Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/323

297 UNIVERSITY OF ALCALA. 297 of power to enforce obedience, and was fully resolv- chapteu XXI ed to exert it. — Indeed, notwithstanding a few deviations, it must be allowed that Ferdinand's conduct on his return, was extremely lenient and liberal ; more especially, considering the subjects of provocation he had sus- tained, in the personal insults and desertion of those, on whom he had heaped so many favors. History affords few examples of similar moderation on the restoration of a banished prince, or party. In fact, a violent and tyrannical course would not have been agreeable to his character, in which passion, how- ever strong by nature, was habitually subjected to reason. The present, as it would seem, excessive acts of severity are to be regarded, therefore, not as the sallies of personal resentment, but as the dic- tates of a calculating policy, intended to strike ter- ror into the turbulent spirits, whom fear only could hold in check- To this energetic course he was stimulated, as Enthusiasm " of Xiniene".i. was said, by the counsels of Ximenes. This emi- nent prelate had now reached the highest ecclesias- tical honors short of the papacy. Soon after Ferdi- nand's restoration, he received a cardinal's hat from Pope Julius the Second ; ^ and this was followed by his appointment to the office of inquisitor general of Castile, in the place of Deza, archbishop of Se- ville. The important functions devolved on him by these offices, in conjunction with the primacy of 2 He obtained this dignity at the apud Quintanilla, copied from the king-'s solicitation, during his visit archives of Alcala. Archetype, to J^aples. See Ferdinand's letter, Apend. no. 15. VOL. III. 38