Such excesses were, however, for the present confined to foreign parts. At home, the first Caliphs, fortified by the hallowed associations of Medîna, and at a distance from the scenes of luxury and temptation, preserved the severe simplicity of ancient Arab life. This, it is true, was not inconsistent (as we see even in the case of Mahomet) with the uncontrolled indulgences of the harem. But as concerns the Caliphs themselves, Abu Bekr, Omar, and Othmân, their lives in this respect were, considering the licence of Islam, temperate and modest. Omar, we are told, had no passion for the sex. Before the Hegira, he contracted marriage with four wives, but two of these, preferring to remain at Mecca, were thus separated from him. At Medîna, he married five more, one of whom he divorced.[415] His last marriage was in the eighth year of his Caliphate, when over fifty, perhaps nearer sixty, years of age. Three years before, he had married a granddaughter of the Prophet, under circumstances which cast a curious light on his domestic ways. He conceived a liking for Omm Kolthûm, the young unmarried sister of Ayesha, through whom a betrothal was arranged. But Ayesha found that the light-hearted damsel had no desire to wed the aged Caliph. In this dilemma she had recourse to Amru, who undertook the task of breaking off the match. He broached the subject to Omar, who at first imagined that Amru wished the maiden for himself. ‘Nay,’ said Amru, ‘that I do not; but she hath been bred indulgently in the family of her father Abu Bekr, and I fear that she may ill brook thine austere manners, and the gravity of thy household.’ ‘But,’ replied Omar, ‘I have already engaged to marry her; and how can I break it off?’ ‘Leave that to me,’ said Amru; ‘thou hast indeed a duty to provide for Abu Bekr’s family, but the heart of this maiden is not with thee. Let her alone, and I will show thee a better than she, another Omm Kolthûm, even the daughter of Aly and Fâtima, the granddaughter of the Prophet.’ So Omar married this other maiden, and she bore him a son and daughter; but there was no eventual issue in this line.[416] [Sidenote: Death of persons of distinction.] Many of those whose names we have been familiar with in the life of Mahomet were now dropping off the scene. Fâtima, the daughter, and Safia, the aunt, of Mahomet, Zeinab his wife, and Mary his Coptic bond-maid, Yezid the son of Abu Sofiân, Abu Obeida, Khâlid, and Bilâl, and many others who bore a conspicuous part in the great _rôle_ of the Prophet’s life, had all passed away, and a new race was springing up in their place. [Sidenote: Abu Sofiân, and Hind, his wife.]