ian reader, yet it was one of the longest, most obstinately
contested, and sanguinary in the whole course of the Moslem wars. It
endured fourteen months with various success; the Moslem army was
repeatedly reinforced and lost twenty-three thousand men. At length
their irresistible ardor and perseverance prevailed; the capital of
Egypt was conquered and the Greek inhabitants were dispersed in all
directions. Some retreated in considerable bodies into the interior of
the country, and fortified themselves in strongholds; others took refuge
in the ships and put to sea.

Amru, on taking possession of the city, found it nearly abandoned; he
prohibited his troops from plundering, and, leaving a small garrison to
guard the place, hastened with his main army in pursuit of the fugitive
Greeks. In the mean time the ships, which had taken off a part of the
garrison, were still lingering on the coast, and tidings reached them
that the Moslem general had departed and had left the captured city
nearly defenceless. They immediately made sail back for Alexandria, and
entered the port in the night. The Greek soldiers surprised the
sentinels, got possession of the city, and put most of the Moslems they
found there to the sword.

Amru was in full pursuit of the Greek fugitives when he heard of the
recapture of the city. Mortified at his own negligence in leaving so
rich a conquest with so slight a guard, he returned in all haste,
resolved to retake it by storm. The Greeks, however, had fortified
themselves strongly in the castle and made stout resistance. Amru was
obliged, therefore, to besiege it a second time, but the siege was
short. The castle was carried by assault; many of the Greeks were cut to
pieces, the rest escaped once more to their ships and now gave up the
capital as lost. All this occurred in the nineteenth year of the Hegira,
and the year 640 of the Christian era.

On this second capture of the city by force of arms, and without
capitulation, the troops were clamorous to be permitted to plunder. Amru
again checked their rapacity, and commanded that all persons and
property in the place should remain inviolate, until the will of the
Caliph could be known. So perfect was his command over his troops that
not the most trivial article was taken. His letter to the Caliph shows
what must have been the population and splendor of Alexandria, and the
luxury and effeminacy of its inhabitants at the time of the Moslem
conquest. It s