astern friends allowed them to expose their persons
to the impatient public. On Friday, in the dress of a caliph, in the
colors of the sect, Saffah proceeded with religious and military pomp
to the mosch: ascending the pulpit, he prayed and preached as the lawful
successor of Mahomet; and after his departure, his kinsmen bound a
willing people by an oath of fidelity. But it was on the banks of the
Zab, and not in the mosch of Cufa, that this important controversy was
determined. Every advantage appeared to be on the side of the white
faction: the authority of established government; an army of a hundred
and twenty thousand soldiers, against a sixth part of that number; and
the presence and merit of the caliph Mervan, the fourteenth and last
of the house of Ommiyah. Before his accession to the throne, he had
deserved, by his Georgian warfare, the honorable epithet of the ass of
Mesopotamia; [36] and he might have been ranked amongst the greatest
princes, had not, says Abulfeda, the eternal order decreed that moment
for the ruin of his family; a decree against which all human fortitude
and prudence must struggle in vain. The orders of Mervan were mistaken,
or disobeyed: the return of his horse, from which he had dismounted on
a necessary occasion, impressed the belief of his death; and the
enthusiasm of the black squadrons was ably conducted by Abdallah, the
uncle of his competitor. After an irretrievab defeat, the caliph escaped
to Mosul; but the colors of the Abbassides were displayed from the
rampart; he suddenly repassed the Tigris, cast a melancholy look on his
palace of Haran, crossed the Euphrates, abandoned the fortifications of
Damascus, and, without halting in Palestine, pitched his last and fatal
camp at Busir, on the banks of the Nile. [37] His speed was urged by
the incessant diligence of Abdallah, who in every step of the pursuit
acquired strength and reputation: the remains of the white faction were
finally vanquished in Egypt; and the lance, which terminated the life
and anxiety of Mervan, was not less welcome perhaps to the unfortunate
than to the victorious chief. The merciless inquisition of the conqueror
eradicated the most distant branches of the hostile race: their bones
were scattered, their memory was accursed, and the martyrdom of Hossein
was abundantly revenged on the posterity of his tyrants. Fourscore of
the Ommiades, who had yielded to the faith or clemency of their foes,
were invited to a banqu