h to survey the sword which had cut
down so many Christian warriors; the son of Aasi unsheathed a short and
ordinary cimeter; and as he perceived the surprise of Omar, "Alas," said
the modest Saracen, "the sword itself, without the arm of its master, is
neither sharper nor more weighty than the sword of Pharezdak the poet."
[98] After the conquest of Egypt, he was recalled by the jealousy of
the caliph Othman; but in the subsequent troubles, the ambition of a
soldier, a statesman, and an orator, emerged from a private station.
His powerful support, both in council and in the field, established the
throne of the Ommiades; the administration and revenue of Egypt were
restored by the gratitude of Moawiyah to a faithful friend who had
raised himself above the rank of a subject; and Amrou ended his days in
the palace and city which he had founded on the banks of the Nile. His
dying speech to his children is celebrated by the Arabians as a model
of eloquence and wisdom: he deplored the errors of his youth but if the
penitent was still infected by the vanity of a poet, he might exaggerate
the venom and mischief of his impious compositions. [99]

[Footnote 96: We learn this anecdote from a spirited old woman, who
reviled to their faces, the caliph and his friend. She was encouraged
by the silence of Amrou and the liberality of Moawiyah, (Abulfeda, Annal
Moslem. p. 111.)]

[Footnote 97: Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 46, &c., who quotes
the Abyssinian history, or romance of Abdel Balcides. Yet the fact of
the embassy and ambassador may be allowed.]

[Footnote 98: This saying is preserved by Pocock, (Not. ad Carmen
Tograi, p 184,) and justly applauded by Mr. Harris, (Philosophical
Arrangements, p. 850.)]

[Footnote 99: For the life and character of Amrou, see Ockley (Hist. of
the Saracens, vol. i. p. 28, 63, 94, 328, 342, 344, and to the end of
the volume; vol. ii. p. 51, 55, 57, 74, 110-112, 162) and Otter, (Mem.
de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxi. p. 131, 132.) The readers
of Tacitus may aptly compare Vespasian and Mucianus with Moawiyah and
Amrou. Yet the resemblance is still more in the situation, than in the
characters, of the men.]

From his camp in Palestine, Amrou had surprised or anticipated the
caliph's leave for the invasion of Egypt. [100] The magnanimous Omar
trusted in his God and his sword, which had shaken the thrones of
Chosroes and Caesar: but when he compared the slender force of the
Moslems w