Note 449 — Chapter III
Reading edition
"Hallóse por esto presente a ver llevar i entregar al fuego muchos delinquentes aconpañados de sus guardas de a pie i de a cavallo, que ayudaron a la execucion." Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. V. cap. 3.
It may be doubted whether the historian means anything more than that Philip saw the unfortunate man led to execution, at which his own guards assisted. Dávila, the friar who, as I have noticed, pronounced a funeral oration on the king, speaks of him simply as having assisted at this act of faith,—"Assistir a los actos de Fe, como se vio en esta Ciudad." (Sermones Funerales, fol. 77.) Could the worthy father have ventured to give Philip credit for being present at the death, he would not have failed to do so. Leti, less scrupulous, tells us that Philip saw the execution from the windows of his palace, heard the cries of the dying martyrs, and enjoyed the spectacle! The picture he gives of the scene loses nothing for want of coloring. Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 342.