The fortieth year of the Hegira opened with a new grief for Aly. At the close of the year preceding, as the annual pilgrimage drew near, Muâvia sent Bosor, a brave but cruel captain of his host, with three thousand men into Arabia, to secure for him the allegiance of the sacred cities. As he drew nigh to Medîna, Abu Ayûb, the governor, fled to Kûfa, and Bosor entered unopposed. Proceeding to the Great Mosque, he mounted the sacred steps of the Prophet’s pulpit, and, recalling Othmân to mind, thus addressed the people: ‘O citizens of Medîna! The Aged Man! Where is the aged, grey-haired man whom, but as yesterday, and in this very place, I swore allegiance to? Verily, but for my promise to Muâvia, who bade me stay the sword, I had not left here a soul alive!’ Then he threatened the leading citizens with death if they refused to acknowledge Muâvia as their Caliph; and so, fearing for their lives, all took the oath of allegiance to the Omeyyad ruler. Passing on to Mecca, the same scene was enacted by the imperious envoy there, and with the same result.[557] Then he marched south to Yemen, where he committed great atrocities upon the adherents of Aly. [Sidenote: He slays the infant children of Aly’s cousin.]The governor, Obeidallah son of Abbâs, escaped to his cousin at Kûfa. But two of his little children, falling into the tyrant’s hands, were put to death in cold blood, as well as their Bedouin attendant, who ventured to protest against the cruel act. An army of four thousand men was despatched in haste from Kûfa, but too late to stop these outrages; and Bosor made good his escape to Syria. The wretched peninsula fared no better at the hands of the relieving army. Many of the inhabitants of Najrân were put to death, because they belonged to the party of Othmân. The men of Mecca were forced to recall the oath they had just taken, and again do homage to Aly. Similarly, the citizens of Medîna swore allegiance to Hasan, son of Aly, at the point of the sword;[558] but no sooner were the troops gone, than Abu Horeira, of the opposite faction, resumed his functions as leader of the daily prayers. The cruel death of his cousin’s infant children preyed on Aly more, perhaps, than all his other troubles put together; and he cursed Bosor in the daily service with a new and bitter imprecation. The disconsolate mother poured forth her sorrow in plaintive verse, some touching couplets of which still survive.[559] [Sidenote: Abdallah son of Abbâs retires to Mecca.]