Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/194

 640–1] to be made for the former head of their Church; and the patriarch Benjamin, after thirteen years' retirement, was reinstated in his office. This step was only equal in wisdom to the manner in which ʿAmr had made use of the mutual hostility of Romans and Copts to advantage his own cause.

Finding that the Egyptians, used to delicate and luxurious living, looked down upon the Arabs for their frugal fare, ʿAmr, famed for mother-wit, chose a singular expedient to disabuse them. First he had a feast prepared of slaughtered camels, after the Bedawi fashion, and the Egyptians looked on with wonder while the army satisfied their hunger with the rude repast. Next day a sumptuous banquet was set out, with all the dainties of the Egyptian table; here again the warriors fell to with equal zest. On the third day the troops were paraded in battle array, when ʿAmr thus addressed the crowds who flocked to the spectacle:—"The first day’s entertainment was to let you see the simple manner of our life at home; the second, to show that we can enjoy the good things of the conquered lands, and yet retain, as ye see this day, our martial vigour notwithstanding." The Copts retired, saying one to the other, "See ye not that the Arabs have but to raise their heel upon us, and it is enough." ʿOmar was delighted at his lieutenant's device, and said of him, "Of a truth it is on wisdom and resolve, as well as upon force, that warfare doth depend."

A curious tale is told of the rising of the Nile. The yearly flood having been long delayed, the Copts, according to custom, sought leave to cast into the river a maiden beautifully attired, or rather, as we may suppose, the effigy of such a one. When referred to, the Caliph inclosed this singular letter in a despatch to ʿAmr:—