CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 33 



gold. Ten thousand youths of both sexes were led 

 into captivity ; the weight of the precious spoil ex- 

 ceeded the strength and number of the beasts of 

 burden; the remainder was consumed with fire, and 

 after a licentious possession of ten days, the Romans 

 abandoned the scene of desolation. In their Syrian 

 inroads, the Greeks reduced more than 100 cities ; 

 eighteen pulpits of the principal mosques were com- 

 mitted to the flames, to expiate the sacrilege of the 

 disciples of Mohammed. On the shifting scene of 

 conquest, the names of Hierapolis, Apamea, Emesa, 

 Acre, and Baalbec, again appear. The Emperor 

 Zimisces encamped in the Paradise of Damascus, 

 where he accepted the ransom of a submissive peo- 

 ple ; and the torrent was only stopt at the impreg- 

 nable fortress of Tripoli, on the Phoenician coast. 



From the passage of Mount Taurus to the Per- 

 sian Gulf, the Euphrates had been impervious to 

 the Greeks since the days of Heraclius. It was 

 crossed by the victorious Zimisces ; and the histo- 

 rian may imitate the speed with which he overran 

 the once famous cities of Samosata, Edessa, Marty- 

 ropolis, Amida, and Nisibis, the ancient limit of the 

 Roman empire in the neighbourhood of the Tigris. 

 His ardour was quickened by the desire of grasping 

 the imaginary wealth of the Abbassides in their own 

 capital. But Bagdad was relieved of its apprehen- 

 sions by his sudden retreat. Satiated with glory 

 and laden with plunder, Zimisces returned to Con- 

 stantinople, where he displayed in his triumph the 

 silks and aromatics of Asia, with 300 myriads of 

 gold and silver. The Saracen states recovered from 

 the eifects of this transient hurricane. On the de- 

 parture of the Greeks the fugitive princes return- 



