and other
strongholds, until, one by one, all had been subdued; the surrender
of Caesarea completing the great conquest and the subjection of
Syria to the rule of the Caliph.

Heraclius, wearied with a constant and uninterrupted succession of ill
news, which like those of Job came every day treading upon the heels of
each other, grieved at the heart to see the Roman Empire, once the
mistress of the world, now become the scorn and spoil of barbarian
insolence, resolved, if possible, to put an end to the outrages of the
Saracens once for all. With this view he raised troops in all parts of
his dominions, and collected so considerable an army as since the first
invasion of the Saracens had never appeared in Syria--not much unlike
one engaged in single combat who, distrustful of his own abilities and
fearing the worst, summons together his whole strength in hopes of
ending the dispute with one decisive blow. Troops were sent to every
tenable place which this inundation of the Saracens had not as yet
reached, particularly to Caesarea and all the sea-coast of Syria, as Tyre
and Sidon, Accah, Joppa, Tripolis, Beyrout, and Tiberias, besides
another army to defend Jerusalem. The main body, which was designed to
give battle to the whole force of the Saracens, was commanded by one
Mahan, an Armenian, whom I take to be the very same that the Greek
historians call Manuel. To his generals the Emperor gave the best
advice, charging them to behave themselves like men, and especially to
take care to avoid all differences or dissensions. Afterward, when he
had expressed his astonishment at this extraordinary success of the
Arabs, who were inferior to the Greeks, in number, strength, arms, and
discipline, after a short silence a grave man stood up and told him that
the reason of it was that the Greeks had walked unworthily of their
Christian profession, and changed their religion from what it was when
Jesus Christ first delivered it to them, injuring and oppressing one
another, taking usury, committing fornication, and fomenting all manner
of strife and variance among themselves. The Emperor answered, that he
was "too sensible of it." He then told them that he had thoughts of
continuing no longer in Syria, but, leaving his army to their
management, he purposed to withdraw to Constantinople. In answer to
which they represented to him how much his departure would reflect upon
his honor, what a lessening it would be to him i