Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/117

 88 when the Persian myrmidons bore down; and the nearest column broke before them. Al-Muthanna pulled his beard in trouble. Calling an officer, he bade him hasten with this message to the wavering corps: "The Amīr sendeth greeting, and saith, Ye well not this day shame the Muslims!" They gave answer, "Yea, we will not!" And, as the broken ranks closed again in serried line, Al-Muthanna smiled approvingly. The battle raged long and equally, At last, Al-Muthanna, seeing that a desperate onset must be made, rode up to the Christian chief, and said: "Ye are one blood with us; come now, and as I charge, charge ye with me." The Persian centre quivered before the fierce onslaught, and as the dust cleared off it was seen to be giving way. The Muslim wings hitherto outflanked, now took heart, and charged. Then the Persian army fell back, and made for the bridge. Al-Muthanna, however, swept before, and cut them off. In despair, they turned on their pursuers. But the fiery zeal of the Arabs, though a handful in comparison, beat back the forlorn charge. "The enemy," says an eye-witness, "driven before us, were brought up by the river and finding no escape, re-formed and charged again. One cried to our Leader to hold his banner back; My work, he answered, is to move the banner on. So forward we drove, and cut them up, not one reaching even to the river bank.: Al-Muthanna reproached himself afterwards with having closed the bridge, and caused useless loss of his men. 'I made a grievous error," he confessed; "follow not my example herein; it behoveth us not to close the way against such as may be driven to turn upon us in despair." The carnage was almost unparalleled even in the annals of Islām, and it went on into the night. A hundred warriors boasted that they slew each ten men to his lance; hence the battle has been called The field of Tens. No engagement left marks wider or more lasting. For ages bones of the slain bleached the plain; and the men of Al-Kūfa had here, at their very door, lasting proof at once of the prowess and the mercilessness of the first invaders.

The victory is remarkable as gained in part by the valour of a Christian tribe. And yet further, the most gallant feat of the day was achieved by one of another Christian clan; for a party of Bedawi merchants with a