OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 839 all sides, yielded to their unanimous wishes, and Noureddin seemed to be tempted by the fair offer of one third of the revenue of the kingdom.^ob -pijg Franks were already at the gates [Pustat of Cairo ; but the suburbs, the old city, were burnt on their u^^**' ^° approach ; they were deceived by an insidious negotiation ; and their vessels were unable to surmount the barriers of the Nile. They prudently declined a contest with the Turks in the midst of an hostile country ; ^'^^ and Amaury retired into Palestine, with the shame and reproach that always adhere to unsuccessful in- justice. After this deliverance, Shiracouh was invested with a robe of honour, which he soon stained with the blood of the un- fortunate Shawer. For a while, the Turkish emirs condescended to hold the office of vizir; but this foreign conquest pi'ecipitated the fall of the Fatimites themselves ; and the bloodless change was accomplished by a message and a word. The caliphs had been degraded by their own weakness and the tyranny of the vizirs : their subjects blushed, when the descendant and successor of the prophet presented his naked hand to the rude grip of a Latin ambassador ; they wept when he sent the hair of his women, a sad emblem of their grief and terror, to excite the pity of the sultan of Damascus. By the command of Nou- End of reddin, and the sentence of the doctors, the holy names of caup^.™A.D. Abubeker, Omar, and Othman were solemnly restored ; the caliph Mosthadi, of Bagdad, was acknowledged in the public prayers as the true commander of the faithful ; and the green livery of the sons of Ali was exchanged for the black colour of the Abbassides. The last of his race, the caliph Adhed,^^ who survived only ten days, expired in happy ignorance of his fate ; [Sept. i3] his treasures secured the loyalty of the soldiers, and silenced the murmurs of the sectaries ; and in all subsequent revolu- tions Egypt has never departed from the orthodox tradition of the Moslems.^^ The hilly country beyond the Tigris is occupied by the pas- Reign and toral tribes of the Curds ; ^^ a people hardy, strong, savajje, s^Idin" °' ^ ^ -^ *" '^ A.D. 1171U93 ^"b [This offer was made on the occasion of tbe^rst expedition.] ^c[They did not decHne the contest, but the Turks evaded them.] 1 [Al-Adid Abu-Mohammad Abd-Allah, A.u. 1160-71.] ■^For this great revolution of Egypt, see William of Tyre (1. xix. 5-7, 12-31, xx. 5-12), Bohadin (in Vit. Saladin. p. 3C-39), Abulfeda (in Excerpt. Schultens, p. 1-12), d'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orient. Abhed, Fathemah, hut very incorrect), kenaudot (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 522-525, 532-537), Vertot (Hist, des Chevaliers de Malthe, tom. i. p. 141-163, in 4to), and M. de Guignes (tom. ii. p. ii. p. 185-215). '^ For the Curds, see de Guignes, tom. i. p. 416, 417, the Index Geographicus Schultens, and Tavernier, Voyages, p. i. p. 308, 309. The Ayoubites [the name Ayyub corresponds to Job] descended from the tribe of the Rawadia;i [Rawadiya],
