CONQUEST OF AFRICA AND SPAIN. 395 



decisive conflict. Roderick, who had brought with 

 him to the field a splendid retinue of wagons con- 

 taining his treasures, was dressed, or rather cum- 

 bered, with a flowing robe of gold and silken eni- 

 broidery ; a diadem of brilliant pearls adorned his 

 head, over which was exi:)anded a canopy set with 

 rubies and emeralds; and his throne, a litter or 

 fouch of ivorj' on which he reclined, was borne be- 

 tween two white mules. In this equipage, much 

 more suited to the luxury of an Asiatic court than a 

 campaign, he appeared before his troops, and har- 

 Bugued them on the importance of the objects for 

 which they were contending. Tarik sustained the 

 valour of his fainting companions by appealing to 

 the recollection of their former exploits. " My 

 friends," continued he, in the brief but touching elo- 

 quence of his country, " the enemy is before you, — 

 the sea is behind ! Whither would you fly 1 Fol- 

 low your general ! I am resolved either to lose my 

 life, or trample on the prot-irate king of the Goths !" 



Both sides maintained the bloody combat with 

 their characteristic furv ; until the well-timed de- 

 sertion of Oppas, srchbishop of Toledo, and the two 

 princes his nephews, turned the tide of battle in fa- 

 vour of the invaders. The two wings had given 

 way, yet for a while Roderick maintained his ground 

 with the centre, vainly endeavouring to recall his 

 dispersed and terrified squadrons. His own courage 

 at length forsook him : he started from his gaudy 

 palanquin, mounted Orelia, the fleetest of his steeds, 

 and. like the rest of his nobles, consulted his per- 

 sonal safety amid the general disorder. 



The genius of Spain has contrived to throw a veil 

 of romance over the fate of Roderick after his de- 

 parture from the plain of Xeres. Some ridiculously 

 assert that he escaped and took refuge in a hermit's 

 cell ; and Cervantes, in his inimitable fiction of the 

 chivalrous Quixote, has cast him alive into a tub 

 full of serpents, which are made to inflict on his 



