Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/407

DEATH AND CHARACTER OF FERDINAND. 379 aspect from that which he had displayed in the ciiapteh romantic wars of the Peninsula. — Gonsalvo was untainted with the coarser vices characteristic of the time. He discovered none of that griping avarice, too often the reproach of his countrymen in these wars. His hand and heart were liberal as the day. He betrayed none of the cruelty and licentiousness, which disgrace the age of chivalry. On all occasions he was prompt to protect women from injury or insult. Although his distinguished manners and rank gave him ob- vious advantages with the sex, he never abused them;^° and he has left a character, unimpeached by any historian, of unblemished morality in his domestic relations. This was a rare virtue in the sixteenth century. Gonsalvo's fame rests on his military prowess; His private •' -1 ' virtues, yet his character would seem in many respects bet- ter suited to the calm and cultivated walks of civil life. His government of Naples exhibited much discretion and sound policy;'^ and there, as after- wards in his retirement, his polite and liberal man- ners secured not merely the good-will, but the strong attachment, of those around him. His early education, like that of most of the noble cavaliers who came forward before the improvements intro- duced under Isabella, was taken up with knightly exercises, more than intellectual accomplishments. He was never taught Latin, and had no pretensions 20 Giovio, Vitas Dlust. Virorum, ^i Ibid., p. 281. — Giannone, Is- p. 271. toria di Napoli, lib. 30, cap. 1, 5.