Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/442

416 416 XIMENES. PART only replied, that, "A tamer policy might, indeed, '■ — suit temporal matters, but not those in which the interests of the soul were at stake ; that the unbe- liever, if he could not be drawn, should be driven, into the way of salvation ; and that it was no time to stay the hand, when the ruins of Mahometanism were tottering to their foundations." He accord- ingly went on with unflinching resolution. ^^ But the patience of the Moors themselves, which had held out so marvellously under this system of oppression, began now to be exhausted. Many signs of this might be discerned by much less acute optics than those of the archbishop ; but his were blinded by the arrogance of success. At length, in this inflammable state of public feeling, an incident occurred which led to a general explosion. Revolt of the Thrcc of Ximcucs's servants were sent on some Albaj'cin. business to the Albaycin, a quarter inhabited exclu- sively by Moors, and encompassed by walls, which separated it from the rest of the city.^'^ These men had made themselves peculiarly odious to the people by their activity in their master's service. A dispute, having arisen between them and some inhabitants of the quarter, came at last to blows, when two of the servants were massacred on the spot, and their comrade escaped with difficulty from the infuriated mob.^^ The affair operated as the ^ Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 28 Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. 30. — Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, 31. rey 30, cap. 10. There are some discrepancies, 27 Casiri, Bibliotheca Escuria- not important however, between lensis, torn. ii. p. 281. — Pedraza, the narrative of Gomez and the Antiguedad de Granada, lib. 3, other authorities. Gomez, consid- cap. 10. ering his uncommon opportunities