Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/347

 THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER " Nay," replied my lord Caspar, " I think that Queen Isabella had credit for many of King Ferdinand's deeds." Then the Magnifico said: " Unless the people of Spain, — lords, commons, men and women, poor and rich,— have all agreed to lie in praise of her, there has not been in our time on earth a brighter example of true goodness, of lofty spirit, of wisdom, of piety, of purity, of courtesy, of liberality, — in short, of every virtue,— than Queen Isabella; and although the fame of that illustrious lady is very great in every place and among every nation, those who lived in her company and were witness to her actions, do all affirm that this fame sprang from her virtue and merits. And whoever will consider her deeds will easily perceive such to be the truth. For leaving aside countless things that give proof of this and could be told if it were our theme, everyone knows that when she came to reign she found the greater part of Castile usurped by the grandees; yet she recovered the whole so righteously and in such fashion that the very men who were deprived of it, re- mained very devoted to her and content to give up that which they possessed. "A very noted thing also is with what courage and wisdom she always defended her realms against very powerful enemies; and likewise to her alone can be given the honour of the glorious conquest of the kingdom of Granada; for in this long and diffi- cult war against obstinate enemies, — who were fighting for prop- erty, for life, for religion, and (to their thinking) for God, — she always showed, both in her counsel and in her very person, such virtue that perhaps few princes in our time have had the hardi- hood, I will not say to imitate, but even to envy her. " Besides this, all who knew her affirm that she had such a divine manner of ruling that her mere wish seemed enough to make every man do quietly that which he ought to do; so that men hardly dared in their own houses and secretly to do anything they thought would displease her : and in great part the cause of this was the admirable judgment she had in discerning and choosing right agents for the duties she meant to employ them in; and so well did she know how to unite the rigour of justice with the gentleness of mercy and liberality, that in her day there was no 203