ANCIENT KINGS OF ARABIA. 125 



rius, whom he soon completely routed near the 

 Euphrates; Mondar had the reputation of a bold 

 and experienced soldier. "For fifty years," says 

 Piocopius, "he had harassed the Romans, from 

 Egypt to Mesopotamia; pillaging their comitry, 

 burning their cities, and making imiumerable slaves, 

 whom he killed or sold for large sums of money. 

 He made his inroads so suddenly, that he was off 

 before any general was apprized of the attack, or 

 could pursue him with advantage. He captured 

 many Roman officers, and exacted large sums for 

 their ransom. In short, he was the sharpest enemy 

 the Romans had ; and the defeats they had sustained 

 at his hand induced the Emperor Justinian to asso- 

 ciate the Hamyarites and Ethiopians against the 

 Persians."* 



The remaining kings of Hira demand few remarks. 

 Nooraan HI., from being a tyrant and an idolater, is 

 alleged to have become a convert to the doctrines of 

 the Cross, by witnessing the devoted friendship of a 

 Christian Arab who had pledged himself, as Pythias 

 did to Damon, to undergo the punishment intended 

 "to be inflicted on his friend, should the latter fail to 

 return at the time appointed. Struck with this 

 heroic magnanimity, he pardoned both the criminal 

 and his surety, and embraced a religion capable of 

 inspiring such noble sentiments. He was slain in 

 battle by Khoosroo-Purvees, Avho overran Syria and 

 Palestine with his sudden victories, took Jerusalem, 

 and plundered the great church ; carrying off with 

 him to Persia, among other sacrilegious spoils, the 

 true cross enclosed in a case of gold. It was when 

 Mondar V. occupied the throne that tlie kingdom of 

 Hira was invaded and subdued by the lieutenant of 

 Mohammed (A. D. 633), when its history becomes 

 incorporated with that of its Moslem conquerors. 



III. The other colony of the dispersed Arabs, of 



* Procdp. De Bello Persico, cap. iii. 

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