Thy noble river Guadalaver, with all the other waters with which thou hast been served so well, have left their channel, and now they run where they should not.
Thy water courses, which were so clear and of such great profit to so many, for lack of cleansing are choked with mud.
Thy pleasant gardens which were round about thee;…the ravenous wolf hath gnawn at the roots, and the trees can yield thee no fruit.
Thy goodly fields, with so many and such fair flowers, wherein thy people were wont to take their pastime, are all dried up.
Thy noble harbour, which was so great honour to thee, is deprived of all the nobleness which was wont to come into it for thy sake.
The fire hath laid waste the lands of which thou wert called Mistress, and the great smoke thereof reacheth thee.
There is no medicine for thy sore infirmity, and the physicians despair of healing thee.
Valencia! Valencia! from a broken heart have I uttered all these things which I have said of thee.
And this grief would I keep unto myself that none should know it, if it were not needful that it should be known to all.
XVIII. Now all the trouble and distress which the men of Valencia endured, pleased Abeniaf well, because they had forsaken him and followed the sons of Aboegib; and he said that it did not behove a man to give advice unto those who would not listen to it, and that if the people had hearkened to him they would not have been brought to this misery; and what evil they endured was because of the sons of Aboegib, who lacked wit to be well with any one, or to do any thing. These things Abeniaf said daily to all who came to visit him: so that the people great as well as little began to talk thereof, saying that Abeniaf spake truly. And the Christians fought against them every day, and prest them close, and the price of food increased daily: and they withdrew themselves from the love of the sons of Aboegib, and thought that they had been ill advised to follow their counsel, and that because of them all this evil was come upon them, and they held them for fools. And the people cried out upon Abeniaf that he should forgive them for having forsaken him, and that he should protect them, and devise means for their deliverance from this great trouble. And Abeniaf said that he would have nothing to do with them more than as one of them; for if they were in trouble, so was he: and what they stood in fear of, that did he fear also; and that he could not give counsel to men who were divided among themselves; and he said unto them that they must agree among themselves, and be all of one mind to do one of these two things;…either to forsake the sons of Aboegib and their counsel; or to stand by it. And when he should see that they no longer opposed him with their evil counsels and the bad way in which they were going on, that he would then take counsel for them in such guise that they should be at peace; for they knew how they had sped so long as they let him direct them, and he trusted in God so to speed as that they should have no war with the Cid, neither with any other. And they made answer with one accord that they would trust in him and obey him, and do all which he should command, for it had alway been well with them when they followed his advice.