OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 445 as he perceived the surprise of Omar, " Alas," said the modest Saracen, "the sword itself, without the arm of its master, is neither sharper nor more weighty than the sword of Pharezdak [Farazdak] the poet ".11*^ After the conquest of Egypt, he was recalled by the jealousy of the caliph Othman ; but, in the subsequent troubles, the ambition of a soldier, a statesman, and an orator, emerged from a private station. His powerful support, both in council and in the field, established the throne of the Om- miades ; the administration and revenue of Egypt were restored by the gratitude of Moawiyah to a faithful friend, who had raised himself above the rank of a subject ; and Amrou ended his days in the palace and city which he had founded on the banks of the Nile. His dying speech to his children is celebrated by the Arabians as a model of eloquence and wisdom : he de- plored the errors of his youth ; but, if the penitent was still infected by the vanity of a poet, he might exaggerate the venom and mischief of his impious compositions. ^i^ From his camp, in Palestine, Amrou had surprised or antici- Jj^"'°° pated the caliph's leave for the invasion of Egypt.^i^ The f^^^- magnanimous Omar trusted in his God and his sword, which had [sss. Dec] shaken the thrones of Chosroes and Caesar ; but, when he com- pared the slender force of the Moslems with the greatness of the enterprise, he condemned his own rashness and listened to his timid companions. The pride and the greatness of Pharaoh were familiar to the readers of the Koran ; and a tenfold repeti- tion of prodigies had been scarcely sufficient to effect, not the victory, but the flight of six hundred thousand of the children of Israel. The cities of Egypt were many and populous ; their architecture was strong and solid ; the Nile, with its numerous branches, was alone an insuperable barrier ; and the granary of the Imperial city would be obstinately defended by the Roman powers. In this perplexity, the commander of the faithful re- 11' This saying is preserved by Pocock (Not. ad Carmen Tograi, p. 184), and justly applauded by Mr. Harris (Philosophical Arrangements, p. 350). 11^ For the life and character of Amrou, see Ockley (Hist, of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 28, 63, 94, 328, 342, 344, and to the end of the volume; vol. ii. p. 51, 55, 57, 74, 110-112, 162) and Otter (M^m. da I'Acad^mie des Inscriptions, torn. xxi. p. 131, 132). The readers of Tacitus may aptly compare Vespasian and Mucianus with Moawiyah and Amrou. Yet the resemblance is still more in the situation than in the characters of the men. 118^1 Wakidi had likewise composed a separate history of the conquest of Egypt, which Mr. Ockley could never procure; and his own inquiries (vol. i. p. 344-362) have added very little to the original text of Eutychius (Annal. tom. ii. p. 296-323, vers. Pocock), the Melchite patriarch of Alexandria, who lived three hun- dred years after the revolution.
