Towards evening the Romans began to falter. Khâlid, quickly perceiving that their horse were declining from the infantry, launched his centre as a wedge between the two. The cavalry, with nothing behind them but the precipice, made a fierce charge for their lives; the Moslem troops opened to let them pass, and so they gained the open country and never again appeared. The Moslems then turned right and left upon the remaining force cooped up between the ravine and the chasm; and, as they drove all before them, the Romans on both hands ‘were toppled over the bank even as a wall is toppled over.’ The battle drew on into the night, but opposition was now in vain. Those that escaped the sword were hurled in a moving mass over the edge into the yawning gulf. ‘One struggling would draw ten others with him, the free as well as chained.’ And so, in dire confusion and dismay, the whole multitude perished. The fatal chasm YACÛSA engulfed, we are told, 100,000 men.[173] Ficâr, the Roman general, and his fellow-captains, unable to bear the sight, sat down, drew their togas around them, and, hiding their faces in despair and shame, awaited thus their fate. [Sidenote: Its importance.] Morning found the Moslems in silent possession of the great plain. They flocked into the Roman entrenchment, and Khâlid took possession of Theodoric’s royal tent. The camp and its rich equipage yielded a booty of 1,500 pieces to each horseman. More than this, the fearful fate of the army struck such terror into the Byzantine court and the people of the land, that the fate of Syria was sealed. Unlike the Persian campaign, the opposition that remained was poor and feeble. [Sidenote: Heavy loss.] The victory was purchased at a heavy cost. Three thousand were buried on the field, besides a great multitude wounded; and among the fallen we read many distinguished names. Of Ikrima’s forlorn hope few survived. The famous Dhirâr, badly wounded, recovered to signalise himself on other fields. But Ikrima and his son both sank under their wounds. In the morning, when near their end, they were carried to the royal tent of Khâlid. He laid the head of the father on his breast, and of the son upon his thigh, tenderly wiped their faces and moistened their lips with water. And as they passed away, he kept fondly saying: ‘Alas, alas! the father and the son; who would have thought of a martyr’s death for both!’ [Sidenote: Khâlid deposed by Omar.] But Khâlid was no longer in command. The messenger in the field had whispered in his ear the news of Abu Bekr’s death; and the letter which he then slipt into his quiver brought the new Caliph’s order that Khâlid should deliver up command into the hands of Abu Obeida.[174] [Sidenote: Date of the battle.] The battle was fought in the end of August, or the beginning of September, A.D. 634.[175] Before narrating the sequel of this great victory, we must turn for a little to what was passing elsewhere. CHAPTER XII.