si unsheathed a short and
ordinary cimeter; and as he perceived the surprise of Omar, "Alas," said
the modest Saracen, "the sword itself, without the arm of its master, is
neither sharper nor more weighty than the sword of Pharezdak the poet."
After the conquest of Egypt, he was recalled by the jealousy of the
caliph Othman; but in the subsequent troubles, the ambition of a
soldier, a statesman, and an orator, emerged from a private station.
His powerful support, both in council and in the field, established the
throne of the Ommiades; the administration and revenue of Egypt were
restored by the gratitude of Moawiyah to a faithful friend who had
raised himself above the rank of a subject; and Amrou ended his days in
the palace and city which he had founded on the banks of the Nile. His
dying speech to his children is celebrated by the Arabians as a model
of eloquence and wisdom: he deplored the errors of his youth but if the
penitent was still infected by the vanity of a poet, he might exaggerate
the venom and mischief of his impious compositions.

From his camp in Palestine, Amrou had surprised or anticipated the
caliph's leave for the invasion of Egypt. The magnanimous Omar trusted
in his God and his sword, which had shaken the thrones of Chosroes and
Caesar: but when he compared the slender force of the Moslems with the
greatness of the enterprise, he condemned his own rashness, and listened
to his timid companions. The pride and the greatness of Pharaoh were
familiar to the readers of the Koran; and a tenfold repetition of
prodigies had been scarcely sufficient to effect, not the victory,
but the flight, of six hundred thousand of the children of Israel: the
cities of Egypt were many and populous; their architecture was
strong and solid; the Nile, with its numerous branches, was alone an
insuperable barrier; and the granary of the Imperial city would be
obstinately defended by the Roman powers. In this perplexity, the
commander of the faithful resigned himself to the decision of chance,
or, in his opinion, of Providence. At the head of only four thousand
Arabs, the intrepid Amrou had marched away from his station of Gaza when
he was overtaken by the messenger of Omar. "If you are still in Syria,"
said the ambiguous mandate, "retreat without delay; but if, at the
receipt of this epistle, you have already reached the frontiers of
Egypt, advance with confidence, and depend on the succor of God and
of your brethren." Th