Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/460

 438 THE DECLINE AND FALL at length the complaints, of Abu Obeidah informed the caliph that their hope and patience were consumed at the foot of this impregnable fortress, " I am variously affected," replied Omar, " by the difference of your success ; but I charge you by no means to raise the siege of the castle. Your retreat would dimin- ish the reputation of our arms, and encourage the infidels to fall upon you on all sides. Remain before Aleppo till God shall determine the event, and forage with your horse round the ad- jacent country." The exhortation of the commander of the faithful was fortified by a supply of volunteers from all the tribes of Arabia, who arrived in the camp on horses or camels. Among these was Dames, of a servile birth, but of gigantic size and intrepid resolution. The forty-seventh day of his service he proposed, with only thirty men, to make an attempt on the castle. The experience and testimony of Caled recommended his offer ; and Abu Obeidah admonished his brethren not to despise the baser origin of Dames, since he himself, could he relinquish the public care, would cheerfully serve under the banner of the slave. His design was covered by the appearance of a retreat ; and the camp of the Saracens was pitched about a league from Aleppo. The thirty adventui*ers lay in ambush at the foot of the hill ; and Dames at length succeeded in his in- quiries, though he was provoked by the ignorance of his Greek captives. " God curse these dogs," said the illiterate Arab, " what a strange barbarous language they speak ! " At the darkest hour of the night, he scaled the most accessible height, which he had diligently surveyed, a place where the stones were less entire, or the slope less perpendicular, or the guard less vigilant. Seven of the stoutest Saracens mounted on each other's shoulders, and the weight of the column was sustained on the broad and sinewy back of the gigantic slave. The fore- most in this painful ascent could grasp and climb the lowest part of the battlements ; they silently stabbed and cast down the sentinels ; and the thirty brethren, repeating a pious ejacu- lation, " O apostle of God, help and deliver us ! " were suc- cessively drawn up by the long folds of their turbans. With bold and cautious footsteps. Dames explored the palace of the gover- nor, who celebrated, in riotous merriment, the festival of his deliverance. From thence returning to his companions, he assaulted on the inside the entrance of the castle. They over- powered the guard, unbolted the gate, let down the drawbridge, and defended the narrow pass, till the arrival of Caled, with the dawn of day, relieved their danger and assured their conquest.