strengthened the valor of the Arab warrior. He was accustomed to the
saddle from his very infancy; he was almost a part of his horse. He was
trained to the use of arms as a robber, when not engaged in tribal wars.
His whole activity, his all-absorbing interest, was in hostile forays.
He knew no fear; he had no scruples. He had been taught to feel that, as
a son of Ishmael every man's hand was turned against him, and of simple
right his hand might be turned against every man.

Nor was this all. The surrounding nations, east and west, had long been
accustomed to employ these sons of the desert as mercenary soldiers.
They had all had a hand in training them for their terrible work, by
imparting to them a knowledge of their respective countries, their
resources, their modes of warfare, and their points of weakness. How
many nations have thus paved the way to their own destruction by
calling in allies, who finally became their masters![102]

On Mohammed's part, there is no evidence that at the outset he
contemplated a military career. At first a reformer, then a prophet, he
was driven to arms in self-defence against his persecutors, and he was
fortunate in being able to profit by a certain jealousy which existed
between the rival cities of Mecca and Medina. Fleeing from Mecca with
only one follower, Abu Bekr, leaving the faithful Ali to arrange his
affairs while he and his companion were hidden in a cave, he found on
reaching Medina a more favorable reception. He soon gathered a
following, which enabled him to gain a truce from the Meccans for ten
years; and when they on their part violated the truce, he was able to
march upon their city with a force which defied all possible resistance,
and he entered Mecca in triumph. Medina had been won partly by the
supposed credentials of the prophet, but mainly by jealousy of the rival
city. Mecca yielded to a superior force of arms, but in the end became
the honored capital and shrine of Islam.

From this time the career of Mohammed was wholly changed. He was now an
ambitious conqueror, and here as before, the question how far he may
have sincerely interpreted his remarkable fortune as a call of God to
subdue the idolatrous nations, must remain for the present unsettled.
Possibly further light may be thrown upon it as we proceed. Let us
consider some of the changes which appear in the development of this
man's character. If we set out with