Note 927 — Chapter I
Reading edition
"Que lui et le temps en valaient deux autres." Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 199.
The hesitation of the king drew on him a sharp rebuke from the audacious Fray Lorenzo Villavicencio, who showed as little ceremony in dealing with Philip as with his ministers. "If your majesty," he says, "consulting only your own ease, refuses to make this visit to Flanders, which so nearly concerns the honor of God, his blessed Mother, and all the saints, as well as the weal of Christendom, what is it but to declare that you are ready to accept the regal dignity which God has given you, and yet leave to him all the care and trouble that belong to that dignity? God would take this as ill of your majesty, as you would take it of those of your vassals whom you had raised to offices of trust and honor, and who took the offices, but left you to do the work for them! To offend God is a rash act, that must destroy both soul and body." Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Rapport, p. xlviii.