240 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 



had joined the confederates. The soldiers mur- 

 mured : but it would have been impiety to disobey ; 

 for Gabriel is made to remonstrate with him for suf- 

 fering his people to lay down their arms before the 

 angels had laid down theirs. The Jews defended 

 their fortress with valour, and during the siege va- 

 rious battles were fought, distinguished by traits of 

 individual heroism. After a brave resistance of 

 twenty-five days, the garrison surrendered at dis- 

 cretion. Seven hundred of them were dragged in 

 chains to the public market-place of Medina, where 

 a pit was dug to serve as a common grave, into 

 which they Avere precipitated one after another, be- 

 fore the bloody hand of the executioner had time to 

 extinguish the vital spark. This butchery of his 

 helpless enemies the victor beheld with an inflexible 

 eye, and makes the Koran applaud the Divine good- 

 ness in giving him the lands of the slaughtered 

 idolaters as an inheritance. 



The sixth year of the Hejira was distinguished 

 by no other military events than a series of petty 

 excursions, which added considerably to the wealth 

 of the believers, and ended in the subjugation of 

 several tribes of the Arabs. Zaid undertook an 

 expedition into the territory of Rlidian, the same 

 pastoral tract where Moses kept the flocks of Jethro, 

 The adventurers were rewarded by a very consi- 

 derable booty ; besides a great number of women 

 and children, whom they sold for slaves. Hitherto 

 it had been customary in this inhuman traffic to dis- 

 pose separately of mothers and children ; but on this 

 occasion, the cries and wailings of the female cap- 

 tives were so distressing, that the apostle produced 

 a revelation prohibiting children of a tender age to 

 be sold, except conjointly with the mother. 



Successful in war, and enriched by conquest, 

 Mohammed saw himself not only at the head of a 

 religious sect, but the sovereign of a petty kingdom. 

 One acquisition yet reniainedj. without which hig 



