History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

CHAP. I.| THE BATTLE OF NAHAVAND. 21

appearing determined not to quit his position, the zealous valour of the leader of the faithful became impatient of delay. He drew up his army in order of battle, and thus addressed them: ‘My friends! prepare yourselves to conquer, or drink of the sweet sherbet of martyrdom. I shall now call the Tukbeer three times ; at the first you will gird your loins, at the second mount your steed, and at the third point your lances and rush to victory, or to Paradise. As to me,’ said Noman with a raised and enraptured voice, ‘I shall be a martyr. When I am slain obey the orders of Huzeefah-ebn Aly-Oman.’ The moment he had done speaking the first sound of Tukbeer (Allah-Akbar, or God is great) was heard throughout the camp. At the second all were upon horses; and at the third, which was repeated by the whole army, the Mahomedans charged with a fury that was irresistible. Noman was, as he predicted, slain; but his army gained a great and memorable victory. Thirty thousand Persians were pierced by their lances, and eighty thousand more were drowned in the deep trench by which they had surrounded their camp. Their general Firuzan, with four thousand men, fled to the hills; but such was the effect of terror on one side and of confidence on the other that the chief was pursued, defeated, and slain, by a body of no more than one thousand men.

“The battle of Nahavand decided the fate of Persia, which from its date fell under the dominion of the Arabian khalifs. Yazdezard protracted for several years a wretched and precarious existence. He first fled to Seistan, then to Khorassan, and lastly to Mery. The governor of that city invited the Khakan of Tartars to take possession of the person of the fugitive monarch. That sovereign accepted the offer ; his troops entered Mery, the gates of which were opened to them by the treacherous governor, and made themselves masters of it, In spite of the desperate resistance of the surprised but brave and enraged inhabitants. Yazdezard escaped on foot from the town during the confusion of the contest. He reached a mill eight miles from Mery, and entreated the miller to conceal him. The man told him he owed a certain sum to the owner of the mill, and that, if he paid the debt, he should have his protection against all pursuers. The monarch agreed to the proposal; and, after