his liberality for their rewards; and their absent families were
protected by the vigilance of Zenghi. At the head of these
veterans, his son Noureddin gradually united the Mahometan
powers; ^* added the kingdom of Damascus to that of Aleppo, and
waged a long and successful war against the Christians of Syria;
he spread his ample reign from the Tigris to the Nile, and the
Abbassides rewarded their faithful servant with all the titles
and prerogatives of royalty. The Latins themselves were
compelled to own the wisdom and courage, and even the justice and
piety, of this implacable adversary. ^40 In his life and
government the holy warrior revived the zeal and simplicity of
the first caliphs. Gold and silk were banished from his palace;
the use of wine from his dominions; the public revenue was
scrupulously applied to the public service; and the frugal
household of Noureddin was maintained from his legitimate share
of the spoil which he vested in the purchase of a private estate.

His favorite sultana sighed for some female object of expense.
"Alas," replied the king, "I fear God, and am no more than the
treasurer of the Moslems. Their property I cannot alienate; but
I still possess three shops in the city of Hems: these you may
take; and these alone can I bestow." His chamber of justice was
the terror of the great and the refuge of the poor. Some years
after the sultan's death, an oppressed subject called aloud in
the streets of Damascus, "O Noureddin, Noureddin, where art thou
now? Arise, arise, to pity and protect us!" A tumult was
apprehended, and a living tyrant blushed or trembled at the name
of a departed monarch.

[Footnote 36: Abulmahasen apud de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom.