Part 23

_De los nobilissimos Godos que en Castilla avian reynado Rodrigo rey no el postrero de los reyes que han passado: en cuyo tiempo los Moros todo Espana avian ganado, sino fuera las Asturias que defendio Don Pelayo En Toledo esta Rodrigo al comienço del reynado; vinole gran voluntad de ver lo que esta cerrado en la torre que esta alli, antigua de muchos años. En esta torre los reyes cada uno hecho un canado, porque lo ordenara ansi Hercules el afamado, que gano primero a España de Gerion gran tirano. Creyo el rey que avia en la torre gran thesoro alli guardado; la torre fue luego abierta y quitados los canados; no ay en ella cosa alguna, sola una caxa han hallado. El rey la mandara abrir; un paño dentro se ha hallado, con unas letras latinas que dizen en Castellano, Quando aquestas cerraduras que cierran estos canados, fueren abiertas y visto lo en el paño debuxado, España sera perdida, y toda ella asolada; ganaran la gente estrana como aqui est an figurados, los rostros muy denegridos, los braços arremangados, muchas colores vestidas, en las cabecas tocados, alçadas traeran sus señas en cavallos cavalgando, largas lanças en sus manos, con espadas en su lado. Alarabes se diran, y de aquesta tierra estraños; perderase toda España, que nada no aura fincado. El rey con sus ricos hombres todos se avian espantado, quando vieron las figuras y letras que hemos contado; buelven a cerrar la torre, quedo el rey muy angustiado._

Romances nuevamente sacados por Lorenço de Sepulveda, ff. 160. 1564.

Juan Yague de Salas relates a singular part of this miracle, which I have not seen recorded any where but in his very rare and curious poem:—

_Cantò como rompidos los candados De la lobrega cueva, y despedidas De sus senos obscuros vozes tristes No bien articuladas, si a remiendos, Repetidas adentro por el ayre, Y una mas bronca se escucho que dize, Desdichado Rey Ro (y acaba digo, Quedando la R submersa entre piçarras) La Coro perderas, y el Man, y el Ce, No dixo el na, ni el do, ni el tro, no dixo; Almenos no se oyo, si bien oyose Por lascivo tirano, y por sobervio, Que ya permite el cielo que el de Meca Castigue por tu causa el Reyno Godo, Por solo que lo riges con mal modo._

Los Amantes de Teruel, p. 29.

The _Chronica General del Rey Don Alfonso_ gives a singular account of the first inhabitant of this fatal spot:—

“There was a king who had to name Rocas; he was of the east country from Edom, wherein was Paradise, and for the love of wisdom he forsook his kingdom, and went about the world seeking knowledge. And in a country between the east and the north he found seventy pillars; thirty were of brass, thirty of marble, and they lay upon the ground, and upon them was written all knowledge and the nature of things. These Rocas translated, and carried with him the book in which he had translated them, by which he did marvels. He came to Troy when the people under Laomedon were building the city, and seeing them he laughed. They asked him why, and he replied, that if they knew what was to happen, they would cease from their work. Then they took him and led him before Laomedon, and Laomedon asked him for why he had spoken these words, and Rocas answered, that he had spoken truth, for the people should be put to the sword, and the city be destroyed by fire. Wherefore the Trojans would have slain him, but Laomedon, judging that he spake from folly, put him in prison to see if he would repent. He, fearful of death, by his art sent a sleep upon the guards, and filed off his irons, and went his way. And he came to the seven hills by the Tyber, and there upon a stone he wrote the letters Roma, and Romulus found them, and gave them as a name to his city, because they bore a resemblance to his own.

“Then went King Rocas westward, and he entered Spain, and went round it and through it, till coming to the spot where Toledo stands, he discovered that it was the central place of the country, and that one day a city should there be built, and there he found a cave into which he entered. There lay in it a huge dragon, and Rocas in fear besought the dragon not to hurt him, for they were both creatures of God. And the dragon took such love towards him, that he always brought him part of his food from the chase, and they dwelt together in the cave. One day an honourable man of that land, by name Tartus, was hunting in that mountain, and he found a bear, and the bear fled into the cave, and Rocas in fear addressed him as he had done the dragon, and the bear quietly lay down, and Rocas fondled his head, and Tartus following, saw Rocas how his beard was long, and his body covered with hair, and he thought it was a wild man, and fitted an arrow to his bow, and drew the string. Then Rocas besought him in the name of God not to slay him, and obtained security for himself and the bear under his protection. And when Tartus heard how he was a king, he invited him to leave that den and return with him, and he would give him his only daughter in marriage, and leave him all that he had. By this the dragon returned. Tartus was alarmed, and would have fled, but Rocas interfered, and the dragon threw down half an ox, for he had devoured the rest, and asked the stranger to stop and eat. Tartus declined the invitation, for he must be gone. Then said Rocas to the dragon, My friend, I must now leave you, for we have sojourned together long enough. So he departed, and married, and had two sons, and for love of the dragon he built a tower over the cave, and dwelt there. After his death, one of his sons built another, and King Pirros added more building, and this was the beginning of Toledo.”

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_Redeemed Magdalen._—X. p. 97.

Lardner published a letter to Jonas Hanway, showing why houses for the reception of penitent harlots ought not to be called Magdalen Houses; Mary Magdalen not being the sinner recorded in the 7th chapter of Luke, but a woman of distinction and excellent character, who laboured under some bodily infirmity, which our Lord miraculously healed.

In the Shibboleth of Jean Despagne, is an article thus entitled: _De Marie Magdelaine laquelle faussement on dit avoir este femme de mauvaise vie: Le tort que luy font les Theologiens pour la plus part en leurs sermons, en leurs livres; et specialement la Bible Angloise en l’Argument du 7ᵉ chap. de S. Luc_.

“The injury,” says this Hugonot divine, “which the Romish church does to another Mary, the sister of Lazarus, has been sufficiently confuted by the orthodox. It has been ignorantly believed that this Mary, and another who was of Magdala, and the sinner who is spoken of in the 7th of Luke, are the same person, confounding the three in one. We have justified one of the three, to wit, her of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus; but her of Magdala we still defame, as if that Magdalen were the sinner of whom St. Luke speaks.

“Nothing is more common in the mouth of the vulgar than the wicked life of the Magdalen. The preachers who wish to confess souls that are afflicted with horror at their sins, represent to them this woman as one of the most immodest and dissolute that ever existed, to whom, however, God has shown mercy. And, upon this same prejudice, which is altogether imaginary, has been founded a reason why the Son of God having been raised from the dead, appeared to Mary Magdalen before any other person; for, say they, it is because she had greater need of consolation, having been a greater sinner than the others.—He who wrote the Practice of Piety places her with the greatest offenders, even with Manasses, one of the wickedest of men: and to authorise this error the more, it has been inserted in the Bible itself. For the argument to the 7th of Luke in the English version says, that the woman whose sins were in greater number than those of others,—the woman, who till then had lived a wicked and infamous life, was Mary Magdalen. But, _1st_, The text gives no name to this sinner: Where then has it been found? Which of the Evangelists, or what other authentic writing, has taught us the proper name or surname of the woman? For she who poured an ointment upon Christ (Matth. xxvi. John, xii.) was not this sinner, nor Mary Magdalen, but a sister of Lazarus. All these circumstances show that they are two different stories, two divers actions, performed at divers times, in divers places, and by divers persons. _2dly_, Where do we find that Mary Magdalen ever anointed the feet of our Saviour? _3dly_, Where do we find that Mary Magdalen had been a woman of evil life? The gospel tells us that she had been tormented with seven devils or evil spirits, an affliction which might happen to the holiest person in the world: But we do not see even the shadow of a word there which marks her with infamy. Why then do we still adhere to an invention not only fabulous, but injurious to the memory of a woman illustrious in piety? We ought as well to beware of bearing false witness against the dead as against the living.

“It is remarkable that neither the sinner (Luke, vii.) nor the adultress who is spoken of in the 8th of John, are named in the sacred history, any more than the thief who was converted on the cross. There are particular reasons, beyond a doubt, and we may in part conjecture them, why the Holy Spirit has abstained from relating the names of these great sinners, although converted. It is not then for us to impose them; still less to appropriate them to persons whom the Scripture does not accuse of any enormous sins.”

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_That Egyptian penitent._—X. p. 97.

St. Mary the Egyptian. This is one of those religious romances which may probably have been written to edify the people without any intention of deceiving them. Some parts of the legend are beautifully conceived. An English Romanist has versified it in eight books, under the title of the Triumph of the Cross, or Penitent of Egypt. Birmingham, 1776. He had the advantage of believing his story,—which ought to have acted like inspiration.

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_The dreadful tale!_—X. p. 97.

_Amava el Rey la desigual Florinda En ser gentil, y desdeñosa dama, Que quiere amor, que quando un Rey se rinda Desdenes puedan resistir su llama. No fue de Grecia mas hermosa y linda La que le dio por su desdicha fama, Ni desde el Sagitario a Cynosura Se vio en tanto rigor tanta hermosura._

_Creciò el amor como el desden crecia; Enojose el poder; la resistencia Se fue aumentando, pero no podia Sufrir un Rey sujeta competencia: Estendiose à furor la cortesia, Los terminos passo de la paciencia, Haziendo los mayores desengaños Las horas meses, y los meses años._

_Cansado ya Rodrigo de que fuesse Teorica el amor, y intentos vanos, Sin que demostracion alguna huviesse, Puso su gusto en pratica de manos: Pues quien de tanto amor no le tuviesse Con los medios mas faciles y humanos, Como tendria entonces sufrimiento De injusta fuerça en el riqor violento?_

_Ansias, congojas, lagrimas y vozes, Amenazas, amores, fuerça, injuria, Pruevan, pelean, llegan, dan ferozes Al que ama, rabia, al que aborrece, furia: Discurren los pronosticos velozes, Que ofrece el pensamiento aquien injuria; Rodrigo teme, y ama, y fuerça, y ella Quanto mas se resiste, està mas bella._

_Ya viste de jazmines el desmayo Las eludas mexillas siempre hermosas, Ya la verguença del clavel de Mayo, Alexandrinas, y purpureas rosas: Rodrigo ya como encendido rayo, Que no respeta las sagradas cosas, Ni se ahoga en sus lagrimas, ni mueve Porque se abrasse, o se convierta en nieve._

_Rindiose al fin la femenil flaqueza Al varonil valor y atrevimiento; Quedò sin lustre la mayor belleza Que es de una casta Virgen ornamento: Siguio à la injusta furia la tibieza. Apareciose el arrepentimiento, Que viene como sombra del pecado, Principios del castigo del culpado._

_Fue con Rodrigo este mortal disgusto, Y quedò con Florinda la vengança, Que le propuso el echo mas injusto Que de muger nuestra memoria alcança: Dizese que no ver en el Rey gusto, Sino de tanto amor tanta mudança Fue la ocasion, que la muger gozada Mas siente aborrecida que forçada._

Jerusalen Conquistada, l. 6. ff. 132.

Lope de Vega quotes scripture in proof of the opinion expressed in this last couplet. 2 Kings, ch. xiii.

Old Barret tells the story as Ancient Pistol would have done:—

“In Ulit’s time there regalized in Spain One Roderick, king from the Gothians race’t; Into whose secret heart with silent strain Instretcht the ’sturber of hart pudike chast, Him enamouravizing of a piece, A piece by Nature quaintly symmetrized, Enfayred with beauty as Helen fair of Greece: Count Julian’s daughter of bed-wedlockized, Ycleaped Caba; who in court surshined The rest, as Hesperus the dimmed stars. This piece the king in his Love’s-closet shrined, Survicting her by wile, gold, gems, or forced jars.”

It is thus related in the fabulous Chronicle:—“_Despues que el Rey ovo descubierto su coraçon a la Cava, no era dia que la no requiriesse una vez o dos, y ella se defendia con buena razon: empero al cabo como el Rey no pensava cosa como en esto, un dia en la siesta embio con un donzel suyo por la Cava; y ella vino a su mandado; y como en essa hora no avia en toda su camara otro ninguno sino ellos todos tres, el cumplio con ella todo lo que puso. Empero tanto sabed que si ella quisiera dar bozes que bien fuera oyda de la reyna, mas callosse con lo que el Rey quiso fazer_.”—P. 1. c. 172.

In this fabulous Chronicle Roderick’s fall is represented as the work of his stars:—“_Y aunque a las vezes pensava el gran yerro en que tocava, y en la maldad que su coraçon avia cometido, tanto era el ardor que tenia que lo olvidava todo, y esto acarreava la malandança que le avia de venir, y la destruycion de Espana que avia de aver comienço para se hazer; y quiero vos dezir que su constelacion no podia escusar que esto no passasse assi; y ya Dios lo avia dexado en su discrecion; y el por cosa que fuesse on se podia arredrar que no topasse en ello._”—P. 1. c. 164.

“Certes,” says the fabulous Chronicler, “he was a Lord of greater bounty than ever had been seen before his time.—He used to say, that if all the world were his, he would rather lose it than one friend; for the world was a thing, which if it were lost, might be recovered; but a friend once lost could never be recovered for all the treasure in the world. And because he was thus bountiful, all those of Spain were likewise; and they had the fame of being the most liberal men in the world, especially those of the lineage of the Goths. Never a thing was asked at his hands, whether great or small, to which he could say no; and never king nor other great lord asked aid of him that he denied, but gave them of his treasures and of his people as much as they needed. And doubt not, but that if fortune had not ordered that in his time the lineage of the Goths should be cut off, and Spain destroyed, there was no king or emperor whom he would not have brought into subjection; and if the whole world ought to be placed in the power of one man, (speaking of worldly things,) there never was, nor will be, a man deserving to possess it, save he alone. But as envy is the beginning of all evil, and saw how great was the goodness of this king, she never rested till she had brought about that things should be utterly reversed, even till she had destroyed him. Oh what great damage to the world will it be when God shall consent that so much bounty, and courage, and frankness, and loyalty should be destroyed for ever! All nations ought to clad themselves in wretched weeds one day in the week to mourn for the flower of the world, and especially ought the people of Spain to make such mourning.”—_Chronica del Rey Don Rodrigo_, p. 1. c. 55.

And again, when the last battle is approaching, he praises the king:—“_Y el Rey era el mas esforçado hombre de coraçon que nunca se oyo dezir: y el mas franco de todo lo que podia aver; y preciava mas cobrar amigos que no quanto tesoro pudiesse estar en su reyno, hasta el dia que creyo el consejo del traydor del conde Don Julian; y a maravilla era buen cavallero que al tiempo que el no era rey, no se hallava cavallero que a la su bondad se ygualasse, y tanto sabed que sino por estas malandanças que le vinieron, nunca cavallero al mundo de tales condiciones fue; que nunca a el vino chico ni grande que del se partiesse despagado a culpa suya_.”—P. 1. c. 213.

The manner in which Florinda calls upon her father to revenge her is curiously expressed by Lope de Vega:—

_Al escrivirle tiemblan pluma y mano, Llega el agravio, la piedad retira, Pues quanto escrive la vengança, tanto Quiere borrar de la verguença el llanto. No son menos las letras que soldados, Los ringlones yleras y esquadrones, Que al son de los suspiros van formados Haciendo las distancias las diciones: Los mayores caracteres, armados Navios, tiendas, maquinas, pendones; Los puntos, los incisos, los acentos Capitanes, Alferez y Sargentos._

_Breve processo escrive, aunque el sucesso Significar quexosa determina, Pero en tan breve causa, en tal processo La perdicion de España se fulmina._

Jerusalen Conquistada, l. 6. ff. 138.

I remember but one of the old poets who has spoken with compassion of Florinda: It is the Portugueze Bras Garcia Mascarenhas, a writer who, with many odd things in his poem, has some fine ones.

_Refresca em Covilham a gente aflita, Nam se sabe que nome entam a honrava; Muyto deposis foy Cava Julia dita, Por nascer nella a desditada Cava. Nam a deslustra, antes a acredita Filha que a honra mais que hum Rey presava; Hespanha culpe a força sem desculpa, Nam culpe a bella, que nam teve culpa._

Viriato Tragico, Canto ii. St. 118.

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_Wamba’s wars._—XII. p. 110.

In the valuable history of this king by a contemporary writer, the following character of the French is given:—

“_Hujus igitur gloriosis temporibus, Galliarum terra altrix perfidiæ infami denotatur elogio, quæ utique inæstimabili infidelitatis febre vexata, genita a se infidelium depasceret membra. Quid enim non in illa crudele vel lubricum? ubi conjuratorum conciliabulum, perfidiæ signum, obscœnitas operum, fraus negotiorum, vænale judicium, et quod pejus his omnibus est, contra ipsum Salvatorem nostrum et Dominum, Judæorum blasphemantium prostibulum habebatur. Hæc enim terra suo, ut ita dixerim, partu, perditionis suæ sibimet præparavit excidium, et ex ventris sui generatione viperea eversionis suæ nutrivit decipulam. Etenim dum multo jam tempore his febrium diversitatibus ageretur, subito in ea unius nefandi capitis prolapsione turbo infidelitatis adsurgit, et conscensio perfidiæ per unum ad plurimos transit._”—S. Julian, Hist. Wambæ, § 5.—Espana Sagrada, 6. 544.

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_The bath, the bed, The vigil._—XII. p. 111.

The Partidas have some curious matter upon this subject.

“Cleanliness makes things appear well to those who behold them, even as propriety makes them seemly, each in its way. And therefore the ancients held it good that knights should be made cleanly. For even as they ought to have cleanliness within them in their manners and customs, so ought they to have it without in their garments, and in the arms which they wear. For albeit their business is hard and cruel, being to strike and to slay; yet notwithstanding they may not so far forego their natural inclinations, as not to be pleased with fair and goodly things, especially when they wear them. For on one part they give joy and delight, and on the other make them fearlessly perform feats of arms, because they are aware that by them they are known, and that because of them men take more heed to what they do. Therefore, for this reason, cleanliness and propriety do not diminish the hardihood and cruelty which they ought to have. Moreover, as is aforesaid, that which appears without is the signification of what they have in their inclinations within. And therefore the ancients ordained that the squire, who is of noble lineage, should keep vigil the day before he receives knighthood. And after mid-day the squires shall bathe him, and wash his head with their hands, and lay him in the goodliest bed that may be. And there the knights shall draw on his hose, and clothe him with the best garments that can be had. And when the cleansing of the body has been performed, they shall do as much to the soul, taking him to the church, where he is to labour in watching and beseeching mercy of God, that he will forgive him his sins, and guide him so that he may demean himself well in that order which he is about to receive; to the end that he may defend his law, and do all other things according as it behoveth him, and that he would be his defender and keeper in all dangers and in all difficulties. And he ought to bear in mind how God is powerful above all things, and can show his power in them when he listeth, and especially in affairs of arms. For in his hand are life and death, to give and to take away, and to make the weak strong, and the strong weak. And when he is making this prayer, he must be with his knees bent, and all the rest of the time on foot, as long as he can bear it. For the vigil of knights was not ordained to be a sport, nor for any thing else, except that they, and those who go there, should pray to God to protect them, and direct them in the right way, and support them, as men who are entering upon the way of death.”—_Part. ii. Tit. 21. Ley 13._