Crowds flocked to his camp. New battles were fought, and victories won. His disciples became rich and exultant. His religion, consisting mainly of outward forms, was as easy of practice as any part of the military drill. He was soon at the head of ten thousand soldiers inspired with all the ferocity which religious fanaticism could engender. The number rapidly increased to thirty thousand. No power could be brought into the field to resist him. Nearly all Arabia, ignorant, religionless, and greedy of plunder, enlisted under a banner which brought its followers fame, adventure, and wealth. It is no longer to be wondered at that Mohammed by these means eventually found himself at the head of a hundred and fifty thousand of the fiercest warriors earth had ever known. To the pagans, one religion was as good as another. To exchange religions was like exchanging garments. It was comparatively easy to make proselytes among a barbarian people who had no settled convictions of truth, and to whom there could be offered the most attractive of temporal as well as eternal rewards. Gibbon gives the following account of the personal appearance and intellectual endowments of this wonderful man:―― “According to the traditions of his companions, Mohammed was distinguished by the beauty of his person. Before he spoke, the orator engaged on his side the affections of a public or a private audience: they applauded his commanding presence, his majestic aspect, his piercing eye, his gracious smile, his flowing beard, his countenance that painted every sensation of the soul, and his gestures that enforced each expression of the tongue. “In the familiar offices of life, he scrupulously adhered to the grave and ceremonious politeness of his country. His respectful attention to the rich and powerful was dignified by his condescension and affability to the poorest citizens of Mecca. The frankness of his manners concealed the artifice of his views; and the habits of courtesy were imputed to personal friendship or universal benevolence. His memory was capacious and retentive, his wit easy and social, his imagination sublime, his judgment clear, rapid, and decisive. “He possessed the courage both of thought and action; and, although his designs might gradually expand with his success, the first idea he entertained of his divine mission bears the stamp of an original and superior genius. The son of Abdallah was educated in the bosom of the noblest race, in the use of the purest dialect; and the fluency of his speech was corrected and enhanced by the practice of discreet and seasonable silence. With these powers of eloquence, Mohammed was an illiterate barbarian. His youth had never been instructed in the arts of reading and writing. The common ignorance exempted him from shame and reproach; but he was reduced to a narrow circle of existence, and deprived of those faithful mirrors which reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.”