COLUMBUS, OHRWTOPHBR 



133 



The ides of the roundness of the earth was the 

 of inventing this fable of the antipodes, 

 with thrir heels in the air; for these philoso- 

 phers, having once erred, go on in their absurdi- 

 ties defending one another." That the earth 

 hit, they proved from a hundred passages 

 of Script HIT, as when- the Psalmist and St. Paul 

 boll i di-.-cribe the heavens as spread out like a 

 canopy. Columbus, the devout, was in danger 

 of the Inquisition for heresy, when some of the 

 more enlightened prelates came to his relief. 

 They admitted that the earth might be round, 

 but said that the heat of the torrid zone would 

 be insupportable ; that it was only habitable in 

 the northern hemisphere ; that if a ship could 

 rrurh India it could never get back, for the round- 

 ness of the earth would present a kind of moun- 

 tain up which it would be impossible to sail. 



To these objections Columbus answered, with 

 profound reverence for the Scripture, held as 

 sacred by him as by them, that the inspired 

 writers were not speaking as cosmographers, 

 using the language cf science, but figuratively, 

 as appeared to the eye and could be understood 

 by all. When he came to the men who did pro- 

 fess so to write he took another tone. There he 

 stood upon surer ground 

 than they. He told them 

 how he had himself 

 proved the half truths of 

 the ancients and had dis- 

 proved their mistakes ; 

 that he had sailed the 

 coast of Guinea, almost 

 under the equator, and 

 found abundant life and 

 beauty. His eloquence, 

 his fervor, his learning, 

 his piety, his command- 

 ing presence and dignity 

 of thought, silenced if it 

 did not persuade, and 

 some few were thorough- 

 ly convinced. Conference 

 after conference followed, 



dragged out by counsel darkened by words with- 

 out knowledge. The time wore on, now with 

 faint hope to Columbus that he was on the eve 

 of a decisive interview at court, again with such 

 evident forgetfulness of his cause and wishes 

 that he became the laughing stock of the very 

 children in the street. 



The wandering and warlike sovereigns now 

 and then called him to attend their suite and 

 forwarded the money for his proper present- 

 ment, but the hoped-for interview never came. 

 Among the memorandums of these years by 

 which Columbus may be traced is a record of 

 Diego Ortiz de Zufliga, of Seville, which says 

 that, in response to a command of the sovereigns, 

 the city furnished entertainment for Christopher 

 Columbus, who came to the city on matters of 

 importance, and he adds: " The same Columbus 

 was found fighting, giving proofs of the distin- 

 guished valor which accompanied his wisdom 

 and his lofty desires." He repaired there with 

 renewed hope, only to be told by them that they 

 must decline to listen further until a more con- 

 venient season. 



Five years had passed between the time when 

 Columbus entered Cordova and the time when, 



in despair, he once more left the Spanish court, 

 resolving never to return. 



Meantime, in Cordova he had formed an alli- 

 ance with a lady of high lineage, Beatrix Eiiri- 

 quez, by whom he had a son Fernando. Of her 

 he says in the will that was executed the day be- 

 fore he died : " And I direct him [his son Diego] 

 that he shall have .special care for Beatrix Enri- 

 quez, the mother of Don Ferdinand, my son ; that 

 he shall provide for her so that she may live 

 comfortably, as a person should for whom I 

 have so much regard. And this shall be done 

 for the ease of my conscience, because this has 

 weighed heavily on my soul. The reason there- 

 for it is not proper to mention here." The son 

 Ferdinand he took legal measures to have ac- 

 knowledged, and in every way possible made 

 him equal to his legitimate child. 



Thus in 1491 Columbus left the royal presence, 

 but so great was the interest he had awakened 

 that he was loath to relinquish it by leaving Spain. 

 There were noblemen of maritime enterprise, sci- 

 entific attainment, and vast resources. To one 

 of these, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, he now 

 applied. At first he was listened to with eagerness, 

 but Gomera persuaded him not to be dazzled by 



CONVENT OV LA RABIDA. 



the dream of an Italian visionary. It seemed in- 

 deed that in the next nobleman to whom he ap- 

 pealed, the Duke of Medina Coeli, he had found 

 the needed friend ; but just as he was actually 

 on the point of dispatching Columbus with four 

 caravels, he withdrew from the undertaking as 

 one too great to be accomplished by a subject, 

 and urged Columbus again to appeal to Ferdi- 

 nand and Isabella. But Columbus had not only 

 had enough of hanging upon the uncertain favor 

 of a court that was a camp, but had meantime 

 received a kindly letter from the King of France, 

 and to that country he determined to repair. 

 Before going he visited the Convent of La 

 Rabida for the purpose of bringing his son 

 Diego to Cordova, to be left with Ferdinand. 

 His old friend the friar welcomed him after the 

 seven years of absence, but as he looked sadly at 

 his humble, dust-stained garments and mournful 

 countenance he was deeply moved, and begged 

 him to relate his adventures. When Columbus 

 told him that he was on the point of leaving 

 Spain to offer to France his great project, the 

 prior begged him to delay until they could call 

 some counsel. He sent again for the physician 

 Garcia Fernandez, and for Martin Alonzo Pinzon, 



