the unscrupulous positiveness inseparable here from permanent success. He was resolute in overcoming difficulties, and he was strong and shrewd enough in the prosecution of any high enterprise, particularly so long as fortune favored him; but he was no match for the subtle-minded of his own nation, who overwhelmed him in their show of learning, backed by imposing forms. All contemporary writers speak well of him; likewise all the chroniclers, except Gomara, who permits chivalry no place save in his pet and patron, Cortés. The soldier Bernal Diaz pronounces him a most worthy officer. The historians Oviedo and Herrera call him a comely man, thoroughly loyal, and never backward at fighting. Yet we are told that some censured him, while others cursed him outright for his conscientiousness, because he did not break orders and seize opportunity. So ready were they to engage in the fallacious argument that it was right to do wrong if good might come of it. To disobey Velazquez, they said, was to break no divine law; forgetting that the governor derived his authority from the king, and the king from the Almighty. Of a truth, when force alone is the standard of right, then honesty is not the best policy. For a time he carried himself with a brave front, conscious of his integrity, yet we may say he was laid low forever by the blow misfortune here gave him.[1] Meanwhile patience, good gov-
- ↑ Las Casas saw him at Santo Domingo in 1523. He was reduced to penury. Proceeding thence to Panamá, he was sent by Pedrarias to Nicaragua, where he was killed. So perished the best and morally bravest of cavaliers, while unscrupulous tricksters flourished. Prior to his departure from Cuba, however, and notwithstanding the vile treatment of the governor, at Velazquez' request, Grijalva wrote a narrative of his expedition, which was lost by Oviedo in its transmission to the king. It is embodied, however, in substance, in Oviedo, i. 502-37. One of the most original and complete accounts of Grijalva's expedition extant is that by the priest Juan Diaz, Itinerario de Larmata del Re Catholico in India verso la Isola de Iuchathan del anno M. D. XVIII, alla qual fu Presidente & Capitan Generale Ioan de Grisalva; el qual e facto per el capellano maggior de dicta Armata a sua Altezza, published in Italian, at Venice, in 1520, in French by Ternaux-Compans, in 1838, the former being copied and quoted in manuscript by Prescott. The issue at Venice was as the second part of the Itinerario de Lvdovico de varthema Bolognese nello Egitto, nella Soria, etc., and was there begun, Qui comincia lo
