delaziz, Wali of Toledo, who was one of the family of the Meruans, was a kinsman of the king, and had been a great friend of the Hagib Muhamad Almanzor, whom he had accompanied in many of his campaigns, but more especially in the incursions made by Almanzor against the people of Gallicia.

This Abdallah had also contracted a close friendship with the king of the Christians, who frequently sent him magnificent presents in vases of gold and silver. And the commencement of that amicable intercourse was on this wise among the captives taken in one of his irruptions, Abdallah Ben Abdelaziz had found a very beautiful damsel, whose graces of demeanor, with her gentle sweetness and high cultivation of mind, had subdued the heart of Abdallah, by whom she was beloved without measure; but having been informed that the damsel was the daughter of the Christian king, the general sent her back with all her attendants to her father's court, nor would he accept any ransom for one of the number.

The years of peace accorded by that truce having elapsed, Almudafar then prepared once more to make incursions on the Comarcas of the Christians. He destroyed the fortresses which they had constructed, cut up the tiled ground, and took much spoil, with many captives. The walls of Avila were demolished by his order; and, proceeding to Salamanca, he thence pushed forward into the interior of Gallicia and Portugal. In his backward march, the Hagib took his way by the shores of the Douro, destroying the fortresses of Gormaz and Uxada as he proceeded. These things done, Abdelmelic returned conqueror to Cordova, where he arrived with a large force of cavalry. This took place in the year 398, and in the same year he marched again upon Gallicia, taking in his company the young Manser, son of Almaan Ben Zeiri, the Wali of Fez.

On this expedition, the Hagib Abdelmelic Almudafar rode at the head of four thousand cavaliers, all clothed in cuirasses and coats of mail glittering like the stars, their horses also being furnished with caparisons of silk having a doubled lining. That body was followed by the cavalry of Andalusia and Africa-soldiers well inured to war, and most of

whom had distinguished themselves in many a perilous encounter. These troops were led by the Wali of Toledo, the Governor of Badalyos, and the young Manser Ben Almaan, who was mounted on a fiery war-horse, furious as a lion of the desert, and partaking of all that animosity to the foe which was felt by his valiant rider.

The Christians came forth to meet the Moslemah host with infinite bravery; but, although they were the heroes of their time, men who had acquired their experience in many battles, and were familiar with all the terrors and cruelties of the hottest fight, yet they were thrown into confusion, defeated, and put to flight, the forces of the Hagib falling upon them like dragons, and at length forcing them from a field which they would yet not abandon until it had been died a deep red with their blood.

The pursuit was taken up by Abdelmelic Almudafar himself, who followed the Infidels with his cavalry; but they, having obtained a partial refuge among the asperities of a somewhat difficult pass, recovered from their dismay. They then renewed the sanguinary combat, and fought like raging tigers, insomuch that the Moslemah there suffered great loss. The night coming on, put an end to the struggle, and under favour of the obscurity the Christians retired to their savage mountains; then the Moslemah, seeing the notable losses they had sustained, recrossed the frontier, and thence proceeding to Medina Toledo, they finally returned to Cordova.

No long time after the close of the campaign here in question, the Hagib Abdelmelic Almudafar fell sick, and that heavy malady increasing unto death, he departed in the moon of Safar in the year 399, not without grave suspicions that he had been poisoned. His death was deeply regretted by all good men; and his bier was accompanied to the burial-place by all the nobles of the city. Abdelmelic, the son of Almanzor, governed the state with much prudence and prosperity during a period of six years and four months.

In this year there also died the preceptor of the Hagib Abdelmelic Almudafar, Ahmed Ben Abdelaziz Ben Ferazi Ben Abi Hubab of Cordova, a wise and excellent man.

He had lived ninety years, and was buried in the Macbora or cemetery of the Rusafa. The prayer was made for him by the Cadi Ahmed Ben Dhecuen.

CHAP. CIV.-OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ABDERAHMAN, SON OF ALMANZOR, AND OF HIS DEATH.

THE King Hixem El Muyad Billah, who had no will but that of his servants, received from them the proposal to appoint Abderahman, brother of Abdelmelic Almudafar, his Hagib, and he did so accordingly. In this Abderahman, who was a captain of his guard, the king hoped to find the high qualities and good fortune which had distinguished and accompanied his father and brother; but it is a common thing for man to be mistaken in his judgments and disappointed in his hopes: God alone is omniscient.

When Amaan* Ben Zeiri was made acquainted with the choice of the new Hagib, he sent rich presents, which were offered to Abderahman Ben Muhamad Almanzor by the hands of the young Manser, son of Amaan Ben Zeiri, who was then residing in Cordova as a hostage for his father's fidelity. Among the gifts thus presented were one hundred and fifty horses of the most generous race: and the Hagib Abderahman, well content with the courtesy of Amaan, did great honour to the envoys of that Ameer, giving them rich vestments and precious jewels, with other marks of favour: he also sent the young Manser back to his father. More than ever bound to the Hagib by that obligation, Amaan Ben Zeiri collected the best horses that could be found in Barbary, and these he despatched into Andalusia to the number of one thousand, than which a more costly and valuable gift was never sent from Almagreb to Spain.

Now the Hagib Abderahman Ben Muhamad was a young man much devoted to his pleasures; he spent the day in

* Or Alman, as elsewhere written. Our author, following his Arabic authorities with scrupulous fidelity, and seeking his materials in the pages of many writers, adopts the orthography now of one and now of another, a practice of which we here have an instance.-TR.

the elegant occupations of chivalry, and the night in festive entertainments, never having been accustomed to the severity of manners, the grave application to the business of government, and the toils of war, in which the days and nights of his father and brother had been employed; he was altogether occupied by the pleasures and pastimes of the court. Yet Abderahman was of his nature a frank and cordial youth, nor by any means the worthless and indolent person whom he is by some writers declared to have been. Those who describe him as a man without self-respect, and the disgrace of his lineage, and who affirm that he merited nothing better than deposition from his office, are mere detractors.

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Possessing great riches, Abderahman was so generous in giving, as to border on prodigality in his person and the height of his stature he resembled his father Almanzor, and even for that circumstance was greatly beloved by the people, who applauded all his levities, and found something to admire in his most extravagant tastes. He lived in the closest intimacy with the King Hixem El Muyad Billah: but the familiarity of princes is often fatal to him who enjoyeth the same-rarely doth it endure-very rarely hath it found a happy termination,-whether because the man so privileged having nothing more to wish, is apt to become negligent of his service and exacting in his expectations, or whether, losing his judgment in the giddiness of his height, he gives occasion to the unquiet spirit of ambition, which is ever mining the edifices of vanity, to work his downfall, is not here to be discussed, it shall suffice us to know, that the instability of his condition who lives on the breath of princes is a truth universally acknowledged.

Now the King Hixem El Muyad Billah had no son to succeed him in the empire, and although his age was not such as to make his having one improbable, yet the young Hagib Abderahman, consulting only his inconsiderate vanity, had the boldness to propose that his sovereign should declare him the future successor to the throne. But in this he did not consider the kinsmen of the king, of whose opinions on the subject he made no account whatever. Confiding in the unstable inclinations of the people, who loved and blessed him, with a blind devotion on the part of some, and

on that of others with a better founded affection, resulting from their respect to the memory of his father, he continued to press the matter, until he had persuaded King Hixem to accede to his wishes; the public declaration of the king's purpose to be suspended only until after Ahderahman Ben Almanzor should return from his first expedition against the Christians, in which he hoped to obtain a brilliant success.

These things were as yet discussed in secret only, and within the halls of the Alcazar; yet suspicions of what was intended did not fail to be aroused by those slight circumstances which ever betray what the parties concerned believe they are ably concealing, and the hatred and indig nation of all connected with the house of Meruan was at once awakened thereby. These feelings were more especially manifested by a cousin of the king, a young man called Muhamad Ben Hixem Ben Abdelgiabar Ben Abderahman Anasir, a young man of much bravery, who was the presumed successor to the throne, in the event of there being no son born to King Hixem. This Muhamad not being able to endure any longer the pretensions of the Hagib Abderahman, whom the people called Anasir, departed for Cordova, and repaired to the frontiers of Castile, in which country he assembled numerous forces. Many Alcaides holding rule in that district then joined the party of Muhamed Ben Hixem, and having called their banners together, they entered Andalusia, making the vain hopes and unreasonable aspirations of the Hagib Abderahman a subject of consideration and disapproval in all the towns through which they passed. These partizans of Muhamad declared that the Hagib had compelled King Hixem's assent to his desire for being declared successor to the throne, and had acted without any regard to the respect due from his family to the royal house of Meruan. It was not

difficult to persuade the nobles to oppose themselves to that design, and the rather as many of them were already sufficiently envious of the power monopolized by the Alabaries, as the family and partizans of the Hagib Muhamad Ben Abdallah Ben Abi Amer, El Moaferi, named Almanzor, had long been called.

When Abderahman Ben Muhamad received intelligence