Page:Early Christianity in Arabia.djvu/146

134 to listen to his demands, the Arabian chief ordered his brother Kabus to invade the domains of the king of Ghassan, which he immediately did, carrying away the camels and flocks of the Roman Arabs. In revenge, the king of Ghassan, Mondar the son of Hareth, as he is named, collected his forces, invaded Hirah, defeated Kabus, recovered his camels, and took also a rich booty. The king of Hirah again invaded the dominions of the Roman phylarch, but being defeated, he fled to the king of Persia. In expectation of an invasion by the united forces of Hirah and Persia, Mondar sent to the emperor, and represented to him his danger, requesting from his more powerful ally assistance to oppose the threatened attack. But Justinian wished to preserve the peace which then existed, and determined to get rid of his Saracen phylarch, as the only obstacle to the continued friendship between the courts of Byzantium and Persia. He wrote accordingly to Marcianus, his general, who was then encamped near Nisibis, directing him to invite the king of Ghassan to his camp, where he was to detain and put him to death. The emperor is reported to have dictated two letters, one to Marcianus, the other to Mondar, desiring him to go to Marcianus, who would communicate to him something of consequence, which could not be communicated by a letter. The scribe, when he had