Note 546 — Chapter XLI · DECISION OF THE UMPIRES. A.H. XXXVII. A.D. 658.

At this point Mohammed son of Abbâs is represented as interposing with these words: ‘Out upon thee, Abu Mûsa! he hath overreached thee if indeed ye be agreed, and now he putteth thee forward. Let him speak first, and thou after him. He is a deceiver; he will make thee speak, then turn round and undo thy words.’ But Abu Mûsa did not listen. Any such interposition, however, is highly improbable. For it could hardly have been foreseen in what particular way Amru was about to overreach Abu Mûsa. Moreover the private conversation and agreement in the pavilion between the Umpires is itself open to doubt; at any rate, it is deeply coloured by Abbasside touches. But we have no other narrative, and must take the story as we find it. And although strange, and, in some of the details, improbable, it must be admitted that the transaction is not inconsistent, as a whole, with the wily character of Amru, who made himself notorious for astuteness and ‘sharp practice.’