From the passage of Thapsacus, the plain of Siffin [174] extends along the western bank of the Euphrates.
On this spacious and level theatre, the two competitors waged a desultory war of one hundred and ten days.

In the course of ninety actions or skirmishes, the loss of Ali was estimated at twenty-five, that of Moawiyah at forty-five, thousand soldiers; and the list of the slain was dignified with the names of five-and-twenty veterans who had fought at Beder under the standard of Mahomet.

In this sanguinary contest the lawful caliph displayed a superior character of valor and humanity.

[1741] His troops were strictly enjoined to await the first onset of the enemy, to spare their flying brethren, and to respect the bodies of the dead, and the chastity of the female captives.

He generously proposed to save the blood of the Moslems by a single combat; but his trembling rival declined the challenge as a sentence of inevitable death.