c University of California Berkeley From the Bequest of DOROTHY K. THOMAS SPANISH PAPERS. PEOPLE'S EDITION. ?he Con. . SPANISH PAPERS BY WASHINGTON IRVING. EDITED BY PIERRE M. IRVING. NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 182 FIFTH AVENUE Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1868, by Q. P. PUTNAM AND SON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for tl.e Southern Die trie t o New York. PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. LIMITED edition of the " Legends of the Conquest of Spain," with which this volume commences, was published in 1835. These Legends, consisting of the " Legend of Don Roder ick," the " Legend of the Subjugation of Spain," the " Legend of Count Julian and his Family," formed No. III. of the " Crayon Miscellany." For the Chronicles which follow them, with the exception of " Abderahman " and " Spanish Romance," which have appeared in the " Knickerbocker Magazine/* I have drawn upon the unpublished manuscripts of Mr. Irving, bequeathed to me by his will. This por- tion of the volume is illustrative of the wars be- tween the Spaniards and the Moors, and consists of the " Legend of Pelayo," the " Chronicle of Count Fernan Gonzalez," the most illustrious hero of his epoch, who united the kingdoms of Leon and Cas- tile ; and the " Chronicle of Fernando the Saint,'' that renowned champion of the faith, under whom the greater part of Spain was rescued from the Moors. I have selected these themes from a mass of unpublished manuscript that came into my hands at VI PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. the death of Mr. Irving, because they bore the im- press of being most nearly, though not fully, pre- pared for the press, and because they had for him a special fascination, arising in part, perhaps, from his long residence in that romantic country. " These old Morisco-Spanish subjects" is the language of one of his published letters " have a charm that makes me content to write about them at half price. They have so much that is high-minded, and chivalrous, and quaint, and picturesque, and at times half comic, about them." CONTENTS. THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. CHAPTER I. PAOT Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain. Of the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked . ... 1 CHAPTER II. The Rise of Don Roderick. His Government . . 8 CHAPTER III. Of the Loves of Roderick and the Princess Elyata . 13 CHAPTER IV. Of Count Julian 19 CHAPTER V. The Story of Florinda 23 CHAPTER VI. Don Roderick receives an Extraordinary Embassy . 31 CHAPTER VII. Story of the Marvelous aud Portentous Tower . . 85 Viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. BUB Count Julian. His Fortunes in Africa. He hears of the Dishonor of his Child. His Conduct thereupon 4i CHAPTER IX. Secret Visit of Count Julian to the Arab Camp. First Expedition of Taiic El Tuerto .... 53 CHAPTER X. Letter of Muza to the Caliph. Second Expedition of Taric el Tuerto 58 CHAPTER XI. Measures of Don Roderick on Hearing of the Invasion. Expedition of Ataulpho. Vision of Taric . . 64 CHAPTER XII. Battle of Calpe. Fate of Ataulpho .... 69 CHAPTER XIII. Terror of the Country. Roderick rouses himself to Arms 76 CHAPTER XIV. March of the Gothic Army. Encampment on the Banks of the Guadalete. Mysterious Predictions of a Palmer. Conduct of Pelistes thereupon . 82 CHAPTER XV. Skirmishing of the Armies. Pelistes and his Son. Pelistes and the Bishop 88 CHAPTER XVI. Traitorous Message of Count Julian . - .93 CONTENTS. U. CHAPTER XVII. 1MB Last Day of the Battle . . . . * . . .97 CHAPTER XVIII. The Field of Battle after the Defeat. The Fate of Rod- erick 108 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FOREGOING LEGEND. The Tomb of Roderick .108 The Cave of Hercules 109 LEGEND OF THE SUBJUGATION OF SPAIN. CHAPTER L Consternation of Spain. Conduct of the Conquerors. Missives between Taric and Muza . . . .119 CHAPTER II. Capture of Granada. Subjugation of the Alpuxarra Mountains 125 CHAPTER III. Expedition of Magued against Cordova. Defense of the Patriot Pelistes 132 CHAPTER IV. Defense of the Convent of St. George by Pelistes . . 136 CHAPTER V. Meeting between the Patrid; Pelistes and the Traitor Julian ... ,142 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. HM How Taric El Tuerto captured the City of Toledo through the Aid of the Jews, and how he found the famous Talismanic Table of Solomon ...... lit CHAPTER VII. Musa ben Nosier. His Entrance into Spain an.d Cap- ture of Carmona 153 CHAPTER VIII. Muza marches against the City of Seville ... 158 CHAPTER 1JL. Musa besieges the City of Merida 160 CHAPTER X. Expedition of Abdalasis against Seville and the " Land ofTadmir." 168 CHAPTER XI. Muza arrives at Toledo. Interview between him and Taric ....... . 177 CHAPTER XII. Muza prosecutes the Scheme of Conquest. Siege of Saragossa. Complete Subjugation of Spain . . 18i CHAPTER XHL Feud between the Arab Generals. They are summoned to appear before the Caliph at Damascus. Recep- tion of Taric . . . .187 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XIV. MM Muza arrives at Damascus. His Interview with the Caliph. The Table of Solomon. A rigorous Sen- tence 193 CHAPTER XV. Conduct of Abdalasis as Emir of Spain . . .198 CHAPTER XVI. Loves of Abdalasis and Exilona 203 CHAPTER XVII. Fate of Abdalasis and Exilona. Death of Muza . . 208 LEGEND OF COUNT JULIAN AND HIS FAMILY. Legend of Count Julian and his Family . . . .217 Note to the preceding Legend 232 THE LEGEND OF PELAYO. CHAPTER I. Obscurity of the Ancient Chronicles. The Loves of Dona Lucia and the Duke Favila. Birth of Pe- layo, and what happened thereupon; His Early Fortunes, and his Tutelage under the veteran Count Grafeses .237 CHAPTER II. What happened to Pelayo at the Court of Witiza . . 246 b Xli CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. FA0I How Pelayo lived among the Mountains of Cantabria. His Adventure with the Needy Hidalgo of Gascony and the Rich Merchant of Bordeaux. Discourse of the Holy Hermit 249 CHAPTER IV. Pilgrimage of Pelayo, and what befell him on his Re- turn to Spain 261 CHAPTER V. The Battle of Covadonga 268 CHAPTER VI. Pelayo becomes King of Leon. His Death . . .274 ABDERAHMAN: FOUNDER OF THE DY- NASTY OF THE OMMIADES OF SPAIN. CHAPTER I. Of the Youthful Fortunes of Abderahman ... 279 CHAPTER II. Landing of Abderahman in Spain. Condition of the Country . 289 CHAPTER III. Triumphs of Abderahman. The Palm-tree which he planted, and the Verses he composed thereupon. Insurrections. His Enemies subdued. Undis- puted Sovereign of the Moslems of Spain, Begins the turnout* Mosque m Ooixiuvu, liis Death . . 2U3 CONTENTS. Xlil CHRONICLE OF FERNAN GONZALEZ, COUNT OF CASTILE. PAO* Introduction . 313 CHAPTER I. Installation of Fernan Gonzalez as Count of Castile. His First Campaign against the Moors. Victory of San Quirce. How the Count disposed of the Spoils 316 CHAPTER II. Of the Sally from Burgos, and Surprise of the Castle of Lara. Capitulation of the Town. Visit to Al fon so the Great, King of Leon 284 CHAPTER III. Expedition against the Fortress of Mugnon. Desperate Defense of the Moors. Enterprise against Castro Xeriz 320 CHAPTER IV. How the Count of Castile and the King of Leon make a Triumphant Foray into the Moorish Country. Capture of Salamanca. Of the Challenge brought by the Herald, and of the Count's Defiance . . 329 CHAPTER V. A. Night Assault upon the Castle of Carazo. The Moor- ish Maiden who betrayed the Garrison . . Ml CHAPTER VI. Death of Alfonso, King of Leon. The Moors deter- mined to strike a fresh Blow at the Count, who sum- xiv CONTENTS. PAOI mons all Castile to his Standard. Of his Hunt in the Forest while waiting for the Enemy, and of the Hermit that he met with 335 CHAPTER VII. The Battle of the Ford of Cascajares . 34f CHAPTER VIII. Of the Message sent by the Count to Sancho II., King of Navarre, and the Reply. Their Encounter in Battle .... .... 343 CHAPTER IX. How the Count of Toulouse makes a Campaign against Castile, and how he returns in his Coffin . . 347 CHAPTER X. How the Count went to receive the Hand of a Princess, and was thrown into a Dungeon. Of the Stran- ger that visited him in his Chains, and of the Ap- peal that he made to the Princess for his Deliverance 361 CHAPTER XL Of the Meditations of the Princess, and their Result. Her Flight from the Prison with the Count, and Perils of the Escape. The Nuptials . . .351 CHAPTER XII. K.ing Garcia confined in Burgos by the Count. The Princess intercedes for his Release .... 361 CHAPTER XIII. Of the Expedition against the ancient City of 5ylo. The unwitting Trespass of the Count into a Con- vent, and his Compunction thereupon . . . 363 CONTENTS. vt CHAPTER XIV. FA3 Of the Moorish Host that came up from Cordova, and how the Count repaired to the Hermitage of San Pedro, and prayed for Success against them, and received Assurance of Victory in a Vision. Battle of Hazinas 366 CHAPTER XV. The Count imprisoned by the King of Leon. The Countess concerts his Escape Leon and Castile united by the Marriage of the Prince Ordofio with Urraca, the Daughter of the Count by his first Wife 371 CHAPTER XVI. Moorish Incursion into Castile. Battle of San Estevan. Of Pascual Vivas and the Miracle that befell him. Death of Ordono III 878 CIIAPTEPv XVII. King Sancho the Fat. Of the Homage he exacted from Count Fernan Gonzalez, and of the strange Bargain that he made with him for the Purchase of his Horse and Falcon 383 CHAPTER XVIII. Furthei of thr Horse and Falcon 389 CHAPTER XIX. The Last Campaign of Count Fernan. His Death . 393 CHRONICLE OF FERNANDO THE SAINT, CHAPTER I. The Parentage of Fernando. Queen Berenguela. The Laras. Don Alvar conceals the Death of King XVI CONTENTS pioa Henry. Mission of Queen Berenguela to Alfonso IX. She renounces the Crown of Castile in favor of her son Fernando 40J CHAPTER II. King Alfonso of Leon ravages Castile. Captivity of Don Alvar. Death of tbe Laras . . . .408 CEIAPTER III. Marriage of King Fernando. Campaign against the Moors. Aben Mohamed, King of Baeza, declares himself the Vassal of King Fernando. They march to Jaen. Burning of the Tower. Fernando com- mences the Building of the Cathedral at Toledo . 413 CHAPTER IV. Asiassination of Aben Mohamed. His Head carried as a Present to Abuilale, the Moorish King of Se- ville. Advance of the Christians into Andalusia. Abuilale purchases a Truce 420 CHAPTER V. Aben Hud. Abuilale purchases another Year's Truce. Fernando hears of the Death of his Father, the King of Leon, while pressing the Siege of Jaen. He becomes Sovereign of the two Kingdoms of Leon and Castile 4M CHAPTER VI. Expedition of the Prince Alonzo against the Moors. Encamps on the Banks of the Guadalete. Aben Hud marches out from Xerez and gives Battle. Prowess of Garcia Perez de Vargas. Fight and Pursuit of the Moors. Miracle of the Blessed Santiago 427 CONTENTS. xvii CHAPTER VII. PAGl A bold Attempt upon Cordova, the Seat of Moorish Power 435 CHAPTER VIII. A Spy in the Christian Camp. Death of Aben Hud. A vital Blow to Moslem .Power. Surrender of Cordova to King Fernando 435 CHAPTER IX. Marriage of King Fernando to the Princess Juana. Famine at Cordova. Don Alvar Perez . . . 448 CHAPTER X. Aben Alhamar, Founder of the Alhambra. Fortifies Granada and makes it his Capital. Attempts to Surprise the Castle of Martos. Peril of the For- tress. A Woman's Stratagem to save it. Diego Perez, the Smasher. Death of Count Alvar Perez de Castro ** CHAPTER XI. Aben Hudiel, the Moorish King of Murcia, becomes the Vassal of King Fernando. Aben Alhamar seeks to drive the Christians out of Andalusia. Fernan- do takes the Field against him. Ravages of the King. His last Meeting with the Queen-Mother . 458 CHAPTER XII. King Fernando's Expedition to Andalusia. Siege of Jaen. Secret Departure of Aben Alhamar for the Christian Camp. He acknowledges himself the Vassal of the King, who enters Jaen in Triumph . 465 XVlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. MM Axataf, King of Seville, exasperated at the Submission of the King of Granada. Rejects the Propositions of King Fernando for a Truce. The latter is en- couraged by a Vision to undertake the Conquest of the City of Seville. Death of Queen Berenguela. A Diplomatic Marriage 470 CHAPTER XIV. Investment of Seville. All Spain aroused to Arms. Surrender of Alcala del Rio. The Fleet of Ad- miral Ramon Bonifaz advances up the Guadalquivir. Don Pelayo Correa, Master of Santiago. His Valorous Deeds and the Miracles wrought in his behalf 475 CHAPTER XV. King Fernando changes his Camp. Garci Perez and the Seven Moors 482 CHAPTER XVI. Of the Raft built by the Moors, and how it was boarded by Admiral Bonifax. Destruction of the Moorish Fleet. Succor from Africa 488 CHAPTER XVII. Of the Stout Prior Ferran Ruyz, and how he rescued his Cattle from the Moors. Further Enterprises of the Prior, and of the Ambuscade into which he Fell . 492 CHAPTER XVIII. Bravado of the Three Cavaliers. Ambush at the Bridge over the Gnadayra. Desperate Valor of Garci Perez. Grand Attempt of Admiral Bonifaz on the Bridge of Boats. Seville dismembered from Triana ... .498 CONTENTS. XIX CHAPTER XIX. PAOl Investment of Triana. Garci Perez and the Infanzon 504 CHAPTER XX. Capitulation of Seville. Dispersion of the Moorish In- habitants. Triumphant Entry of King Fernando 508 CHAPTER XXI. Death of King Fernando 514 SPANISH ROMANCE. Spanish Romance 519 Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa . . . 523 PREFACE. |EW events in history have been so original and striking in their main circumstances, and so overwhelming and enduring in their consequences, as that of the conquest of Spain by the Saracens ; yet there are few where the motives, and characters, and actions of the agents have been en- eeloped in more doubts and contradiction. As in the memorable story of the " Fall of Troy," we have to make out, as well as we can, the veritable details through the mists of poetic fiction ; yet poetry has so combined itself with, and lent its magic coloring to every fact, that to strip it away would be to reduce the story to a meagre skeleton and rob it of all its charms. The storm of Moslem invasion that swept so suddenly over the peninsula, silenced for a tune the faint voice of the Muse, and drove the sons of learning from their cells. The pen was thrown aside to grasp the sword and spear, and men were too much taken up with battling against the evils which beset them on every side, to find time or inclination to record them. When the nation had recovered in some degree PREFACE. from the effects of this astounding blow, or rather had become accustomed to the tremendous reverse which it produced, and sage men sought to inquire and write the particulars, it was too late to ascertain them in their exact verity. The gloom and mel- ancholy that had overshadowed the land had given birth to a thousand superstitious fancies ; the woes and terrors of the past were clothed with super- natural miracles and portents, and the actors in the fearful drama had already assumed the dubious char- acteristics of romance. Or if a writer from among the conquerors undertook to touch upon the theme, it was embellished with all the wild extravagances of an oriental imagination, which afterwards stole into the graver works of the monkish historians. Hence, the earliest chronicles which treat of the downfall of Spain, are apt to be tinctured with those saintly miracles which savor of the pious labors of the cloister, or those fanciful fictions that betray their Arabian authors. Yet from these apocryphal sources the most legitimate and accredited Spanish histories have taken their rise, as pure rivers may be traced up to the fens and mantled pools of a morass. It is true, the authors, with cautious discrimination, have discarded those particulars too startling for belief, and have culled only such as, from their probability and congruity, might be safely recorded as historical facts ; yet, scarce one of these but has been connected in the original with some romantic fiction, and, even in its divorced state bears traces of its former alliance. PREFACE. xxiii To discard, however, everything wild and marvel- ous in this portion of Spanish history, is to discard some of its most beautiful, instructive, and national features; it is to judge of Spain by the standard of probability suited to tamer and more prosaic coun- tries. Spain is virtually a land of poetry and ro- mance, where every-day life partakes of adventure, and where the least agitation or excitement carries everything up into extravagant enterprize and daring exploit. The Spaniards, in all ages, have been of swelling and braggart spirit, soaring in thought, pom- pous in word, and valiant, though vainglorious, in deed. Their heroic aims have transcended the cooler conceptions of their neighbors, and their reckless dar- ing has borne them on to achievements which prudent enterprise could never have accomplished. Since the time, too, of the conquest and occupation of their country by the Arabs, a strong infusion of oriental magnificence has entered into the national character, and rendered the Spaniard distinct from every other nation of Europe. In the following pages, therefore, the author has ventured to dip more deeply into the enchanted fountains of old Spanish chronicle than has usually been done by those who, in modern times, ha,ve treated of the eventful period of the Conquest ; but in so doing, he trusts he will illustrate more fully the character of the people and the times. He has thought proper to throw these records into the form of legends, not claiming for them the authenticity XXIV PREFACE. of sober history, yet giving nothing that has not historical foundation. All the facts herein con- tained, however extravagant some of them may be deemed, will be found in the works of sage and reverend chroniclers of yore, growing side by side with long-acknowledged truths, and might be sup- ported by learned and imposing references in the margin. LEGENDS OF THE CONQUEST OF SPAIN. THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK, 1 CHAPTER I. Of the Ancient Inhabitants of Spain. Of the Misrule of Witiza the Wicked. [PAIN, or Iberia as it was called in an- cient days, has been a country harassed from the earliest times by the invader. The Celts, the Greeks, the Phenicians, the Car- thaginians, by turns or simultaneously, infringed its territories, drove the native Iberians from their rightful homes, and established colonies and founded cities in the land. It subsequently fell into the all-grasping power of Rome, remaining for some time a subjugated province ; and when that gigantic empire crumbled into pieces, the Suevi, the Alani, and the Vandals, those barba- rians of the North, overran and ravaged this de- 1 Many of the facts in this legend are taken from an old ci ronicle, written in quaint and antiquated Spanish, and pro- fessing to be a translation from the Arabian chronicle of the Moor Rasis, by Mohammed, a Moslem writer, and Gil Perez, a Spanish priest. It is supposed to be a piece of literary mosaic work, made up from both Spanish and Arabian chronicles; yet, from this work most of the Spanish historians have drawn their particulars relative to the fortunes of Don Roderick. 2 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. voted country, and portioned out the soil among them. Their sway was not of long duration. In the fifth century the Goths, who were then the allies of Rome, undertook the reconquest of Iberia, and succeeded, after a desperate struggle of three years' duration. They drove before them the bar- barous hordes, their predecessors, intermarried and incorporated themselves with the original in- habitants, and founded a powerful and splendid empire, comprising the Iberian peninsula, the an- cient Narbonnaise, afterwards called Gallia Gotica, or Gothic Gaul, and a part of the African coast called Tingitania. A new nation was, in a manner, produced by this mixture of the Goths and Iberians. Sprang from a union of warrior races, reared and nurtured amidst the din of arms, the Gothic Spaniards, if they may so be termed, were a warlike, unquiet, yet high-minded and heroic people. Their simple and abstemious habits, their contempt for toil and suffering, and their love of daring enterprise, fitted them for a soldier's life. So addicted were they to war that, when they had no external foes to contend with, they fought with one another ; and, when engaged in battle, says an old chronicler, the very thunders and lightnings of heaven could not separate them. 1 For two centuries and a half the Gothic power remained unshaken, and the sceptre was wielded by twenty-five successive kings. The crown was elective, in a council of palatines, composed of i Fiorain, de Ocampo, lib. 3, c. 12. Justin, Abrev. Trog Pomp., lib. 44. Bleda, Cronica, lib. 2, c. 3. E LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 3 the bishops and nobles, who, while they swore allegiance to the newly made sovereign, bound him by a reciprocal oath to be faithful to his trust Their choice was made from among the people, subject only to one condition, that the king should be of pure Gothic blood. But though the crown was elective in principle, it gradually became hered- itary from usage, and the power of the sovereign grew to be almost absolute. The king was com- mander-in-chief of the armies ; the whole patronage of the kingdom was in his hands ; he summoned and dissolved the national councils ; he made and revoked laws according to his pleasure ; and, having ecclesiastical supremacy, he exercised a sway even over the consciences of his subjects. The Goths, at the time of their inroad, were stout adherents of the Arian doctrines ; but after a time they embraced the Catholic faith, which was maintained by the native Spaniards free from many of the gross superstitions of the Church at Rome, and this unity of faith contributed more thap anything else to blend and harmonize the two races into one. The bishops and other clergy wer* exemplary in their lives, and aided to pro- mote the influence of the laws and maintain the authority of the state. The fruits of regular and secure government were manifest in the advance- ment of agriculture, commerce, and the peaceful arts.; and in the increase of wealth, of luxury, and refinement ; but there was a gradual decline of the simple, hardy, and warlike habits that had distinguished the nation in its semi-barbarong days. 4 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK Such was the state of Spain when, in the year of Redemption 701, Witiza was elected to tho Gothic throne. The beginning of his reign gave promise of happy days to Spain. He redressed grievances, moderated the tributes of his subjects, and conducted himself with mingted mildness and energy in the administration of the laws. In a little while, however, he threw off the mask, and showed himself in his true nature cruel and luxurious. Two of his relatives, sons of a preceding king, awakened his jealousy for the security of his throne. One of them, named Favila, Duke of Cantabria, he put to death, and would have in- flicted the same fate upon his son Pelayo, but that the youth was beyond his reach, being pre- served by Providence for the future salvation of Spam. The other object of his suspicion was Theodofredo, who lived retired from court. The violence of Witiza reached him even in his retire- ment. His eyes were put out, and he was im- mured within a castle at Cordova. Roderick, the youthful son of Theodofredo, escaped to Italy, where he received protection from the Romans. Witiza, now considering himself secure upon the throne, gave the reins to his licentious passions, and soon, by his tyranny and sensuality, acquired the appellation of Witiza the Wicked. Despising the old Gothic continence, and yielding to the example of the sect of Mahomet, which suited his lascivious temperament, he indulged in a plurality of wives and concubines, encouraging his subjects to do the same. Nay, he even sought THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 5 to gain the sanction of the Church to his excesses, promulgating a law by which the clergy were re- leased from their vows of celibacy, and permitted to marry and to entertain paramours. The sovereign Pontiff Constantino threatened to depose and excommunicate him, unless he abrogated this licentious law ; but Witiza set him at defiance, threatening, like his Gothic predecessor Alaric, to assail the eternal city with his troops, and make spoil of her accumulated treasures. 1 " We will adorn our damsels," said he, " with the jewels of Rome, and replenish our coffers from the mint of St. Peter." Some of the clergy opposed themselves to the innovating spirit of the monarch, and endeavored from the pulpits to rally the people to the pure doctrines of their faith ; but they were deposed from their sacred office, and banished as seditious mischief-makers. The church of Toledo continued refractory; the Archbishop Sindaredo, it is true, was disposed to accommodate himself to the cor- ruptions of the times, but the prebendaries battled intrepidly against the new laws of the monarch, and stood manfully in defense of their vows of chastity. " Since the church of Toledo will not yield itself to our will," said Witiza, " it shall have two husbands." So saying, he appointed his own brother Oppas, at that time archbishop of Seville, to take a seat with Sindaredo in the episcopal chair of Toledo, and made him primate of Spain. He was a priest after his own heart, and seconded Him in all his profligate abuses. ' 1 Chron. de Luitprando, 709. Abarca, Anales de Aragon jel Mahometismo, fol. 5). 6 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. It was in vain the denunciations of the Chinch were fulminated from the chair of St. Peter. Witiza threw off all allegiance to the Roman Pontiff, threatening with pain of death those who should obey the papal mandates. " We will suffer no foreign ecclesiastic, with triple crown," said he, " to domineer over our dominions." The Jews had been banished from the country during the preceding reign, but Witiza permitted them to return, and even bestowed upon their synagogues privileges of which he had despoiled the churches. The children of Israel, when scat- tered throughout the earth by the fall of Jerusalem, had carried with them into other lands the gainful arcana of traffic, and were especially noted as opulent money-changers, and curious dealers in gold and silver and precious stones ; on this occa- sion, therefore, they were enabled, it is said, to repay the monarch for his protection by bags of money, and caskets of sparkling gems, the rich product of their oriental commerce. The kingdom at this time enjoyed external peace, but there were symptoms of internal discon- tent. Witiza took the alarm ; he remembered the ancient turbulence of the nation and its proneness to internal feuds. Issuing secret orders, there- fore, in all directions, he dismantled most of the cities, and demolished the castles and fortresses that might serve as rallying points for the factious. He disarmed the people also, and converted the weapons of war into the implements of peace It seemed, in fact, as if the millennium were dawning upon the land ; for the sword was 1 eaten THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 7 into a ploughshare, and the spear into a pruning- hook. While thus the ancient martial fire of the nation was extinguished, its morals likewise were cor- rupted. The altars were abandoned, the churches closed, wide disorder and sensuality prevailed throughout the land, so that, according to the old chroniclers, within the compass of a few short years, " Witiza the Wicked taught all Spain to sin." CHAPTER II. The Rise of Don Roderick. His Government. |OE to the ruler who founds his hope of sway on the weakness or corruption of the people. The very measures taken by Witiza to perpetuate his power ensured his downfall. While the whole nation, under his li- centious rule, was sinking into vice and effemina- cy, and the arm of war was unstrung, the youth- ful Roderick, son of Theodofredo, was training up for action in the stern but wholesome school of adversity. He instructed himself in the use of arms ; became adroit and vigorous by varied ex- ercises : learned to despise all danger, and in- ured himself to hunger and watchfulness and the rigor of the seasons. His merits and misfortunes procured him many friends among the Romans ; and when, being arrived at a fitting age, he undertook to revenge the wrongs of his father and his kindred, a host of brave and hardy soldiers flocked to his stan* dard. With these he made his sudden appearance in Spain. The friends of his house and the disaffected of all classes hastened to join him, and he advanced rapidly and without opposition, through an unarmed and enervated land. THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 9 Witiza saw too late the evil he had brought upon himself. He made a hasty levy, and took the field with a scantily equipped and undisciplined host, but was easily routed and made prisoner, and the whole kingdom submitted to Don Rod- erick. The ancient city of Toledo, the royal residence of the Gothic kings, was the scene of high fes- tivity and solemn ceremonial on the coronation of the victor. Wh ether he was elected to the throne according to the Gothic usage, or seized it by the right of conquest, is a matter of dispute among historians, but all agree that the nation submitted cheerfully to his sway, and looked for- ward to prosperity and happiness under their newly elevated monarch. His appearance and character seemed to justify the anticipation. He was in the splendor of youth, and of a majestic presence. His soul was bold and daring, and el- evated by lofty desires. He had a sagacity that penetrated the thoughts of men, and a magnifi- cent spirit that won all hearts. Such is the pic- ture which ancient writers give of Don Roderick, when, with all the stern and simple virtues un- impaired, which he had acquired in adversity and exile, and flushed with the triumph of a pious revenge, he ascended the Gothic throne. Prosperity, however, is the real touchstone of the human heart ; no sooner did Roderick find himself in possession of the crown, than the love of power and the jealousy of rule were awakened ri his breast. His first measure was against Witiza who was brought in chains into his pres- 10 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. ence. Roderick beheld the captive monarch with iin unpitying eye, remembering only his wrongs and cruelties to his father. " Let the evils he has inflicted on others be visited upon his own head," said he; "as he did unto Theodofredo, even so be it done unto him." So the eyes of Witiza were put out, and he was thrown into the same dungeon at Cordova in which Theodofredo had languished. There he passed the brief rem- nant of his days in perpetual darkness, a prey to wretchedness and remorse. Roderick now cast an uneasy and suspicious eye upon Evan and Siseburto, the two sons of Witiza. Fearful lest they should foment some secret rebellion, he banished them the kingdom. They took refuge in the Spanish dominions in Africa, where they were received and harbored by Requila, governor of Tangier, out of grat- itude for favors which he had received from their late father. There they remained, to brood over their fallen fortunes, and to aid in working out the future woes of Spain. Their uncle Oppas, bishop of Seville, who had been made copartner, by "Witiza, in the archi- episcopal chair at Toledo, would have likewise fallen under the suspicion of the king; but he was a man of consummate art, and vast exterior sanctity, and won upon the good graces of the monarch. He was suffered, therefore, to retain his sacred office at Seville ; but the see of To- ledo was given in charge to the venerable Urbino, and the law of Witiza was revoked that dis- pensed the clergy from their vows of celibacy. THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 11 The jealousy of Roderick for the security of his crown was soon again aroused, and his meas- ures were prompt and severe. Having been in- formed that the governors of certain castles and fortresses in Castile and Andalusia had conspired against him, he caused them to be put to death and their strongholds to be demolished. He now went on to imitate the pernicious policy of his predecessor, throwing down walls and towers, disarming the people, and thus incapacitating them from rebellion. A few cities were permit- ted to retain their fortifications, but these were intrusted to alcaids in whom he had especial confidence ; the greater part of the kingdom was left defenseless ; the nobles, who had been roused to temporary manhood during the recent stir of war, sunk back into the inglorious state of inac- tion which had disgraced them during the reign of Witiza passing their time in feasting and dancing to the sound of loose and wanton min- strelsy. 1 It was scarcely possible to recognize in these idle wassailers and soft voluptuaries the descendants of the stern and frugal warriors of the frozen North who had braved flood and mountain, and heat and cold, and had battled their way to empire across half a world in arms. They surrounded their youthful monarch, it is true, with a blaze of military pomp. Nothing could surpass the splendor of their arms, which were embossed and enameled, and enriched with gold and jewels and curious devices; nothing could be more gallant and glorious than their 1 Mariana, Hist. Esp., lib. 6, c. 21. 12 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. array ; it was all plume and banner and silken pageantry, the gorgeous trappings for tilt and tourney and courtly revel; but the iron soul of war was wanting. How rare it is to learn wisdom from the mis- fortunes of others. With the fate of Witiza full before his eyes, Don Roderick indulged in the game pernicious errors, and was doomed, in like manner, to prepare the way for his own perdi- tion. CHAPTER III. Of the Loves of Roderick and the Princess Elyata. |S yet the heart of Roderick, occupied by the struggles of his early life, by war- like enterprises, and by the inquietudes of newly-gotten power, had been insensible to the charms of women ; but in the present voluptuous calm the amorous propensities of his nature as- sumed their sway. There are divers accounts of the youthful beauty who first found favor in his eyes, and was elevated by him to the throne. We follow in our legend the details of an Ara- bian chronicler, 1 authenticated by a Spanish poet. 2 Let those who dispute our facts produce better authority for their contradiction. Among the few fortified places that had not been dismantled by Don Roderick was the an- cient city of De"nia, situated on the Mediterranean coast, and defended on a rock-built castle that overlooked the sea. The alcaide of the castle, with many of the people of Denia, was one day on his knees in tho chapel, imploring the Virgin to allay a tempest which was strewing the coast with wrecks, when 1 Perdida de Espana, por Abulcacim Tarif Abentarique, lib. 1. a Lope de Vega. 14 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. a sentinel brought word that a Moorish cruiser was standing for the land. The alcaide gave orders to ring the alarm-bells, light signal-fires on the hill-tops, and rouse the country, for the coast was subject to cruel maraudings from the Barbary cruisers. In a little while the horsemen of the neighbor- hood were seen pricking along the beach, armed with such weapons as they could find, and the alcaide and his scanty garrison descended from the hill. In the mean time the Moorish bark came rolling and pitching towards the land. As it drew near, the rich carving and gilding witli which it was decorated, its silken baudaroles and banks of crimson oars, showed it to be no warlike vessel, but a sumptuous galiot destined for state and ceremony. It bore the marks of the tem- pest ; the masts were broken, the oars shattered, and fragments of snowy sails and silken awnings were fluttering in the blast. As the galiot grounded upon the sand, the im- patient rabble rushed into the surf to capture and make spoil ; but were awed into admiration and respect by the appearance of the illustrious com- pany on board. There were Moors of both sexes sumptuously arrayed, and adorned with precious jewels, bearing the demeanor of persons of lofty rank. Among them shone conspicuous a youth- ful beauty, magnificently attired, to whom all seemed to pay reverence. Several of the Moors sunouuded her with drawn swords, threatening death to any that ap- proached; others sprang from the bark, and THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 15 throwing themselves on their knees before tho alcaide, implored him, by his honor and courtesy as a knight, to protect a royal virgin from injury and insult. " You behold before you," said they, " the only daughter of the king of Algiers, the betrothed bride of the son of the king of Tunis. We were conducting her to the court of her expecting bridegroom, when a tempest drove us from our course, and compelled us to take refuge on your coast. Be not more cruel than the tempest, but deal nobly with that which even sea and storm have spared." The alcaide listened to their prayers. He conducted the princess and her train to the castle, where every honor due to her rank was paid her. Some of her ancient attendants interceded for her liberation, promising countless sums to be paid by her father for her ransom ; but the alcaide turned a deaf ear to all their golden olers. " She is a royal captive," said he ; " it belongs to my sovereign alone to dispose of her." After she had reposed, therefore, for some days at tne castle, and recovered from the fatigue and terror of the seas, he caused her to be conducted, with all her train, in magnificent state to the court of Don Roderick. The beautiful Elyata 1 entered Toledo more like a triumphant sovereign than a captive. A chosen band of Christian horsemen, splendidly armed, appeared to wait upon her as a mere guard of honor. She was surrounded by the Moorish. 1 B* some she is called Zara. 16 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. damsels of her train, and followed by her own Moslem guards, all attired with the magnificence that had been intended to grace her arrival at the conrt of Tunis. The princess was arrayed in bridal robes, woven in the most costly looms of the Orient ; her diadem sparkled with dia- monds and was decorated with the rarest plumes of the bird of paradise, and even the silken trap- pings of her palfrey, which swept the ground, were covered with pearls and precious stones. As this brilliant cavalcade crossed the bridge of the Tagus, all Toledo poured forth to behold it, and nothing was heard throughout the city but praises of the wonderful beauty of the princess of Al- giers. King Roderick came forth, attended by the chivalry of his court, to receive the royal captive. His recent voluptuous life had disposed him for tender and amorous affections, and at the first sight of the beautiful Elyata he was enrap- tured with her charms. Seeing her face clouded with sorrow and anxiety, he soothed her wfrh gentle and courteous words, and, conducting her to a royal palace, " Behold," said he, " thy habita- tion, where no one shall molest thee; consider thyself at home in the mansion of thy father, and dispose of anything according to thy will." Here the princess passed her time with the female attendants who had accompanied her from Algiers ; and no one but the king was permitted to visit her, who daily became more and more enamored of his lovely captive, and sought by tender assiduity to gain her affections. The dis- tress of the princess at her captivity \va* soothed THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 17 l>/ this gentle treatment. She was of an ago wJwin sorrow cannot long hold sway over the he*rt. Accompanied by her youthful attendants, she ranged the spacious apartments of the palace, and sported among the groves and alleys of its garden. Every day the remembrance of the paternal home grew less and less painful, and the king became more and more amiable in her eyes ; and when at length he offered to share his heart and throne with her, she listened with downcast looks and kindling blushes, but with an air of resignation. One obstacle remained to the complete fruition of the monarch's wishes, and this was the religion of the princess. Roderick forthwith employed the archbishop of Toledo to instruct the beauti- ful Elyata in the mysteries of the Christian faith. The female intellect is quick in perceiving the merits of new doctrines; the archbishop, there- fore, soon succeeded in converting, not merely the princess, but most of her attendants, and a day was appointed for their public baptism. The ceremony was performed with great pomp and solemnity, in the presence of all the nobility and chivalry of the court. The princess and her damsels, clad in white, walked on foot to the cathedral, while numerous beautiful children, ar- rayed as angels, strewed their path with flowers ; and the archbishop meeting them at the portal, received them, as it were, into the bosom of the church. The princess abandoned her Moorish appellation of Elyata, and was baptized by the 18 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. name of Exilona, by which she was thenceforth called, and has generally been known in. history. The nuptials of Roderick and the beautiful convert took place shortly afterwards, and were celebrated with great magnificence. There were jousts, and tourneys, and banquets, and other rejoicings, which lasted twenty days, and were attended by the principal nobles from all parts of Spain. After these were over, such of the attendants of the princess as refused to embrace Christianity, and desired to return to Africa, were dismissed with munificent presents ; and an em- bassy was sent to the king of Algiers, to inform him of the nuptials of his daughter, and to proffer him the friendship of King Roderick. 1 1 "Como esta Infanta era muy hermosa, y el Rey [Don Rodrigo] dispuesta y gentil hornbre, entro por medio el amor y afieion, y junto con el regalo con que la avia mandado hos- pedar y servir ful causa que el rey persuadio esta Infanta ; que si se tornava a su ley de christiauo la tomaria por muger, y que la haria sefiora de sus Keynos. Con esta persuasion ella fiie contenta, y aviendose vuelto Christiana, se caso con ella, y se celebraron sus bodas con muchas fiestas y regozijos, cc no era razon." Abulcassira, Conq'st de Espan, cap. 3. CHAPTER IV. Of Count Julian. |OR a time Don Roderick lived happily with his young and beautiful queen, and Toledo was the seat of festivity and splendor. The principal nobles throughout the kingdom repaired to his court to pay him homage, and to receive his commands ; and none were more devoted in their reverence than those who were obnoxious to suspicion from their connection with the late king. Among the foremost of these was Count Julian, a man destined to be infamously renowned in the dark story of his country's woes. He was one of the proudest Gothic families, lord of Consuegra and Algeziras, and connected by marriage with Witiza and the bishop Oppas his wife, the countess Frandina, being their sister. In conse- quence of this connection, and of his own merits, he had enjoyed the highest dignities and com- mands, being one of the Espatorios, or royal sword-bearers an office of the greatest confi- dence about the person of the sovereign. 1 He had, moreover, been intrusted with the military govern- 1 Condes Espatorios ; so called from the drawn swords of ample size and breadth with which they kept guard in the ante- chambers of the Gothic kings. Comes Spathariorum, custodum corporis Kegis Profectus. Hunc et Propospatha rium appellatum existimo. Pair. Pant, de, Ojfic. Goth 20 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. inent of the Spanish possessions on the African coast of the strait, which at that time were threat- ened by the Arabs of the East, the followers of Mahomet, who were advancing their victorious standard to the extremity of Western Africa. Count Julian established his seat of government at Ceuta, the frontier bulwark, and one of the far- famed gates of the Mediterranean Sea. Here he boldly faced, and held in check, the torrent of Moslem invasion. Don Julian was a man of an active, but irreg- ular genius, and a grasping ambition ; he had a love for power and grandeur, in which he was joined by his haughty countess ; and they could ill brook the downfall of their house, as threat- ened by the fate of Witiza. They had hastened therefore to pay their court to the newly elevated monarch, and to assure him of their fidelity to his interests. Roderick was readily persuaded of the sincerity of Count Julian ; he was aware of his merits as a soldier and a governor, and continued him in his important command ; honoring him with many other marks of implicit confidence. Count Julian sought to confirm this confidence by every proof of devotion. It was a custom among the Goths to rear many of the children of the most illustrious families in the royal household. They served as pages to the king, and handmaids and ladies of honor to the queen, and were instructed in all manner of accomplishments befitting their gentle blood. When about to depart for Ceuta, to resume his command, Don Julian brought his THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 21 daughter Florinda to present her to the sovereigns. She was a beautiful virgin that had not as yet attained to w ^manhood. " I confide her to your protection, " said he to the king, " to be unto her as a father ; and to have her trained hi the paths of virtue. I can leave with you no dearer pledge of my loyalty." King Roderick received the timid and blushing maiden into his parental care ; promising to watch over her happiness with a parent's eye, and that she should be enrolled among the most cherished attendants of the queen. With this assurance of the welfare of his child, Count Julian departed, well pleased, for his government at Ceuta. CHAPTER V. The Story of Florinda. |HE beautiful daughter of Count Julian was received with great favor by the queen Exilona and admitted among the noble damsels that attended upon her person. Here she lived in honor and apparent security, and surrounded by innocent delights. To gratify his queen, Don Roderick had built for her rural recreation a palace without the walls of Toledo, on the banks of the Tagus. It stood in the midst of a garden, adorned after the luxurious style of the East. The air was perfumed by fragrant shrubs and flowers ; the groves resounded with the song of the nightingale, while the gush of fountains and water-falls, and the distant murmur of the Tagus, made it a delightful retreat during the sultry days of summer. The charm of perfect privacy also reigned throughout the place, for the garden walls were high, and numerous guards kept watch without to protect it from all intrusion. IT this delicious abode, more 'befitting an oriental voluptuary than a Gothic king, Don Roderick was accustomed to while away much of that time which should have been devoted to the toilsome cares of government. The very security THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 23 and peace which he had produced throughout his dominions by his precautions to abolish the means arid habitudes of war, had effected a disastrous change in his character. The hardy and heroic qualities which had conducted him to the throne, were softened in the lap of indulgence. Sur- rounded by the pleasures of an idle and effeminate court, and beguiled by the example of his de- generate nobles, he gave way to a fatal- sensuality that had lain dormant in his nature during the virtuous days of his adversity. The mere love of female beauty had first enamored him of Exilona, and the same passion, fostered by volup- tuous idleness, now betrayed him into the commis- sion of an act fatal to himself and Spain. The following is the story of 'his error as gathered from an old chronicle and legend. In a remote part of the palace was an apart- ment devoted to the queen. It was like an eastern harem, shut up from the foot of man, .and where the king himself but rarely entered. It had its own courts, and gardens, and fountains, where the queen was wont to recreate herself with her damsels, as she had been accustomed to do in the jealous privacy of her father's palace. One sultry day the king, instead of taking his siesta, or mid-day slumber, repaired to this apart- ment to seek the society of the queen. In pass- ing through a small oratory, he was drawn by the iound of female voices to a casement overhung with myrtles and jessamines. It looked into ai interior garden or court, set out with orange-trees, in the midst of which was a marble fountain, 24 TEE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. surrounded by a grassy bank, enameled with flowers. It was the high noontide of a summer day when, in sultry Spain, the landscape trembles to the eye, and all nature seeks repose, except the grasshopper, that pipes his lulling note to the herdsman as he sleeps beneath the shade. Around the fountain were several of the damsels of the queen, who, confident of the sacred privacy of the place, were yielding in that cool retreat to the indulgence prompted by the season and the hour. Some lay asleep on the flowery bank ; others sat on the margin of the fountain, talking and laughing, as they bathed their feet in its limpid waters, and King Roderick beheld delicate limbs shining through the wave that might rival the marble in whiteness. Among the damsels was one who had come from ihe Barbary coast with the queen. Her com- plexion had the dark tinge of Mauritania, but it was clear and transparent, and the deep rich rose blushed through the lovely brown. Her eyes were black and full of fire, and flashed from under long silken eyelashes. A sportive contest arose among the maidens, as to the comparative beauty of the Spanish and Moorish forms ; but the Mauritanian damsel re- vealed limbs of voluptuous symmetry that seemed to defy all rivalry. The Spanish beauties were on the point of giving up the contest, when they bethought them- selves of the young Florinda, the daughter of Count Julian, who lay on the grassy bank, aban- THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 25 loned to a summer slumber. The scft glow of youth and health mantled on her cheek ; her fringed eyelashes scarcely covered their sleeping orbs ; her moist and ruby lips were slightly parted, just revealing a gleam of her ivory teeth, while her innocent bosom rose and fell beneath her bodice, like the gentle swelling and sinking of a tranquil sea. There was a breathing tenderness and beauty in the sleeping virgin, that seemed to send forth sweetness like the flowers around her. " Behold," cried her companions exultingly, " the champion of Spanish beauty ! " In their playful eagerness they half disrobed the innocent Florinda before she was aware. Sha awoke in time, however, to escape from their busy hands ; but enough of her charms had been re- vealed to convince the monarch that they were not to be rivaled by the rarest beauties of Mauritania. From this day the heart of Roderick was in- flamed with a fatal passion. He gazed on the beautiful Florinda with fervid desire, and sought to read in her looks whether there was levity or wantonness in her bosom ; but the eye of the damsel ever sunk beneath his gaze, and remained bent on the earth in virgin modesty. In vain he called to mind the sacred trust re- posed in him by Count Julian, and the promise he had given to watch over his daughter with paternal care ; his heart was vitiated by sensual indulgence, and the consciousness of power had rendered him selfish in his gratifications. Being one evening in the garden where the 26 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. queen was diverting herself with her damsels, and coming to the fountain where he had beheld the innocent maidens at their sport, he could no longer restrain the passion raging within his breast. Seating himself beside the fountain, he called Flo- rinda to draw forth a thorn which had pierced his hand. The maiden knelt at his feet to examine his hand, and the touch of her slender fingers thrilled through his veins. As she knelt, too. her amber locks fell in rich ringlets about her beauti- ful head, her innocent bosom palpitated beneath the crimson bodice, and her timid blushes increased the effulgence of her charms. Having examined the monarch's hand hi vain, she looked up in his face with artless perplexity. " Senor," said she, " I can find no thorn nor any sign of wound." Don Roderick grasped her hand and pressed it to his heart. " It is here, lovely Florinda ! " said he ; " it is here ! and thou alone canst pluck it forth ! " " My lord ! " exclaimed the blushing and as- tonished maiden. " Florinda ! " said Don Roderick, " dost thou love me ? " " Senor," said she, " my father taught me to love and reverence you. He confided me to your care as one who would be as a parent to me, when he should be far distant, serving your majesty with life and loyalty. May God incline your majesty ever to protect me as a father." So saying, the maiden dropped her eyes to the ground, and cor tinned kneeling ; but her coun- TEL LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 27 tenance had become deadly pale, and as she knelt she trembled. " Florinda," said the king, " either thou dost not, or thou wilt not, understand me. I would have thee love me, not as a father, nor as a mon- arch, but as one who adores thee. Why dost thou start? No one shall know our loves ; and, moreover, the love of a monarch inflicts no deg- radation like the love of a common man ; riches and honors attend upon it. I will advance thee to rank and dignity, and place thee above the proudest females of my court. Thy father, too, shall be more exalted and endowed than any noble in my realm." The soft eye of Florinda kindled at these words. " Sefior," said she, " the line I spring from can receive no dignity by means so vile ; and my father would rather die than purchase rank and power by the dishonor of his child. But I see," continued she, " that your majesty speaks in this manner only to try me. You may have thought me light and simple, and unworthy to attend upon the queen. I pray your majesty to pardon me, that I have taken your pleasantry in such serious part." In this way the agitated maiden sought to evade the addresses of the monarch, but still her cheek was blanched, and her lip quivered as she Fpake. The king pressed her hand to his lips with fervor. "May ruin seize me," cried he, "If I speak to prove thee. My heart, my kingdom, are at thy command. Only be mine, and thou 28 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. ehalt rule absolute mistress of myself and my do- mains." The damsel rose from the earth where she had hitherto knelt, and her whole countenance glowed with virtuous indignation. "My lord," said she, " I am your subject, and in your power ; take my life if it be your pleasure, but nothing shall tempt me to commit a crime which would be treason to the queen, disgrace to my father, agony to my mother, and perdition to myself." With these words she left the garden, and the king, for the moment, was too much awed by her indig- nant virtue to oppose her departure. We shall pass briefly over the succeeding events of the story of Florinda, about which so much has been said and sung by chronicler and bard; for the sober page of history should be carefully chastened from all scenes that might in- flame a wanton imagination leaving them to poems and romances, and such like highly sea- soned works of fantasy and recreation. Let it suffice to say that Don Roderick pursued his suit to the beautiful Florinda, his passion being more and more inflamed by the resistance of the virtuous damsel. At length, forgetting what was due to helpless beauty, to his own honor as a knight, and his word as a sovereign, he triumphed over her weakness by base and un- manly violence. There are not wanting those who affirm that the hapless Florinda lent a yielding ear to the solicitations of the monarch, and her name has been treated with opprobrium in several of the THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 29 ancient chronicles and legendary ballads that have transmitted, from generation to generation, the story of the woes of Spain. In very truth, how- ever, she appears to have been a guiltless victim, resisting as far as helpless female could resist, the arts and intrigues of a powerful monarch, who had naught to cheek the indulgence of his will, and bewailing her disgrace with a poignancy that shows how dearly she had prized her honor. In the first paroxysm of her grief she wrote a letter to her father, blotted with her tears and almost incoherent from her agitation. " Would to God, my father," said she, " that the earth had opened and swallowed me ere I had been reduced to write these lines. I blush to tell thee, what it is not proper to conceal. Alas, my father ! thou hast intrusted thy lamb to the guardianship of the lion. Thy daughter has been dishonored, the royal cradle of the Goths polluted, and our lineage in- sulted and disgraced. Hasten, my father, to res- cue your child from the power of the spoiler, and to vindicate the honor of your house." When Florinda had written these lines she summoned a youthful esquire who had been a page in the service of her father. " Saddle thy steed," said she, " and if thou dost aspire to knightly honor, or hope for lady's grace ; if thou hast fealty for thy lord, or devotion to his daughter, speed swiftly upon my errand. Rest not, halt not, spare not the spur, but hie thee day and night until thou reach the sea ; take the first bark, and haste with sail and oar to Ceuta, nor pause until thov give this letter to the count my 30 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. father." The youth put the letter in his bosom. "Trust me, lady," said he I will neither halt, nor turn aside, nor cast a look behind, until I reach Count Julian." He mounted his fleet steed, sped his way across the bridge, and soon left behind him the verdant valley of the Tagus. CHAPTER VI. Don Roderick receives an Extraordinary Embassy. I HE heart of Don Roderick was not so depraved by sensuality, but that the wrong he had been guilty of toward the innocent Floriuda, and the disgrace he had in- flicted on her house, weighed heavy on his spirits, and a cloud began to gather on his once clear and uuwrinkled brow. Heaven at this time, say the old Spanish chronicles, permitted a marvelous intimation of the wrath with which it intended to visit the monarch and his people, in punishment of their sins ; nor are we, say the same orthodox, writers, to startle and withhold our faith when we meet in the page of discreet and sober history with these signs and potents, which transcend the probabil- ities of ordinary life ; for the revolutions of empires and the downfalls of mighty kings are awful events, that shake the physical as well as the moral world, and are often announced by fore- running marvels and prodigious omens. With such like cautious preliminaries do the wary but credulous historiographers of yore usher in a marvelous event of prophecy and enchant- ment, linked in ancient story with the fortunes of Don Roderick, but which modern doubters would 32 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. fain hold up as an apocryphal tradition of An bian origin. Now, so it happened, according to the legend, that about this time, as King Roderick was seated one day on his throne, surrounded by his nobles, in the ancient city of Toledo, two men of venerable appearance entered the hall of audience. Their snowy beards descended to their breasts, and their gray hairs were bound with ivy. They were arrayed in white garments of foreign or antiquated fashion, which swept the ground, and were cultured with girdles, wrought with the signs of the zodiac, from which were suspended enormous bunches of keys of every variety of form. Having approached the throne and made obei- sance, " Know, O king, " said one of the old men, " that in days of yore, when Hercules of Lybia, surnamed the Strong, had set up his pil- lars at the ocean strait, he erected a tower near to this ancient city of Toledo. He built it of prodigious strength, and finished it with magic art, shutting up within it a fearful secret, never to be penetrated without peril and disaster. To pro- tect this terrible mystery he closed the entrance to the edifice with a ponderous door of iron, se- cured by a great lock of steel, and he left a com- mand that every king who should succeed him should add another lock to the portal ; denouncing woe and destruction on him who should eventually unfold the secret of the tower. " The guardianship of the portal was given to our ancestors, and has continued in our family, from generation to generation, since the days of THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. 33 Hercules. Several kings, from time to time, have caused the gate to be thrown open, and have at- tempted to enter, but have paid dearly for their temerity. Some have perished within the thresh- old ; others have been overwhelmed with horror at tremendous sounds, which shook the founda- tions of the earth, and have hastened to reclose the door and secure it with its thousand locks. Thus, since the days of Hercules, the inmost recesses of the pile have never been penetrated by mortal man, and a profound mystery continues to prevail over this great enchantment. This, O king, is all we have to relate ; and our errand is to entreat thee to repair to the tower and affix, thy lock to the portal, as has been done by all thy predecessors." Having thus said, the ancient men made a profound reverence and departed from the presence-chamber. 1 Don Roderick remained for some time lost in thought after the departure of the men ; he then dismissed all his court excepting the venerable Urbino, at that time Archbishop of Toledo. The long white beard of this prelate bespoke his ad- vanced age, and his overhanging eyebrows showed him a man full of wary counsel. " Father, " said the king, " I have an earnest desire to penetrate the mystery of this tower." The worthy prelate shook his hoary head. " Be- jvare. my son, " said he ; " there are secrets hidden from man for his good. Your predecessors for 1 Perdidade Espaiia, por Abulcasim Tarif Abentarique, L. 1, c. 6. Cronica del Rey Don Rodriyo, por el Moro Basis, L. 1, c. i. Bleda, Cron. cap. vij. 3 34 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. many generations have respected this mystery, and have increased in might and empire. A knowledge of it, therefore, is not material to the welfare of your kingdom. Seek not then to in- dulge a rash and unprofitable curiosity, which' is interdicted under such awful menaces." " Of what importance," cried the king, " are the menaces of Hercules the Libyan ? was he not a pagan ? and can his enchantments have aught avail against a believer in our holy faith ? Doubt- less in this tower are locked up treasures of gold and jewels, amassed in days of old, the spoils of mighty kings, the riches of the pagan world. My coffers are exhausted ; I have need of supply ; and surely it would be an acceptable act in the eyes of Heaven to draw forth this wealth which lies buried under profane and necromantic spells, and consecrate it to religious purposes." The venerable archbishop still continued to remonstrate, but Don Roderick heeded not his counsel, for he was led on by his malignant star. " Father, " said he, " it is in vain you attempt to dissuade me. My resolution is fixed. To-mor- row I will explore the hidden mystery, or rather the hidden treasures, of this tower." CHAPTER VII. Story of the Marvelous and Portentous Tower. [HE morning sun shone brightly upon the cliff-built towers of Toledo, when King Roderick issued out of the gate of the city at the head of a numerous train of courtiers and cavaliers, and crossed the bridge that bestrides the deep rocky bed of the Tagus. The shining cavalcade wound up the road that leads among the mountains, aud soon came in sight of the necromantic tower. Of this renowned edifice marvels are related by the ancient Arabian and Spanish chroniclers, " and I doubt much," adds the venerable Agapida, " whether many readers will not consider the tthole as a cunningly devised fable, sprung from an Oriental imagination ; but it is not for me to reject a fact which is recorded by all those writers who are the fathers of our national history ; a fact too, which is as well attested as most of the re- markable events in the story of Don Roderick. None but light and inconsiderate minds," continues the good friar, " do hastily reject the marvelous. To the thinking mind the whole world is enveloped in mystery, and everything is full of type and portent. To such a mind the r ecromantic tower 36 THE LEGEND OF DON RODERICK. of Toledo will appear as one of those wondrous monuments of the olden time ; one