LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 247 



lowers. His wishes were anticipated, his words and 

 looks watched with the utmost attention. Every 

 hair that dropped on the ground was gathered with 

 superstitious care. His spittle was eagerly caught 

 and preserved ; and the water in which he had made 

 his ablutions, as if it inherited a sacred virtue from 

 his touch. The ceremonious expressions of alle- 

 giance, the formal servility of courts, are cold when 

 compared with this fervour of a Wind enthusiasm. 

 " I have seen," said Arwa, the deputy of INIecca, who 

 had contemplated the ?,Ioslem camp with leisurely 

 astonishment, '! the Khoosroos of Persia and the 

 Csesars of Rome in all their glory ; but never did 1 

 behold a king among his subjects like IMohammed 

 in the midst of his companions." 



The eighth year of the Hejirawas fortunate in the 

 spontaneous conversion of three renownied prose- 

 lytes, Othman, Khaled, and Amru, who most sea- 

 sonably abandoned the sinking cause of idolatry, 

 Othman was prefect or keeper of the temple, and 

 the two others the futiire conquerors of Syria and 

 Egypt. This same period was rendered memorable 

 by the battle of Muta, the first in which the INIoslems 

 tried their swords against the disciplined valour of 

 the Greek's. The apostle had sent an ambassador 

 to the viceroy of Bosra, offering him as he had done 

 to others the assurance of salvation on exchanging 

 Christiapity for the Koran ; but the sacred messen- 

 ger, while reposing in peace and security, was as- 

 sassinated by the governor of Muta, a place opposite 

 the town of Kerek, mi the borders of Syria. This 

 small spark kindled a vast conflagration, which over- 

 spread the East, and raged between the two nations 

 for 800 years. An army of 3000 chosen troops, under 

 the command of Zaid,was ordered to advance ; and, 

 on the spot where the guilty deed had been commit- 

 ted, to inflict on the perpetrator the chastisement of 

 a just retribution. The burning sands of the desert 

 were crossed by rapid and fatiguing marches ; but th« 



