Castilians to a sense of Rodrigo's worth. He was invited to return by
Alfonso, and with great generosity consented, bringing with him a large
body of men raised by his own exertion and cost. For two years he made
his name terrible to the Moors, as the great Christian champion.

But even this fame was not sufficient to secure his influence at court,
and about the year 1090 he was once more banished, and his estates were
seized. He appears from this time to have commenced a life of
adventurous and independent warfare with the Moors. He besieged Alcocer,
a strong Moorish fortress on the borders of Aragon, and finally took it.
With a band of determined warriors of his own stamp he ravaged,
consumed, and spoiled all the Moslem territories which he invaded,
making a castle on a rock in Ternel his chief stronghold, and thence
sallying out in forays. The place has been ever since called the Rock of
the Cid.

The last and greatest achievement of this hero was the taking of
Valencia. This city was in the hands of a Moslem prince, Alcadir by
name, who had refused to acknowledge the authority of Jusef and the
Almoravides over Spain, which they were attempting to subdue. The Cid,
either as an ally of Alcadir, or from motives of policy, assisted him in
the defence of the city; but it was taken through the treachery of its
Cadi, Ahmed. For this service, the traitor was made governor in the room
of Alcadir, who fell fighting bravely. A kinsman of the betrayed king
determined to avenge his death, and asked the Cid's aid, which was
promptly given. The Arabian historians relate that Ahmed yielded after a
brief siege, on conditions of safety for himself and family. It is
further related that this promise was faithlessly broken, and the guilty
Ahmed sentenced by Rodrigo to be burned alive for his crimes. The
Christian historians happily acquit the Cid's memory of this barbarity;
but all unite in recording the successful siege of the city, which he
took in 1094. While he lived, the Moors vainly tried to retake it; but
on his death, which is supposed to have occurred in 1099, Valencia again
fell. Romance has colored with glowing tints this scanty historic
outline of the Cid's life. Spanish literature, for two or three hundred
years after his death, is almost confined to epic or ballad poetry, of
which he is the hero. To acquire such a fame demanded a force of
character, which, if not accurately painted by these loving and fanciful
narrators,