Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/138

 Il6 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. Persia. The collision between these opposing forces was terrible. Whole armies perished; rich and fertile provinces were reduced to deserts. The deadly conflicts of so many cen- turies did not convince either Greeks or Persians of the futility of trying to alter the natural boun- daries between the two empires. In the end the Persians were overcome by Heraclius, who after a long and glorious struggle imposed peace upon them in 628. Since the days of Scipio and Hannibal no bolder enterprise has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the deliverance of the empire. The peace he forced them to accept they never broke. From this time the Asiatic enemies of Christianity were no long- er the Persians, but Mohammedans, first the Arabs, and afterward the Turks. Jerusalem was captured by Omar in 637. The next year Egypt fell into the hands of Amron, after Alexandria had sustained a siege of four- teen months. Nine years later the Arabs con- quered the remaining countries of Roman Africa, and in sixty more they destroyed the kingdom of the Goths and took possession of Spain. From Spain they passed into France, but the tide of their conquest, in that direction,