Page:The life of Christopher Columbus.djvu/78

54 Many persons will not believe this; but history is positive in regard to it. After quitting the University benches, he labored as a workman with his father and his brother Bartholomew. The instruction he received at Pavia did not amount to much. The little science that he learned at the Lombardian University is shown by historians. He himself, avows it, and Humboldt demonstrates it. This view is further confirmed by other writers, quoted by M. De Lorgues.

After leaving the narrow and gloomy streets of Genoa, if one mounts on the ramparts, or if he ascends the rugged mountains that overtop and surround it on every side, leaving it no outlet but to the Mediterranean, constraining it, as it were, to tend that way, he is dazzled by the light vibrating the transparency of the air, impregnated with fragrant odors. The bright azure of the waves playing on the shores of an enchanting basin, and the splendid views of the Ligurian Gulf, elevate the soul in transporting thought to other places, beneath other skies. One feels that, notwithstanding its magnificence, the enclosure of the marble city suffices not for the imagination of its children. He understands that, in fact, the sea is the life, the support, and the force of that city. A general attraction disposed the young men of Genoa to the adventures of the sea. Christopher Columbus, whom an enlightened love of Nature carried to the contemplation of the divine works, and whom a secret instinct urged to the study of geography, preferred the sea to the sedentary and monotonous labors of the family. A particular reason might have determined him in the choice of such a career. Since the loss of their possessions in Lombardy, almost all his ancestors sought their fortune on sea. Some men of his name, and of his blood, had become illustrious in naval service. Besides, the way of the sea was the only road to fortune and to glory for the Genoese.