476 THE DECLINE AND FALL and the title of King of the Romans, which is employed by an Arabic historian, may be excused by the close affinity of lan- guage, religion, and manners, between the nations of Spain. His ai'my consisted of ninety or an hundred thousand men : a formidable power, if their fidelity and discipline had been adequate to their numbers. The troops of Tarik had been aug- mented to twelve thousand Saracens ; but the Christian male- contents were attracted by the influence of Julian, and a crowd of Africans most greedily tasted the temporal blessings of the Kordn, In the neighbourhood of Cadiz, the town of Xeres -"' and victory, has been illustrated by the encounter which determined the fate July 19-26 Qf t}^g kingdom ; the stream of the Guadalete, which falls into the bay, divided the two camps, and marked the advancing and retreating skirmishes of three successive and bloody days. On the fourth day the two armies joined a more serious and de- cisive issue ; but Alaric would have blushed at the sight of his unworthy successor, sustaining on his head a diadem of pearls, encumbered with a flowing robe of gold and silken embroidery, and reclining on a litter or car of ivory, drawn by two white mules. Notwithstanding the valour of the Saracens, they fainted under the M'eight of multitudes, and the plain of Xeres was overspread Avith sixteen thousand of their dead bodies. " My brethren," said Tarik to his surviving companions, "the enemy is before you, the sea is behind ; whither would ye fly . Follow your general : I am resolved either to lose my life or to trample on the prostrate king of the Romans." Besides the resource of despair, he confided in the secret correspondence and nocturnal interviews of count Julian with the sons and the brother of Witiza. The two princes and the archbishop of Toledo occu- pied the most important post ; their well-timed defection broke the ranks of the Christians ; each warrior was prompted by fear or suspicion to consult his personal safety ; and the remains of the Gothic army were scattered or destroyed in the flight and pursuit of the three following days. Amidst the general dis- order, Roderic started from his car, and mounted Orelia, the fleetest of his horses ; but he escaped from a soldier's death to perish more ignobly in the waters of the Baetis or Guadalquivir. 20" Xeres (the Roman colony of Asta Regia) is only two leagues from Cadiz. In the xvith century it was a granary of corn ; and the wine of Xeres is familiar to the nations of Europe (Lud. Nonii Hispania, c. 13, p. 54-56, a work of correct and concise knowledge ; d'Anville, Etats de I'Europe, &c. p. 154). [The battle was fought on the banks of the Wadi Bekka, now called the Salado, on July 19. See Dozy, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne, ii. 34.]
