siasm of the Moslemin was excited by the rare and mystic ceremony,
and its effects were anticipated by previous and judicious preparations.
The Seljuks of Bagdad alone amounted to fifty thousand men; the Sultan
of Syria contributed the warriors who had conquered the Arabian princes
of Damascus and Aleppo; while the ancient provinces of Asia Minor, which
formed the rich and powerful kingdom of Seljukian Roum, poured forth a
myriad of that matchless cavalry, which had so often baffled the armies
of the Caesars. Never had so imposing a force been collected on the banks
of the Tigris since the reign of Haroun Alraschid. Each day some warlike
Atabek, at the head of his armed train, poured into the capital of the
caliphs,[61] or pitched his pavilion on the banks of the river; each day
the proud emir of some remote principality astonished or affrighted
the luxurious Babylonians by the strange or uncouth warriors that had
gathered round his standard in the deserts of Arabia, or on the shores
of the Euxine. For the space of twenty miles, the banks of the river
were, on either side, far as the eye could reach, covered with the
variegated pavilions, the glittering standards, the flowing streamers
and twinkling pennons of the mighty host, of which Malek, the Grand
Sultan of the Seljuks, and Governor of the Caliph's palace, was chief
commander.

Such was the power assembled on the plains of Asia to arrest the
progress of the Hebrew Prince, and to prevent the conquest of the
memorable land promised to the faith of his fathers, and forfeited by
their infidelity. Before the walls of Hamadan, Alroy reviewed the army
of Israel, sixty thousand heavy-armed footmen, thirty thousand archers
and light troops, and twenty thousand cavalry. Besides these, there had
been formed a body of ten thousand picked horsemen, styled the 'Sacred
Guard,' all of whom had served in the Persian campaign. In their centre,
shrouded in a case of wrought gold, studded with carbuncles, and carried
on a lusty lance of cedar, a giant--for the height of Elnebar exceeded
that of common men by three feet--bore the sceptre of Solomon. The
Sacred Guard was commanded by Asriel, the brother of Abner.

The army was formed into three divisions. All marched in solemn order
before the throne of Alroy, raised upon the ramparts, and drooped their
standards and lances as they passed their heroic leader. Bostenay, and
Miriam, and the whole population of the city witnessed the inspi