Every eye sparkled, every foot trod firm
and fast. Each man acted as if the universal fate depended upon his
exertions; as if the universal will sympathised with his particular
desire. A vast population influenced by a high degree of excitement is
the most sublime of spectacles.
The commander of the Faithful raised the standard of the Prophet on the
banks of the Tigris. It was the secret intelligence of this intended
event that had recalled Alroy so suddenly from Persia. The latent
enthusiasm of the Moslemin was excited by the rare and mystic ceremony,
and its effects were anticipated by previous and judicious preparations.
The Seljuks of Bagdad alone amounted to fifty thousand men; the Sultan
of Syria contributed the warriors who had conquered the Arabian princes
of Damascus and Aleppo; while the ancient provinces of Asia Minor, which
formed the rich and powerful kingdom of Seljukian Roum, poured forth a
myriad of that matchless cavalry, which had so often baffled the armies
of the Caesars. Never had so imposing a force been collected on the banks
of the Tigris since the reign of Haroun Alraschid. Each day some warlike
Atabek, at the head of his armed train, poured into the capital of the
caliphs,[61] or pitched his pavilion on the banks of the river; each day
the proud emir of some remote principality astonished or affrighted
the luxurious Babylonians by the strange or uncouth warriors that had
gathered round his standard in the deserts of Arabia, or on the shores
of the Euxine.
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