Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/501

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 479 of Xeres ; and, in the national dismay, each part of the monarchy dechned a contest with the antagonist who had vanquished the united strength of the whole. -^^ That strength had been wasted by two successive seasons of famine and pestilence ; and the governors, who were impatient to surrender, might exaggerate the difficulty of collecting the provisions of a siege. To disarm the Christians, superstition likewise contributed her teri'ors ; and the subtle Arab encouraged the report of dreams, omens, and prophecies, and of the portraits of the destined conquerors of Spain, that were discovered on breaking open an apartment of the royal palace. Yet a spark of the vital flame was still alive ; some invincible fugitives preferred a life of poverty and freedom in the Asturian valleys ; the hardy mountaineers repulsed the slaves of the caliph ; and the sword of Pelagius has been trans- formed into the sceptre of the Catholic kings. ^i* On the intelligence of this rapid success, the applause of Musa ^°°i^^»* degenerated into envy ; and he began, not to complain, but to ^^^-j fear, that Tarik would leave him nothing to subdue. At the head of ten thousand Arabs and eight thousand Africans, he passed over in person from Mauritania to Spain ; the first of his companions were the noblest of the Koreish ; his eldest son was left in the command of Africa ; tlie three younger brethren were of an age and spirit to second the boldest enterprises of their father. At his landing in Algezire, he was respectfully enter- tained by count Julian, who stifled his inward remorse, and testi- fied, both in words and actions, that the victory of the Arabs had not impaired his attachment to their cause. Some enemies yet remained for the sword of Musa. The tardy repentance of the Goths had compared their own numbers and those of the in- vaders ; the cities from which the march of Tarik had de- clined considered themselves as impregnable ; and the bravest patriots defended the fortifications of Seville and Merida. The)'^ were successively besieged and reduced by the labour of Musa, who transported his camp from the Baetis to the Anas, from the Guadalquivir to the Guadiana. When he beheld the works of Roman magnificence, the bridge, the aqueducts, the triumphal 213 Such was the argument of the traitor Oppas, and every chief to whom it was addressed did not answer with the spirit of Pelagius : Omnis Hispania dudum sub uno regimine Gothorum, omnis exercitus Hispanise in uno congregatus Ismaeli- tarum non valuit sustinere impetum. Chron. Alphonsi Regis apud Pagi, tom. iii. p. 177. ^i* The revival of the Gothic kingdom in the Asturias is distinctly, though con- cisely, noticed by d'Anville (Etats de I'Europe, p. 159).