THE DEFEAT AT TEHUDA.

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others, were rising in the rear of the conqueror, and he found it necessary to hasten towards his Eastern home; but it was too late; the enemy surrounded his army in a pass called Tehuda, and after a terrible struggle the Saracens were defeated, and almost annihilated.

The increasing infirmities of Moawia caused him

to be more and more desirous that Yezid might be assured of the succession during his lifetime, and in the year 678 he called the inhabitants of Damascus together to take the oath of allegiance to his son. He had asked Ziyad some years before to give him advice on the subject, and he had said that a young man so completely given over to pleasures was not fit to be Commander of the Faithful. In consequence of this advice, the father had waited until

three years after the death of Ziyad before taking the step he desired, and in the meantime Yezid had, to some extent, reformed his habits. At least four persons refused to take the oath of allegiance to the young prince: Hosein, son of Ali; sons of Abbas, of Omar and of Zobeir. To these a son of Abu Bekr ought perhaps to be added. So important were these men that Moawia determined to make a personal effort to induce them to change their determination. They all lived at Medina, excepting the son of Abu Bekr, a blind man who lived at Mecca. To Medina accordingly Moawia took his journey, under pretence of visiting the holy places. Arrived at his destination, he called upon Hosein to take the oath, and he declined unless the others would do the same. Moawia then summoned the others to him separately, and each made the same reply, for not one was ready to take the lead. Disappointed in his mission, Moawia proceeded to perform the pilgrimage, and then returned to his capital. He scandalized the faithful by making an effort to remove the prophet's walking-stick and pulpit to Damascus, but was obliged to give up that plan also, for the citizens opposed it, and an eclipse of the sun which occurred at the time was taken as an indication of Allah's displeasure.

The end of the kalif was now rapidly approaching, and he called his son to him to give him last counsels regarding the conduct of government. He told him to trust the Arabs as the foundation of his power, to prize the Syrians, and to endeavor to keep. the turbulent people of Irak quiet by gratifying their

CHANGES IN THE KALIFATE.

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demands; and he solemnly warned him to beware of those men at Medina who had refused to swear allegiance to him. Moawia died in the spring of 680, and was buried in the capital, which he had made a place of great luxury. Under him the kalifate had entirely lost the simplicity of the carly days, and the change of scene from Mecca and Medina to the wealthy city of the north was followed by a complete alteration in the character of the kalifs themselves.

The greatness of Moawia had been established before he became kalif, and nothing that he accomplished after his accession would have been sufficient to give him the reputation that the chroniclers award him. The fundamental change in the kalifate that he effected, was not for good; he added to the extent of the kingdom, but the increase was not greatly to its advantage; he left it under tribute to the Byzantine empire, which must have been intensely offensive to every member of the proud tribe of Koreish to which he belonged.

Moawia was the first kalif who sat when he spoke to the people in the mosque; he was munificent in his presents to his favorites, and made large gifts to Ayesha and Hasan; he encouraged letters and put post-horses upon some roads.

The change in affairs is still more emphasized in the reign of Yezid than it had been in that of his father. He was not present when Moawia died, but messengers were sent to recall him from a small town in the territory of Homs or Emesa, whither he had gone. A follower of the kalif ascended the

pulpit in the mosque, bearing Moawia's windingsheet in his hand, pronounced an eulogium upon him, and said the burial prayers over the body before it was committed to the tomb. Yezid entered upon office quietly and without the formality of an election, but he did not enjoy the throne in peace. Hosein, son of Ali, was living, though Hasan was dead, and he laid claim to the office of kalif with some right; Abdalla, son of Zobeir, who had retired to Medina after the battle of the Camel, also raised the standard of revolt, and thus the scene of action during the brief reign of Yezid was for a portion of the time transferred again to Medina and Mecca.

Upon the change of sovereigns, the people of Kufa turned their eyes to Hosein, then living at Mecca, and sent a secret messenger to him to say: "We are thy followers, as we were thy father's; we are enemies of all the Omiades, and as we fought for thy father against Talha and Zobeir, and against the Syrians at Siffin, so now we are ready to take up arms for thee. Come to us at once; we will put the governor out of the way; we will deliver the city to thy hands, and we will swear allegiance to thee. There are more than a hundred thousand men who are ready to give up their lives in thy cause, and to fight against Yezid as they have fought against Moawia." One messenger did not lead Hosein to move; he suspected the Kufans, whose fickleness was proverbial; but another and another came to him, and at last a poll of a hundred and forty thousand names was sent across the desert. Then he determined to go. More than one hundred and fifty letters also are