Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/86

62 62 WAR OF GRANADA. PART souls of the soldiery, and bring waste and dissi- pation into a camp." I. Its strict That this was not the result, however, in the discipline. ' ' present instance, is attested by more than one his- torian. Among others, Peter Martyr, the Italian scholar before mentioned, who was present at this siege, dwells with astonishment on the severe de- corum and military discipline, which everywhere obtained among this motley congregation of soldiers. "Who would have believed," says he, "that the Galician, the fierce Asturian, and the rude inhabitant of the Pyrenees, men accustomed to deeds of atro- cious violence, and to brawl and battle on the lightest occasions at home, should mingle amicably, not only with one another, but with the Toledans, La-Manchans, and the wily and jealous Andalusian ; all living together in harmonious subordination to authority, like members of one family, speaking one tongue, and nurtured under a common discipline ; so that the camp seemed like a community modelled on the principles of Plato's republic ! " In another part of this letter, which was addressed to a Mil- anese prelate, he panegyrizes the camp hospital of the queen, then a novelty in war ; which, he says, " is so profusely supplied with medical attendants, apparatus, and whatever may contribute to the res- toration or solace of the sick, that it is scarcely surpassed in these respects by the magnificent establishments of Milan." ^^ 14 Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, lib.2,epist. 73,80. — Pulgrar, Reyes MS. — Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., Catolicos, cap. 113, 114, 117. — I