Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/429

401 DEATH AND CHARACTER OF FERDINAND. 401 time in human character, imputes Ferdinand's sue- chapter XXIV. cesses, in one of his letters, to " cunning and good hick, rather than superior wisdom." ^^ He was in- lasSoniem- ^ ^ _ poraries. deed fortunate ; and the " star of Austria," which rose as his declined, shone not with a brighter or steadier lustre. But success through a long series of years sufficiently, of itself, attests good conduct. "The winds and waves," says Gibbon, truly enough, " are always on the side of the most skilful mari- ner." The Florentine statesman has recorded a riper and more deliberate judgment in the treatise, which he intended as a mirror for the rulers of the time. " Nothing," says he, " gains estimation for a prince like great enterprises. Our own age has furnished a splendid example of this in Ferdinand of Aragon. We may call him a new king, since from a feeble one he has made himself the most re- nowned and glorious monarch of Christendom ; and, if we ponder well his manifold achievements, we must acknowledge all of them very great, and some truly extraordinary."^^ Other eminent foreigners of the time join in this lofty strain of panegyric.'^ The Castilians, mindful 71 Opere, torn. ix. Letters Di- likely to be altogether unbiassed in verse, no. 6, ed. Milano, 1805. their judgments of his policy. — His correspondent, Vettori, is These views, however, find favor still more severe in his analysis of with Lord Herbert, who had evi- Ferdinand's public conduct. (Let. dently read, though he does not dil6 Maggio, 1514.) These states- refer to this correspondence. Life men were the friends of France, of Henry VIIL p. 63. with whom Ferdinand was at war ; '^ Opere, torn. vi. II Principe, and personal enemies of the Medi- cap. 21, ed. Genova, 1798. ci, whom that prince reestablished ^^ Martyr, who had better op- in the government. As political portunities than any other foreigner antagonists therefore, everyway, for estimating the character of Fer- of the Catholic king, they were not dinand, affords the most honorable VOL. III. 51