onnection,
and of his own merits, he had enjoyed the highest dignities and commands:
being one of the Espatorios, or royal sword-bearers; an office of the
greatest confidence about the person of the sovereign. He had, moreover,
been intrusted with the military government of the Spanish possessions on
the African coast of the strait, which at that time were threatened by the
Arabs of the East, the followers of Mahomet, who were advancing their
victorious standard to the extremity of Western Africa. Count Julian
established his seat of government at Ceuta, the frontier bulwark, and one
of the far-famed gates of the Mediterranean Sea. Here he boldly faced, and
held in check, the torrent of Moslem invasion.

Don Julian was a man of an active, but irregular genius, and a grasping
ambition; he had a love for power and grandeur, in which he was joined by
his haughty countess; and they could ill brook the downfall of their house
as threatened by the fate of Witizia. They had hastened, therefore, to pay
their court to the newly elevated monarch, and to assure him of their
fidelity to his interests.

Roderick was readily persuaded of the sincerity of Count Julian; he was
aware of his merits as a soldier and a governor, and continued him in his
important command; honoring him with many other marks of implicit
confidence. Count Julian sought to confirm this confidence by every proof
of devotion. It was a custom among the Goths to rear many of the children
of the most illustrious families in the royal household. They served as
pages to the king, and handmaids and ladies of honor to the queen, and
were instructed in all manner of accomplishments befitting their gentle
blood. When about to depart for Ceuta, to resume his command, Don Julian
brought his daughter Florinda to present her to the sovereigns. She was a
beautiful virgin, that had not as yet attained to womanhood. 'I confide
her to your protection,' said he to the king, 'to be unto her as a father;
and to have her trained in the paths of virtue. I can leave with you no
dearer pledge of my loyalty.'

King Roderick received the timid and blushing maiden into his paternal
care; promising to watch over her happiness with a parent's eye, and that
she should be enrolled among the most cherished attendants of the queen.
With this assurance of the welfare of his child, Count Julian departed,
well pleased, for his government at Ceuta.

The beautiful daughter of Count Julian was rec