ANCIENT KING3 OF ARABIA. 129 



named Lilitli, headed the Sabaean brigands who 

 despoiled that wealthy patriarch. Ecclesiastical 

 histoiiaas repeatedly mention Moavia as among the 

 female rulers of the Arabs. And we learn from 

 Ammianus Marcellinus, that after the defeat and 

 death of the Emperor Valerius, when the Goths laid 

 siege to Constantinople, this princess sent a body 

 of her best troops to assist the Romans ; and it was 

 principal!}' by their bravery that the barbarians were 

 forced to retire.* 



The Nabatheean or Lshmaelite Arabs, under a race 

 of native princes, long preserved a distinct name as 

 a nation ; asserting their independence alike against 

 the hosts of Egypt and Ethiopia, of the Jews, the 

 Assyrians, the Greeks, and the Romans, — all of 

 whom had successively assailed their territories. 

 Diodorus Siculus states, that Sesostris, who reigned 

 1300 years before the Christian era, harassed by 

 their incessant depredations, was compelled to draw 

 a line of defence across the isthmus of Suez, from , 

 Heliopolis to Pelusium, to secure his kingdom 

 against their incursions. It was extremely difficult, 

 adds this author, either to attack or subdue them, 

 because they retired to their deserts ; where, if an 

 enemy ventured to follow, he was sure to perish of 

 thirst and fatigue, for their wells were onh^ known 

 to themselves. t 



The dukes of Edom Avere famous long before 

 there reigned any king over the Israelites (Gen. 

 xxxvi.), and they refused Moses a passage through 

 their territories to the Land of Canaan (Num. xx.) 



♦ Saraceni mulieres ainnt in eos regnare. — (Exposit. Tot. 

 Mund. Hudson's Geog. Min. torn, in.) Multos annos occupavit 

 faemina regnum Sabae, et post earn fseminae usque ad tempus 

 Solomonis, filii Davidis. Poc. Specim. p. 85. Ammian. Mar- 

 cell, lib. xxxi. Pliilostorg. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. 4. 



t Diodor. Sic. lib. ii. cap. 4. Ammian. Marcell. lib. xiv. 

 cap. 4. 



