History of the Incas | Page 9

glory. For it is certain, as we read in Sallust that "in a

vast empire there is great glory[15]"; and in how much it is greater, in
so much it treats of great things. Hence the glory of a king consists in
his possessing many vassals, and the abatement of his glory is caused
by the diminution of the number of his subjects.
[Note 15: Proem of Catiline.]
Of this glory, most Christian king, God Almighty gives you so large a
share in this life that all the enemies of the holy catholic church of
Christ our Lord tremble at your exalted name; whence you most justly
deserve to be named the strength of the church. As the treasure which
God granted that your ancestors should spend, with such holy
magnanimity, on worthy and holy deeds, in the extirpation of heretics,
in driving the accursed Saracens out of Spain, in building churches,
hospitals and monasteries, and in an infinite number of other works of
charity and justice, with the zeal of zealous fathers of their country, not
only entitled them to the most holy title of catholics, but the most
merciful and almighty God, whom they served with all their hearts, saw
fit to commence repayment with temporal goods, in the present age. It
is certain that "He who grants celestial rewards does not take away
temporal blessings[16]," so that they earned more than the mercies they
received. This was the grant to them of the evangelical office, choosing
them from among all the kings of this world as the evangelizers of his
divine word in the most remote and unknown lands of those blind and
barbarous gentiles. We now call those lands the Indies of Castille,
because through the ministry of that kingdom they will be put in the
way of salvation, God himself being the true pilot. He made clear and
easy the dark and fearful Atlantic sea which had been an awful portent
to the most ancient Argives, Athenians, Egyptians, and Phoenicians,
and what is more to the proud Hercules, who, having come to Cadiz
from the east, and seen the wide Atlantic sea, he thought this was the
end of the world and that there was no more land. So he set up his
columns with this inscription "Ultra Gades nil" or "Beyond Cadiz there
is nothing." But as human knowledge is ignorance in the sight of God,
and the force of the world but weakness in his presence, it was very
easy, with the power of the Almighty and of your grandparents, to
break and scatter the mists and difficulties of the enchanted ocean.

Laughing with good reason at Alcides and his inscription, they
discovered the Indies which were very populous in souls to whom the
road to heaven could be shown. The Indies are also most abundant in
all kinds of inestimable treasures, with which the heavy expenses were
repaid to them, and yet remained the richest princes in the world, and
thus continued to exercise their holy and Christian liberality until death.
By reason of this most famous navigation, and new and marvellous
discovery, they amended the inscription on the columns of Hercules,
substituting "Plus ultra" for "Ultra Gades nil"; the meaning was, and
with much truth, that further on there are many lands. So this
inscription, "Plus ultra," remained on the blazon of the arms and
insignia of the Indies of Castille.
[Note 16: From the poem of Coelius Sedulius, a Christian poet who
flourished about A.D. 450. The passage is--"Hostis Herodes impie
Christum venire quod timeo? Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat
coelestia." (Note by Dr Peitschmann.)]
As there are few who are not afflicted by the accursed hunger for gold,
and as good successes are food for an enemy, the devil moved the
bosoms of some powerful princes with the desire to take part in this
great business. Alexander VI, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, considering
that this might give rise to impediments in preaching the holy evangel
to the barbarous idolaters, besides other evils which might be caused,
desired of his own proper motion, without any petition from the
catholic kings, by authority of Almighty God, to give, and he gave and
conceded for ever, the islands and main lands which were then
discovered and which might hereafter be discovered within the limits
and demarcation of 180° of longitude, which is half the world, with all
the dominions, rights, jurisdictions and belongings, prohibiting the
navigation and trading in those lands from whatever cause, to the other
princes, kings, and emperors from the year 1493, to prevent many
inconveniences.
But as the devil saw that this door was shut, which he had begun to
open to introduce by it dissensions and disturbances, he tried to make
war by means of the very