Historia General y Natural de las Indias Vol. 1

But if the Catholic Monarchs succeeded in this way in raising the Iberian nation from the dejection in which it lay, erasing the Muslim empire from Spain forever, no less effort did they owe to the sciences and letters, lethargic during the unfortunate reign of the last Henry. The court of Don Juan II, if it was a sad mirror of political weakness, nonetheless contained all the elements of culture that had been elaborated in not-so-distant times: the works of Tuscan art, illustrated by such high geniuses as Dante and Petrarch, were imitated there; the rebirth of Limousin poetry was felt, flattered in Aragon by Juan II and Don Enrique de Villena; and finally, classical studies began to be cultivated with predilection and care. The Catholic Queen, who viewed idleness as the source of vices, did not consider the great work she was performing complete without turning her magnates and knights away from the frequent dangers to which their interminable leisure exposed them. To achieve such a plausible intent, she tried to attract that vain youth to the honest occupation of studies, considered at last as an aid and complement to the military 2; and by resuming the literary tasks that illustrated the court of her father, she attained the glory of crowning her brow with the immaculate halo of restorer of letters. Isabella gave preference to historical studies, and admiring the great deeds and men of antiquity, she burned with the desire to recognize the Latin historians in her native tongue, yearning at the same time to savor the beauties that the Horaces and Ciceros had sown in their immortal works. The Queen's will, always superior to any obstacle, triumphed also on this occasion, she being the first to undertake with firm determination the task of learning the language of Latium 3, and bringing to Spain the most distinguished humanists who flourished in Italy to foster those studies. To her example she sought to unite that of her family: Peter Martyr of Anghiera and the Geraldine brothers received the honorable task of directing the education of the infants of Castile, a task that later they shared regarding the high nobility with the no less learned humanist Lucio Marineo Sículo. The dukes of Guimaraes and Villahermosa, the eldest son of the Duke of Alba, Don Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, Don Gutierre de Toledo, and Don Alfonso Manrique followed the footsteps of the Queen and

lines taken from Oviedo himself: "He (Caesar) has been worthy, through divine clemency (which made him deserving of his good fortunes and ours) of being lord of such a valiant nation, so that we may see at present, as is seen, the flag of Spain celebrated as the most victorious, respected as the most glorious, and loved as the most worthy of being cherished in the universe. And thus it teaches us of time and we see palpably what has never been seen under the heavens until now in the power and high majesty of any Christian prince; and thus it should be expected that what is yet to be acquired and to come to the height of the universal monarchy of our Caesar, we will see in a short time under his yoke and obedience. And I do not say this only for the infidels; but not even for those who call themselves Christians, if they cease to recognize as superior, as they

ought and God has ordained, our Caesar; for he has an abundance of daring soldiers and peoples and he shall not lack riches to distribute among them, as much from his great States of Europe and Africa, as from that other half of the world that comprises his Indies" (Hist. nat. y gen. de Ind., book VI, chap. 8).
2 Peter Martyr of Anghiera: Opus epistolarum, epistle 115.
3 Hernan Perez del Pulgar said to the Queen to this effect: "I desire much to know how Your Highness is doing with the Latin you are learning: I say this, My Lady, because there is some Latin so stubborn that it does not allow itself to be grasped by those who have many affairs; although I trust so much in the wit of Your Highness that, if you take it in hand, however proud it may be, you will tame it, as you have done with other languages" (Letter XI, year 1482).