Note 586 — Chapter XLIX · YEZID AND THE TRAGEDY AT KERBALA. A.H. LXI. A.D. 680.

His courage, however, was more moral than physical. Both he and Aly, by luxurious living, had become obese (at Kûfa, Aly went by the nickname of ‘the pot-bellied’), so that in their later years there was little room, in respect of either, for active bodily exertion. Still, even as late as the field of Siffîn, we have seen that Aly fought with his early gallantry; while Muâvia (if the tradition be true) shrank from a personal encounter with him. Aly was, without doubt, the braver of the two in physical courage; but Muâvia, beyond comparison, the abler and bolder ruler.