extended and new crafts introduced. Under the Romans, Christianity came to the Peninsula, and Seville was made the seat of a bishop. The remaining portions of the great aqueduct, the wall, the two high granite columns in the Alameda de Hercules, with the statues of Julius Cæsar and Hercules upon them, the shafts of the columns discovered in the Calle Abades, and the beautiful fragments of capitals and statues in the Museo Arqælógico are the chief vestiges of Seville in the days of the Romans. At Urbs Italica, 'the camp of the Italians,' there still exists a grass-grown, mouldered amphitheatre, the only remnant of a mighty town.

Built on the slopes once dotted with the tents of the aboriginal hamlet of Sancios, Italica lies about five miles to the west of Seville, amid olive gardens and wheatfields. The circus is a ruin; but the passages can be followed below the tiers of seats, and one may peer into the dens once tenanted by the lions and other fierce beasts. Bees hum amongst the wild thyme, lizards creep on the worn stones, and a tethered ass grazes in the arena. The glory of Rome has departed; the plaudits from those deserted and grassy seats have not been heard for centuries; and blood has ceased to redden the floor, where fragrant herbs now spring and butterflies sun themselves on fallen masonry. Here is all that is left of Italica, the home of Trajan and Hadrian, and the asylum for Scipio's aged warriors. For a period the decaying town was known as Old Seville, and tons of its masonry were removed to build Seville the New.

Rome fell, and the Silingi Vandals swarmed into the country, captured Hispalis, and made it the seat of their empire. This period in the history of Seville is dark, and beset with difficulty for the annalist. About the year 520 a great horde of Goths spread over Andalusia. They seized the Vandal capital, but afterwards established a new capital of their own at Toledo.

Amalaric was the first of the Gothic monarchs who sat on the throne in Seville. He reigned probably from about the year 522. Theudis ruled in Seville (531 to 548), and we read that he was murdered there after an attempt to expel the Byzantine troops of Justinian from Africa. Theudisel, or Theudigisel, was general to Theudis, whom he succeeded as ruler at Seville. Theudisel shared the fate of his predecessor on the throne. After a reign of eighteen months, he was killed by the sword-thrusts of a dozen nobles of his retinue, while taking supper in his palace. This 'monster of licentiousness' was wont to kill all women who repelled his addresses, and his assassination was a work of vengeance on the part of outraged fathers and husbands among his courtiers.

Schlegel says the Goths were ready converts to Christianity, but 'in the Arian form.' At a later period of their supremacy in Spain there came a wider adherence to orthodox Catholicism, and the civil power was largely in the hands of the bishops and clergy. The most influential bishop of this day was Saint Isidore (San Isidoro) who held office in Seville. His brothers, Leander and Fulgentius, were also prelates, and his sister, Florentina, was made a saint. Saint Leander was the elder brother of Isidore, and through him the youth received his education after the death of his parents. The pupil was earnest and diligent in his studies, and as he grew to manhood he zealously assisted his brother, who then held the See of Seville, in converting the Goths from the heresy of Arius.

Dissensions between the orthodox and the Arians caused great strife and family bitterness among the ruling class. During the reign of King Leovigild rebellions broke out in Castile and León. The leader of the rebels was Leovigild's own son, Ermenigild, who had married Ingunda, daughter of Brunichilda and of Sigebert. Ingunda professed the orthodox faith, while Gosvinda, the second wife of Leovigild, was of the Arian sect. A rivalry arose between the two dames. According to Gregory of Tours, Gosvinda determined that Ingunda should be compelled to embrace the heterodox creed. One day when the two disputants were together, engaged in hot controversy, the fanatical Gosvinda gripped Ingunda by the hair of her head, threw her to the ground, trod upon her, and bade an Arian priest baptize the prostrate woman.

This incident not unnaturally brought about a quarrel between Leovigild and his son. Ermenigild was then ruling in Seville, while Leovigild maintained his court at Toledo. The trouble grew when Leander, the uncle of Ermenigild, persuaded the young man to forsake Arianism. His father was deeply angered, and vowed that the Gothic crown should never come to an apostate. The Archbishop of Tours states that the father was the first to take up arms after the rupture, but other historians suppose that the turbulent Ermenigild began the hostilities.

This domestic difference led to serious warfare. Ermenigild was besieged in Seville by his father's forces, after begging aid from Mir, King of the Suevi, in Galicia. Mir started with an army to assist the rebellious prince, but on the way he was defeated by Leovigild, and forced to aid the monarch. For a year Ermenigild resisted the siege of Seville. The people were on the point of starvation when he resolved upon capitulation. Nothing remained but flight, and the prince made his escape from the city and reached Córdova. There he was captured, divested of his regal garments and authority, and banished to Valencia. Very soon the strife was renewed. Ermenigild, panting for a reprisal, solicited aid from the Greeks and rebels of the east coast, and invaded Estremadura. His father went to meet him with a force of his bravest men. The attack was made by Leovigild, who drove his son's army from Merida into Valencia, and took the young man a prisoner.

The King was stern, but he could not act ungenerously towards his foe and son. He offered Ermenigild pardon and favour on condition that he would reject his heretical faith. The rebel refused the terms; he would rather remain in his dungeon than practise hypocrisy. Again the father besought the son, through an Arian priest, to renounce his false doctrine, and again Ermenigild was resolute. In a passion, he cursed the cleric, crying: 'As the minister of the devil, thou canst only guide to hell! Begone, wretch, to the punishments which are prepared for thee!' This was more than Leovigild could bear. He immediately sentenced his son to death. The legend of Ermenigild's last days relates that on the night of his execution a light from Paradise shone in his cell, and that angels watched over the grave, singing hymns in his praise. Ermenigild was sainted, and one of his bones is at Zaragoza.

It was in this time of religious stress and civil discord that Saint Isidore of Seville began his labours. For about thirty-six years he ruled as governor of the church in the city. His hand was open towards the poor, and he preached with fervid eloquence. It is to the industry of Isidore that Spain owes respect, for his writings are the only basis for a history of the chief events during the Gothic epoch. He wrote the Historia de Regibus Gothorum, Wandalorum et Suevorum, and one of the celebrated books of study of mediævalism, The Etymologies or Origins of Things.

San Isidore's philosophy was Platonic and Aristotelian. In theology he followed the teaching of St. Gregory the Great. He was a puritan in his attitude towards the play.

'What connection,' he writes, 'can a Christian have with the folly of the circus games, with the indecency of the theatre, with the cruelty of the amphitheatre, with the wickedness of the arena, or with the lasciviousness of the