400 CONQUEST OF AFRICA AND SPAlK; 



inhabitants saved their own properties, but con- 

 sented that the effects of the fugitives and the slain, 

 with all the riches and ornaments of their churches, 

 should be delivered up to the Saracens. 



Musa advanced towards Toledo ; but Tarik, in- 

 formed of his approach and aware of his intentions, 

 went forth with a retinue of his chiefs to receive 

 him ; and the two conquerors met near Talavera. 

 Their first salutation was cold and formal. Proceed- 

 ino- to the capital, they entered together the palace 

 of°the Gothic kings. Musa exacted a rigid account 

 of the booty and public treasures in his hands. He 

 even carried his animosity so far, if we may believe 

 Cardonne, as to strike him with his whip, to load 

 him with abuse, and even with chains : all of which 

 indif^nities the patient hero bore ; so pure was the 

 zeaC and so high the sense of discipline and subor- 

 dination in the Arabian armies. The merit and 

 probity of Tarik appear to have convinced him that 

 his suspicions and his resentment were alike unjust. 

 He gave him the hand of friendship, and restored 

 him to the command of the van. 



From Toledo the Moslems continued their victo- 

 rious march northward. Saragossa was reduced, 

 and a mosque erected by the liberality of the Ko- 

 reish. The port of Barcelona was opened to the 

 vessels of Syria. The whole provinces as far as 

 the ocean and the Pyrenees submitted without re- 

 sistance ; such was the alarm which the Saracen 

 name had inspired. The Goths were chased beyond 

 the mountains into the territory of Languedoc ; and 

 a column or statue, erected by Musa at Carcassone, 

 marked the limit of his progress in Narbonnese 

 Gaul. In the church of St. Mary, at this latter place, 

 were seven equestrian statues of massy silver, 

 which the conqueror probably carried off as the first 

 trophies he had won on the soil of France. Tank, 

 after taking the city of Narbonne, and one or two 

 obscure fortresses, marched onwards as far as the 



