CONQUEST OF AFRICA ANB SPAIN. 



387 



Egypt ; while the revenue of that wealthy province 

 with 40,000 brave Arabs were devoted to that im- 

 portant service. 



Hitherto the scimitar appears to have been the 

 main implement in the wars of the Saracens. There 

 was little room for mihtary tactics, or the talents of 

 the engineer, such as we find in the warlike opera- 

 tions of the Greeks and Romans. To lie in ambush, 

 to surprise by assault, to invest a city by armies 

 rather than bv lines or walls, and patiently to await 

 the effects of discontent or famine, Avere the only 

 arts which the Moslems had employed in conquer- 

 ing the strong-holds of their enemies. But a more 

 extended intercourse with nations better skilled than 

 themselvesinthe mechanism of warfare taught them 

 the use and advantages of more powerful instruments 

 than the sword in conducting regidar sieges. Has- 

 san carried in his train a number of warlike engines. 

 The interior of the counlry had been overrun by his 

 predecessor ; but the Mediterranean coast still re- 

 mained in the hands of the Greeks. Carthage, the 

 proud capital of Africa, had been yet unassailed, 

 and the number of its defenders was recruited by 

 the fugitives from Cabes and Tripoli. In the year 

 697 it was reduced and pillaged, in spite of the suc- 

 cours from Justinian H., anrl from Egiza, the Gothic 

 king of Spain, who was anxious to repel the tide of 

 Saracen conquest before it should rush fiercely on 

 his own shores. 



But their triumph was soon disturbed. The Chris- 

 tians, under John the Patrician, a general of great 

 experience and renown, embarked at Constantinople 

 for the seat of war. The expedition was joined by 

 the ships and soldiers of Sicily, and a formidable re- 

 inforcement of Goths from Spain. The confederate 

 army appeared off Carthage, and breaking the chain 

 that guarded the entrance to the harbour, they ef- 

 fected a landing. The citizens hailed the ensigns 

 of the Cross as the emblems of victory and deliver- 



