ites; declared that he had rather serve
than reign; rebuked the presumption of the strangers; and required the
formal, if not the voluntary, assent of the chiefs of the nation. He
has never been accused of prompting the assassin of Omar; though Persia
indiscreetly celebrates the festival of that holy martyr. The quarrel
between Othman and his subjects was assuaged by the early mediation of
Ali; and Hassan, the eldest of his sons, was insulted and wounded in the
defence of the caliph. Yet it is doubtful whether the father of Hassan
was strenuous and sincere in his opposition to the rebels; and it is
certain that he enjoyed the benefit of their crime. The temptation was
indeed of such magnitude as might stagger and corrupt the most obdurate
virtue. The ambitious candidate no longer aspired to the barren sceptre
of Arabia; the Saracens had been victorious in the East and West; and
the wealthy kingdoms of Persia, Syria, and Egypt were the patrimony of
the commander of the faithful.

Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants.--Part VIII.

A life of prayer and contemplation had not chilled the martial activity
of Ali; but in a mature age, after a long experience of mankind, he
still betrayed in his conduct the rashness and indiscretion of youth.
In the first days of his reign, he neglected to secure, either by gifts
or fetters, the doubtful allegiance of Telha and Zobeir, two of the most
powerful of the Arabian chiefs. They escaped from Medina to Mecca, and
from thence to Bassora; erected the standard of revolt; and usurped the
government of Irak, or Assyria, which they had vainly solicited as the
reward of their services. The mask of patriotism is allowed to cover the
most glaring inconsistencies; and the enemies, perhaps the assassins,
of Othman now demanded vengeance for his blood. They were accompanied in
their flight by Ayesha, the widow of the prophet, who cherished, to the
last hour of her life, an implacable hatred against the husband and the
posterity of Fatima. The most reasonable Moslems were scandalized,
that the mother of the faithful should expose in a camp her person and
character; but the superstitious crowd was confident that her presence
would sanctify the justice, and assure the success, of their cause.
At the head of twenty thousand of his loyal Arabs, and nine thousand
valiant auxiliaries of Cufa, the caliph encountered and defeated
the superior numbers of the rebels under the walls of Ba