Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/472

 450 THE DECLINE AND FALL Siege and conquest of Alexandria. [A.D. 640-1] [MareotiE] By the retreat of the Greeks from the provinces of Upper Egypt, a considerable force was collected in the island of Delta : the natural and artificial channels of the Nile afforded a succession of strong and defensible posts ; and the road to Alexandria was laboriously cleared by the victory of the Saracens in two and twenty days of general or partial combat. In their annals of conquest, the siege of Alexandria ^""^ is perhaps the most arduous and important enterprise. The first trading city in the world was abundantly replenished with the means of subsistence and defence. Her numerous inhabitants fought for the dearest of human rights, religion and property ; and the enmity of the natives seemed to exclude them from the common benefit of peace and toleration. The sea was continually open ; and, if Heraclius had been awake to the public distress, fresh armies of Romans and barbarians might have been poured into the harbour to save the second capital of the empire. A circum- ference of ten miles would have scattered the forces of the Greeks and favoured the stratagems of an active enemy ; but the two sides of an oblong square were covered by the sea and the lake Maraeotis, and each of the naiTow ends exposed a front of no more than ten furlongs. The efforts of the Arabs were not inadequate to the difficulty of the attempt and the value of the prize. From the throne of Medina, the eyes of Omar were fixed on the camp and city : his voice excited to arms the Arabian tribes and the veterans of Syria ; and the merit of an holy war was recommended by the peculiar fame and fertility of Egypt, Anxious for the ruin or expulsion of their tyrants, the faithful natives devoted their labours to the service of Amrou ; some sparks of martial spirit were perhaps rekindled by the example of their allies ; and the sanguine hopes of Mokawkas had fixed his sepulchre in the chui'ch of St. John of Alexandria. Euty- chius the patriarch observes that the Saracens fought with the courage of lions ; they repulsed the frequent and almost daily sallies of the besieged, and soon assaulted in their turn the walls and towers of the city. In every attack, the sword, the banner of Amrou glittered in the van of the Moslems. On a memorable day, he was betrayed by his imprudent valour : his followers i^oThe local description of Alexandria is perfectly ascertained by the master hand of the first of geographers (d'Anville, M^moire sur I'Egypte, p. 52-63), but we may borrow the eyes of the modern travellers, more especially of Th^venot (Voyage au Levant, part i. p. 381-395), Pocock (vol. i. p. 2-13), and Niebuhr (Voyage en Arabic, torn. i. p. 34-43). Of the two modern rivals, Savary and Volney, the one may amuse, the other will instruct. [For the topography of Alexandria see Puchstein's art. in Paulys Realencyclopadie der class. Altertunss- wissenschaft, vol. i. p. 1376 sqq. (1894), and G. Lumbroso's L'Egitto (1895).!