548
RIPARIUS
RODERICUS
his enforced banishment. But his chief interestlies in his having, in a roundabout way de-scribed by Sidonius, given to Sidonius the meansof reading Faustns’ works ; in his letter Sidoniusreproaches Faustus for keeping his writings asecret from him (Ceillier, Aut. Saor. s. 395).
[J. G.]
RIPARIUS, a learned presbyter of Aquitaine,in the beginning of the 5th century, and friendof Desiderius (q.v.), known to us from his con-nexion with the controversies caused by Vigilan-tius and Pelagius. Vigilantius, after a stay inPalestine, where he had been received by Jerome,returned to his old diocese, in which Ripariuslived, and commenced spreading his opinions,which condemned various superstitious practices,especially the adoration of relics. Riparius,finding that his bishop to some extent counte-nanced Vigilantius, wrote to Jerome, who re-plied in a short letter which is extreme both inits contempt of Vigilantius and in its advocacyof the practices impugned. This was in 4-04.Jerome having asked for the work of Vigilan-tius, Riparius sent it him by the Deacon Sisin-nius, and thus called forth the treatise ofJerome, Adv. Vigilantium , in 406.
At a later time (417) Riparius again solicitedthe help of Jerome in combating the views ofPelagius. Jerome replied in a short letter ofencouragement, exhorting him to stand fast, andtelling him how the partisans of Pelagius hadattacked the monasteries at Bethlehem, but hadsince been almost driven away from Palestine.Jerome speaks of Riparius as a well-knowndefender of the faith, and addresses him as“domine vere sancte et suscipiende frater.(Desiderius, Hieronymus, Vigilantius, Sisin-nius ; Jerome, Epp. 109,138 ; Id. Adv . Vigil. 3.)
[W. 1 1. F.]
RIQUIER, ST. [Richarius.]
RODANUS, count, bearer of a letter fromLeo the Great to Julianus (27) of Cos, datedthe 25th of June, a.d. 453 (Leo, Epp. 125, inMigne, Patr. Lat. liv. 1069). In it reference ismade to other letters sent by another person ofthe same name, entitled subadjuva, a title signi-fying that he was one of the assistants of anadjutor . For these offices see the Commentaryof Panciroli on the Notitia Imperii , chaps. 12and 16. The former Rodanus may be the sameas the {< Rodanus vir honorabilis,” bearer of aletter, dated May 21, a.d. 449, to Flavian(Leo, Epp. 27, in Patr. Lat. liv. 751). [F. D.]
RODERICUS, last Gothic king of Spain, isone of those persons whose prominence in legendcontrasts strongly with the meagreness of ourauthentic information about them. He had longbeen governor of part of Southern Spain, andon the death of Wittiza seized the throne at theinstigation of the Gothic magnates. (“Tumul-tuose regnum hortante Senatu invadit,” Isid.Pac. “Furtim magis quam virtute invadit reg-num,^ continuer of J. Biclarensis.) The evi-dence is against the story of a previous insurrec-tion in which Wittiza perished, which is firstfound in Rodericus of Toledo, and is there mixedup with the legendary outrage against Roderickalleged father Theodifred, said to have been a son©f Reccesvinth or Kindasvinth. Against this
late authority, there is the silence of all earlierwriters, Sebastian of Salamanca’s statement thatWittiza died a natural death, and the fact thathis brothers and sons commanded in Roderickarmy.
There are indications that Roderick shortreign was troubled with civil war. The Arabnarrative, translated by Dozy ( Pecherches , i. 43),represents him as besieging Pampeluna, whenhe received the news of Tarik’s landing; coinsexist of the same type as those of Wittiza, struckby a certain king Achila, whose name is notfound in any document, at Narbonne and Tarra-gona, from which places no coins of Roderic areknown (Heiss, Monnaies des Eois Wisigotkes, 141);finally Lucas of Tuy’s story that Roderic, byJulian’s advice, sent arms and horses to Gaul,seems a confused reminiscence of some disturb-ance in the North-East. All these indicationssuggest that, as in Wamba’s case, Septimaniaand North-East Spain did not acquiesce in theelection at Toledo, but set up a king of theirown.
We need only allude to the famous story ofRoderic’s seduction of Florinda or La Cava, andthe vengeance of her father Julian. The firstSpanish chronicle that contains it, or, in its pre-sent form, mentions Julian, is that of the monkof Silo (c. A.D. 1100), but it occurs in earlyArab sources, and is considered by Dozy ( [Peek.i. 41; Histoire , ii. 31) to be true. To us theexamination of the chronology given below seemsto disprove it. In any case Julian was a realpersonage. He is mentioned in the earliestArabian chronicles (Dozy, Peek. i. 58), and Dozy,by a brilliant emendation ( u Juliani , Africanaeregionis sub dogmate Catholicae fidei exarchi ” forU’> bani and exorti ) restores him to the text ofIsidorus Pacensis, who relates that a nobleChristian of that name had accompanied Mousathrough all the provinces of Spain, and to thecaliph’s court. No other author mentions suchan Urban, who must have been a prominentperson, and the corruption of Urbani for Julianiis an easy one. Thus Julian would have beenthe governor of the scrap of territory aboutCeuta still held by the Byzantines. This talliesexactly with the best Mohammedan writers ofSpain (Gayangos, i. 5? B), who narrate that whenOkba invaded Western Africa, the governor ofCeuta, whose name was Ilyan, the same whoafterwards led Tarik into Spain, came out tomeet him with presents and asked for andobtained peace. He is called Ilyan, which, ac-cording to Gayangos, is the equivalent not ofJulian but of Aelian. At the instigation, or, atany rate, with the assistance of Julian, Mousa,the caliph’s lieutenant in Africa, in July, 710,sent over a reconnoitring detachment of 400foot and 100 horse under Tarif. He landed atthe point called Tarifa after him, ravaged thecountry and returned laden with booty. Mousadetermined to repeat the expedition, and thenext summer despatched 7000 men under Tarik,occupied Gibraltar (April 30, 711) (Gayangos,i. 522), and proceeded to plunder the country.Roderic marched against him with 100,000 men,on which Mousa sent a reinforcement of 5000.The armies met on the banks of the Wadi-Becca(now the Salado), near the Lago de la Janda onJuly 19. The battle was decided by the treasonof the brothers or sons of Wittiza, who com-