University of Virginia Library

9. IX.

A few leagues off from the scene of battle, but
rapidly advancing along the Tagus with levies hastily
gathered among the neighbouring towns and provinces,
came the two young princes, Egiza and Pelayo, sons
of the monarch whose death we have just witnessed.

They had been aiming at a junction with their father,
but though they had hurried with all due diligence with
this object, they were still at some distance when the
battle joined. It was in a narrow valley, about seven
miles from Toledo, that they paused at nightfall for a
brief rest. Their troops had been greatly wearied by
the rapid and continued travel of the long day, and such
a pause became absolutely necessary to enable them to
commence their march again that night. It was then
that they gained the first intelligence of Witiza's defeat.
Fugitive after fugitive, each confirming, with some new
disaster, the story of the preceding, made his appearance
in the camp of the young princes, until the narrative of
misfortune was finally complete, in the appalling communication,
to them, of the murder of their father.
Then the elder brother burst into tears and lamentations
before his whole army, and his heart sunk within him at
the tidings; but Pelayo, who was a brave and fearless
spirit, rebuked this weakness, and spoke boldly to the
messengers.

“Now, tell ye forth your story, ye that have run
so fleetly with its burthen. Halt ye not in what ye
came for, but impart the manner of the fight. Say out
the whole—where stood the king—what force brought
Roderick on—who was the traitor lord that led the
flight, and had no thought for vengeance. Speak it all.”

The fugitives then told him what he sought, dwelling
with closeness upon all the events, until he came to the
death of the old monarch, when the sorrows of Egiza,
the elder brother, burst forth afresh.

“Now shame on thy woman heart!” cried the sterner
Pelayo; “thy tears were fitting were they those of the
man, which are blood, and not those of the woman,
which are water. Go to—are we the sons of Witiza,
and shall we borrow a thought from the child and weep?
No, Egiza—I have for thee a better counsel. We shall
fight. Let not thy tears damp the brave hearts of the
warriors that follow us. Look battle, and send out a

fierce cry, that we may all gather strength for vengeance.”
Thus saying, he strove to fill the soul of his
elder brother with his own brave spirit; but Egiza took
greatly to heart the news which he had heard.

“I hope my father is in heaven,” cried Pelayo to the
troops. “Mine is a true charity, my friends, since I
would despatch after him the traitor Roderick, who sent
him there. So make fitting your weapons, and let us
at once go forward to avenge our friends. Let us
pluck down the rebel and do justice upon him, showing
ourselves worthy in the sight of our country.”

And faintly the soldiers cheered at the speech of Pelayo.
They had been depressed by the intelligence
brought by the fugitives and looked not with their former
spirit. When Pelayo saw this, he rebuked his brother.

“This it is to be a woman; thy weakness has dashed
the spirits of thy men, and they have grown feeble like
thyself. Speak thou to them, and put on the show of
a valour which thou seem'st not now to have. Let
them hear thee, and, if thou canst, teach them to have
souls fit for their swords, which are of Toledo.”

Thus, nobly encouraging both his brother and the
army, did Pelayo speak. Moved by his rebuke, Egiza
threw aside his sorrows, and addressed the warriors
manfully, as became the good stock from which he
sprang. But their depression had been too great from
the news brought by the fugitives, and, in addition to
this, the emissaries of the rebel lurked even among
themselves. The young prince spoke to men who
were blinded or staggering. Conscious of their own
numerical inferiority, and assured of the complete dispersion
of that stronger array of the monarch, on the
junction with which they had so much relied,they began
to sink under the overwhelming despondency which
these events brought along with them. But a few chiefs
and warriors showed signs of a true courage, and a willingness
to advance; and these too soon drew back when
they found how feebly they were seconded by the remainder

of the army. Even the valorous and sanguine
Pelayo saw plainly enough that nothing could be hoped
from them in their present condition of mind; and,
with shame and sorrow, he assented to the necessity
which compelled them to fall back with their force upon
the city of Cordova, where they hoped to find support in
their quarrel. In this retreat their power gradually diminished,
until at length, approaching Cordova, and
hearing that it also had declared for Roderick, the two
unfortunate princes now found themselves sustained
only by a small band, chiefly of the nobles, who had
clung to them and were true in all seasons. The rabble,
always fickle and uncertain, had fled in every direction;
some with the fear of punishment, and some in the
hope of reward from the conqueror—so that the policy
left for the young princes was, simply to disband their
small, but trusty, remaining force, and wait for better
times. This done, though they well knew the danger,
yet, as they had many friends in Cordova, they approached
that city. Carefully disguising themselves, unattended,
they entered the city at nightfall, amid the sound of barbaric
music, and the shouts of thousands assembled to
glorify the annunciation of a new monarch over them—
he the usurper of the throne, and the destroyer of one
whom they had so lately professed to love with a feeling
little short of adoration. Bitterly cursing their insincerity
in his heart, and musing upon the instability of
fortune, Pelayo led the way for his less elastic brother,
until, sheltered by the night, they entered unperceived
into the palace of their paternal uncle, Lord Oppas,
the Archbishop of Cordova. It was then, at midnight,
in the dim seclusion of a secret chamber, that the
archbishop held conference with the young princes, his
nephews, on the best mode for regaining the empire of
which they had just been deprived by the successful
usurpation of Roderick. The churchman and the elder
prince, Egiza, the immediate heir to the throne, were
seated thus in conference, the brow of the prince sad and
thoughtful; while Pelayo, the younger, who was of a
fiery and restless spirit, strode, gloomily and impatient,
to and fro along the apartment.