Moslem army restrained by Sád.
During this long period of inaction, the impatience of the Arabs was, not without difficulty, checked by the strong hand of Sád, to whom as Ameer, and lieutenant of the supreme Ameer, the Moslems were bound to yield implicit obedience. Excepting raids and reconnoitring expeditions nothing was attempted. Some of these, however, were sufficiently daring and exciting. On one occasion, Toleiha, the quondam prophet, entered by night the enemy’s camp alone, and cutting the ropes of a tent, carried off three horses. Hotly pursued, he slew his pursuers one after another, excepting the last; who, seized by Toleiha single-handed, and carried off a prisoner, embraced Islam, and fought ever after faithfully by his captor’s side.[263] As the enemy drew near, the Moslem host lay couched like the tiger in its lair, ready for the fatal spring.
Rustem obtains truce for three days.
The contending armies being now face to face, Rustem had no longer excuse for putting off the decisive day. On the morning after his arrival he rode along the river bank to reconnoitre; and, standing on an eminence by the bridge, sent for Zohra, who with the foremost column was guarding the passage. A colloquy ensued; and Sád consented that an embassy proceeding to the Persian camp, should there set forth his demands. Three envoys, one after another, repaired to Rustem. All held the same language: Islam, Tribute, or the Sword. The Persian, now contemptuous in his abuse, now cowering under the fierce threats of the envoys, and scared (as we are to believe) by his dreams and auguries, at last demanded time to consider. Three days’ grace, they replied, was the limit of delay which their Prophet allowed for choice; and that was given.[264]
Rustem throws a dam over the river,
When the term was over, Rustem (as was common in that day) sent to inquire whether he or they should cross the river for battle. Strongly pitched, his rear resting on the trench of Sapor, flanked by Codeis and by a morass, and with the river in front, Sád had no thought of moving; and he bade the Persian cross as best he might. Rustem advanced, but passage was denied. All night the Arabs watched the bridge. But Rustem had another scheme; he meant to cross the river by a dam. During the night his myrmidons cast fascines and earth into the channel, and the morning light discovered a causeway over which it was possible to pass.
and crosses.
As soon as it was day, Rustem, clad in helmet and double suit of mail, leaped gaily, as it would seem, upon his horse. ‘By the morrow we shall have beaten them small,’ he cried.[265] But apart with his familiars he confessed that celestial omens were against him. And, indeed, previous mishaps, and the brave bearing of the Arab chiefs, were sufficient—astrology apart—to inspire grave forebodings. Crossing the dam unopposed, he marshalled his great host on the western bank, with the centre facing the fortress of Codeis. There were thirty war elephants in the field; eighteen were posted with the centre, and the remainder under Jalenûs and Firuzân with the wings.[266] A canopy covering a golden throne was pitched for Rustem by the river side; and, seated there, he watched the issue of the day. Messengers posted within earshot of one another the whole way from the battle-field to Medâin, shouted continually the latest news, and kept Yezdegird informed of all that passed.
Sád disabled by illness, marshals the army from the ramparts of Codeis.
As the Persians began to cross, the advanced guard of the Arabs fell back on Codeis, beneath which the main body was drawn up. On the rampart of the fortress, Sád, disabled by blains and boils, lay stretched upon a litter; from whence casting down his orders inscribed on scraps of paper, he guided thus the movements of the army. The troops, unused to see their leader, at such a moment, in a place of safety, murmured; and verses lampooning him were soon in the mouth of everyone. That he, the archer of renown, and the ‘first to shed blood in Islam,’ should be thus aspersed was insupportable, and Sád accordingly had the ringleaders seized and imprisoned in the fortress. He then descended, and discovered to the troops the grievous malady which rendered it impossible for him even to sit upright, much less to mount his horse. They accepted his excuse; for no man could doubt his bravery; but still a certain feeling of discontent survived.[267] Resuming his recumbent posture, he harangued the army from the battlements, and then he sent his chief captains, with the orators and poets that accompanied his force, along the ranks to rouse their martial spirit.