One would become a hunchback at his desk if he were to describe all the religious monuments of Granada—the stupendous Cartuja; the Monte Sacro, containing the grottoes of the martyrs; the church of San Geronimo, where the great leader Gonzalez di Cordova is buried; the convent of Santo Domingo, founded by Torquemada the Inquisitor; the convent of the Angels, containing paintings by Cano and Murillo and many others; but I suppose that my readers may be even more weary than I am, and will consequently pardon me for passing by a mountain of description which probably would only give them a confused idea of the things described.
But as I have mentioned the sepulchre of the great commander, Gonzalez di Cordova, I cannot forbear translating a curious document in reference to him which was shown me in the church of San Geronimo by a sacristan who was an admirer of the deeds of that hero. The document, in the form of an anecdote, is as follows:
"Every step of the great captain Don Gonzalez di Cordova was an assault, and every assault a victory; his sepulchre in the convent of the Geronomites at Granada was adorned with two hundred banners which he had taken. His envious rivals, and the treasurers of the kingdom of Naples in particular, induced the king in 1506 to demand a statement from Gonzalez of the use he had made of the great sums received from Spain for the conduct of the war in Italy; and, in fact, the king was so small as to consent, and even to be present on the occasion of the conference.
"Gonzalez acceded to the demand with the haughtiest disdain, and proposed to give a severe lesson to the treasurers and the king upon the treatment and consideration to be accorded a conqueror of kingdoms.
"He replied with great indifference and calmness that he would prepare his accounts for the following day, and would let it appear which was the debtor, himself or the exchequer, which demanded an account of one hundred and thirty thousand ducats delivered upon the first payment, eighty thousand crowns upon the second, three millions upon the third, eleven millions upon the fourth, thirteen millions upon the fifth, and so on as the solemn, nasal, foolish secretary who authorized so important an act continued to enumerate the sums.
"The great Gonzalez kept his word, presented himself at the second audience, and, bringing out a voluminous book in which he had noted his justification, he began with the following words in a deep, sonorous voice:
"'Two hundred thousand seven hundred and thirty-six ducats and nine reales to the fathers, the nuns, and the poor, to the end that they might pray God for the triumph of the Spanish arms.
"'One hundred thousand ducats for powder and shot.
"'Ten thousand ducats for perfumed gloves to protect the soldiers from the stench of the corpses of the enemy left on the field of battle.
"'One hundred and seventy thousand ducats for renewing bells worn out by continuous ringing for constant new victories over the enemy.