re expended, or a bound was set to it by resistance which it could not
overcome. Isdigerd, by remaining quiet, might perhaps have prolonged the
precarious existence of Persia for half a dozen years, though even this
is uncertain, and it is perhaps as probable that the tide of conquest
would have flowed eastward in A.D. 641 or 642, even had he attempted
nothing. What alone we can be sure of his, that no acquiescence on his
part, no abstention from warlike enterprise, no submission short of the
acceptance of Islamism, would have availed to save his country for more
than a very brief space from the tramp of the hordes that were bent on
enriching themselves with the plunder of the whole civilized world,
and imposing on all the nations of the earth their dominion and their
religion.

From the citadel of Rei, Isdigerd, in A.D. 641, sounded the call to
battle with no uncertain note. His envoys spread themselves through
Media, Azerbijan, Khorassan, Gurgan, Tabaristan, Merv, Bactria, Seistan,
Kerman, and Farsistan (or Persia Proper), demanding contingents of
troops, and appointing, as the place of rendezvous, the small town of
Nehavend, which is in the mountain region, about fifty miles south of
Hamadan. The call was responded to with zeal; and in a short time
there was gathered together at the place named an army of 150,000 men.
Firuzan, one of the nobles who had commanded at Kadisiyeh, was made
general-in-chief. The design was entertained of descending on Holwan,
and thence upon the lowland region, of re-taking Ctesiphon, crossing the
great rivers, and destroying the rising cities of Kufa and Busrah. But
the Arabs were upon the alert, and anticipated the intended invasion.
Noman, son of Mokarrin, who commanded at Ahwaz, was hastily commissioned
by Omar to collect the Arab troops stationed in Irak, Khuzistan, and
the Sawad, to put himself at their head, and to prevent the outbreak by
marching at once on Nehavend. He succeeded in uniting under his standard
about 30,000 soldiers, and with this moderate force entered the mountain
tract, passed Holwan and Merj, and encamped at Tur, where he expected
the attack of the enemy. But Firuzan had now resolved to maintain the
defensive. He had entrenched himself strongly in front of Nehavend
and was bent on wearing out the patience of the Arabs by a prolonged
resistance. Noman, finding himself unmolested, advanced from Tur to
the immediate neighborhood of Nehavend, and endeavored to provoke