New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-28

F-lWaru watts Up XVII. sl3 IT, !. futNiiH :
Sons.
Although Mr. Watts "a fully aware OF the de-
fects Of the old chronicles and histories Of Spain.
he nevertheless betrays the constralnt which
they have put upon him This is shown even in
his style. which alternates between his own
modern phraseology ard the ancient diction
which comes easily 10 one transating works
OF an age far past. He does not fail into the
mistake OF putting ideas that characterize ID the
lates; development Of chivalry and knighthOOd
into the times when people were but little re-
moved from savagery. The Gothic period IS not
TO him golden age full OF wonderful memories
But he has his golden age in Spain. though he
says little about it. II Is the age Of Roman do
minion. In those days Spain was united and
powerful. The Romans" he says had made
one nation and one people Of Spain" There is
surely much more than the truth in this hasty
general statement II would be nearer the fact
70 say that the Roman population was united
and powerful in Spain. and that II had slowly
assimilated some elements from among the
tive races. elements that contributed high genius
10 the central life Of the empire. But taken
a whole this population never was considered
civilized by the Romans. From first to last they
might have said of It what sIus did say in the
name Of the elder Scipio:
Pro barbara nunquam
Impolluta hdes. peterem cum victor edesum
Eladbus HasdrIbalem subtle venale cohortes
Hispanae vulgus Libyci quas fercerat aur
Hasdrlbal. abrupto llquerInt agmine sigma.
One can pick a number Of hard. emphatic
words out OF this passage. but the most sig
nifcant thought is that savage cannot be trust
ed. That unquestionably was the view taken OF
the Iberian mountaineeers not merely by the
M bx- ha CT AZ Of They
were savages to their Italian conquerors. The
wonderful ancient time Of union will have to be
put still further back. perhaps to Carthaginian
times or 10 the days when the Phoenicians
traded around the shores Of the peninsula. both
within and without the Pillars of Hercules. As
for the Romans. they left exactly what the Visi-
goths found. a serviceable contrivance for keep
ing hardy and intractable races in check. II
had worked well for the Latins and 1t worked
we'll for several centuries in the hands OF the
Visigoths. rude the latter unquestionably
We're Their numbers were considerable to begin
with. and like their Teutonic brethren in Italy
and other regions, II they wrought much slaugh-
ter they soon fell on good terms with those over
whom they had gained the victory. But the
ditions Of this friendship between conquerors and
conquered were only such as to promote an
artificial union. If Spain had been inaccessible
TO attack from without the visigothic supremacy
might have lasted indefinitely. But the lightest
foreign touch was sufficient to destroy all Co
hesion. In that last struggle Of the Goths. which
has become the theme Of romance so highly
colored, certain names emerge as those Of trait
ors to a united Spain, men who sold their
try TO the Arab invader. They names and
nothing else. They represent actual divisions
among the people Of the peninsula, divisions that
Ferdinand and Isabella came to the throne.
Among such factions which. II they were not
diverse races. were only less distinctively marked
off from each other. the aurum Libycum was as
in Roderick's day as in that of Hasdru-
bal. The analogies of history indicate that what
iisunion there was in the Gothic army must
have been Of tribal rather than personal origin.
When Mr. Watts discrmnatss between the
visigoths and other Teutonic races by saying
that the former were not able TO do what the
latter easily accomplished. namely, to assimilate
the people whom they conquered. he puts the
burden on the wrong shoulder. II was the
native tribes Of Iberia who were difficult Of as
Sanitation as compared with their more civilized
of the North and East
Not that Mr. Watts leaves much Of the Gothic
legend He finds Count Julian and his brother
the Bishop Oppas. IL not wholly needless, at all
events too shadowy to be Of any use. The
story Of Florinda, the Helen who wrought this
woe on Spain, which fills prominent a place
n Spanish romance" he remarks, sis now re-
ected by all sober historians and is believed only
by the all-believing Mariana. That there was a
Count Julian, who had wrongs TO avenge on
King Roderick. and that he took an active part /
n bringing about the invasion. is likely enough /
10 be true, whether it was his daughter or some +
1ther woman who 'seduced him to that foul re- /
volt" The author makes clear the rudeness Of !
tines when It was improbable that kings could |
-ead and when the Goths had become too lazy !
o cherish anything like the knighthood of later
age had It been known to them In fact he /
makes the origin Of chivalry a comparatively /
modern thing in Spain. 1t was not until foreign !
Knights, the flower OF England's nobility and /
gentry under Edward the Black Prince. and the 4
pest Of French knights under Bertrand du Cues /
lin entered Spain to take part in the bloody /
luarrels of Pedro the Cruel of CASTLE. that the /
natives realized the meaning Of the most potent ;
clement in medieval civilization Hitherto the /
spanish mind had been intent on the practical /
lin of battle. which was TO Kill your enemy for /
he sake Of his land" But in Prince Edward 1
md Bertrand they now saw. almost for the first F
ime. patterns Of knghthood obey1ng law Of /
conduct while pursuing their warlike game. In |
he collision between the highly trained and |
plendidy accoutred foreign cavaliers. who came .
o fight out their own quarrels in Spain. who .
we're less concerned in the comparative merits .
4 Pedro and Enrique than with their own rep
ltations gallant knights the Spaniaris had .
spectacle such as never before had been af- /
orded them on so grand scale" Beginning T.
% late. 1t was natural that the love OF knight
lood and chivalry should survive in Spain longer
han anywhere else. and that It should color
more deeply the romantic notions Of the people.
{ is through this medium that most writers
nd readers Of Spanish history are apt 70 look
t those incredible stories OF Gothic civilization
nd early medieval magnfcence which over
low the romances and the later poets.
All episode of early times which is changed