334 CONQUKSTS OF THE SARACENS. 



Tripoli, were seized by Youkiiina, and yielded to 

 the Saracens a welcome supply of arms and provi- 

 sions. The towns, or provinces, of Ranila, Acre, 

 Joppa, Ascalon, Gaza, Shechem or Nablous, and 

 Tiberias, surrendered without resistance ; and their 

 example was followed by the inhabitants of Sidon, 

 Beirout, Laodicea, Apamea, and Hieropohs. Within 

 six years after their first expedition, and 700 after 

 Pompey had despoiled the last of the Macedonian 

 kings, this fertile and populous region submitted to 

 the rule of the Arabian caliph. Eastward, Khaled 

 had extended his victories, and reduced Beles, 

 Racca, Rahabah, and various other fortified to\vns 

 on the Euphrates. 



The same year that completed the subjugation of 

 Syria visited the conquerors with a dreadful pesti- 

 lence, more fatal to their ranks than the swords of 

 the Greeks or the luxuries of Antioch. Five-and- 

 twenty thousand of the Moslems, including Obeidah, 

 Yezid, Serjabil, and many of the most distinguished 

 companions of Mohammed, were swept off by the 

 plague of Emmaus (the place where it made its first 

 appearance), which spread its ravages, with a terri- 

 ble mortality both to men and cattle, over the whole 

 country, as far south as Medina. 



Khaled, though he escaped a species of death so 

 unwelcome to a soldier, survived his fellow-con- 

 querors only three years, and ended his days under 

 a cloud of ignominy and injustice. However unre- 

 quited by the caliph, the merit of the conquests in 

 Syria and Palestine was by the public voice ascribed 

 to the superior skill and singular prowess of this 

 gallant soldier, the fame of whose exploits had long 

 rendered him the theme of general admiration. One 

 of the poets of the day, who undertoak to perpetuate 

 his glory, has celebrated the " terrors of his mace 

 and the lightning of his scimitar, which spread 

 wretchedness and mourning among the cities of the 

 Franks." A charge of embezzlement and of appro- 



