112 ANCIENT KINGS OF ARABIA. 



ffuards, who enjoyed with their master this revolt- 

 ing spectacle. Such of the royal progeny as had 

 escaped the dagger were in this manner sacrificed 

 to an infamy worse than death. One prince of the 

 blood only remained,— Zerash, a youth of surpass- 

 ing beauty, whose flowing locks obtamed hnn the 

 name of Dunowas. This last victim of his fallen 

 race was seized and conducted to the fatal pavilion ; 

 but it was to revenge instead of sharing the igno- 

 miny of his unhappy kindred. Having secreted a 

 small poniard under the sole of his foot, he contrived 

 to stab the licentious tyrant to the heart. Severing 

 the head from the body, he exhibited it at the win- 

 dow from which he was himself to have been pre- 

 cipitated. The court satellites gazed a moment m 

 doubt and astonishment. Dunowas pointed to the 

 bloody trophy as the best interpreter of what had 

 taken place. The deed was hailed with applause, 

 and the vacant diadem unanimously conferred on 

 their deliverer. . 



This intrepid youth became one of the most for- 

 midable and powerful monarchs of Yemen, though 

 his cruelty soon blighted the auspicious prospects 

 with which his reign commenced. His bigotry to 

 the Jewish faith, which led him to assume the name 

 of Yussuf, rendered him an intolerant persecutor. 

 The Christians especially felt his severity. The 

 inhabitants of Nejeran, the Beni-Thaleb, who had 

 been converted by a Syrian called Akeimoum, and 

 had a bishop of their own, were doomed to indis- 

 criminate extermination. Refusing to abjure their 

 creed, they were thrust into a pit or trench filled 

 \vith combustibles, to which burning fagots were 

 apphed, and in this manner 20,000 of them perished. 

 The Lord of the Burning Pit is the terrible title 

 which this inhuman act procured for Dunowas. 1 he 

 fidelity of the martyrs, or " brethren of the pit, is 

 commended in the Koran, where an anathema la 

 pronovmced on their persecutor (chap. Ixxxv.). 



