“Oh Ambassadors, mere utterers of silly speeches! If Kings wish to deceive, they begin by deceiving us the first!” So writes the renowned Mendoza to his brother-diplomatist, Zuñiga. Mendoza, one of the most illustrious of the political, military, and literary worthies of Old Spain, was Ambassador for Charles V. to Rome, and is still more celebrated as the author of Lazarillo de Tormes.
“Entant que souverain, s’il parle selon sa pensée, il vous dira, j’observerai le traité de paix, pendant que le bien de mon royaume le demandera; je me moquerai de mon serment, des que la maxime de l’état le voudra.”—Bayle, Dict. Hist. et Crit. art. Agesilaus.
XXXVI. “His curling wave receding,” &c.
Vidimus flavum Tiberim retortis, &c.—Horat. Carm. i. 2.
——Guadiana
Atraz tornou as ondas de medroso:
Correo ao mar o Tejo duvidoso.
Camóens, Lus. iv. 28.
“Sinks o’er his golden sands, and sighing wears the chain.”