Every Saturday, Vol 1 A Journal of Choice Reading, January to June, 1872 Classic Reprint

Excerpt from Every Saturday, Vol. 1: A Journal of Choice Reading, January to June, 1872

Ive cannot do better than aiu have recourse to Gib bon's history for an account of famous tragedy. Hus sein traversed the desert of Arabia with a timorous retinas of women and children; but, as he approached the confines of Irak, he was alarmed by the solitary or hostile face of the country, and sus ted either the defection or the min of his arty. His ears were just;obeidallab, the governorof K a, had extinguished the first sparks of an insurrection; and Hussein, in the lain of Kerbela, was encompassed by: body of five thousan horse, who intercepted his communi cation with the city and the river. In a conference with the chief of the enemy he roposed the option of three con ditions - that he should be allowed to return to Medina,or be stationed in a frontier garrison a ainst the Turks, or safel conducted to the presence of said. But the com man s of the caliph or his lieutenant were stern and abso lute, and Hussein was informed that he must either submit as a captive and a criminal to the Commander of the Faith ful, or expect the consequences of his rebellion. Do you think,' replied he, to terri me with death And durin the short respite of a night e prepared, with calm and so emu resignation, to encounter his fate. He checked the lamentatlons of his sister Fatima, who de lored the impend ing ruin of his house. Our trust,' said Hussein, is in God alone. All things, both in heaven and earth, must perish and return to their Creator. My brother, m father, my mother, were better than I, and every Mussu man has an example in the Prophet.' He pressed his friends toconsult their safety by a timely dicht; they unanimously refused to desert or survive their belbved master, and their courage was fortified by a fervent prayer and the assurance of para dise. On the morning of the fatal day he mounted on horse back, with his sword in one hand and the Koran in the other; the flanks and rear of his party were secured by the tent-ropes and by a deep trench, which the had filled with lighted fagots, according to the practice of the Arabs. The enemy advanced with reluctance; and one of their chiefs deserted, with thirt followers, to claim the partnership of inevitable death. N every close onset or single combat the despair of the Fatimites was invincible; but the surround ing multitudes galled them fi'om a distance with a cloud of arrows, and the horses and men were successively slain. A truce was allowed on both sides for the hour of prayer; and the battle at lencth expired by the death of the last of the com anions of ussein.

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