CHAPTER XXXV.
Death of old Muley Aben Hassan.
The personal exploits with which El
Zagal had commenced his reign, in surprising
the knights of Calatrava, and defeating
the Count de Cabra, had given
him a transient popularity, which he had
promoted by feasts and tournaments, and
other public rejoicings, in which the
Moors delighted. Knowing, however,
the uncertain nature of the people over
whom he reigned, he feared some capricious
revolution in favour of his deposed
brother, Muley Aben Hassan. That
once fiery old monarch was now blind
and bedridden, and lived in a kind of
durance in the city of Almuneçar. He
was treated, however, with deference
and attention; for the garrison had been
originally appointed by himself. El
Zagal, having now a little leisure during
the interval of the campaigns, became
suddenly solicitous about the death of his
brother, and had him removed to Salobreña,
for the benefit of purer and more
salubrious air.
The small town of Salobreña was
situate on a lofty hill, that rose out of the
centre of a beautiful and fertile valley on
the Mediterranean coast. It was protected
by a strong castle, built by the
Moorish kings, as a place of deposit for
their treasures. Here also they sent
such of their sons and brothers as might
endanger the security of their reign.
They lived here, prisoners at large, in a
state of voluptuous repose, under a serene
sky, in a soft climate and luxuriant
valley. The palace was adorned with
fountains, and delicious gardens, and perfumed
baths; a harem of beauties was at
the command of the royal captives, and
music and the dance beguiled the lagging
hours. Nothing was denied them but
the liberty to depart; that alone was
wanting to render the abode a perfect
paradise.
Notwithstanding the extreme salubrity
of the air, and the assiduous attentions of
the commander, who was devoted to El
Zagal, and had been particularly charged
by him to be watchful over the health of
his brother, the old monarch had not
been here many days before he expired.
There was nothing surprising in this
event; for life with him had long glimmered
in the socket; but the measures
immediately taken by El Zagal roused
the suspicions of the public. With indecent
haste, he ordered that the treasures
of the deceased should be packed upon
mules, and conveyed to Granada, where
he took possession of them to the exclusion
of the children. The sultana Zorayna,
and her two sons, were imprisoned
in the Alhambra, in the tower of Comares;
the same place, where, by her
instigation, the virtuous Ayxa la Horra
and her son Boabdil had once been confined.
There she had leisure to ruminate
on the disappointment of all her schemes,
perfidiously executed, for the advancement
of those sons, who were her fellow-prisoners.
The corpse of old Muley
Aben Hassan was also brought to Granada;
not in state, like the remains of a
once powerful sovereign, but transported
ignominiously on a mule. It received
no funeral honours, but was borne obscurely
to the grave by two Christian
captives, and deposited in the Royal
Osario or charnel-house.
[50]
No sooner were the people well assured
that old Muley Aben Hassan was
dead and buried, than they all with one
accord, began to deplore his loss, and
extol his memory. They admitted, that
he had been fierce and cruel, but then he
had been brave: it was true, he had
pulled down this war upon their heads;
but he had himself also been crushed by
it. In a word, he was dead; and his
death atoned for every fault: for a king,
just deceased, is generally either a hero
or a saint. In proportion as they ceased
to hate Muley Aben Hassan, they began
to hate his brother El Zagal. The manner
of the old king's death, the eagerness
to seize upon his treasures, the scandalous
neglect of his corpse, and the imprisonment
of his sultana and children,
all filled the public mind with dark suspicions;
and the name of El Zagal was
often coupled with the epithets of fratricide,
in the low murmurings of the
people.
As the public must always have some
leading person to like, as well as to hate,
there began once more to be an inquiry
after Boabdil el Chico. That unfortunate
monarch was living at Cordova, under
the shade of the cold friendship of Ferdinand,
who had ceased to regard him with
much attention, when he was no longer
useful to his interests. No sooner, however,
did the public favour once more
incline towards him, than the kindness
of the catholic monarch immediately revived.
He furnished him with money
and means again to elevate his standard,
and create a division in the Moorish
power. By this assistance, Boabdil established
the shadow of a court, at Velez
el Blanco, a strong frontier town on the
confines of Murcia, where he remained,
as it were, with one foot over the border,
and ready to draw that back, at a moment's
warning. His presence, however,
gave new life to his faction in Granada.
It is true, the more courtly and opulent
inhabitants of the quarter of the Alhambra
still rallied round the throne of El
Zagal, as the great seat of power; but
then the inhabitants of the albaycen, the
poorest part of the community, who had
nothing to risk, and nothing to lose, were
almost unanimous in favour of the indigent
Boabdil. So it is in this wonderful
system of sublunary affairs; the rich
befriend the rich, the powerful stand by
the powerful, while the poor enjoy the
sterile assistance of their fellows: thus,
each one seeking his kind, the admirable
order of all things is maintained, and a
universal harmony prevails.
