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XX.

THE times are big with tidings; every hour

From east and west and south the breathless scouts

Bring swift alarums in; the gathering foe,

Advancing from all quarters to one point,

Close their wide crescent. Nor was aid of fear
To magnify their numbers needed now :
They came in myriads. Africa had poured
Fresh shoals upon the coast of wretched Spain;
Lured from their hungry deserts to the scene
Of spoil, like vultures to the battle-field,
Fierce, unrelenting, habited in crimes,

Like bidden guests the mirthful ruffians flock
To that free feast which in their Prophet's name
Rapine and Lust proclaimed. Nor were the chiefs
Of victory less assured, by long success

Elate, and proud of that o'erwhelming strength,

Which, surely they believed, as it had rolled
Thus far uncheck'd, would roll victorious on,
Till, like the Orient, the subjected West
Should bow in reverence at Mahommed's name;
And pilgrims, from remotest Arctic shores,
Tread with religious feet the burning sands
Of Araby and Mecca's stony soil.
Proud of his part in Roderick's overthrow,
Their leader Abulcacem came, a man
Immitigable, long in war renowned.

Here Magued comes, who on the conquered walls
Of Cordoba by treacherous fear betrayed,
Planted the moony standard: Ibrahim here,
He, who by Genil and in Darro's vales,
Had for the Moors the fairest portion won
Of all their spoils, fairest and best maintained,
And to the Alpuxarras given in trust
His other name, through them preserved in song.
Here too Alcahman, vaunting his late deeds
At Auria, all her children by the sword

Cut off, her bulwarks rased, her towers laid low,
Her dwellings by devouring flames consumed.
Bloody and hard of heart, he little weened,

Vain boastful chief! that from those fatal flames
The fire of retribution had gone forth

Which soon should wrap him round.

The renegades

Here too were seen, Ebba and Sisibert;

A spurious brood, but of their parents' crimes
True heirs in guilt begotten, and in ill

Trained up. The same unnatural rage that turned
Their swords against their country, made them seek,
Unmindful of their wretched mother's end,
Pelayo's life. No enmity is like

Domestic hatred! For his blood they thirst,
As if that sacrifice might satisfy
Witiza's guilty ghost, efface the shame

Of their adulterous birth, and, one crime more
Crowning a hideous course, emancipate
Thenceforth their spirits from all earthly fear.
This was their only care; but other thoughts
Were rankling in that elder villain's mind,
Their kinsman Orpas, he of all the crew,
Who in this fatal visitation fell,

A

The foulest and the falsest wretch that e'er

Renounced his baptism. From his cherished views

Of royalty cut off, he coveted

Count Julian's wide domains, and hopeless now To gain them through the daughter, laid his toils Against the father's life,.. the instrument

Of his ambition first, and now designed

Its victim. To this end with cautious hints,
At favouring season ventured, he possessed
The leader's mind; then, subtly fostering
The doubts himself had sown, with bolder charge
He bade him warily regard the Count,

Lest underneath an outward show of faith

The heart uncircumcised were Christian still :
Else, wherefore had Florinda not obeyed

Her dear-loved sire's example, and embraced
The saving truth? Else, wherefore was her hand,
Plighted to him so long, so long withheld,
Till she had found a fitting hour to fly

With that audacious Prince, who now in arms,
Defied the Caliph's power; for who could doubt
That in his company she fled, perhaps

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The mover of his flight? What if the Count Himself had planned the evasion which he feigned

In sorrow to condemn? What if she went

A pledge assured, to tell the mountaineers

That when they met the Musslemen in the heat
Of fight, her father passing to their side

Would draw the victory with him?... Thus he breathed
Fiend-like in Abulcacem's ear his schemes
Of murderous malice; and the course of things,
Ere long, in part approving his discourse,
Aidëd his aim, and gave his wishes weight.
For scarce on the Asturian territory

Had they set foot, when, with the speed of fear,
Count Eudon, nothing doubting that their force
Would like a flood sweep all resistance down,
Hastened to plead his merits;.. he alone,
Found faithful in obedience through reproach
And danger, when the maddened multitude
Hurried their chiefs along, and high and low
With one infectious frenzy seized, provoked
The invincible in arms. Pelayo led

The raging crew,.. he doubtless the prime spring
Of all these perilous movements; and 'twas said
He brought the assurance of a strong support,
Count Julian's aid, for in his company

From Cordoba, Count Julian's daughter came.

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