Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/337

311 UNIVERSITY OF ALCALa. 311 effects of his enterprise, in the security which it chapter brought to the before jDcrilous navigation of these ' inland seas.^^ Splendid preparations were made for his recep- Refuses pub- J- A -i 1 he honors. tion in Spain, and he was invited to visit the court at Valladolid, to receive the homage and public tes- timonials due to his eminent services. But his ambition was of too noble a kind to be dazzled by the false lights of an ephemeral popularity. He had too much pride of character, indeed, to allow room for the indulgence of vanity. He declined these compliments, and hastened without loss of time to his favorite city of Alcala. There, too, the citizens, anxious to do him honor, turned out under arms to receive him, and made a breach in the walls, that he might make his entry in a style wor- thy of a conqueror. But this also he declined, choosing to pass into the town by the regular ave- nue, with no peculiar circumstance attending his entrance, save only a small train of camels, led by African slaves, and laden with gold and silver plate from the mosques of Oran, and a precious collection of Arabian manuscripts, for the library of his infant university of Alcala. He showed similar modesty and simplicity in his deportment and conversation. He made no allu- sion to the stirring scenes in which he had been so gloriously engaged ; and, if others made any, turned the discourse into some other channel, particularly '8 Peter IIartyr, Opus Epist., Gestis, fol. 118. — Quintanilla, Ar- epist. 420. — Gomez, De Rebus chetypo, lib. 3, cap. 20.