Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/469

443 DEATH OF ALONSO DE AGUILAR. 443 y and elaborate records of history. ^^ The popular chapter VII feeling was displayed after another fashion in regard '— to the count of Urena and his followers, who were accused of deserting their posts in the hour of peril ; and more than one ballad of the time reproachfully demanded an account from him of the brave com- panions in arms whom he had left in the Sierra. ^^ The imputation on this gallant nobleman appears wholly undeserved ; for certainly he was not called on to throw away his own life and those of his brave followers, in a cause perfectly desperate, for a chimerical point of honor. And, so far from for- feiting the favor of his sovereigns by his conduct on this occasion, he was maintained by them in the 25 According to one of the ro- mances, cited by Hyta, the expedi- tion of Aguilar was a piece of ro- mantic Quixotism, occasioned by King Ferdinand's challenging the bravest of his knights to plant his banner on the summits of the Al- puxarras. " dual de vosotros, amigos, Ira 4 la Sierra mafiana, A poner mi Real pendon Encima de la Alpuxarra ? " All shrunk from the perilous em- prise, till Alonso de Aguilar step- ped forward and boldly assumed it for himself. Sino fuera don Alonso, Que de Aguilar se Uamaba. Levantose en pie ante el Rey De esta manera le habla. " Aquesa empresa, Senor, Para mi estaba guardada. Que mi senora la reyna Ya me la tiene mandada. " Alegrose mucho el Rey For la oferta que le daba, Aun no era amanecido Don Alonso ya cavalga." These popular ditties, it cannot be denied, are slippery authorities for any important fact, unless support- ed by more direct historic testimo ny. When composed, however, by contemporaries, or those who lived near the time, they may very natu- rally record many true details, too insignificant in their consequences to attract the notice of history. The ballad translated with so much elaborate simplicity by Percy, is chiefly taken up, as the English reader may remember, with the exploits of a Sevillian hero named Saavedra. No such personage is noticed, as far as I am aware, by the Spanish chroniclers. The name of Saavedra, however, appears to have been a familiar one in Seville, and occurs two or three times in the muster-roll of nobles and cavaliers of that city, who joined King Fer- dinand's army in the preceding year, 1500. Zuniga, Annates de Sevilla, eodem anno. 2S Mendoza notices these splenet- ic effusions (Guerra de Granada, p. 13) ; and Bleda (Coronica, p, 636,) cites the following couplet from one of them. " Decid, conde de Urena, Don Alonso donde quedx"
 * ' A todos tiembia la barba,