Roderick, the last of the Goths : $b A tragic poemSouthey, Robert
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Roderick, the last of the Goths : $b A tragic poem
Southey, Robert
Roderick, King of the Visigoths, -711? -- Poetry
But the King could
no longer restrain himself from replying, and he said, Go you, Count,
and defend the land with this force which you have assembled, even as
you went to destroy it by the great treason which you committed against
me and against God. And even as you brought the men, who are enemies of
God and of his Holy Faith, and led them into Spain, so now thrust them
out and defend it; for I will neither slay you, nor assist you in it.
Leave me to myself; I am no longer for the world, for here I will do
penance for my sins. Urge me, therefore, no more with these reasons. And
the false Count Don Julian rose, and went to the great company which he
had brought there, and brought them all before the King. And the King,
when he beheld that great company of knights, saw some among them whom he
surely thought had been slain in battle. And they all said to him with
loud voices, Sir, whom wilt thou send us, that we may take him for our
King and Lord to protect and defend us, seeing that thou wilt not defend
the land, neither go with us? Wouldst thou give us thy nephew the Infant
Don Sancho? He is dead. What then wouldst thou command us that we should
do? Look to it well, sir; it is no service of God that thou shouldst let
perish so great a Christianity as is every day perishing, because thou
art here dwelling in this solitude. Look to it, for God will require an
account at thy hands: thou hadst the charge of defending them, and thou
lettest them die. And tell us what course shall we take. And when the
King heard these words he was moved to compassion: and the tears came
into his eyes, so that he could not restrain them: and he was in such
state that his thoughts failed him, and he was silent, and made no reply
to any thing that they could say. And all these companies who saw him
complained so much the more, and sent forth great cries, and made a great
tumult, and uproar, and said, O miserable King, why wilt thou not rouse
thyself for thy own sake, and for that of all thy people whom thou seest
without a Lord; and thou wilt not even speak a word to comfort them, and
tell them what they shall do. And all this while the King did nothing but
weep, and answered them never a word. And when this vile race saw that
they could not take him from thence, and that he answered them nothing,
and that they could not overcome him by whatever they might do, they
went forthwith from the mountain down into a plain, which was then made
to appear before the King, and there they drew up their battles in such
guise as the King Don Roderigo was used to darrain them. And eft-soon he
saw great multitudes of strange people, who came from the other side,
and they began a battle so fierce and so cruel, that the King thought he
had never seen one like it. And the one party put the other to the worst,
and followed after them in pursuit. And then there came messengers to the
King, telling him that his people had conquered, and had slain many of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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