404 CONQUEST OF AFRICA AND SPAIN. 



death was despatched witli secrecy ; and the two* 

 governors of Africa and Spain were its victims. 

 Abdolaziz, who had married Egilona^ the haughty 

 widow of Roderick, was slain in the mosque or palace 

 of Cordova. By a refinement of cruelty, the head 

 was brought to Mecca, where Musa lingered in 

 wretchedness and exile ; " Know ye the features of 

 a rebel "!" said the taunting messenger of the cahph. 

 " I know my son," said the aged chief with indig- 

 nation ; " I assert his innocence ; and 1 imprecate a 

 juster fate against the authors of his death." This 

 truly great and successful commander expired of 

 o-rief and absolute want at his native place in Hejaz 

 (A. H. 92). His fate reflects disgrace on his un- 

 grateful sovereign, though it might serve to con- 

 vince the astonished auxiliaries of the Arabian 

 armies in the West, that services however merito- 

 rious, or crimes however scandalous, could never 

 escape the potent jurisdiction of the caliph. 



The Spanish revolution, so speedily eflfected, was 

 marked by the characteristic barbarity of the in- 

 vaders. The licentious soldiery pillaged the towns, 

 profaned the churches, and desolated the country ; 

 while the miseries of the vanquished, as a native 

 historian has remarked, appeared to constitute the 

 happiness of the victorious general. The disciples 

 of the Koran availed themselves fully of its liberal 

 principles in satisfying their passions of avarice and 

 voluptuousness ; nor can their moderation be much 

 applauded even when contrasted with the invasion 

 of that peninsula by the Goths, or its recovery from 

 the Moslem yoke by Ferdinand of Castile. 



Spain like other conquered countries, gradually 

 lost its nationality, became reconciled to the yoke, 

 and assimilated to the habits of its victors. The 

 tincture of Gothic, Roman, and Punic blood, which 

 it had successively imbibed, in a few generations 

 disappeared in the name and manners of the Arabs. 

 A numerous train of civil and military followers 



