[22] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist, epist. 263.
The loyal captain, Ayora, shows little of this Christian vein. He concludes one of his letters with praying, no doubt most sincerely, "that the Almighty would be pleased to infuse less benevolence into the hearts of the sovereigns, and incite them to chastise and humble the proud French, and strip them of their ill-gotten possessions, which, however repugnant to their own godly inclinations, would tend greatly to replenish their coffers, as well as those of their, faithful and loving subjects." See this graceless petition in his Cartas, carta 9, p. 66.
[23] "Exaudivit igitur sancte reginee religiosorumque ac virginum preces summus Altitonans." (Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 263.) The learned Theban borrows an epithet more familiar to Greek and Roman than to Christian ears.
[24] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 5, cap. 54.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 13, sec. 11.-Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 264.—Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1503.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 198.—Garnier, Hist. de France, tom. v. pp. 408, 409.—Gonzalo Ayora, Cartas, carta 11.—Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Deza.
Peter Martyr seems to have shared none of Isabella's scruples in regard to bringing the enemy to battle. On the contrary, he indulges in a most querulous strain of sarcasm against the Catholic king for his remissness in this particular. "Quar elucescente die moniti nostri de Gallorum discessu ad eos, at sero, concurrerunt. Rex Perpiniani agebat, ad millia passuum sex non brevia, uti nosti. Propterea sero id actum, venit concitato cursu, at sero. Ad hostes itur, at sero. Cernunt hostium acies, at sero, at a longe. Distabant jam milliaria circiter duo. Ergo sero Phryges sapuerunt. Cujus haec culpa, tu scrutator aliunde; mea est, si nescis. Maximam dedit ea dies, quae est, si nescis, calendarum Novembrium sexta, Hispanis ignominiam, et aliquando jacturam illis pariet collachrymandam." Letter to the cardinal of Santa Cruz, epist. 262.
[25] Aleson, Annales de Navarra, tom. v. p. 113.
Oviedo, who was present in this campaign, seems to have been of the same opinion. At least he says, "If the king had pursued vigorously, not a Frenchman would have lived to carry back the tidings of defeat to his own land." If we are to believe him, Ferdinand desisted from the pursuit at the earnest entreaty of Bishop Deza, his confessor. Quincuagenas, MS.
[26] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 55.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 13, sec. 11.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 264.—Lanuza, Historias, tom. i. cap. 17.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 16.—Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a Roma, let. 27.
Mons. Varillas notices as the weak side of Louis XII., "une démangeaison de faire la paix à contre temps, dont il fut travaillé durant toute sa vie." (Politique de Ferdinand, liv. 1, p. 148.) A statesman shrewder than Varillas, De Retz, furnishes, perhaps, the best key to this policy, in the remark, "Les gens foibles ne plient jamais quand ils le doivent."