Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/356

 683–92] hurried back, and after some inconclusive engagements offered an amnesty, on which the fighting ceased, and a deed of pardon was given to ʿAmr. A few days after, the Caliph, who had resolved on his death, summoned him to his presence. He went against the advice of his friends, clad in armour below his dress, and with a large following, which, however, were shut out at the palace gates. Accosting him in friendly accents, ʿAbd al-Melik bade him sit down by him, and after indifferent conversation, signified that he wished to fulfil an oath he made on first hearing of ʿAmr's rebellion, namely, that he would bind him hand and foot; but that having fulfilled his oath he would afterwards unloose him. ʿAmr submitted, but no sooner was he bound than the Caliph smote him violently, and having bid his brother ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz put him to death, went forth to evening prayers. Returning shortly, he was startled to find his victim still alive; and, taunting his brother, who said he had not the heart to do the deed, with cowardice, himself stabbed ʿAmr to death, and then cast his head with a heavy largess to the crowd without. ʿAmr's followers were put to flight; his sons and adherents, with difficulty spared, were banished, and peace restored. The Caliph then sent to the widow for the deed of amnesty;—"It is in the grave with my husband," she replied, "that he may arraign thee before his Lord thereby." ʿAbd al-Melik was not otherwise a cruel or hard-hearted man; but this act of refined and ruthless treachery created a widespread impression against him at the moment.

Secure in Syria, ʿAbd al-Melik, apparently for the third time, renewed his design against Ibn az-Zubeir and Muṣʿab. There was a strong party in the Caliph's favour at Al-Baṣra; but endeavour through an emissary to stir them into active loyalty having failed, the Caliph resolved himself to head a force for Mesopotamia and Al-ʿIrāḳ. The Greeks, taking