A literary history of Persia

THE KHARIJITES 223cried out, "Thou hast eaten it without right, having taken itwithout payment ! "Another smote with his sword a pigwhich happened to pass by him, and " hamstrungit. This,"exclaimed " "his fellows, is a mischief on the earth ! Thereuponhe sought out the owner and paid him compensation. 1On the other hand harmless travellers were slain, and womengreat with child were ripped open with the sword. For suchcruelties the fanatics offered no apology ;on the contrary,when invited by 'All to surrender the murderers and depart inpeace, they " cried, We have all taken part in the slaughter of"the heathen !With such a danger threatening their ithomes, was not tobe expected that 'All's troops would consent to march againon Syria until they had made an end of these schismatics. 'Aliistill for clemency, suffered such of them as would to withdrawthemselves from the Kharijite camp. Half of them availe$themselves of this offer ;the remaining two thousand, sconirfully rejecting all overtures, stood their ground and perishedalmost to a man, while of 'All's 60,000 warriors only seven fefl.This happened inMay or June, A.D. 658, and served but torender more implacable the enmity of the surviving Kharijitestowards 'All, whom henceforth they hated even more thanthey hated Mu'awiya.'All's troops, moreover, refused tomarch against his rival until they had rested and recruitedthemselves. "Our swords are blunted," they said,"ourarrows are spent, and we are wearied of warfare ;let us alone,that we mayset our affairs in order, and then we will march." 2But instead they began to slip away as occasion offered, untilat length the camp was leftempty ; and Mu'awiya, waxingever bolder as he saw the increasing difficulties19 "^fort'uifeT against which his rival had to struggle, seizedEgypt and stirred up revolt even in Basra while;fresh Kharijite risings extending throughoutthe south of1Al-Fakhri (ed. Ahlwardt), p. 115.*Ibid., p. 117.