But Gonzalo Pizarro
shrunk from the attitude, in which this placed him, of avowed
rebellion. Notwithstanding the criminal course into which he had
been, of late, seduced, the sentiment of loyalty was too deeply
implanted in his bosom to be wholly eradicated. Though in arms
against the measures and ministers of his sovereign, he was not
prepared to raise the sword against that sovereign himself. He,
doubtless, had conflicting emotions in his bosom; like Macbeth,
and many a less noble nature,
"Would not play false,
And yet would wrongly win."
And however grateful to his vanity might be the picture of the
air-drawn sceptre thus painted to his imagination, he had not the
audacity - we may, perhaps, say, the criminal ambition - to
attempt to grasp it.
Even at this very moment, when urged to this desperate extremity,
he was preparing a mission to Spain, in order to vindicate the
course he had taken, and to solicit an amnesty for the past, with
a full confirmation of his authority, as successor to his brother
in the government of Peru. - Pizarro did not read the future with
the calm, prophetic eye of Carbajal.
Book V: Settlement Of The Country
Chapter I
Great Sensation In Spain. - Pedro De La Gasca. - His Early Life.
- His Mission To Peru. - His Politic Conduct. - His Offers To
Pizarro. - Gains The Fleet.
1545-1547.
While the important revolution detailed in the preceding pages
was going forward in Peru, rumors of it, from time to time, found
their way to the mother-country; but the distance was so great,
and opportunities for communication so rare, that the tidings
were usually very long behind the occurrence of the events to
which they related.
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