It was part of the agreement between Moawiyah and Hasan, that after Moawiyah's decease, the government should return to Hasan; but he being dead, Moawiyah's thoughts were entirely bent upon his own 'son Yezid; and there either really was in him, or else paternal tenderness made him fancy it, something so grand and majestic, and a capacity so well fitted for the government of a mighty empire, that his father grew every day fonder of him; and though in other respects, a wise and prudent man, he could not help frequently expressing in conversation the great opinion he entertained of his abilities. It is said, that once, in one of his harangues to the people after this business was over, he said, "O God! if thou knowest that I have settled the government upon him, because according to the best of my judgment I think him qualified for it, confirm it to him! But if I have done it out of affection, confirm it not!"

The last speech made in public, when he perceived himself in a weak condition, was to this purpose:* *I am like the corn that is to be reaped, and I have governed you a long time till we are both weary of one another; both willing

the day of judgment shall I call to mind the battle of Seffein, without feeling my heart glow with anger.' By Allah,' replied Al Ahnaf, we have still in our bosoms those hearts which detested you, and we still bear in our scabbards those swords with which we fought you; if you advance an inch towards war, we shall advance a foot; and if you walk to give us battle, we shall run to meet you!' He then rose up and withdrew. A sister of Moawiyah, who had heard the conversation from behind the tapestry, then asked him who was the person who had used such threatening language, and Moawiyah answered:-That is the man, who, if angered, has 100,000 of the tribe of Tamin to share his anger, without asking him the reason of it?'

"One of Al Ahnaf's sayings was this:-'I have followed three lines of conduct I never interfered between two parties unless invited by them to do so; I never went to the door of princes unless sent for by them; and I never rose from my place to obtain a thing which all men were anxious to possess.' Another time he said, 'Excess in laughter drives away respect; excess in jesting drives away politeness; and the man is known by the company he keeps.' Again, he said, 'In our assemblies avoid the mention of women or of food; I detest the man who is always speaking of his belly or his pleasures.'

"Al Ahnaf had a weak and indolent son called Bahr. The latter was once asked why he did not take example from his father. He replied, from laziness.' With him died all Al Ahnaf's posterity."

Ebn Al Athir.

to part. I am superior to all who shall come after me; as my predecessors were superior to me. Whosoever loves to meet God, God loves to meet him. O God! I love to meet thee! do thou love to meet me!" He had not walked far after this speech before he was taken very ill. When he perceived death approaching, his son Yezid being absent, he called the captain of his guards to him, and another faithful servant, and said to them, "Remember me to Yezid, and tell him this from me :-Look upon the Arabians as your root and foundation, and whenever they send you any ambassadors, be sure to treat them with courtesy and respect. Take care of the Syrians, for they are entirely in your interest, and you may depend upon them whenever you are insulted by your enemies. But if ever you have occasion to make use of them out of their own country, as soon as they have answered your purpose, send them home again; for they alter for the worse with being abroad. Oblige the Irakians, though they were to ask you for a new deputy every day; you had better in such a case part with the dearest friend you have in this world, than have a hundred thousand swords drawn upon you. I am not in fear for you from any of the Koreish but three, Hosein, Ben Ammar, and Abdallah son of Zobeir (here he repeated the characters given of them before). If Abdallah appears against you, oppose him; if he offers you peace, accept it, and spare the blood of your people as much as lies in your power.

Moawiyah reigned nineteen years three months and seven and twenty days, from the time that the government came entirely into his hands upon Hasan's resignation. There are different reports concerning his age; some say seventy years, and others seventy-five. When he was dead, Dehac, the son of Kais, went into the mosque, and stepped up into the pulpit with Moawiyah's winding-sheet in his hand; where, having made an encomium upon him, and satisfied the people that he was dead, and that that was his winding-sheet, he said the burial prayers over him. Yezid was then absent at a town called Hawarin, belonging to the territory of Hems. They wrote to him and desired his presence; but he did not come till after his father was buried, and then went and prayed at the tomb.

Moawiyah embraced the Mohammedan religion at the same time with his father, which was in the year of the victory. Mohammed made him his secretary, and Omar gave him the lieutenancy of Syria, which he held during four years of that caliph's life. Othman continued him in that post during the whole space of his reign, which was about twelve years. Four years more he kept Syria in his own hands by force, whilst he held out against Ali. Taking all together, therefore, he had held possession of Syria, either as governor or caliph, for nearly forty years.

He was of a merciful disposition, courageous, of a quick capacity, thoroughly skilled in the administration of government. His good nature prevailed over his anger, and the sweetness of his temper exceeded its fierceness.* He was easy of access, and very obliging in his behaviour.†

There is a tradition that goes under the name of one Hasan, a Bassorian, of great authority among the traditionists.‡ According to it, four things are to be objected against Moawiyah, for each of which he deserved destruction. 1. His having seized the caliphate by force of arms, without having first consulted the people, amongst whom, besides the companions of the apostle, there were a great many persons of merit and distinction. 2. His leaving the caliphate by way of inheritance to his son Yezid, a man of scandalous character, a drunkard, a lover of music, and one that wore silk. 3. His disgraceful procedure in the business of Ziyad, when he owned him for his brother, in violation of the rule of Mohammed for the regulation of such matters. 4. His cruelty to Hejer and his companions. Shaphei reports, that

The reader will easily perceive that this manner of expression is not English but Arabic, as he may observe in abundance of passages throughout the whole book.

"Moawiyah was so voracious, that his greediness was proverbial, and in old age he became inordinately fat."-See Freytag's Proverbia Meidanii. "Abu Abdarrhaman, the chief traditionist of his age, and author of a Sunan, advocated the rights of Ali, and was one day asked what traditions he knew of Moawiyah. Abdarrhaman replied, I know of none to his special merit, save this, May God never satiate thy belly.' This circumstance took place at Damascus, and the sarcasm is said to have been so bitter, that the people struck him on all sides, and his death was occasioned by the injuries he then received."-Ebn Khallikan's Biog. Dict. transl. by

Baron de Slane.

MS. Hunt. No. 495.

he put Ali Rebiyah in chains, because there were four of the companions whose testimony he rejected, viz. Moawiyah, Amrou, Al Mogeirah, and Ziyad.

*

Once, when the caliph was holding his court for the redress of wrongs, there came before him a young man, and repeated to him a copy of verses, detailing his present condition, and demanding justice at his hands. Moawiyah was very well pleased with the verses." The Arabians delight in poetry, and to address the severest tyrant of them all after this manner, with something that is fanciful and pungent, is the surest way in the world either for a man to gain his point, or, if such be the necessity, to save his neck. The young man's case, however, was not quite so extreme. He had married a fair Arabian purely for love, and out of fondness had spent upon her all his substance, which was considerable. She was charmingly beautiful; and the governor of Cufah cast his wanton eyes upon her, and by force tore her from her husband's bosom. He, to whom the loss of his property, though it had been all the world, was nothing in comparison with the loss of her, being pierced to the very heart, and ready to die with sorrow and vexation, made his appeal to Moawiyah. Moawiyah resolved to do him justice, and sent an express to the governor commanding to give up the woman. The governor, who had not the worst taste in the world, told the messenger, that if the caliph would be pleased to allow him to retain her one twelvemonth, he would be content to pay for so much happiness by having his head struck off at the end of it. But the caliph rigidly insisted upon her being delivered up, and had her brought before him. He was very much surprised at her beauty, but much more at the politeness and elegance of her expression. He that had received so many embassies, and always conversed with the greatest men of his country, had never in his life heard such a torrent of eloquence as flowed from the mouth of that charming Arabian. The caliph asked her jocosely,

* Moawiyah was a great patron of letters. Sismondi says he was more favourably disposed towards them than even Ali. The same writer adds, "He assembled at his court all who were most distinguished by scientific acquirements; he surrounded himself with poets; and as he had subjected to his dominion many of the Grecian isles and provinces, the sciences of Greece first began, under him, to obtain an influence over the Arabians."

which she would have, him, or the governor, or her husband. She answered him in verse; and I forbear to translate her answer, because I have no hopes of coming up to the spirit of it. It was, however, marked with the modesty that became her sex, and the general sense of it was, that though a person in his eminent station might be able to do for her much that was beyond her merit or expectation, yet it could not be put into the balance against everlasting damnation; she therefore begged of him, if he really designed her any favour, to restore her to her own dear husband. This he very generously performed, and moreover presented her with a very rich equipage and plenty of gold, to repair her husband's shattered circumstances.

He was in fact always munificent. He made a present to Ayesha of a bracelet worth a hundred thousand pieces of gold, which she accepted. He gave Hasan three hundred thousand pieces, and Abdallah, the son of Zobeir, one hundred thousand. He used to bid those that came to see him to take away with them anything they desired. He bestowed a hundred thousand pieces upon Hosein, who distributed them among ten of his acquaintance. A hundred thousand more were granted by him to Abdallah, the son of Faafar, who gave them to his wife at her request. Merwan, the son of Hakem, who was afterwards caliph, received from him a hundred thousand pieces, half of which he divided amongst his friends. At another time he bestowed four

millions on Hasan.*

The following anecdote is related of Moawiyah by Abulfaragius. It happened that Sapor, who had seized Armenia by force of arms, sent an ambassador named Sergius, to Moawiyah, desiring his assistance against the Grecian emperor, who, at the same time, sent one Andrew, a eunuch, a great favourite. Moawiyah told them, that they were both equally enemies, and that he would assist that side that offered him most.

* "Strict Mussulmans were not a little offended at the richness of Moawiyah's dress; for till his time the caliphs had worn only woollen garments. But as soon as he became governor of Syria, he began to make use of silk, and ever afterwards was clothed in rich and costly array. He also lived in a very splendid manner, and made no scruple of constantly drinking wine, contrary to the usage of his predecessors, who had always looked upon that liquor to be totally prohibited."-Marigny.