CONQUESTS OF THE SARACENS. 333 



tioned at Caesarea, the second metropolis of Pales- 

 tine ; but after the flight of his father and the sur- 

 render of so many places of strength, he found 

 himself unable to contend against the united forces 

 of the caliph. Amru with a division of the army- 

 infested that part of the country, and was prepared 

 to give battle to the Christians ; but the prince, dis- 

 pirited with losses and afraid of falling into the 

 hands of the Saracens, left his government, and 

 taking shipping in a tempestuous night with his 

 family and his wealth, departed for the tranquil 

 shores of the Bosphorus. The Csesareans, aban- 

 doned by their chief and without the means of 

 defence, with one consent surrendered the city to 

 Amru ; having purchased their security by paying 

 200,000 pieces of gold. 



Obeidah, fearing lest the luxuries of Antioch might 

 enervate his troops, — for the Grecian women had 

 begun to seduce the stern virtues of the Arabs, — 

 withdrew his army after a brief refreshment of three 

 days. But Omar was more indulgent than his lieu- 

 tenant to the infirmities of the faithful. " God," said 

 he, in an epistle mildly censuring him for his unkind- 

 ness to the Moslems, " hath not forbidden the use 

 of the good things of this Hfe to faithful men, and 

 Buch as have performed good works ; wherefore you 

 ought to have given the Saracens leave to rest 

 themselves, and partake freely of the good things 

 which the country afforded, that whosoever of them 

 had no family in Arabia might marry in Syria, and 

 purchase as many female slaves as they had occa- 

 sion for." The fall of Damascus, Jerusalem, Aleppo, 

 and Antioch may be said to have completed the 

 conquest of Syria. The mountainous districts of 

 Palestine were overrun by a troop of 300 Arabs and 

 1000 black slaves, who, in the depth of winter, 

 climbed the snowy ridges of Lebanon. Tripoli and 

 Tyre were betrayed ; a fleet of fifty transports, des- 

 tined for Cyprus and Crete, entering the harbour of 



