6. VI.
With a re-awakening of the early spirit of virtue
which was said to have distinguished the outset of his
reign, and from which he had himself lamentably fallen,
the king, Witiza, determined to make head against these
excesses. In aid of this determination, it so happened
that Theodofred, an old and decayed noble, was
guilty of a gross outrage upon a woman of the lower
orders. The rabble took up the cause of justice, and
pursued the offender into the very court of the palace of
Toledo. Theodofred, secure as he thought of the protection
of the king, no less than of his caste, looked to
be defended against the rabble which pursued him;
but he was mistaken. Whether it was that a sentiment
of right in reality gave the monarch a spur to justice,
or whether, as is more probable, he hoped by a timely
and severe act of authority to win back some of those
golden opinions from the people which he had but too
obviously neglected, may now only be conjectured; but
his proceeding was marked with all the decision, even if
it lacked the impulse and the intention of justice. He
met the crowd—assured them of his sympathy, and
promised them the adequate punishment of the criminal.
They were pacified, and he kept his word. Theodofred
was immediately deprived of his sight—a favourite punishment
with the Goths—and, in despite of the prayers
and murmurs of the nobles, was immured, under the
doom of imprisonment for life, in a dungeon at Cordova.
