Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/311

282 bitter cry. The hearts of many were softened. Maṣḳala, one of the captains, touched by the scene, took upon himself the cost of ransoming the Christian captives and set them free, ʿAlī, hearing of it, demanded from him immediate payment at a thousand pieces for each captive; and Maṣḳala, unable to pay down so great a sum, fled an joined Muʿāwiya.

The defeat of the Khawārij did not at once restore peace to Persia; for Fars and Kirman threw off their allegiance and expelled their governors. To quell the spreading insurrection, ʿAlī employed Ziyād from Al-Baṣra, a man, as we have seen, of conspicuous administrative ability. He carried with him a great court and retinue; but it was mainly by setting one rebellious prince against another, and by well-appointed promises and favours, that he succeeded in restoring peace; and by his success earned the government of Fars. He fixed his court at Iṣtakhr (Persepolis), and his administration there became so famous as even to recall to Persian memories the happy age of Anūsharwān.

Though successful thus in Persia, ʿAīi was subject to trouble and molestation nearer home. Muʿāwiya, relieved now from apprehension on the side of Egypt, began to annoy his rival by frequent raids on Arabia and the cities beyond the Syrian desert. The object was various—now to ravage a Province or surprise a citadel, now to exact the tithe from Bedawi tribes, or secure allegiance to himself. Such inroads, though not always successful, inspired a sense of insecurity; and worse, betrayed the lukewarmness of the people in the cause of ʿAlī. These would stir neither hand nor foot to repel the Syrians invading villages close even at their door. To show his displeasure at their listlessness and disobedience, ʿAlī went forth himself into the field almost unattended. On this, the men of Al-Kūfa, partly from shame, partly lured by promise of increased stipends, marched to the defence of their frontier. In the year 39 there were nearly a dozen inroads of the kind. Though eventually repelled, it was not always without loss in prisoners, plunder, and prestige. On one occasion ʿAlī's commander, with a flying column, pursued the raiders back into the heart of Syria as far as Baalbek; and thence, turning northward, escaped by Ar-Raḳḳa again into Al-ʿIrāḳ. On the other hand, Muʿāwiya,