THE
Fonseca.
COMPANIONS
OF
COLUMBUS.
195
The bishop was as thorough-going in patronage as in
persecution.
He assured the king that Pedrarias had under
standing equal to his valor ; that he was as capable of managing the affairs of peace as of war, and that, having been brought up in the royal household, his loyalty might be implicitly relied on. Scarcely had Don Pedrarias been appointed, when Cayzedo and Colmenares arrived on their mission from Darien, to commu nicate the intelligence received from the son of the cacique Comagre, of the Southern Sea beyond the mountains, and to ask one thousand men to enable Vasco Nunez to make the discovery. The avarice and ambition of Ferdinand were inflamed by the tidings.
He rewarded the bearers of the intelligence, and,
after consulting with Bishop Fonseca, resolved to dispatch imme diately a powerful armada, with twelve hundred men, under the command of Pedrarias, to accomplish the enterprise. Just about this time the famous Gonsalvo Hernandez de Cor dova, commonly called the Great Captain, was preparing to return to Naples, where the allies of Spain had experienced a signal defeat, and had craved the assistance of this renowned general to retrieve their fortunes.
The chivalry of Spain thronged to enlist
under the banner of Gonsalvo.
The Spanish nobles, with their
accustomed prodigality, sold or mortgaged their estates to buy gorgeous armor, silks, brocades, and other articles of martial pomp and luxury, that they might figure, with becoming magnifi cence, in the campaigns of Italy.
The armament was on the
point of sailing for Naples with this host of proud and gallant spirits, when the jealous mind of Ferdinand took offence at the enthusiasm thus shown towards his general, and he abruptly countermanded the expedition.
The Spanish cavaliers were
overwhelmed with disappointment at having their dreams of
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