ill they had given battle to the
forces of the emperor. In the retreat, Caled would have chosen the more
perilous station of the rear-guard; he modestly yielded to the wishes
of Abu Obeidah. But in the hour of danger he flew to the rescue of his
companion, who was rudely pressed by a sally of six thousand horse and
ten thousand foot, and few among the Christians could relate at Damascus
the circumstances of their defeat. The importance of the contest
required the junction of the Saracens, who were dispersed on the
frontiers of Syria and Palestine; and I shall transcribe one of the
circular mandates which was addressed to Amrou, the future conqueror
of Egypt. "In the name of the most merciful God: from Caled to Amrou,
health and happiness. Know that thy brethren the Moslems design to march
to Aiznadin, where there is an army of seventy thousand Greeks, who
purpose to come against us, _that they may extinguish the light of
God with their mouths; but God preserveth his light in spite of the
infidels_. As soon therefore as this letter of mine shall be delivered
to thy hands, come with those that are with thee to Aiznadin, where
thou shalt find us if it please the most high God." The summons was
cheerfully obeyed, and the forty-five thousand Moslems, who met on the
same day, on the same spot ascribed to the blessing of Providence the
effects of their activity and zeal.

About four years after the triumph of the Persian war, the repose of
Heraclius and the empire was again disturbed by a new enemy, the
power of whose religion was more strongly felt, than it was
clearly understood, by the Christians of the East. In his palace of
Constantinople or Antioch, he was awakened by the invasion of Syria, the
loss of Bosra, and the danger of Damascus. An army of seventy thousand
veterans, or new levies, was assembled at Hems or Emesa, under the
command of his general Werdan: and these troops consisting chiefly of
cavalry, might be indifferently styled either Syrians, or Greeks, or
Romans: _Syrians_, from the place of their birth or warfare; _Greeks_
from the religion and language of their sovereign; and _Romans_, from
the proud appellation which was still profaned by the successors of
Constantine. On the plain of Aiznadin, as Werdan rode on a white mule
decorated with gold chains, and surrounded with ensigns and standards,
he was surprised by the near approach of a fierce and naked warrior, who
had undertaken to view the state of the e