EGYPT. 
310 
calamitous event afflifted the declining health of the em¬ 
peror ; and Heraclius died about feven weeks after the 
lofs of Alexandria. Under the minority of his grand- 
fon, the clamours of the people compelled the court to 
undertake the recovery of Egypt. In the fpace of four 
years, the harbour and fortihcations of Alexandria were 
twice occupied by a fleet and army of Romans. They 
were twice expelled by the valour of Amrou, who was 
recalled by the domeftic peril from the aidant wars of 
Tripoli and Nubia. But the facility of the attempt, 
and the obftinacy of the refiftance, provoked him'to 
fwear, “that if a third time he drove the infidels into 
the fea, he would render Alexandria as acceflible on all 
fides as the houfe of a proftitute.” Faithful to his prc- 
mife, he difmantled feveral parts of the walls and towers, 
but the people was fpared in the chaftifement of the city, 
and the mofque of Mercy was erefted on the fpot where 
the victorious general had flopped the fury of his troops. 
It was now that the learned had to deplore the fate of 
the Alexandrian library, as it is defcribed by the learned 
Abulpharagius. The fpirit of Amrou was more curious 
and liberal than that of his brethren ; and in his leifure 
hours the Arabian chief was -pleafed whit the converfa- 
tion of John, the laft difciple of Ammonius, and who de¬ 
rived the furname of Philoponus , from his laborious flu- 
dies of grammar and philofophy. Emboldened by this 
familiar intercourfe, Philoponus prefumed to folicit a 
gift, ineftimable in his opinion, contemptible in that of 
the Barbarians ; the royal library ; which alone, among 
the fpoils of Alexandria, had not been appropriated by 
the vifit and the feal of the conqueror. Amrou was in¬ 
clined-to gratify the with of the grammarian, but his ri¬ 
gid integrity refufed to alienate the minuted objeft with¬ 
out the confent of the caliph ; and the well-known an- 
fwer of Omar was infpired by the ignorance of a tanatic. 
“ If thefe writings of the Greeks agree with the book of 
God, they are u'felefs and need not be preferved : if they 
difagree, they are pernicious and ought to bedeflroyed.” 
The fentence was executed with blind obedience: the 
volumes of paper or parchment were diflributcd to the 
four thoufand baths of the city ; and fuch was their in¬ 
credible multitude that (ix months were barely fufficient 
for the confumption of this precious fuel! 
In the adminiftration of Egypt, Amrou endeavoured to 
balance the demands of juftice and of policy. In the ma¬ 
nagement of the revenue he difapproved the Ample but 
oppreflive mode of a capitation, and preferred with reafon a 
proportion of taxes, deducted on every branch from the 
clear profits of agriculture and commerce. A third part of 
the tribute was appropriated to the annual repairs of.the 
dykes and canals, fo eflential to the, public welfare. Un¬ 
der his adminiftration the fertility of Egypt fupplied the 
dearth of Arabia ; and a firing of camels, laden with corn 
and provifions, covered almofl without an interval the 
long road from Memphis to Medina. But the genius of 
Amrou fodn renewed the maritime communication w hich 
had been attempted or achieved by the Pharaohs, the 
Ptolemies, or the Caefars ; and a canal, at leaft eighty 
miles in length, was opened from the Nile to the Red 
Sea. This inland navigation, which would have joined 
the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, was foon dif- 
continuedas ufelefsor dangerousand the Saracen throne 
was removed from Medina to Damafcus. Ot this new 
conqueft, the caliph Omar had but an imperfeft know¬ 
ledge from the voice of fame. He requelted that his ge¬ 
neral would place before his eyes the realm of Pharaoh 
and the Amalckites ; and the an fiver of-Amrou exhibits, 
even in thofe early days, a lively and not unfaithful pic¬ 
ture of that fingqiar country; “O commander of the 
faithful, Egypt is a compound of black earth and green 
plants, betvNeen a pulverifed mountain and a red land. 
The diftance from Syene to the fea is a month’s journey 
for an horfeman. Along the valley defcends a river, on 
which the blelling of the Mod High repoles both in the 
evening and morning, and which piles and falls with the 
2 
revolutions of the fun and moon. When the annual dif- 
penfation of Providence unlocks the fprings and fountains 
that nourifli the earth, the Nile rolls his fwelling and 
founding waiters through the realm of Egypt: the fields 
are overfpread by the falutary flood ; and the villages 
communicate with each other in their painted barks. 1 he 
retreat of the inundation depolits a fertilizing mud for the 
reception of the various feeds : the crow-ds of hulb indmen 
who blacken the land may be compared to a fwarm of in- 
dnflrious ants : and their native indolence is quickened by 
the la fit of the talk-mafler, and the promife of the flowers 
and fruits of a plentiful increafe. Their hope is feldom 
deceived; but the riches which they extraft from the 
wheat, the barley, and the rice, the legumes, the fruit- 
trees, and the cattle, are unequally fliared between thofe 
who labour and thofe who polfefs. According to the vi- 
ciffitudes of the feafons, the face of the country is adorned 
with a Jilver wave, a verdant emerald-, and the deep yellow 
of a. golden harveft. Tints the rich and fruitful province 
of Egypt was completely conquered, and the Roman go¬ 
vernment wholly fuperfeded by the Arabs or Saracens, in 
the 19th year of the hegira, A. D. 640. 
Upon the accellion of Othmar to the caliphate,- after 
the affkflination of Omar, Amrou was removed from his 
command in Egypt, in order to make way for Abdallah, 
fofter-brother to the new caliph. His birth and talents 
gave him an honourable rank among the Koreifii ; and, 
in a nation of cavalry, Abdallah was renowned as the 
boldeft and moll dextrous horfeman of Arabia. The 
conqiiefl of Africa, from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean, 
was now firfi projected by the caliph Othmar; who, 
A. D. 647, enfrulted the conduft of the war to Abdal¬ 
lah. At the head of forty thoufand Modems, he ad¬ 
vanced from Egypt into the unknown countries of the 
weft. The funds of Barca might be impervious to a Ro¬ 
man legion ; but the Arabs, attended by their faithful 
camels, beheld without terror the familiar afpeft of the 
foil and climate ; and, after a painful march, they pitched 
their tents before the walls of Tripoli. A reinforce¬ 
ment of Greeks was furprifed and cut in pieces on the 
fea-fliore ; but the fortiflcations of Tripoli refilled the 
fir ft aflaults ; and the Saracens were tempted by the ap¬ 
proach of the praefeCt Gregory to relinquish the labours 
of the fiege for the perils and the hopes of a decilive ac¬ 
tion. His ftandard was followed by one hundred and 
twenty thoufand men ; and he rejected with indignation 
the option of die Koran, or the tribute. During feveral 
days, the two armies were fiercely engaged from the d iwn 
of light to the hour of noon, when their fatigue and the 
exccflive heat compelled them mutually to feek fhelter 
and refrelliment in their refpettive camps. The daughter 
of Gregory, a maid of incomparable beauty and fpirit, is 
laid to have fought by her father’s fide : from her ear- 
lielt youth flte was trained to mount on horfeback, to 
draw the bow, and to wield the lcymetar; and the rich- 
nefs of her arms and apparel was confpicuous in the fore- ■ 
mod ranks of the battle. Her hand, with an hundred 
thoufand pieces of gold, was offered for the head of the 
Arabian general, and the youths of Africa were excited 
by the pro Ip eft of the glorious prize. At the prefling 
foiicitation of his brethren, therefore, Abdallah withdrew 
from the field ; but the Saracens were difcomaged by the 
retreat of their leader, and the repetition of thefe equal 
or unfuccefsful conflicts. 
A noble Arabian, Zobeir, who afterwards became the 
adverfary of Ali and the father of a caliph, had ligualized 
his valour in Egypt, and was the tint who planted a fcal- 
ing-ladder again It the walls of Babylon. In this war he 
had been detached from the ftandard of Abdallah. On 
the news of the battle, Zobeir, with twelve companies, 
cut his way through the camp-of the Greeks, and preffed 
forwards, without lading either food or repofe, to par¬ 
take of the dangers of his brethren. He call his eyes 
round the field : “ Where, (laid he,) is our general >” 
“ I11 his tent.” “ Is the tent a Itation for the general of 
