Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/411

cepts. MONASTIC REFORMS. 387 abrupt departure, they prevailed on him to retrace chapter his steps to Madrid ; but, upon his arrival there, '- — neither the arguments nor entreaties of his friends, tanuyac- backed as they were by the avowed wishes of his sovereign, could overcome his scruples, or induce him to accept an office, of which he professed himself unworthy. " He had hoped," he said, " to pass the remainder of his days in the quiet practice of his monastic duties ; and it was too late now to call him into public life, and impose a charge of such heavy responsibility on him, for which he had neither capacity nor inclination." In this resolution he pertinaciously persisted for more than six months, until a second bull was obtained from the pope, commanding him no longer to decline an appoint- ment, which the church had seen fit to sanction. This left no further room for opposition, and Xime- nes acquiesced, though with evident reluctance, in his advancement to the first dignity in the king- dom. ^'^ There seems to be no good ground for charging Ximenes with hypocrisy in this singular display of humility. The nolo episcopari, indeed, has passed into a proverb ; but his refusal was too long and sturdily maintained to be reconciled with affecta- tion or insincerity. He was, moreover, at this time, in the sixtieth year of his age, when am- bition, though not extinguished, is usually chilled 27 Garibay, Compendio, torn. ii. cap. 16.— Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, lib. 19, cap. 4. — Mariana, Hist, de fol. 11. — Carbajal, Anales, MS., Espafia, torn. ii. lib. 26, cap. 7. — ano 1495. — Robies, VidadeXime- Suma de la Vida de Cisneros, MS. nez, cap. 13. — Oviedo, Quincua- — Quinlanilla, Archetypo, lib. 1, genas, MS.