and ʿUthmān. He released all the captives except two men—Yazīd ibn al-ʿAqqār and al-Walīd ibn Maṣād, both from the Kalb tribe—whom he had flogged before him and then thrown into prison; they died there, for they had taken part in the murder of al-Walīd ibn Yazīd.

Sulaymān ibn Hishām and the remainder of his army continued their flight and reached Damascus by dawn. They informed the Commander of the Faithful, Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd, of what had happened. The leading commanders present—ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Yazīd ibn Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī, Abū ʿIlāqah al-Saksakī, al-Aṣbagh ibn Dhuʾālah al-Kalbī, and others of their rank—agreed that al-Walīd’s two sons, al-Ḥakam and ʿUthmān, must be killed, lest they obtain the caliphate and destroy all who had opposed them and slain their father. They therefore sent Yazīd ibn Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī to the prison where the two youths—now of age, and it is even said that one of them had a son—were being held. He crushed their heads with iron bars, killing them both, and also slew Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar, who was confined with them. In the same prison was Abū Muḥammad al-Sufyānī; he escaped into an inner room, piled rubble behind the door, and held out when they surrounded him. They brought fire to burn the door down, but were distracted from that purpose by the approach of Marwān ibn Muḥammad and his forces to Damascus in pursuit of the fugitives.

Account of Marwān al-Ḥimār (the Donkey) entering Damascus, assuming the caliphate, and deposing Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd

When Marwān drew near Damascus with the troops that had marched with him from ʿAyn al-Jarr, the inhabitants of the city—who had fled before him the previous day—were still in rout. Ibrāhīm ibn al-Walīd took flight, while Sulaymān ibn Hishām went to the treasury, opened it, and distributed its contents among his followers and the soldiers who sided with him. The clients of al-Walīd ibn Yazīd stormed the house of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Ḥajjāj, killed him there, and plundered it. They exhumed the body of Yazīd ibn al-Walīd and crucified it at Bāb al-Jābiyah.

Marwān ibn Muḥammad entered Damascus and established his encampment in the upper part of the city. The bodies of the two youths, al-Ḥakam and ʿUthmān, together with that of Yūsuf ibn ʿUmar, were brought to him, and he ordered that they be buried. Abū Muḥammad al-Sufyānī was then led before him in shackles. He greeted Marwān with the salutation reserved for the caliph.

Marwān replied, “Enough.”

Al-Sufyānī said, “These two youths assigned it to you after themselves.” He then recited a long poem that al-Ḥakam had composed in prison, of which the following lines are part:

Who will bear my message to Marwān—and to my noble uncle, my yearning grows so long—
that I have been wronged, while my clan has followed one another in killing al-Walīd?
If I perish, and my heir with me, then Marwān is the Commander of the Faithful.

Abū Muḥammad al-Sufyānī then said to Marwān, “Extend your hand.” He was the first to pledge allegiance to him as caliph—Muʿāwiyah (1) ibn Yazīd ibn