into Syria, dispersed the armies of
Heraclius, and took the {27} city of Damascus, the siege of which will
be for ever celebrated in consequence of the almost superhuman exploits
of the famous Kaled, surnamed the _Sword of God_.[8]

Notwithstanding these successive victories, and the enormous amount of
booty thus taken from the enemy and committed to his keeping, Abubeker
appropriated to his own particular use a sum scarcely equivalent to
forty cents a day.

Omar, the successor of Abubeker, commanded Kaled to march against
Jerusalem. That city soon became the prize of the Arabs; Syria and
Palestine were subdued; the Turks and the Persians demanded peace;
Heraclius fled from Antioch; and all Asia trembled before Omar and the
terrible Mussulmans.

Modest, in spite of the triumphs that everywhere attended them, and
attributing their success to God alone, these Moslems preserved
unaltered their austere manners, their frugality, their severe
discipline, and their reverence for poverty, though surrounded by the
most corrupt of the nations of the earth, and exposed to the seductive
influences of the delicious climates and the luxurious pleasures of
some of the richest and most {28} beautiful countries in the world.
During the sacking of a city, the most eager and impetuous soldier
would be instantly arrested in the work of pillage by the word of his
chief, and would, with the strictest fidelity, deliver up the booty he
had obtained, that it might be deposited in the general treasury. Even
the most independent and magnificent of the heroic chiefs would hasten,
in accordance with the directions of the caliph, to take the command of
an army, and would become successively generals, private soldiers, or
ambassadors, in obedience to his slightest wish. In fine, Omar
himself--Omar, the richest, the greatest, the most puissant of the
monarchs of Asia, set forward upon a journey to Jerusalem; mounted upon
a red camel, which bore a sack of barley, one of rice, a well-filled
water-skin, and a wooden vase. Thus equipped, the caliph travelled
through the midst of conquered nations, who crowded around his path at
every step, entreating his blessing and praying him to adjudge their
quarrels. At last he joined his army, and, inculcating precepts of
simplicity, valour, and humility upon the soldiers, he made his
entrance into the Holy City, liberated such of its former Christian
possessors as had become {29} the captives of his people