of North Africa had been accomplished by the
Arab general, Musa Ibn Nosseyr, only the fortress of Ceuta, on the
shore of the strait, still remaining in possession of the Goths.
The Saracens knew that a fresh revolution in Spain had placed on
the throne Roderic--who proved to be the last of the Gothic kings.
At Ceuta the commandant, Count Ilyan (Julian), when he was
attacked, made a feeble defence, virtually betraying the post into
the hands of the Moslems. The reason, according to some
authorities, for the defection of Ilyan was his desire to avenge an
injury inflicted upon him by Roderic, who is said to have
dishonored Ilyan's daughter, the Lady Florinda. Others attribute
the treason of Ilyan to his real loyalty to the rivals of Roderic,
the latter being regarded by him as a usurper.

It is recorded that Ilyan proposed to Musa the conquest of
Andalusia, whose wealth in productiveness and other natural
attractions he glowingly described. The people, Ilyan declared,
were enervated by reason of prolonged peace, and were destitute of
arms. He was induced entirely to desert the Gothic cause and join
the Moslems, and made a successful incursion into the country of
his former friends, returning to Africa loaded with spoil. From
this time Ilyan served under the Moslem standard.

Another invasion was made by the Saracens with like results, and
then Musa, having received authority from the Caliph, prepared to
enter upon the conquest of Spain. The events which followed were
not only of great moment in the affairs of that country, but
foreshadowed others which seemed to involve the fate of Europe and
of Christendom in the outcome of the Mahometan advance.

Musa strengthened himself in his intention of invading Andalusia; to
this effect he called a freed slave of his, to whom he had on different
occasions intrusted important commands in his armies, and whose name was
Tarik Ibn Zeyad Ibn Abdillah, a native of Hamdan, in Persia, although
some pretend that he was not a freedman of Musa Ibn Nosseyr, but a
free-born man of the tribe of Sadf, while others make him a _mauli_ of
Lahm. It is even asserted that some of his posterity, who lived in
Andalusia, rejected with indignation the supposition of their ancestor
having ever been a liberated slave of Musa Ibn Nosseyr. Some authors,
and they are the greates