When Nassir’s envoys were received by Hulagu, he inquired why their master had not come with them. “The Prince of Syria fears,” said they, “that should he absent himself his neighbors, the Franks, who are also his enemies, would invade his possessions, hence he has sent his own son to represent him.” Hulagu feigned to accept this false answer. The envoys, it is said, requested Mongol aid to save Egypt from the Mameluks. Hulagu detained Aziz some months, and when at last he permitted the boy to take leave and return to his father, the vizir received a message for Nassir, which was in substance as follows: “Know thou, Prince Nassir, and know all commanders and warriors in Syria, that we are God’s army on earth. He has taken from our hearts every pity. Woe to those who oppose us, they must flee, we must hunt them. By what road can they save themselves, what land will protect them? Our steeds rush like lightning, our swords cut like thunderbolts, our warriors in number are like sands on the seashore. Whoso resists us meets terror; he who implores us finds safety. Receive our law, yours and ours will then be in common. If ye resist, blame yourselves for the things which will follow. Choose the safe way. Answer quickly, or your country will be changed to a desert. Ye yourselves will find no refuge. The angel of death may then say of you: ‘Is there one among them who shows the least sign of life, or whose voice gives out the slightest of murmurs?’ We are honest, hence give you this warning.” Since Nassir had no hope of aid to fight Hulagu he chose to make common cause with every Mohammedan, and sent back a brave answer. These are some words of it: “Ye say that God has removed from your hearts every pity. That is the condition of devils, not sovereigns. But is it not strange to threaten lions with bruises, tigers with hyenas, and heroes with clodhoppers? Resistance to you is obedience to the Highest. If we slay you our prayers have been answered; if ye slay us we go into paradise. We will not flee from death to exist in opprobrium. If we survive we are happy; if we die we are martyrs. Ye demand that obedience which we render the vicar of the Prophet, ye shall not have it; we would rather go to the place in which he is. Tell the man [16] who indited your message that we care no more for his words than for the buzz of a fly or the squeak of a Persian fiddle.”