Among other specimens, was a lump of gold, of sufficient magnitude to be
fashioned into a vessel for containing the host; "thus," says Salazar de
Mendoza, "converting the first fruits of the new dominions to pious uses."
Monarquía, pp. 351, 352.
[11] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 133, 134, 140.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 118.—Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. pp. 141, 142.—Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, ubi supra.—Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 413.—Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 17.—Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 8, 9.—Gallo, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. xxiii. p. 203.
[12] Herrera, Indias Occidental., tom. i. dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.—Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 15, 16, 17.—Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, ubi supra.
[12] In a letter, written soon after the admiral's return, Martyr announces the discovery to his correspondent, Cardinal Sforza, in the following manner. "Mira res ex eo terrarum orbe, quem sol horarum quatuor et viginti spatio circuit, ad nostra usque tempora, quod minime te latet, trita cognitaque dimidia taptum pars, ab Aurea utpote Chersoneso, ad Gades nostras Hispanas, reliqua vero a cosmographis pro incognitâ relicta est. Et si quae mentio facta, ea tenuis et incerta. Nunc autem, o beatum facinus! meorum regum auspiciis, quod latuit hactenus a rerum primordio, intelligi coeptum est." In a subsequent epistle to the learned Pomponio Leto, he breaks out in a strain of warm and generous sentiment. "Prae laetitia prosiliisse te, vixque a lachrymis prae gaudio temperasse, quando literas adspexisti meas, quibus de Antipodum Orbe latenti hactenus, te certiorem feci, mi suavissime Pomponi, insinuasti. Ex tuis ipse literis colligo, quid senseris. Sensisti autem, tantique rem fecisti, quanti virum summâ doctrinâ insignitum decuit. Quis namque cibus sublimibus praestari potest ingeniis isto suavior? quod condimentum gravius? a me facio conjecturam. Beari sentio spiritus meos, quando accitos alloquor prudentes aliquos ex his qui ab eâ redeunt provinciâ. Implicent animos pecuniarum cumulis augendis miseri avari, libidinibus obscoeni; noetras nos mentes, postquam Deo pleni aliquandiu fuerimus, contemplando, hujuscemodi rerum notitiâ demulceamus." Opus Epist., epist. 124, 152.
[13] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 118.—Gallo, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. xxiii. p. 203.—Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 18.
Peter Martyr seems to have received the popular inference, respecting the identity of the new discoveries with the East Indies, with some distrust. "Insulas reperit plures; has esse, de quibus fit apud cosmographos mentio extra Oceanum Orientalem, adjacentes Indiae arbitrantur. Nec inficior ego penitus, quamvis sphaerae magnitudo aliter sentire videatur; neque enim desunt qui parvo tractu a finibus Hispanis distare littus Indicum, putent." Opus Epist., epist. 135.
[14] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.—Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 8.—Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 17.— Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 413.—Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, ubi supra.
He was permitted to quarter the royal arms with his own, which consisted of a group of golden islands amid azure billows. To these were afterwards added five anchors, with the celebrated motto, well known as being carved on his sepulchre. (See Part II. Chap. 18.) He received besides, soon after his return, the substantial gratuity of a thousand doblas of gold, from the royal treasury, and the premium of 10,000 maravedies, promised to the person who first descried land. See Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Col. Diplom., nos. 20, 32, 38.
[15] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii. Col. Diplom., no. 45.— Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 21.
[16] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Col. Diplom., nos. 33, 35, 45.— Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 4.—Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 21.