d ascended the bed of the prophet were
forever excluded from the hope of a second marriage. Perhaps the
incontinence of Mahomet may be palliated by the tradition of his natural
or preternatural gifts; [162] he united the manly virtue of thirty of
the children of Adam: and the apostle might rival the thirteenth labor
[163] of the Grecian Hercules. [164] A more serious and decent excuse
may be drawn from his fidelity to Cadijah. During the twenty-four years
of their marriage, her youthful husband abstained from the right of
polygamy, and the pride or tenderness of the venerable matron was never
insulted by the society of a rival. After her death, he placed her in
the rank of the four perfect women, with the sister of Moses, the mother
of Jesus, and Fatima, the best beloved of his daughters. "Was she not
old?" said Ayesha, with the insolence of a blooming beauty; "has not God
given you a better in her place?" "No, by God," said Mahomet, with an
effusion of honest gratitude, "there never can be a better! She believed
in me when men despised me; she relieved my wants, when I was poor and
persecuted by the world." [165]

[Footnote 158: For the domestic life of Mahomet, consult Gagnier, and
the corresponding chapters of Abulfeda; for his diet, (tom. iii. p.
285-288;) his children, (p. 189, 289;) his wives, (p. 290-303;) his
marriage with Zeineb, (tom. ii. p. 152-160;) his amour with Mary,
(p. 303-309;) the false accusation of Ayesha, (p. 186-199.) The most
original evidence of the three last transactions is contained in
the xxivth, xxxiiid, and lxvith chapters of the Koran, with Sale's
Commentary. Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 80-90) and Maracci (Prodrom.
Alcoran, part iv. p. 49-59) have maliciously exaggerated the frailties
of Mahomet.]

[Footnote 159: Incredibile est quo ardore apud eos in Venerem uterque
solvitur sexus, (Ammian. Marcellin. l. xiv. c. 4.)]

[Footnote 160: Sale (Preliminary Discourse, p. 133-137) has
recapitulated the laws of marriage, divorce, &c.; and the curious reader
of Selden's Uror Hebraica will recognize many Jewish ordinances.]

[Footnote 161: In a memorable case, the Caliph Omar decided that all
presumptive evidence was of no avail; and that all the four witnesses
must have actually seen stylum in pyxide, (Abulfedae Annales Moslemici,
p. 71, vers. Reiske.)]

[Footnote 162: Sibi robur ad generationem, quantum triginta viri habent,
inesse jacteret: ita ut unica hora posset undecim foeminis satisf