XXII.

THE MOORISH COUNCIL.

Thus they beside the fountain sate, of food And rest forgetful, when a messenger Summon’d Count Julian to the Leader’s tent. In council there at that late hour he found The assembled Chiefs, on sudden tidings call’d 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 Stirr’d 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 Follow’d 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, Shudder’d 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 destroy’d: 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 quicken’d 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 ask’d, 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 strengthen’d 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 Deem’d 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 retain’d 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 mann’d As may abate the hope of enterprize Their strength being told. Time in a strife like this Becomes the ally of those who trust in him: Make then with Time your covenant. Old feuds May disunite the chiefs: some may be gain’d By fair entreaty, others by the stroke Of nature, or of policy, cut off. This was the counsel which in Cordoba I offer’d Abdalazis: in ill hour Rejecting it, he sent upon this war His father’s faithful friend! Dark are the ways Of destiny! had I been at his side Old Muza would not now have mourn’d his age Left childless, nor had Ayub dared defy The Caliph’s represented power. The case Calls for thine instant presence, with the weight Of thy legitimate authority.

Julian said Orpas, turning from beneath His turban to the Count a crafty eye, Thy daughter is return’d; doth she not bring Some tidings of the movements of the foe? The Count replied, When child and parent meet First reconciled from discontents which wrung The hearts of both, ill should their converse be Of warlike matters! There hath been no time For such enquiries, neither should I think To ask her touching that for which I know She hath neither eye nor thought. There was a time Orpas with smile malignant thus replied, When in the progress of the Caliph’s arms Count Julian’s daughter had an interest Which touch’d her nearly! But her turn is served, And hatred of Prince Orpas may beget Indifference to the cause. Yet Destiny Still guideth to the service of the faith The wayward heart of woman; for as one Delivered Roderick to the avenging sword, So hath another at this hour betray’d Pelayo to his fall. His sister came At nightfall to my tent a fugitive. She tells me that on learning our approach The rebel to a cavern in the hills Had sent his wife and children, and with them Those of his followers, thinking there conceal’d They might be safe. She, moved, by injuries Which stung her spirit, on the way escaped, And for revenge will guide us. In reward She asks her brother’s forfeiture of lands In marriage with Numacian: something too Touching his life, that for her services It might be spared, she said; ... an after-thought To salve decorum, and if conscience wake Serve as a sop: but when the sword shall smite Pelayo and his dangerous race, I ween That a thin kerchief will dry all the tears The Lady Guisla sheds! ’Tis the old taint! Said Julian mournfully; from her mother’s womb She brought the inbred wickedness which now In ripe infection blossoms. Woman, woman, Still to the Goths art thou the instrument Of overthrow; thy virtue and thy vice Fatal alike to them! Say rather, cried The insidious renegade, that Allah thus By woman punisheth the idolatry Of those who raise a woman to the rank Of godhead, calling on their Mary’s name With senseless prayers. In vain shall they invoke Her trusted succour now! like silly birds By fear betray’d, they fly into the toils; And this Pelayo, who in lengthen’d war Baffling our force, has thought perhaps to reign Prince of the Mountains, when we hold his wife And offspring at our mercy, must himself Come to the lure. Enough, the Leader said; This unexpected work of favouring Fate Opens an easy way to our desires, And renders farther counsel needless now. Great is the Prophet whose protecting power Goes with the faithful forth! the rebels’ days Are number’d; Allah hath deliver’d them Into our hands! So saying he arose; The Chiefs withdrew, Orpas alone remain’d Obedient to his indicated will. The event, said Abulcacem, hath approved Thy judgement in all points; his daughter comes At the first summons, even as thou saidst; Her errand with the insurgents done, she brings Their well-concerted project back, a safe And unexpected messenger; ... the Moor, The shallow Moor, ... must see and not perceive; Must hear and understand not; yea must bear, Poor easy fool, to serve their after mirth, A part in his own undoing! But just Heaven With this unlook’d-for incident hath marr’d Their complots, and the sword shall cut this web Of treason. Well, the renegade replied, Thou knowest Count Julian’s spirit, quick in wiles, In act audacious. Baffled now, he thinks Either by instant warning to apprize The rebels of their danger, or preserve The hostages when fallen into our power, Till secret craft contrive, or open force Win their enlargement. Haply too he dreams Of Cordoba, the avenger and the friend Of Abdalazis, in that cause to arm Moor against Moor, preparing for himself The victory o’er the enfeebled conquerors. Success in treason hath embolden’d him, And power but serves him for fresh treachery, false To Roderick first, and to the Caliph now.

The guilt, said Abulcacem, is confirm’d, The sentence past; all that is now required Is to strike sure and safely. He hath with him A veteran force devoted to his will, Whom to provoke were perilous; nor less Of peril lies there in delay: what course Between these equal dangers should we steer?

They have been train’d beneath him in the wars Of Africa, the renegade replied; Men are they who, from their youth up, have found Their occupation and their joy in arms; Indifferent to the cause for which they fight, But faithful to their leader, who hath won By licence largely given, yet temper’d still With exercise of firm authority, Their whole devotion. Vainly should we seek By proof of Julian’s guilt to pacify Such martial spirits, unto whom all creeds And countries are alike; but take away The head, and forthwith their fidelity Goes at the market price. The act must be Sudden and secret; poison is too slow. Thus it may best be done; the Mountaineers, Doubtless, ere long will rouse us with some spur Of sudden enterprise: at such a time A trusty minister approaching him May smite him, so that all shall think the spear Comes from the hostile troops. Right counsellor! Cried Abulcacem, thou shalt have his lands, The proper meed of thy fidelity: His daughter thou may’st take or leave. Go now And find a faithful instrument to put Our purpose in effect!... And when ’tis done, The Moor, as Orpas from the tent withdrew, Muttering pursued, ... look for a like reward Thyself! that restless head of wickedness In the grave will brood no treasons. Other babes Scream when the Devil, as they spring to life, Infects them with his touch; but thou didst stretch Thine arms to meet him, and like mother’s milk Suck the congenial evil! Thou hast tried Both laws, and were there aught to gain, wouldst prove A third as readily; but when thy sins Are weigh’d, ’twill be against an empty scale, And neither Prophet will avail thee then!