d thus
destroyed the garrison in detail or starved it to a surrender. This was
the reason of the long duration of their sieges. This of Misrah, or
Memphis, lasted seven months, in the course of which the little army of
Amru was much reduced by frequent skirmishings. At the end of this time
he received a reinforcement of four thousand men, sent to him at his
urgent entreaties by the Caliph. Still his force would have been
insufficient for the capture of the place had he not been aided by the
treachery of its governor, Mokawkas.

This man, an original Egyptian, or Copt, by birth, and of noble rank,
was a profound hypocrite. Like most of the Copts, he was of the Jacobite
sect, who denied the double nature of Christ. He had dissembled his
sectarian creed, however, and deceived the emperor Heraclius by a show
of loyalty, so as to be made prefect of his native province and governor
of the city. Most of the inhabitants of Memphis were Copts and Jacobite
Christians, and held their Greek fellow-citizens, who were of the
regular Catholic Church of Constantinople, in great antipathy.

Mokawkas, in the course of his administration, had collected, by taxes
and tribute, an immense amount of treasure, which he had deposited in
the citadel. He saw that the power of the Emperor was coming to an end
in this quarter, and thought the present a good opportunity to provide
for his own fortune. Carrying on a secret correspondence with the Moslem
general, he agreed to betray the place into his hands on condition of
receiving the treasure as a reward for his treason. He accordingly, at
an appointed time, removed the greater part of the garrison from the
citadel to an island in the Nile. The fortress was immediately assailed
by Amru, at the head of his fresh troops, and was easily carried by
assault, the Copts rendering no assistance.

The Greek soldiery, on the Moslem standard being hoisted on the citadel,
saw through the treachery, and, giving up all as lost, escaped in their
ships to the mainland; upon which the prefect surrendered the place by
capitulation. An annual tribute of two ducats a head was levied on all
the inhabitants of the district, with the exception of old men, women,
and boys under the age of sixteen years. It was further conditioned that
the Moslem army should be furnished with provisions, for which they
would pay, and that the inhabitants of the country should forthwith
build bridges over all the streams on the way to Ale