Abu Sarh, left thus in sole command, carried his arms vigorously along the coast beyond Tripoli and Barca, and threatened Carthage and the far west. The Byzantine Governor, Gregory, reinforced by the Emperor, advanced against him with an army, we are told, of one hundred and twenty thousand men. Othmân, warned of the danger, strengthened Abu Sarh by a large contingent of Arab troops; and with them marched a numerous company of veterans and ‘Companions,’ including the sons of Abu Bekr, of Abbâs, and of Zobeir. The field was long and hotly contested; and Abu Sarh, to stimulate his men, promised the hand of Gregory’s daughter, with a large dower, to the warrior who should slay her father. The enemy was at last discomfited with great slaughter, and a citizen of Medîna gained the lady for his prize. He carried her off on his camel to Medîna; and the martial verses which he sang by the way are still preserved.[445] In this campaign, Othmân incurred much odium by granting Abu Sarh a fifth of the royal share of the booty as personal prize. The rest was sent as usual to Medîna; and here again Othmân is blamed for allowing Merwân his cousin to become the purchaser of the same at an inadequate price.[446] [Sidenote: Naval operations, forbidden by Omar.] But it is as the first commander of a Moslem fleet that Abu Sarh is chiefly famous, in which capacity he both added largely to the conquests of Islam, and also by his pre-eminence contributed anew to the obloquy Cast on his master’s name. Muâvia had for a long time keenly missed the support of a fleet, and had sought permission of Omar to embark his soldiery in ships. ‘The isles of the Levant,’ he wrote, ‘are so close to the Syrian shore, that you might almost hear the barking of the dogs and the cackling of the hens: give me leave to attack them.’ But Omar dreaded the sea, and wrote to consult Amru, who answered thus:--‘The sea is a boundless expanse, whereon great ships look but tiny specks; there is nought saving the heavens above and the waters beneath; when the wind lulls, the sailor’s heart is broken; when tempestuous, his senses reel. Trust it little, fear it much. Man at sea is an insect floating on a splinter, now engulfed, now scared to death.’ On receipt of this alarming account, Omar forbade Muâvia to have anything to do with ships. ‘The Syrian sea, they tell me, is longer and broader than the dry land, and is instant with the Lord, night and day, seeking to swallow it up. How should I trust my people on the bosom of the cursed infidel? Remember Alâ. Nay, my friend, the safety of my people is dearer to me than all the treasures of Greece.’ [Sidenote: But undertaken by Othmân.]