tiner with all their valor were not able to cope. Scipio, having with the utmost care introduced strict discipline among his troops, and reformed the abuses which his predecessors had suffered in their armies, by degrees brought the Romans to face their enemies, which at his arrival they had absolutely refused to do. Having then ravaged all the country round about the town, it was soon blocked up on all sides, and the inhabitants began to feel the want of provisions. At last they resolved to make one desperate attempt for their liberty, and either to break through their enemies, or perish in the attempt. With this view they marched out in good order by two gates, and fell upon the works of the Romans with the utmost fury. The Romans, unable to stand this desperate shock, were on the point of yielding; but Scipio, hastening to the place, attacked, with no fewer than 20,000 men, the unhappy Numantines, who were at last driven into the city, where they sustained for a little longer the miseries of famine. Finding at last, how ever, that it was altogether impossible to hold out, it was resolved by the majority to submit to the pleasure of the Roman commander. But this resolution was not universally approved. Many shut themselves up in their houses, and died of hunger, while even those who had agreed to surrender repented their offer, and, setting fire to their houses, perished in the flames, with their wives and children, so that not a single Numantine was left alive to grace the triumph of the conqueror of Carthage.

in war.

From the destruction of Numantia till the murder of Sertorius. After the destruction of Numantia, the whole of Spain submitted to the Roman yoke; and nothing remarkable happened till the times of the Cimbri, when a prætorian army was cut off in Spain by the Lusitanians. From this time nothing remarkable occurs in the history of Spain till the civil war between Marius and Sylla. The latter, having crushed the Marian faction (see ROME), proscribed all those that had sided against him whom he could not immediately destroy. Among these was Sertorius, a man of consummate valor and experience He had by Marius been appointed prætor of Spain; and, upon the overthrow of Marius, retired to that province. Sylla no sooner heard of his arrival in that country, than he sent thither one Caius Annius with a powerful army to drive him out. As Sertorius had but few troops along with him he despatched one Julius Salinator with a body of 6000 men to guard the passes of the Pyrenees, and to prevent Annius from entering the country. But Salinator having been treacherously murdered, by assassins hired by Annius for that purpose, he no longer met with any obstacle; and Sertorius was obliged to embark for the coast of Africa with 3000 men, being all he had now remaining. With these he landed at Mauritania; but, as his men were straggling carelessly about, great numbers of them were cut off by the barbarians. This new misfortune obliged Sertorius to reembark for Spain; but, finding the whole coast lined with the troops of Annius, he put to sea again, not knowing what course to steer. In this new voyage he met with a small fleet of Cilician

pirates; and, having prevailed with them to join him, he made a descent on the coast of Yvica, overpowered the garrison left there by Annius, and gained a considerable booty. On the news of this victory Annius set sail for Yvica with a considerable squadron, having 5000 land forces on board. Sertorius, not intimidated by the superiority of the enemy, prepared to give them battle. But, a violent storm arising, most of the ships were driven on shore and dashed to pieces, Sertorius himself with great difficulty_escaping with the small remains of his fleet. For some time he continued in great danger, being prevented from putting to sea by the fury of the waves, and from landing by the enemy; at last, the storm abating, he passed the straits of Gades, now Gibraltar, and landed near the mouth of the river Bootis. Here he met with some seamen newly arrived from the Atlantic or Fortunate Islands; and was so taken with the account which they gave him of those happy regions, that he resolved to retire thither to spend the rest of his life in quiet and happiness. But, having communicated this design to the Cilician pirates, they immediately abandoned him and set sail for Africa with an intention to assist one of the barbarous kings against his subjects who had rebelled. Upon this Sertorius sailed thither also, but took the opposite side; and, having defeated the king named Ascalis, obliged him to shut himself up in the city of Tidgis, now Tangier, which he closely besieged. But in the mean time Pacianus, who had been sent by Sylla to assist the king, advanced with a considerable army against Sertorius. Upon this the latter, leaving part of his forces before the city, marched with the rest to meet Pacianus, whose army, though greatly superior to his own in number, he entirely defeated; killed the general, and took all his forces prisoners. The fame of this victory soon reached Spain; and the Lusitanians, being threatened with a new war from Annius, invited Sertorius to head their armies. With this request he very readily complied, and soon became very formidable to the Romans. Titus Didius, governor of that part of Spain called Boetica, first entered the lists with him; but, being defeated, Sylla next despatched Metellus, reckoned one of the best commanders in Rome, to stop the progress of this new enemy. But Metellus, notwithstanding all his experience, knew not how to act against Sertorius, who was continually changing his station, putting his army into new forms, and contriving new stratagems. On his first arrival he sent for L. Domitius, then prætor of Hither Spain, to his assistance; but Sertorius, being informed of his march, detached Hirtuleius, or Herculeius, his quæstor, against him, who gave him a total overthrow. Metellus then despatched Lucius Lollius, prætor of Narbonne Gaul against Hirtuleius; but he met with no better success, being utterly defeated, and his lieutenant-general killed. The fame of these victories brought to the camp of Sertorius such a number of illustrious Roman citizens, of the Marian faction, that he formed a design of erecting Lusitania into a republic in opposition to that of Rome. Sylla was continually sending fresh supplies to Metellus; but Sertorius, with a

handful of men accustomed to range about the mountains, to endure hunger and thirst, and live exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, so harassed the Roman army, that Metellus himself began to be quite discouraged. At last Sertorius, hearing that Metellus had spoken disrespectfully of his courage, challenged his antagonist to end the war by single combat; but Metellus very prudently declined the combat, as being advanced in years; yet this refusal brought upon him the contempt of the unthinking multitude, upon which Metellus resolved to retrieve his reputation by some signal exploit, and therefore laid siege to Lacobriga, a considerable city in those parts. This he hoped to reduce in two days, as there was but one well in the place; but Sertorius having previously removed all those who could be of no service during the siege, and conveyed 6000 skins full of water into the city, Metellus continued a long time before it without making any impression. At last, his provisions being almost spent, he sent out Aquinius at the head of 6000 men to 'procure a new supply; but Sertorius, falling unexpectedly upon them, cut in pieces or took the whole detachment; the commander himself being the only man who escaped to carry the news of the disaster; upon which Metellus was obliged to raise the siege with disgrace. And now Sertorius, having gained some intervals of ease in consequence of the many advantages he had obtained over the Romans, began to civilise his new subjects. Their savage and furious manner of fighting he changed for the regular order and discipline of a well formed army; he bestowed liberally upon them gold and silver to adorn their arms, and, by conversing familiarly with them, prevailed upon them to lay aside their own dress for the Roman toga. He sent for all the children of the principal people, and placed them in the great city of Osca, now Heresca, in the kingdom of Arragon, where he appointed them masters to instruct them in the Roman and Greek learning, that they might, as he pretended, be capable of sharing with him the government of the republic. Thus he made them really hostages for the good behaviour of their parents; however the latter were greatly pleased with the care he took of their children, and all Lusitania were in the highest degree attached to their new sovereign. This attachment he took care to heighten by the power of superstition; for, having procured a young hind of a milk-white colar, he made it so tame that it followed him wherever he went; and Sertorius gave out to the ignorant multitude that this hind was inspired by Diana, and revealed to him the designs of his enemies, of which he always took care to be well informed by the great numbers of spies he employed. While Sertorius was employed in establishing nis authority, the republic of Rome, alarmed at his success, resolved to crush him at all events. Sylla was now dead, and all the eminent generals in Rome solicited this honorable though dangerous employment. After much debate a decree was passed in favor of Pompey the Great, but without recalling Metellus. In the mean time the troops of one Perpenna, or Perperna, had, in spite of all that their general could do, abandoned

him and taken the oath of allegiance to Sertorius. This was a most signal advantage to Sertorius; for Perperna commanded an army of 33,000 men, and had come into Spain with a design to settle there as Sertorius had done; but, as he was descended from one of the first families in Rome, he thought it below his dignity to serve under any general, however eminent he might be. But the troops of Perperna were of a different opinion; and therefore, declaring that they would serve none but a general who could defend himself, they to a man joined Sertorius; upon which Perperna himself, finding he could do no better, consented to serve also as a subaltern. On the arrival of Pompey in Spain, several of the cities which had hitherto continued faithful to Sertorius began to waver; upon which the latter resolved, by some signal exploit, to convince them that Pompey could no more screen them from his resentment than Metellus. With this view he laid siege to Lauron, now Lirias, a place of considerable strength. Pompey, not doubting but he should be able to raise the siege, marched quite up to the enemy's lines, and found means to inform the garrison that those who besieged them were themselves besieged, and would soon be obliged to retire with loss and disgrace. On hearing this message, I will teach Sylla's disciple,' said Sertorius, that it is the duty of a general to look behind as well as before him.' Having thus spoken, he sent orders to a detachment of 6000 men, who lay concealed among the mountains, tc come down and fall upon his rear if he should offer to force the lines. Pompey, surprised at their sudden appearance, durst not stir out of his camp; and in the mean time the besieged, despairing of relief, surrendered at discretion; upon which Sertorius granted them their lives and liberty, but reduced their city to ashes.

While Sertorius was thus successfully contending with Pompey, his quæstor Hirtuleius was entirely defeated by Metellus, with the loss of 20,000 men; upon which Sertorius advanced with the utmost expedition to the banks of the Sucro in Tarraconian Spain, with a design to attack Pompey before he could be joined by Metellus. Pompey, on his part, did not decline the combat; but, fearing that Metellus might share the glory of the victory, advanced with the greatest expedition. Sertorius put off the battle till towards the evening; Pompey, though he knew that the night would prove disadvantageous to him, whether vanquished or victorious, because his troops were unacquainted with the country, resolved to venture an engagement, especially as he feared that Metellus might arrive in the mean time and rob him of part of the glory of conquering so great a commander. Pompey, who commanded his own right wing, soon obliged Perperna, who commanded Sertorius's left, to give way. Hereupon Sertorius himself, taking upon him the command of that wing, brought back the fugitives to the charge, and obliged Pompey to fly in his turn. In his flight he was overtaken by a gigantic African, who had already lifted up his hand to discharge a blow at him with his broad sword; but Poinpey prevented him by cutting off his right hand

at one blow. As he still continued his flight he was wounded and thrown from his horse; so that he would certainly have been taken prisoner had not the Africans who pursued him, quarrelled about the rich furniture of his horse. This gave an opportunity to the general to make his escape; so that at length he reached his camp with much difficulty. But in the mean time Afranius, who commanded the left wing of the Roman army, had entirely defeated the wing which Sertorius had left, and even pursued them so closely that he entered the camp along with them. Sertorius, returning suddenly, found the Romans busy in plundering the tents; when, taking advantage of their situation, he drove them out with great slaughter, and retook his camp. Next day he offered battle a second time to Pompey; but, Metellus then coming up with all his forces, he thought proper to decline an engagement with both commanders. In a few days, however, Pompey and Metellus agreed to attack the camp of Sertorius; Metellus attacked Perperna, and Pompey fell upon Sertorius. The event was similar to that of the former battle; Metellus defeated Perperna, and Sertorius routed Pompey. Being then informed of Perperna's misfortune, he hastened to his relief, rallied the fugitives, and repulsed Metellus in his turn, wounded him with his lance, and would certainly have killed him, had not the Romans, ashamed to leave their general in distress, hastened to his assistance, and renewed the fight with great fury. At last Sertorius was obliged to quit the field and retire to the mountains. Pompey and Metellus hastened to besiege him; but, while they were forming their camp, Sertorius broke through their lines, and escaped into Lusitania. Here he soon raised such a powerful army, that the Roman generals, with their united forces, did not think proper to venture an engagement with him. They could not, however, resist the perpetual attacks of Sertorius, who now drove them from place to place, till he obliged them to separate: the one went into Gaul, and the other to the foot of the Pyrenees. Thus did this celebrated commander triumph over all the power of the Romans; and there is little doubt but he would have continued to make head against all the.other generals whom the republic could have sent, had he not been assassinated at an entertainment by the infamous treachery of Perperna, in 73 B. C., after he had made head against the Roman forces for almost ten years. Pompey was no sooner informed of his death than, without waiting for any new succors, he marched against the traitor, whom he easily defeated and took prisoner; and, having caused him to be executed, thus put an end, with very little glory, to a most dangerous war.

From the murder of Sertorius till its conquest by the Moors. Many of the Spanish nations, however, still continued to bear the Roman yoke with great impatience; and as the civil wars which took place first between Julius Cæsar and Pompey, and afterwards between Octavianus and Antony, diverted the attention of the republic from Spain, by the time that Augustus had become sole master of the Roman empire, they were again in a condition to assert their liberty.

The CANTABRIANS and ASTURIANS were the most powerful and valiant nations at that time in Spain; but, after incredible efforts, they were obliged to lay down their arms, or rather were almost exterminated, by Agrippa, as is related under these articles. From this time the Spaniards continued in quiet subjection to the Romans; but on the decline of the empire they were attacked by the northern nations, who put an end to the Roman name in the west. As the inhabitants had by that time entirely lost their ancient valor, the barbarians met with no resistance but from one another. In the reign of the emperor Honorius, the Vandals, Alans, and Suevians, entered this country; and, having made themselves masters of it, divided the provinces among themselves. In 444 the Romans made one effort more to recover their power in this part of the world; but, being utterly defeated by the Suevians, the latter established a kingdom there which lasted till the year 584, when it was utterly overthrown by the Goths under Leovigild.

The princes of the Goths, now called Visigoths, or Western Goths, to distinguish them from the Easter or Ostro-Goths (see GOTHS), continued to reign over a considerable part of Spain till the beginning of the eighth century, when their empire was entirely overthrown by the Saracens. During this period they had totally expelled the eastern emperors from what they possessed in Spain, and even made considerable conquests in Barbary; but towards the end of the seventh century the Saracens overran all that part of the world with a rapidity which nothing could resist; and, having soon possessed themselves of the Gothic dominions in Barbary, they made a descent upon Spain about the year 711 or 712. The king of the Goths at that time was called Roderic, and by his bad conduct had occasioned great disaffection among his subjects. He therefore determined to put all to the issue of a battle, knowing that he could not depend upon the fidelity of his own people if he allowed the enemy time to tamper with them. The two armies met in a plain near Xeres in Andalusia. The Goths began the attack with great fury; but, though they fought like men in despair, they were at last defeated with excessive slaughter and their king himself perished in the battle, being never more heard of. By this battle the Moors in a short time rendered themselves masters of almost all Spain. The poor remains of the Goths were obliged to retire into the mountainous parts of Asturias, Burgos, and Biscay: the inhabitants of Arragon, Catalonia, and Navarre, though they might have made a considerable stand against the enemy, chose for the most part to retire into France.

History of Spain to the erection of the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, &c.-In 718, however, the power of the Goths began again to revive under Pelagio or Pelayo, a prince of the royal blood, who headed those that had retired to the mountains after the fatal battle of Xeres. The place where he first laid the foundation of his government was in the Asturias, in the province of Liebana, about twenty-seven miles in length and twelve in breadth. This is the most inland part of the country, full of mountains enormously high, and

so much fortified by nature that its inhabitants are capable of resisting almost any number of invaders. Alakor, the Saracen governor, was no sooner informed of this revival of the Gothic kingdom than he sent a powerful army, under the command of one Alhaman, to crush Pelagio before he had time to establish his power. The king, though his forces were sufficiently numerous (every one of his subjects arrived at man's estate being a soldier), did not think proper to venture a general engagement in the open field; but, taking post with part of them himself in a cavern in a very high mountain, he concealed the rest among precipices, giving orders to them to fall upon the enemy as soon as they should perceive him attacked by them. These orders were punctually executed, though indeed Pelagio himself had repulsed his enemies. The slaughter was dreadful; for the troops who lay in ambuscade joining the rest, and rolling down huge stones from the mountains upon the Moors (the name by which the Saracens were known in Spain), no fewer than 124,000 of these unhappy people perished in one day. The remainder fled till they were stopped by a river, and, beginning to coast it, part of a mountain suddenly fell down, stopped up the channel of the river, and either crushed or drowned, by the sudden rising of the water, almost every one of that vast army. The Moors were not so much disheartened by this disaster but that they made a second attempt against Pelagio. Their success was as bad as ever, the greatest part of their army being cut in pieces or taken; in consequence of which they lost all the Asturias, and never dared to enter the lists with Pelagio afterwards. Indeed, their bad success had in a great measure taken from them the desire of conquering a country where little or nothing was to be got; and therefore they rather directed their force against France, where they hoped for more plunder. Into this country they poured in prodigious multitudes; but were utterly defeated in 732, by Charles Martel, with the loss of 300,000 men, as the historians of those times affirm.

Pelagio died in 737, and soon after his death such intestine divisions broke out among the Moors as greatly favored the increase of the Christian power. In 745 Alphonso the Catholic, son-in-law to Pelagio, in conjunction with his brother Froila, passed the mountains, and fell upon the northern part of Galicia; and, meeting with little resistance, he recovered almost the whole of that province in a single campaign. Next year he invaded the plains of Leon and Castile; and, before the Moors could assemble any force to oppose him, he reduced Astorgas, Leon, Saldagna, Montes de Oca, Amaya, Alava, and all the country at the foot of the mountains. The year following he pushed his conquests as far as the borders of Portugal, and the next campaign ravaged the country as far as Castile. Being sensible, however, that he was yet unable to defend the flat country which he had conquered, he laid the whole of it waste, obliged the Christians to retire to the mountains, and carried off all the Moors for slaves. Thus secured, by a desert frontier, he met with no interruption for some years; during which time, as his kingdom

advanced in strength, he allowed his subjects gradually to occupy part of the flat country, and to rebuild Leon and Astorgas, which he had demolished. He died in 757, and was succeeded by his son Froila. In his time Abdelrahman, the caliph's viceroy in Spain, threw off the yoke, and rendered himself independent, fixing the seat of his government at Cordova. See CORDOVA. Thus the intestine divisions among the Moors were composed; yet their success seems to have been little better than before; for, soon after, Froila encountered the Moors with such success that 54,000 of them were killed on the spot, and their general taken prisoner. Soon after he built the city of Oviedo, which he made the capital of his dominions, to be in a better condition to defend the flat country, which he now determined to people. In the year 758 the power of the Saracens received another blow by the rise of the kingdom of Navarre. This kingdom took its origin from an accidental meeting of gentlemen, to the number of 600, at the tomb of a hermit named John, who had died among the Pyrences. At this place, where they had met on account of the supposed sanctity of the deceased, they took occasion to converse on the cruelty of the Moors, the miseries to which the country was exposed, and the glory that would result from throwing off their yoke; which, they supposed, might easily be done, by reason of the strength of their country. On mature deliberation, the project was approved; one Don Garcia Ximenes was appointed king, as being of illustrious birth, and looked upon as a person of great abilities. He recovered Ainsa, one of the principal towns of the country, out of the hands of the infidels; and his successor Garcias Inigas extended his territories as far as Biscay; however, the Moors still possessed Portugal, Mercia, Andalusia, Valentia, Granada, Tortosa, and the interior part of the country as far as the mountains of Castile and Saragossa. Their internal dissensions, which revived after the death of Abdelrahman, contributed greatly to reduce the power of the infidels in general. In 778 Charles the Great, being invited by some discontented Moorish governors, entered Spain with two great armies; one passing through Catalonia, and the other through Navarre, where he pushed his conquests as far as the Ebro.

On his return he was attacked and defeated by the Moors; but this did not hinder him from keeping possession of all those places he had already reduced. At this time he seems to have been master of Navarre: however, in 831 count Azner, revolting from Pepin son to the emperor Louis, again revived the independency of Navarre; but the sovereigns did not assume the title of kings till the time of king Garcia, who began to reign in 857. In the mean time the kingdom founded by Pelagio, now called the kingdom of Leon and Oviedo, continued to increase rapidly in strength and altogether it had two enemies to contend with, many advantages were gained over the Moors,who lost ground every day. In 921, however, they gained a great victory over the united forces of Navarre and Leon, by which the whole force of the Christians in Spain must have been entirely broken, had not