of their
triumph was marked by a mortality of men and cattle; and twenty-five
thousand Saracens were snatched away from the possession of Syria.
The death of Abu Obeidah might be lamented by the Christians; but his
brethren recollected that he was one of the ten elect whom the prophet
had named as the heirs of paradise. [91] Caled survived his brethren
about three years: and the tomb of the Sword of God is shown in the
neighborhood of Emesa. His valor, which founded in Arabia and Syria
the empire of the caliphs, was fortified by the opinion of a special
providence; and as long as he wore a cap, which had been blessed
by Mahomet, he deemed himself invulnerable amidst the darts of the
infidels. [9111]

[Footnote 91: Abulfeda, Annal. Moslem. p. 73. Mahomet could artfully
vary the praises of his disciples. Of Omar he was accustomed to say,
that if a prophet could arise after himself, it would be Omar; and that
in a general calamity, Omar would be accepted by the divine justice,
(Ockley, vol. i. p. 221.)]

[Footnote 9111: Khaled, according to the Rouzont Uzzuffa, (Price, p.
90,) after having been deprived of his ample share of the plunder of
Syria by the jealousy of Omar, died, possessed only of his horse, his
arms, and a single slave. Yet Omar was obliged to acknowledge to his
lamenting parent. that never mother had produced a son like Khaled.--M.]

The place of the first conquerors was supplied by a new generation of
their children and countrymen: Syria became the seat and support of
the house of Ommiyah; and the revenue, the soldiers, the ships of that
powerful kingdom were consecrated to enlarge on every side the empire of
the caliphs. But the Saracens despise a superfluity of fame; and their
historians scarcely condescend to mention the subordinate conquests
which are lost in the splendor and rapidity of their victorious career.

To the north of Syria, they passed Mount Taurus, and reduced to their
obedience the province of Cilicia, with its capital Tarsus, the ancient
monument of the Assyrian kings. Beyond a second ridge of the same
mountains, they spread the flame of war, rather than the light of
religion, as far as the shores of the Euxine, and the neighborhood of
Constantinople. To the east they advanced to the banks and sources of
the Euphrates and Tigris: [92] the long disputed barrier of Rome and
Persia was forever confounded the walls of Edessa and Amida, of Dara and
Nisibis, which had resisted the arms and