. [188] But his vast enterprise, perhaps of
easy execution, must have seemed extravagant to vulgar minds; and the
visionary conqueror was soon reminded of his dependence and servitude.
The friends of Tarik had effectually stated his services and wrongs:
at the court of Damascus, the proceedings of Musa were blamed, his
intentions were suspected, and his delay in complying with the first
invitation was chastised by a harsher and more peremptory summons. An
intrepid messenger of the caliph entered his camp at Lugo in Gallicia,
and in the presence of the Saracens and Christians arrested the bridle
of his horse. His own loyalty, or that of his troops, inculcated the
duty of obedience: and his disgrace was alleviated by the recall of his
rival, and the permission of investing with his two governments his two
sons, Abdallah and Abdelaziz. His long triumph from Ceuta to Damascus
displayed the spoils of Africa and the treasures of Spain: four hundred
Gothic nobles, with gold coronets and girdles, were distinguished in his
train; and the number of male and female captives, selected for their
birth or beauty, was computed at eighteen, or even at thirty, thousand
persons. As soon as he reached Tiberias in Palestine, he was apprised
of the sickness and danger of the caliph, by a private message from
Soliman, his brother and presumptive heir; who wished to reserve for his
own reign the spectacle of victory.

Had Walid recovered, the delay of Musa would have been criminal: he
pursued his march, and found an enemy on the throne. In his trial before
a partial judge against a popular antagonist, he was convicted of vanity
and falsehood; and a fine of two hundred thousand pieces of gold
either exhausted his poverty or proved his rapaciousness. The unworthy
treatment of Tarik was revenged by a similar indignity; and the veteran
commander, after a public whipping, stood a whole day in the sun before
the palace gate, till he obtained a decent exile, under the pious name
of a pilgrimage to Mecca. The resentment of the caliph might have been
satiated with the ruin of Musa; but his fears demanded the extirpation
of a potent and injured family. A sentence of death was intimated with
secrecy and speed to the trusty servants of the throne both in Africa
and Spain; and the forms, if not the substance, of justice were
superseded in this bloody execution. In the mosch or palace of Cordova,
Abdelaziz was slain by the swords of the conspirators; they a