ye lying scoundrels!’ he cried; ‘the sword shall decide between us;’ and, so saying, he drove them from his presence. Finding all attempts at compromise to be useless, Aly marshalled his army into seven or eight separate columns, each under a Bedouin chieftain of note. As many separate columns were similarly formed on the Syrian side. And every day one of these columns, taking the field in turn, was drawn up against a corresponding column of the other army. [Sidenote: Desultory fighting, Dzul Hijj, A.H. XXXVI. May, A.D. 657.] Desultory fighting in this singular way was kept up throughout the month, there being sometimes as many as two engagements in a single day. But the contest could not up to this time have been very earnest or severe, since little mention is made of sanguinary results.[530] On both sides they feared, we are told, to bring the whole forces out into a common battle, ‘lest the Moslems should be destroyed, root and branch,’ in the internecine struggle. [Sidenote: Truce during final month of A.H. XXXVII. June, A.D. 657.] A new year, the 37th of the Hegira, opened on the combatants, wearied by this endless and indecisive strife, and inclined to thoughts of peace. A truce was called, to last throughout Moharram, the first month of the year. The interval was spent in deputations; but these proved as fruitless as those which had gone before. Aly, influenced by the anti-Omeyyad faction around him, was not disposed even now to admit the injustice of Othmân’s having been put to death. When pressed upon the point by the Syrian envoys, he declined to commit himself. [Sidenote: Fruitless negotiations.]‘I will not say,’ was his evasive answer, ‘that he was wrongfully attacked, nor will I say that the attack was justified.’ ‘Then,’ answered the Syrians, ‘we shall fight against thee, and fight likewise against everyone else who refuseth to say that thy predecessor was not wrongfully put to death;’ and with these words they took their final leave. On his side, Muâvia declared to the messengers of Aly that nothing short of the punishment of the regicides would induce him to quit the field. ‘What?’ exclaimed some one; ‘wouldest thou put Ammâr to death?’ ‘And why not?’ answered Muâvia; ‘wherefore should the son of the bond-woman not suffer for having slain the freedman of Othmân?’[531] ‘Impossible,’ they cried; ‘where will ye stop? It were easier to bale out the floods of the Euphrates.’ [Sidenote: Renewal of hostilities, Safar, A.H. XXXVII. July, A.D. 657.]