Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/354

328 328 AFRICAN EXPEDITION OF XIMENES. PART II. sula,^° and continued to send forth its sons to occu- py the most exalted posts in church and state, and shed the light of genius and science over their own and future ages.^* 50 Erasmus, in a letter to his friend Vergara, in 1527, perpe- trates a Greek pun on the classic name of Alcala, intimating the highest opinion of the state of sci- ence there. " Gratulor tibi, orna- tissime adolescens, gratulor vestraa Hispaniffi ad pristinam eruditionis laudem veluti postliminio reflores- centi. Gratulor Compluto, quod duorura praesulum Francisci el Al- fonsi felicibus auspiciis sic efBores- cit omni genere studiorum, ut jure Optimo vrttfivXevrn appellare possi- mus." Epistolae, p. 771. 51 Quintanilla is for passing the sum total of the good works of these worthies of Alcala to the credit of its founder. They might ser"e as a makeweight to turn the scale in favor of his beatification. Archetype, lib. 3, cap. 17.