y, whilst Sa'd
is hiding behind the gates of Quadesyeh?
He was thinking then of increasing his family and of making
his wives mothers, for the wives of Sa'd know not
the privations of celibacy."

Another poet, Bischer ben Rebi'ah, has spoken of the battle of
Quadesyeh in these terms (same metre):--

"My camel stopped at the gates of Quadesyeh; my chief was
Sa'd ben (Abi) Waqqas.
Remember (may God guide thee) our prowess near Qodais,
and the blindness of our perfidious enemies.
That evening many of us would willingly have borrowed
the wings of the birds to fly away,
When their battalions advanced one after another against us,
like unto moving mountains.
With my sword I threw their ranks into disorder, and my lance
dispersed them; for I am a man worthy of wielding the
lance,
I and my companions: Amr, father of Thawr, the martyr,
Haschem, Qais, No'man the brave, and Djerir."

There exists a great number of poems composed in honour of this
battle, one of the most celebrated, and fraught with the greatest
blessings for the Mussulmans. Omar having written to Sa'd to ask for
some information regarding the position of Quadesyeh, the latter
sent him the following:--"Quadesyeh is situated between the moat
and el-'Atiq (the canal of the Euphrates). On its left is the sea,
a sort of bay, whence lead two roads to Hirah: the first, over high
hills; the second, over the banks of a river called Khousous, which
passes out between Khawarnaq and Hirah; on its right are numerous
streams which water the country. All the tribes who have made peace
with the Mussulmans before my arrival tremble before the Persians,
and are ready to assist me." The historians of the first conquests
divide this affair at Quadesyeh into four battles. The first is called
the battle of Ermath; the second, the battle of Aghwath; the third,
the battle of Amas; the evening preceding the fourth, they called
the evening of Herir or of the storm; and the last, the battle of
Quadesyeh. The celebrated Rustam, son of Farrokh-Zad, lost his life
in this battle, and the Persians could not replace this skilful
general. (Dictionnaire geographique, historique et litteraire de la
Perse et des Contrees adjacentes, taken from the Mo'd'jem el-Bouldan
of Yaqout, &c. Trans. Barbier de Meynard, Paris, 1861, p. 432.)

[8] Malcolm, Hist. of Persia, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 174. Weil, Geschichte