Erasmus notices the literary attainments of the youngest daughter of the sovereigns, the unfortunate Catharine of Aragon, with unqualified admiration. In one of his letters, he styles her "egregie doctam;" and in another he remarks, "Regina non tantum in sexus miraculum literata est; nec minus pietate suspicienda, quam eruditione." Epistolae, (Londini, 1642,) lib. 19, epist. 31; lib. 2, epist. 24.
[8] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Deza.—Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 14.
[9] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 14.
Juan de la Eucina, in the dedication to the prince, of his translation of Virgil's Bucolics, pays the following compliment to the enlightened and liberal taste of Prince John. "Favoresceis tanto la sciencia andando acompañado de tantos e tan doctísimos varones, que no menos dejareis perdurable memoria de haber alargado e estendido los límites e términos de la sciencia que los del imperio." The extraordinary promise of this young prince made his name known in distant parts of Europe, and his untimely death, which occurred in the twentieth year of his age, was commemorated by an epitaph of the learned Greek exile, Constantine Lascaris.
[10] "Aficionados á la guerra," says Oviedo, speaking of some young nobles of his time, "por su Española y natural inclinacion." Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
[11] For some account of this eminent Italian scholar, see the postscript to Part I. Chap. 14, of this History.
[12] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 102, 103.
Lucio Marineo, in a discourse addressed to Charles V., thus notices the queen's solicitude for the instruction of her young nobility. "Isabella praesertim Regina magnanima, virtutum omnium maxima cultrix. Quae quidem multis et magnis occupata negotiis, ut aliis exemplum praeberet, a primis grammaticae rudimentis studere coepit, et omnes suae domûs adolescentes utriusque sexûs nobilium liberos, praeceptoribus liberaliter et honorifice conductis erudiendos commendabat." Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Apend. 16.—See also Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.
[13] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 115.
[14] A particular account of Marineo's writings may be found in Nic. Antonio. (Bibliotheca Nova, tom. ii. Apend. p. 369.) The most important of these is his work "De Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus," often cited, in the Castilian, in this History. It is a rich repository of details respecting the geography, statistics, and manners of the Peninsula, with a copious historical notice of events in Ferdinand and Isabella's reign. The author's insatiable curiosity, during a long residence in the country, enabled him to collect many facts, of a kind that do not fall within the ordinary compass of history; while his extensive learning, and his familiarity with foreign models, peculiarly qualified him for estimating the institutions he describes. It must be confessed he is sufficiently partial to the land of his adoption. The edition, referred to in this work, is in black letter, printed before, or soon after, the author's death (the date of which is uncertain), in 1539, at Alcalá de Henares, by Juan Brocar, one of a family long celebrated in the annals of Castilian printing. Marineo's prologue concludes with the following noble tribute to letters. "Porque todos los otros bienes son subjectos a la fortuna y mudables y en poco tiempo mudan muchos dueños passando de unos señores en otros, mas los dones de letras y hystorias que se ofrescen para perpetuidad de memoria y fama son immortales y prorogan y guardan para siempre la memoria assi de los que los reciben, como de los que los ofrescen."