Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/518

490 490 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. PART The Spaniard was a kuiffht-errant, in its literal II. . . '- — sense, '^^^ roving over seas on which no bark had ever ventured, among islands and continents where no civilized man had ever trodden, and which fancy peopled with all the marvels and drear enchant- ments of romance ; courting danger in every form, combating everywhere, and everywhere victorious. The very odds presented by the defenceless natives among whom he was cast, " a thousand of whom," to quote the words of Columbus, " were not equal to three Spaniards," was in itself typical of his pro- fession ; ^^^ and the brilliant destinies to which the meanest adventurer was often called, now carving out with his good sword some " EI Dorado " more splendid than fancy had dreamed of, and now over- turning some old barbaric dynasty, were full as ex- traordinary as the wildest chimeras which Ariosto ever sang, or Cervantes satirized. His countrymen who remained at home, feeding greedily on the reports of his adventures, lived al- most equally in an atmosphere of romance. A spirit of chivalrous enthusiasm penetrated the very depths of the nation, swelling the humblest indi- 150 Fernando de Pulgar, after Fijosdalgos de Castilla." Claros enumerating various cavaliers of Yarones, tit. 17, his acquaintance, who had jour- l^l " Son todos," says the Ad- neyed to distant climes in quest of miral, '" de ningun ingenio en las adventures and honorable feats of armas, y muy cobardes, que mil no arms, continues, "E oi decir de aguadarian tres " ! (Primer Viage otros Castellanos que con animo de de Colon.) What could the bard Caballeros fueron por los Reynos of chivalry say more ? estranos a facer armas con qual- » Ma quel ch' al timor non diede albergo, quier Caballero que quisiere facer- Estima u vil iurl)H c I'arme tanie lis con pllns 6 nor elks iriniron *l"el clie denlro alls mandni nil" aer cupo, las con ellOS, e por eiUS ganaron n numerdell'agnelle estimi il Inpo." honra para si, e fama de vahenles Orlando Furioso, canto 12. y esforzados Caballeros para los