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the one of far more immediate concern to Europe, its Christianity and its growing civilization.

To second him in his coming adventures, Musa had six sons, 2 four of whom figure largely in his history. Of these the eldest, Abdullah, had, as early as A.D. 704, conducted the first Moslem fleet from Eastern Africa into the Mediterranean, with which he had landed on the shores of Sicily and ravaged its coasts. Abdullah was now placed in command of the frontier of Kairwan. Abdu-lAzis, his second son, kept up the communication between this sea-coast frontier, through what are now Tripoli and Barca, with Egypt; while from the valley of Sus-el Aksa, whither he had penetrated, his son Meruan, marched upon Tangiers, the ancient capital of Mauritania Tingitana.

It is a question of little moment to which of the Arabian captains Tangier surrendered: Musa, Merwan and Tarik have each been mentioned as the taker of the town. What we know is that, as soon as it surrendered, Musa garrisoned it with a force variously stated at from ten thousand to nineteen thousand men?

Rising in gentle amphitheater from the sea, and looking directly across to the bluffs of Spain from the center of its broadarmed bay, Tangier has been called the key of the straits; while it had changed nationalities, true to its name, it had never been captured by assault.

The command of the garrison was given to one who had proved himself tireless and active in the advance, Tarik Ibn-Zeyad IbnAbdillah, a man of whose origin there are conflicting accounts, but who is represented in some chronicles as a Berber, who united to his native character the enthusiasm of a proselyte. He is also known as Tarik-el-Tuerto, or the one-eyed.

This restless spirit did not long remain inactive. He directed his arms against Ceuta or Septa, then held by a Gothic general for the king of Spain, but he was not successful in capturing it.

What had now been done may be regarded as the prologue to the magnificent drama of the conquest of Spain. The invaders had secured their point d'appui, and Musa established his African power firmly by placing among the conquered allies Arabians

1 Tandja, the city protected by the Lord.

2 It is more probable that he was an Oriental, who played so prominent a part in the conversion of the Berbes, that he was greatly honored by them.

learned in theology, who taught them the doctrines of the Koran, and gave moral consolidation to a mixed people who had received the blood and been confused by the tenets of Numidians, Romans, Vandals and Greeks, but the majority of whom were native Berbers— children of the soil. Thus he was making the Moors, whom he had called Aulad-Arabi, true sons of the Arabs in religious faith and practice. Without this conversion of an entire people-this moral preliminary-his efforts would have been painful and slow, if not entirely vain.

If now we leave the Arabian invaders for a brief space, to cast a glance across the strait, we shall find the Gothic monarchy of Spain in no condition to resist the threatened incursion. The contrast is great and striking. The Arabians, as we have seen, had been for nearly a century in the field and in motion. Soldiers for three generations, every man was reduced to muscle and was in fighting order. Their successive conquests had given them wealth and prestige, added to endurance and experience. They were soldiers of the Faith, and the meanest among them might aspire to the highest earthly honors, while he was sure of immortal joys in heaven. Thus to brave hardship and suffering was their daily lot; to fight was their vocation; to die was happiness. Their long and arduous campaigns had taught them practical strategy, the military grasp of a territory; while in battle they had acquired a system of tactics suited to the age, and great skill in arms. Very different was the condition of things in the Peninsula. Western Rome had fallen supine under the Northern sword; Spain had submitted to the Goths; and now these Goths had expended their vigor and had become Romans in effiminacy, while the Arab-Moors were the finest and readiest troops in the world. Such, without questioning the coming history, were the conditions of the future struggle. The Goths stationary and feeble; the Arab Moors pledged to attack and conquer them, and in all points able to redeem their pledge The prophecy is quoted traditionally of Mohammed, or of his wife Ayesha: "I have seen before my eyes the East and the West, and every one of the regions comprised in them shall be subdued to my people." In fulfillment of this prophecy, they had reached the straits, and could see as in a picture the green land on the opposite side. They held Tangier in a grasp of steel. The last stronghold of

151 the Goths was Ceuta, and the longing eyes of Musa and his generals were fixed on the green island of Andalus. Conquer it he would; but how? The plan of the campaign was not yet devised.

The miserable condition of Spain will disclose itself at every step, but we must now pause to give a few statistics of its immediate antecedents. From these we may at least philosophize, without being satisfied of the exact dates and details of events. We have entered upon the region of chronicle, full of legend and tradition, where historians disagree, and where it is exceedingly difficult to discern the truth. The Arabians knew but little of the Goths, whom they despised, and they constantly ignore their own defeats. On the other hand the Spanish historians willfully conceal or misrepresent the Arabian history, because it contains the humiliating story of their own disasters. Even Mariana, the best of the standard authorities, calls them "a ruthless warlike nation, hostile to science and polite literature," while all the world. knows that they introduced into Spain a culture far beyond any that the West could boast; that to them is due the literature, science and art, mathematical analysis, chemistry and pharmacy, upon which our present civilization is built, as upon an enduring foundation. The Arabians garnered and preserved in the schools of Seville, Cordova and Toledo, that matchless Greek learning, the knowledge of which had been lost in western Europe.

When the Gothic king Egica died, in November 701, his son Wittiza, who had been appointed governor of Gallicia, hastened to Toledo, and was anointed king on the 15th of November in that year. The first years of his reign were full of promise; to the expectant court he set an example of regular life, and a determination to repress evil.1 Those who had been unjustly exiled he recalled, and restored their possessions. But it was the early promise of a Nero, the false manifesto of a Henry VIII. He soon plunged into a career of private vice and public crime. To gratify his vanity, he surrounded himself with flatterers; to satisfy his lusts he took numerous concubines, and encouraged his cour

1Verdad es que al principio, Wittiza dio muestra de buen principe, de querer volver por la inocencia, y reprimir la maldad. Mariana ii, 369.

tiers to do so. He went much further, he permitted the priests and monks to marry, or to keep mistresses.1 and human frailty, with such august example, found the permission a pleasant one. He gave the Jews new privileges, which were a scandal in Christian eyes. By bold edicts, he set the pope at defiance, and at length shook off his allegiance entirely; and when the church of Toledo opposed him in these wicked measures, he declared that it should have two husbands or primates, and thus he appointed his brother in blood and in sin, Oppas, joint archbishop of Toledo, and metropolitan of Spain. In order to bring this about, he had first deposed the pious but feeble Bishop Gunderik, and appointed Sindaredo in his stead; and now under the two husbands, Sindaredo and Oppas, the refractory bride of Christ was reduced to a sordid and servile submission.

These disorders and debaucheries disgusted the court and the people, whom they could not fail to contaminate; in the midst of their folly, they scorned the fool, and began to cast their eyes to the lineage of a former monarch, Chindasuinto, with the purpose of bringing it to the throne. Wittiza divined the purpose, and made haste to defeat it.

Recesuinto, the son of Chindasuinto, had died, leaving no heir, and had been succeeded by the good Wamba, in the year 672; but in those stormy times the reigns were short, and there were still living two sons of Chindasuinto-Theodofredo and Favila, the former duke of Cordova, and the latter duke of Cantabria and Biscay, to whom the hearts of the people turned for help in this sore emergency. These Wittiza determined to destroy, with their offspring. Theodofredo wisely kept himself out of the king's reach, but Favila, not so prudent, was taken and put to death; and Wittiza was guilty of the monstrous crime of seizing and outraging his wife. But a son of Favila, named Pelayo, escaped, and was to become famous as the center of a valiant band, who were to begin the restoration of the Spanish monarchy, after the Arab-Moors had entirely subverted that of the Goths. Thus the wicked work of Wittiza was but half accomplished. The blood which he had

¡1Ley abominable y fea, pero que a muchos, y a los mas dio gusto. b. ii. 370. 2 Mariana ii. 373.

shed was to spring up in the form of valiant soldiers, the bulwark of Christendom against the infidel Saracens.1

When the Gothic monarch could no longer fail to see how odious he had become to all his people, he determined to enfeeble, if he could not pacify them. He gave orders to dismantle the fortresses and destroy the strong walls of most of the Spanish cities, that treason might not shelter itself in citadels. He exempted, among others, Toledo, and even strengthened it, as a stronghold for himself; and the distant posts in the north of Leon and Astoga, which should secure his power.

Vaunting as a reason the tranquillity of the realm, and claiming to act in the interests of peace, he disarmed the people. Thus, while in the words of the chronicle, "Wittiza, the wicked, taught all Spain to sin," he left the sinners impotent against any retributive revolution or invasion.2

Whether Wittiza came to a tragical end, having been killed in a a conspiracy of which Roderik was the head, or whether, when at the acme of his ill-doing, he died a natural death, is by no means clear; but it is certain that in the tenth year of his reign (early in the year 711) he died, and such was the contest for the throne, and the odium upon his lineage, that his sons, Eba and Siseburto, were not acceptable to the people. It is stated, and is not improbable, th it the widow of Wittiza was declared regent pending the minority of her son.

4

1 Amid many conflicting accounts, the historian must establish his hypothesis, and work out the solution which seems most probable Some assert that Theodofredo was the father of Roderik, while modern researches have proved this to be improbable. Mariana states the complex lineage thus: The daughter of Chindasuinto had married a valiant Greek exile of the lower empire, named Ardebasto, and their son, Ervigio, reigned for a few months only. Ervigio left a daughter named Cixilona, who married Egica, the nephew of Wamba. From this marriage sprang Wittiza and Oppas, and a daughter who is supposed to have married Count Julian. There is nothing which positively controverts this statement. What follows is much more doubtful. It is that Theodofredo, the second son of Chindasuinto by his wife Ricilona, was the father of Roderik"peste tison y fuego de Espana.”

21 must not fail to mention that Wittiza is not without a historic champion, in Don Gregorio Mayans.-Defensa de Wittiza, Valencia, 1772.

3 Rodericus Toletanus, Bishop Roderik of Toledo.

4These very names are doubtful. Ibun-el-Kuttiyah (quoted by Al makkari) calls the sons of Wittiza-Almond, Romalah, and Artabas,

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