Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/397

366 Yezīd gave first proof that he might vie with Ḳoteiba in cruelty as well as conquest; for although all who had made terms were spared, the country was ravaged, innumerable captives taken, and multitudes slain in cold blood. Leaving 4000 in Jurjān, he marched south-west to Ṭabaristān, where the Prince, notwithstanding help from Jīlān and the Deilem, was discomfited and driven into the hills. Thither the Muslims following were drawn within dangerous defiles, whence, severely punished, they were pursued again into the plain. This reverse encouraged the men of Jurjān, breaking their treaty, to fall upon the garrison, and slay them to a man. Alarmed at his rear being thus cut off from Merv, Yezīd made peace with Ṭabaristān; and turning back again to Jurjān, swore a great oath (similar to that of Khālid) that he would not stay his sword till he had eaten bread of corn ground by the blood of his enemies. The city, strongly planted on an eminence, held out for seven months, and then fell into the hands of the inhuman conqueror, who, butchering thousands of his victims in an adjoining valley, turned the stream upon a mill that overlooked the ghastly scene, and so fulfilled his oath. He also lined the approaches to the city on the right hand and on the left, for miles, with impaled bodies. Yezīd returning to Merv, reported his success to the Caliph, and with a vainglorious boast magnified the booty into an enormous sum, such as would have yielded four million dirhems for the fifth.

To counterbalance the victories in Central Asia, Suleimān had the mortification of finding the vast preparations made to storm Constantinople useless. Shortly before his death, Al-Welīd had fitted out a fleet to attack the Byzantine capital by sea, while columns from Armenia and Asia Minor co-operated by land. Everything appeared to favour the project. Rebellion at home had paralysed the Greek power, while the disloyalty of Leo the Isaurian, who joined hands with Maslama the Caliph's brother in command, afforded the