Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/188

44 I. 44. REIGN OF jOHiN II., OF ARAGON. I ART another contemporary, as " in person somewhat above the middle stature, having a thin visage, with a serene and modest expression of countenance, and withal somewhat inclined to melancholy. " ^'' He was a considerable proficient in music, painting, and several mechanic arts. He frequently amused himself with poetical composition, and was the inti- mate friend of some of the most eminent bards of his time. But he w^as above all devoted to the study of philosophy and history. He made a ver- sion of Aristotle's Ethics into the vernacular, which was first printed, nearly fifty years after his death, at Saragossa, in 1509. He compiled also a Chron- icle of Navarre from the earliest period to his own times, which, although suffered to remain in manu- script, has been liberally used and cited by the Spanish antiquaries, Garibay, Blancas, and others. ^^ His natural taste and his habits fitted him much better for the quiet enjoyment of letters, than for the tumultuous scenes in which it was his misfor- tune to be involved, and in which he was no match for enemies grown gray in the field and in the intrigues of the cabinet. But, if his devotion to learning, so rare in his own age, and so very rare among princes in any age, was unpropitious to his success on the busy theatre on which he was en- magnificencia, y finalmentcsudulce Antonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, torn, conversacion, que niiiguna cosa en ii- P- 281. el faltava de aqueUas que pertenes- ^ Nic. Antonio, Bibliotlieca Ve- cen a recta vivir; y que arman el tus, torn. ii. pp. 281, 282. — Rlari- verdadero y perfecto principe y ana, Hist, de Espafia, torn. ii. p. seilor." 431. 27 GundisalvusGar6ias,apud Nic.