trays the loss of strength and blood, and the most cruel execution
is inflicted, not in the ranks of battle, but on the backs of a flying
enemy. Yet the victory of the Franks was complete and final; Aquitain
was recovered by the arms of Eudes; the Arabs never resumed the conquest
of Gaul, and they were soon driven beyond the Pyrenees by Charles Martel
and his valiant race. It might have been expected that the savior of
Christendom would have been canonized, or at least applauded, by the
gratitude of the clergy, who are indebted to his sword for their present
existence. But in the public distress, the mayor of the palace had been
compelled to apply the riches, or at least the revenues, of the bishops
and abbots, to the relief of the state and the reward of the soldiers.
His merits were forgotten, his sacrilege alone was remembered, and, in
an epistle to a Carlovingian prince, a Gallic synod presumes to declare
that his ancestor was damned; that on the opening of his tomb, the
spectators were affrighted by a smell of fire and the aspect of a horrid
dragon; and that a saint of the times was indulged with a pleasant
vision of the soul and body of Charles Martel, burning, to all eternity,
in the abyss of hell.

The loss of an army, or a province, in the Western world, was less
painful to the court of Damascus, than the rise and progress of a
domestic competitor. Except among the Syrians, the caliphs of the house
of Ommiyah had never been the objects of the public favor. The life of
Mahomet recorded their perseverance in idolatry and rebellion: their
conversion had been reluctant, their elevation irregular and factious,
and their throne was cemented with the most holy and noble blood of
Arabia. The best of their race, the pious Omar, was dissatisfied with
his own title: their personal virtues were insufficient to justify a
departure from the order of succession; and the eyes and wishes of the
faithful were turned towards the line of Hashem, and the kindred of
the apostle of God. Of these the Fatimites were either rash or
pusillanimous; but the descendants of Abbas cherished, with courage
and discretion, the hopes of their rising fortunes. From an obscure
residence in Syria, they secretly despatched their agents and
missionaries, who preached in the Eastern provinces their hereditary
indefeasible right; and Mohammed, the son of Ali, the son of Abdallah,
the son of Abbas, the uncle of the prophet, gave audience to the
deputies