Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/471

445 DEATH OF ALONSO DE AGUILAR. 44.5 son of Aguilar had fought so sturdily bj his father's chapter. side ; and there the huge rock, at whose foot the " - chieftain had fallen, throwing its dark shadow over the remains of the noble dead, who lay sleeping around. The strongly marked features of the ground called up all the circumstances, which the soldiers had gathered from tradition ; their hearts beat high, as they recapitulated them one to another; and the tears, says the eloquent historian who tells the story, fell fast down their iron cheeks, as they gazed on the sad relics, and offered up a soldier's prayer for the heroic souls which once animated them.^^ Tranquillity was now restored throughout the wide borders of Granada. The banner of the Cross floated triumphantly over the whole extent of its wild sierras, its broad valleys, and populous cities. Every Moor, in exterior at least, had become a Christian. Every mosque had been converted into a Christian church. Still the country was not en- tirely purified from the stain of Islamism, since many professing their ancient faith were scattered over different parts of the kingdom of Castile, where lib. 1, sect. 61.) Mendoza falls a statesman, warrior, and historian, nothing short of this celebrated de- His ' ' Guerra de Granada, ' ' confined scription of the Roman historian ; as it is to a barren fragment of " Pan etiam Arcadia dicatsejudicevictum." Moorish history, displays such lib- 29 Mendoza, Guerra de Granada, eral sentiments, (too liberal, in- pp 300 - 302. deed, to permit its publication till The Moorish insurrection of 1570 long after its author's death,) pro- was attended with at least one ^ound reflection, and classic ele- good result, in calling forth this g^nce of style, as well entitle him historic masterpiece, the work of ^ ^^e appellation of the Spanish the accomplished Diego Hurtado Sallust. de Mendoza, accomplished alike as