orders that every noble and
prelate of his kingdom should put himself at the head of his retainers,
and take the field; and that every man capable of bearing arms should
hasten to his standard, bringing whatever horse, and mule, and weapon he
possessed: and he appointed the plain of Cordova for the place where the
army was to assemble. Throwing by, then, all the trappings of his late
slothful and voluptuous life, and arming himself for warlike action, he
departed from Toledo at the head of his guard, composed of the flower of
the youthful nobility. His queen, Exilona, accompanied him; for she craved
permission to remain in one of the cities of Andalusia, that she might be
near her lord in this time of peril.

Among the first who appeared to hail the arrival of the king at Cordova,
was the Bishop Oppas, the secret partisan of the traitor Julian. He
brought with him his two nephews, Evan and Siseburto, the sons of the late
king Witiza; and a great host of vassals and retainers, all well armed and
appointed, for they had been furnished, by Count Julian, with a part of
the arms sent by the king to Africa. The bishop was smooth of tongue, and
profound in his hypocrisy: his pretended zeal and devotion, and the horror
with which he spoke of the treachery of his kinsman, imposed upon the
credulous spirit of the king, and he was readily admitted into his most
secret council.

The alarm of the infidel invasion had spread throughout the land, and
roused the Gothic valor of the inhabitants. On receiving the orders of
Roderick, every town and hamlet, every mountain and valley, had sent forth
its fighting men, and the whole country was on the march toward Andalusia.
In a little while there were gathered together, on the plain of Cordova,
near fifty thousand horsemen, and a countless host of foot-soldiers. The
Gothic nobles appeared in burnished armor, curiously inlaid, and adorned
with chains and jewels of gold, and ornaments of precious stones, and
silken scarfs, and surcoats of brocade, or velvet richly embroidered;
betraying the luxury and ostentation with which they had declined from the
iron hardihood of their warlike sires. As to the common people, some had
lances and shields and swords and crossbows, but the greater part were
unarmed, or provided merely with slings, and clubs studded with nails, and
with the iron implements of husbandry; and many had made shields for
themselves from the doors and windows of their habitations.