Take their last slumber there. The camp is still; The fires have mouldered, and the breeze which stirs The soft and snowy embers, just lays bare At times a red and evanescent light,
Or for a moment wakes a feeble flame.
They by the fountain hear the stream below, Whose murmurs, as the wind arose or fell, Fuller or fainter reach the ear attuned. And now the nightingale, not distant far, Began her solitary song; and poured To the cold moon a richer, stronger strain Than that with which the lyric lark salutes The new-born day. Her deep and thrilling song Seemed with its piercing melody to reach The soul, and in mysterious unison
Blend with all thoughts of gentleness and love. Their hearts were open to the healing power Of nature; and the splendour of the night, The flow of waters, and that sweetest lay Came to them like a copious evening dew Falling on vernal herbs which thirst for rain.
THUS they beside the fountain sate, of food And rest forgetful, when a messenger
Summoned Count Julian to the Leader's tent. In council there at that late hour he found The assembled Chiefs, on sudden tidings called Of unexpected weight from Cordoba.
Jealous that Abdalazis had assumed
A regal state, affecting in his court The forms of Gothic sovereignty, the Moors, Whom artful spirits of ambitious mould Stirred up, had risen against him in revolt: And he who late had in the Caliph's name Ruled from the Ocean to the Pyrenees, A mutilate and headless carcase now, From pitying hands received beside the road A hasty grave scarce hidden there from dogs
And ravens, nor from wintry rains secure. She, too, who in the wreck of Spain preserved Her queenly rank, the wife of Roderick first, Of Abdalazis after, and to both
Alike unhappy, shared the ruin now
Her counsels had brought on; for she had led The infatuate Moor, in dangerous vauntery, To these aspiring forms, . . so should he gain. Respect and honour from the Musselmen, She said, and that the obedience of the Goths Followed the sceptre. In an evil hour She gave the counsel, and in evil hour He lent a willing ear; the popular rage
Fell on them both; and they to whom her name Had been a mark for mockery and reproach, Shuddered with human horror at her fate. Ayub was heading the wild anarchy; But where the cement of authority
Is wanting, all things there are dislocate: The mutinous soldiery, by every cry Of rumour set in wild career, were driven By every gust of passion, setting up
One hour, what in the impulse of the next,
Equally unreasoning, they destroyed: thus all Was in misrule where uproar gave the law, And ere from far Damascus they could learn The Caliph's pleasure, many a moon must pass. What should be done? should Abulcacem march To Cordoba, and in the Caliph's name Assume the power which to his rank in arms Rightly devolved, restoring thus the reign Of order? or pursue with quickened speed The end of this great armament, and crush Rebellion first, then to domestic ills Apply his undivided mind and force Victorious? What in this emergency Was Julian's counsel, Abulcacem asked, Should they accomplish soon their enterprize? Or would the insurgent infidels prolong The contest, seeking by protracted war To weary them, and trusting in the strength Of these wild hills?
Julian replied, The Chief
Of this revolt is wary, resolute,
Of approved worth in war: a desperate part
He for himself deliberately hath chosen,
Confiding in the hereditary love
Borne to him by these hardy mountaineers, A love which his own noble qualities
Have strengthened so that every heart is his. When ye can bring them to the open proof Of battle, ye will find them in his cause Lavish of life; but well they know the strength Of their own fastnesses, the mountain paths Impervious to pursuit, the vantages
Of rock, and pass, and woodland, and ravine; And hardly will ye tempt them to forego These natural aids wherein they put their trust As in their stubborn spirit, each alike
Deemed by themselves invincible, and so
By Roman found and Goth,.. beneath whose sway Slowly persuaded rather than subdued
They came, and still through every change retained Their manners obstinate and barbarous speech.
My counsel, therefore, is, that we secure With strong increase of force the adjacent posts, And chiefly Gegio, leaving them so manned As may abate the hope of enterprize
Their strength being told. Time in a strife like this
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