elve
thousand venders of green vegetables, four thousand Jews who pay
tribute, and four thousand musicians and mountebanks."

Amr was anxious to conciliate and gain the affection of the new subjects
he had added to the caliph's empire, and during his short stay in
Alexandria received them with kindness and personally heard and attended
to their demands. It is commonly believed that in this period the
Alexandrian Library was dismantled; but, as we have already seen, the
books had been destroyed by the zeal of contending Christians. The story
that attributes the destruction of this world-famous institution to
the Arabian conquerors is so much a part of history, and has been so
generally accepted as correct, that the traditional version should be
given here.

Among the inhabitants of Alexandria whom Amr had so well received, says
the monkish chronicler, was one John the Grammarian, a learned
Greek, disciple of the Jacobite sect, who had been imprisoned by its
persecutors. Since his disgrace, he had given himself up entirely to
study, and was one of the most assiduous readers in the famous library.
With the change of masters he believed the rich treasure would be
speedily dispersed, and he wished to obtain a portion of it himself. So,
profiting by the special kindness Amr had shown him, and the pleasure he
appeared to take in his conversation, he ventured to ask for the gift of
several of the philosophic books whose removal would put an end to his
learned researches.

At first Amr granted this request without hesitation, but in his
gratitude John the Grammarian expatiated so unwisely on the extreme
rarity of the manuscripts and their inestimable value, that Amr, on
reflection, feared he had overstepped his power in granting the learned
man's request. "I will refer the matter to the caliph," he said,
and thereupon wrote immediately to Omar and asked the caliph for
his commands concerning the disposition of the whole of the precious
contents of the library.

The caliph's answer came quickly. "If," he wrote, "the books contain
only what is in the book of God (the Koran), it is enough for us, and
these books are useless. If they contain anything contrary to the holy
book, they are pernicious. In any case, burn them."

[Illustration: 327.jpg COIN OF OMAR]

Amr wished to organise his new government, and, having left a sufficient
garrison in Alexandria, he gave orders to the rest of his army to leave
the camp in the town a