Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/545

MILITARY POLICE OF THE SOVEREIGNS. 399 appealing both to principles of religion and patri- chapter otisra, was well calculated to inflame the imagina- tions of the young Spanish cavaliers ; and they poured into the field, eager to display themselves under the eye of their illustrious queen, who, as she rode through the ranks mounted on her war- horse, and clad in complete mail, afforded no bad personification of the genius of chivalry. The potent and wealthy barons exhibited in the camp all the magnificence of princes. The pavilions decorated with various-colored pennons, and em- blazoned with the armorial bearings of their an- cient houses, shone with a splendor, which a Cas- tilian writer likens to that of the city of Seville. ^° They always appeared surrounded by a throng of pages in gorgeous liveries and at night were pre- ceded by a multitude of torches, which shed a radiance like that of day. They vied with each other in the costliness of their apparel, equipage, and plate, and in the variety and delicacy of the dainties with which their tables were covered. ^^ Ferdinand and Isabella saw with regret this lavish ostentation, and privately remonstrated with some of the principal grandees on its evil tendency, especially in seducing the inferior and poorer nobil- ity into expenditures beyond their means. This Their gai. , lantry. Sybarite indulgence, however, does not seem to have impaired the martial spirit of the nobles. On 30 Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, the ancient proverb testifies. Zu- MS., cap. 75. — This city, even fiiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 183. before the New World had poured 31 Pulgar, Reyes Cat61icos, cap. its treasures into its lap, was con- 41. spicuous for its magnificence, as