Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/289

265 EXPEDITION OF CHARLES VIII. 265 the rightful duke of Milan, whom his uncle held in chapter subjection during a protracted minority, while he '. — exercised all the real functions of sovereignty in his name. Not feeling sufficiently secure from his Ital- ian confederacy, Sforza invited the king of France to revive the hereditary claims of the house of An- jou to the crown of Naples, promising to aid him in the enterprise with all his resources. In this way, this wily politician proposed to divert the storm from his own head, by giving Ferdinand suf- ficient occupation at home. The throne of France was at that time filled by charies •^ VIII., of Charles the Eighth, a monarch scarcely twenty-two ^'""^• years of age. His father, Louis the Eleventh, had given him an education unbecoming, not only a great prince, but even a private gentleman. He would allow him to learn no other Latin, says Brantome, than his favorite maxim, " Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare."^^ Charles made some amends for this, though with little judgment, in la- ter life, when left to his own disposal. His favorite studies were the exploits of celebrated conquerors, of Caesar and Charlemagne particularly, which filled his young mind with vague and visionary ideas of glory. These dreams were still further nourished by the tourneys and other chivalrous spectacles of the age, in which he delighted, until he seems to have imagined himself some doughty paladin of romance, destined to the achievement of a grand and perilous enterprise. It affords some proof of 11 Brantome, Vies des Hommes is, 1822-3,) torn. ii. disc. 1, pp. Illustres, Qiluvres Completes, (Par- 2, 20. VOL. II. 34