Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/277

DEATH OF HENRY IV. 133 ble sketch given us of that monarch in " Quentin chapter Duiward."^^ The supplies furnished by the Aragonese cortes fifsf„^„"^,^- vvere inadequate to king John's necessities, and he ^^P's"^"- was compelled, while hovering with his little force on the confines of Roussillon, to witness the gradual reduction of its capital, without being able to strike a blow in its defence. The inhabitants, indeed, who fought with a resolution worthy of ancient Numantia or Saguntum, were reduced to the last extremity of famine, supporting life by feeding on the most loathsome offal, on cats, dogs, the corpses of their enemies, and even on such of their own dead as had fallen in battle ! And when at length an honorable capitulation was granted them on the 14th of March, 1475, the garrison who evacuated the city, reduced to the number of four hundred, were obliged to march on foot to Barcelona, as they had consumed their horses during the siege. ^^ The terms of capitulation, which permitted ev- PerMy ery inhabitant to evacuate, or reside unmolested in the city, at his option, were too liberal to satisfy the vindictive temper of the king of France. He instantly wrote to his generals, instructing them to depart from their engagements, to keep the city so short of supplies as to compel an emigration of its original inhabitants, and to confiscate for their own 25 Alonso de Palencia, Coronica, bles, fol. 150. — Zurita, Anales, MS., part. 2, cap. 83. — Ferreras, torn. iv. lib. 19, cap. 13. — Chro- Hist.d'Espacrne, torn. vii. p. 400. — nique Scandaleuse, ed. Petitot, Zurita, Anales, torn. iv. lib. 19, torn. xiii. p. 456. — Alonso de Pa- cap. 12. leneia, Coronica, MS., part. 2, 26 L. Marineo, Cosas Memora- cap. 91. or XI.