le of the Holy Land which had been sanctified by the revelation of
Moses, of Jesus, and of Mahomet himself. The son of Abu Sophian was
sent with five thousand Arabs to try the first experiment of surprise
or treaty; but on the eleventh day, the town was invested by the whole
force of Abu Obeidah. He addressed the customary summons to the chief
commanders and people of Aelia. [79]

[Footnote 79: In the name of the city, the profane prevailed over the
sacred Jerusalem was known to the devout Christians, (Euseb. de Martyr
Palest. c xi.;) but the legal and popular appellation of Aelia (the
colony of Aelius Hadrianus) has passed from the Romans to the Arabs.
(Reland, Palestin. tom. i. p. 207, tom. ii. p. 835. D'Herbelot,
Bibliotheque Orientale, Cods, p. 269, Ilia, p. 420.) The epithet of Al
Cods, the Holy, is used as the proper name of Jerusalem.]

"Health and happiness to every one that follows the right way! We
require of you to testify that there is but one God, and that Mahomet is
his apostle. If you refuse this, consent to pay tribute, and be under us
forthwith. Otherwise I shall bring men against you who love death better
than you do the drinking of wine or eating hog's flesh. Nor will I ever
stir from you, if it please God, till I have destroyed those that fight
for you, and made slaves of your children." But the city was defended
on every side by deep valleys and steep ascents; since the invasion of
Syria, the walls and towers had been anxiously restored; the bravest of
the fugitives of Yermuk had stopped in the nearest place of refuge; and
in the defence of the sepulchre of Christ, the natives and strangers
might feel some sparks of the enthusiasm, which so fiercely glowed in
the bosoms of the Saracens. The siege of Jerusalem lasted four months;
not a day was lost without some action of sally or assault; the military
engines incessantly played from the ramparts; and the inclemency of
the winter was still more painful and destructive to the Arabs. The
Christians yielded at length to the perseverance of the besiegers.
The patriarch Sophronius appeared on the walls, and by the voice of
an interpreter demanded a conference. [7911] After a vain attempt to
dissuade the lieutenant of the caliph from his impious enterprise, he
proposed, in the name of the people, a fair capitulation, with this
extraordinary clause, that the articles of security should be ratified
by the authority and presence of Omar himself. The question w