Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/424

396 396 DEATH OF GONSALVO. II. PART " and few histories make mention of his being outwitted in the whole course of his life."^° He plajed the game with more adroitness than his op- ponents, and he won it. Success, as usual, brought on him the reproaches of the losers. This is par- ticularly true of the French, whose master, Louis the Twelfth, was more directly pitted against him.^^ Yet Ferdinand does not appear to be a whit more obnoxious to the charge of unfairness than his opponent.^^ If he deserted his allies when it suited his convenience, he, at least, did not de- liberately plot their destruction, and betray them into the hands of their deadly enemy, as his rival did with Venice, in the league of Cambray.^^ The partition of Naples, the most scandalous transaction of the period, he shared equally with Louis ; and 60 M^moires de Bayard, chap, politician, to hazard his game by 61. — "This prince," says lord playing the braggart. Herbert, who was not disposed to ^~ Paolo Giovio strikes the bal- overrate the talents, any more than ance of their respective merits in the virtues, of Ferdinand, " was this particular, in the following thought the most active and polit- terms. " Ex horum enim longe ique of his time. No man knew maximorum nostras tempestatis re- better how to serve his turn on gum ingeniis, et turn liquido et everybody, or to make their ends multum antei pracclare compertum conduce to his." Life of Henry est, nihil omnino sanctum el invio- Vni. p. 63. labile, vel in rite conceptis sancitis- 61 According to them, the Cath- que fcfideribus reperiri, quod, in die king took no great pains to proferendis imperils augendisque conceal his treachery. " Quelqu'un opibus, apud eos nihil ad illustris disant un jour a Ferdinand, que famte decus interesset, dolone et Louis Xn. I'accusoit de Tavoir nusquam sine fallaciis, an fide in- trompfe trois fois, Ferdinand parut tegra veraque virtule niterentur." m^content qu'il lui ravlt une partie Hist, sui Temporis, lib. 11, p. 160. de sa gloire II en a bicn mcnti, ^3 An equally pertinent example rivro^ne, dit-il, avec toute la gros- occurs in the efficient support he sieret6 du temps, _;e Vai tronwe plus gave Caesar Borgia in his flagitious dedix." (Gaiiiard, Rivalite, tom. enterprises against some of the iv. p. 240.) The anecdote has most faithful allies of France. See been repeated by other modern Sismondi, Republiques Italiennes, writers, I know not on wliat author- tom. xiii. cap. 101. ity. Ferdinand was too shrewd a