st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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20 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
and his successor, Walid I., next after the founder of
the dynasty, Omeiyah himself, we must look for what
ever elements of greatness are to be found in this
race of sovereigns.
Passing over these, we find little
but a record of indolence and profligacy. "The
first Yezid, Sulaiman,
the second Yezid and his son
Walid, who succeeded the Khalif Hisham these
were one and all royal rakes of that thorough-going
type which is to be found 1
only in Oriental countries."
Hisham, whose reign (724-743)
is also noticeable,
from the period of John s life it covers, was chiefly
swayed by avarice. That he kept his throne so long,
was due in measure to the political shrewdness, or
cunning, which taught him to balance the two great
Arabian factions more evenly against each other,
and to allow a due preponderance to the Yemenite
tribe. It does not follow that the lot of Christians
under such rulers was harder than it
might have been
under the rule of sincere and more single-minded
zealots of the Mahometan faith. A Yezid, who before
his accession had scandalised the believers by his
avowed fondness for the wine-flask, and for falcons
and hounds ;
a Walid II., who could order a copy of
the Koran to be set up before him as a mark for his
arrows, having taken offence at some verse in it
which smote his conscience, and then pierce
it with
his arrows, exclaiming the while :
threaten the man proud and rebellious ; well, that man
proud and rebellious is me.
When you appear before your Master on the day of resurrec
tion, say to Him, Lord,
it is Walid who has cut me into
shreds.
2
1
Osborn, ubi. sup., p. 337-
2
Osborn, p. 338.