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Royal Commentaries. B o .o K VII.
Confider therefore your condition, and encourage one the other, to confult ·
your fafeties by a valiant purfuance ati ollt' firft Engagement: Our cafe is
not defperate, but hopeful ; for having 500 men on our fide, 2000 againfi:
us can never hurt us, unlefs we prove falfe to our fel ves : See then to the
main point, and confider what will become of you if I mifcarry. Thefe
and many other things to this purpofe, were f poken by Hernandez.. to his
Souldiers, w , notwithftanding all that was faid, could not Hut be fenfible
of the lofs they fuftained by the revolt of Vazquez_, &c. Thus far Pttlen-
~o. .
That which Hernandez.. faid concerning the Pardons, That they would be
hanged with them about their Necks, was fulfill~d with more certainty
than all the Predictions and Prbphefies in which he trufted : for ho' neither
Va~quez.., nor Piedrahita were hanged., yet they were both ftrangled in the
Prifon, notwithftanding their Pardons, which they fued out of Chancery
under the Great Seal, and notwithftanding the Pleas they made, that a
Man having obtain~d his Pardon, and not committed any offence afterwards,
ought not to fuffer Death or any other Punifhment. Thus what Hernandez_
foretold of this matter was accomplilhed, which we having an'ticipated out
of its due place, we fuall not need to repeat, or enlarg.e upon it
hereafter.
CH AP. XXVIII.
Francifco Hernandez fl.yes away alone.His Lieutenant General
with a hundred111enta~ another way.They arepurfuedhy Pau–
lo de Menefcs, and are tal<..,en, and brought to Juftice.
N Otwithftanding all that Hernandez.. had faid to his Souldiers, he was
yet fo troubled and confufc:d within himfelf for the lofs of Yaz_quez.,
that he refolved tbat very Night to run away, and leave his Souldiers;
for foij>ition and jealouCie had fo feized on all the faculties of his Soul, as
to affi1tl: him with all thofe torment , which the Divine Ariofto defcribes
in five Cantos of his Poem; which caufed him to believe, that his own
Souldiers would kill him, in hopes by fuch a piece of Service, to efcape
the puniihment they had d eferved, by joyoing with him in all his bloudy
Murd "rs and Treafons againft his Majefiy. As Palentino faith, Chapter 55. in
thefe words.
In Fine, Hern11ndeT.. refolved to leave his Men, and run away that night,
upon a fecrec intimation given him, That his Captains were confpiring his
Death, &c. And tho' in reality there was no fuch Plot or Defign, but that
every man would certainly have died with him, had he trufted to their
Fidelity, as will appea'r hereafter : Yet fo violent was the Jealoufie he con–
ceived of this matter., that he would not entruft this fecret to his Wife, though
a Woman both Noble and · V~rtuous, nor to any of the moft faithful and
intima te of all his Confidents: But fo foon as it was Night, telling his
W ife., and thofe then prefent with him, that he was going about fome bufinefs
relating to the Army, he called for his Horfe Almaraz.., which he fo named
fi m Almaraz., his Kinfman, from whom he had bought him; and mounted on
him, faying to thofe ftanding by, that he would prefently return; and fo part–
ed from them, not knowing or defigning any place whereunto to repa or ·
fo prevalent was the fear which poffeffed him, chat he could not be at or
repofein his own mind, until he had quitted his Friends and Sou rs:
Nor did ~my thing appear comfortable or pleafant to him, but only foli–
tude. Thus did this miferable Hernande~ wander without any Companion;
only two or three Friends followed him by the track, whom when he heard
coming , he ftole away from them, and bid himf< If in a hollow Cave:
And