Note 097 Crinitus quidam, nudus omnia praeter pubem, subraucum et lugubre strepens. Ammian. xxxi. 16, and Vales. ad loc. The Arabs often fought naked - a custom which may be ascribed to their sultry climate and ostentatious bravery. The description of this unknown savage is the lively portrait of Derar, a name so dreadful to the Christians of Syria. See Ockley's Hist. of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 72, 84, 87.

---

The History Of The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire— Chapter 26