Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/149

 120 shorter." Beaten at every point, many Persians in the attempt to flee were caught by the iron spikes. They were pursued, and the country strewn with corpses. Followed by the fragments of his army, Yezdejird fled to Ar-Reiy, in the direction of the Caspian Sea. Al-Ḳaʿḳāʿ then advanced to Ḥolwān, and defeating the enemy, left that stronghold garrisoned with Arab levies as the farthest Muslim outpost to the north.

The spoil again was rich and plentiful. Multitudes of captive women, many of gentle birth, were distributed, a much loved prize, part on the spot, and part sent to the troops at Al-Medāin. The booty was valued at thirty million dirhems, besides vast numbers of fine Persian horses, which formed a welcome acquisition to the army, nine falling to the lot of every combatant. In charge of the fifth, Saʿd despatched to Medīna a youth named Ziyād, of doubtful parentage (of which more hereafter), but of singular readiness and address. In presence of the Caliph, he harangued the Citizens, and recounted in glowing words the prize of Persia, rich lands, endless spoil, slave-girls, and captive princesses. ʿOmar praised his speech, and declared that the troops of Saʿd surpassed the traditions even of Arab bravery. But next morning, when distributing the rubies, emeralds, and vast store of precious things, he was seen to weep. "What!" exclaimed ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān; "a time of joy and thankfulness, and thou sheddest tears!" "Yea," replied the simple-minded Caliph; "it is not for this I weep, but I foresee that the riches which the Lord bestoweth on us will be a spring of worldliness and envy, and in the end a calamity to my people."

Ziyād was also the bearer of a petition for leave to pursue the fugitives across the border into Khorāsān. ʿOmar, content with the present, wisely forbade the enterprise. "I desire," he replied, "that between Mesopotamia and the countries beyond, the hills shall be a barrier, so that the Persians shall not be able to get at us, nor we at them. The plain of Al-ʿIrāḳ sufficeth for our wants. I would rather the safety of my people than thousands of spoil and further conquest." The thought of a world-wide mission was yet in embryo; obligation to enforce Islām by a universal Crusade had not yet dawned upon the Muslim mind; and,