CONQUKST OF AFKICA AND SPAIN. 397 



horsemen, mounted on the animals taken from their 

 slaughtered enemies, assaulted Cordova. The prin- 

 cipal inhabitants had fled ; but the common people 

 and the commander of the city remained, with a 

 gan-ison of 400 men. Favoured by the darkness of 

 the night, and a convenient shower of hail, which 

 drowned the tread of the cavalry, the besiegers 

 scaled the ramparts, killed the guards and took pos- 

 session of the town. The governor and his troops 

 posted themselves in a solitary church, where, being 

 supplied with water conveyed under ground, they 

 maintained a resistance of three months. But the 

 spring that supplied them was discovered by a slave, 

 and stopped ; and on their obstinately refusing the 

 usual conditions, tlie church was burnt, most of the 

 Christians perishing in the flames. Malaga, Gran- 

 ada, and the coast as far as Murcia jielded in rapid 

 succession to the forces of the invaders ; nor could 

 the ingenuity of Tadmir or Theodomir, the Gothic 

 prince, prolong the independence of his capital, Ori- 

 huela, by parading his women on the walls in the 

 dress and arms of soldiers, to conceal his weakness 

 and deceive the enemy. 



The march of Tarik was attended with equal suc- 

 cess ; most of the towns surrendered or Avere taken 

 by force. Carmona fell, — the people of Seville con- 

 sented to pay tribute, — Ecija stood a siege; but after 

 an obstinate battle, where many of the Moslems 

 Avere killed or wounded, peace was granted on the 

 usual terms. His progress from the Bcetis to the 

 Tagus met with little interruption. The inhabitants 

 had abandoned the open country, and to increase 

 their terror, Tarik caused his men to cook the flesh 

 of the slain in presence of the captives, some of 

 whom were allowed to escajje, that they might 

 spread the astounding report, as if their ferocious 

 invaders delighted, not only in shedding blood, but in 

 feasting like cannibals on the mangled limbs of their 

 slaughtered foes. 



Vol. I.— L 1 



