SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 411 



fought by his side at the battles of Bedr and Ohud. 

 The mosque bearing his name rose on the tomb ; 

 and so much was its sanctity esteemed by the Turks, 

 that they selected it for the inauguration of their 

 sultans, who are here girded with the sword of state 

 on their accession to the throne. 



By this repulse the glory of the Saracen arms suf- 

 fered a momentary eclipse. Constantine assumed 

 the attitude of a conqueror. His ambassador ap- 

 peared and was favourably received at the court of 

 Damascus ; in a general council a truce of thirty 

 years was ratified between the two contending na- 

 tions ; and for the first time in the history of the 

 Moslems, Ave behold the singular occurrence of their 

 paying tribute to the Greek emperor, at a time when 

 they were in possession of his fairest territories in 

 Asia. The annual tax imposed on the commander 

 of the faithful was fifty horses of a noble breed, fifty 

 slaves, and 3000 pieces of gold. The feuds and dis- 

 putes, which had detached Persia and Arabia from 

 the caliphate of Syria, rendered the Omraiadan 

 princes too feeble to oppose the pressing demands 

 of the Christians ; and the tribute was increased to 

 a slave, a horse, and 1000 pieces of gold for each of 

 the 365 days of the solar year, which continued to 

 be paid until the empire was again united by the 

 arms and pohcy of Abdolmalec. 



In the reign of Soliman the Arabs made a second 

 and equally unsuccessful attempt on Constantinople. 

 The sound of war soon reached the Byzantine court ; 

 and while the most extensive preparations were 

 making to repel the invaders, Moslemah, the brother 

 of the caliph and governor of Upper Mesopotamia, 

 was advancing at the head of 120,000 Arabs and 

 Persians. In his progress through Asia Minor he 

 reduced the cities of Tyana, Armoricum, and Perga- 

 mus ; but before he reached the shores of the Hel- 

 lespont, the Grecian sceptre had been transferred 

 from Theodosius III. to the firmer hand of Leo the 



