320 CONQUESTS OF THE SARACENS. 



som ; sending her away with a haughty message of 

 defiance to the emperor, that he should never enjoy 

 peace till his daughter and his dominions were in 

 possession of the Saracens. The bereaved Jonas 

 fought and fell in the service of his adopted religion. 

 To encourage proselytes, Raphi, a brother officer, 

 declared he had seen the blessed martyr in a vision 

 walking in the verdant meadow^s of paradise, with 

 gold slippers on his feet, and forgetting the love of 

 Eudocia in the embraces of seventy virgins, so 

 bright and fair that, had one of them but half un- 

 veiled her charms in this world, the sun and moon 

 must have paled before the splendour of her beauty. 



Abu Obeidah had displaced Khaled in the com- 

 mand ; but he had no fixed plan of operation, and 

 his wavering policy was uncertain whether to direct 

 the march of the behevers to Jerusalem or Antioch. 

 An expedition was suggested and undertaken, to 

 which the Arabs were solely prompted by their in- 

 satiable cupidity. The fair of Abyla, or the Monas- 

 tery of the Holy Father, a place near the eastern 

 base of the Anti-Libauus, about thirty miles from 

 Damascus, was annually celebrated at Easter by a 

 vast concourse of merchants. The cell of a devout 

 h'jrmit attracted crowds of pilgrims ; young and 

 old, rich and poor, solicited his blessing ; and no 

 married couple thought their conjugal felicity com- 

 plete till they had received his benediction. In the 

 hope of an easy conquest and a large spoil, Abdal- 

 lah was despatched with a handful of five hundred 

 cavalry. 



This festival happened that year to be honoured 

 by the nuptials of the daughter of the governor of 

 Tripoli; and the usual crowd was swelled by an 

 escort of 5000 horse that attended the person of the 

 bride, who had come to have her faith and her fer- 

 tility confirmed by the pious anchorite. The inva- 

 ders were awe-struck, but shame prevented their 

 retreat; and their drooping courage revived in the 



