252 REIGN AND DEATH OF PHILIP. PAUT These suggestions in which some truth, as usual, '- — was mingled with a large infusion of error, gradu- ally excited more and more uneasiness in the breast of the cautious and naturally distrustful Ferdinand. He at first endeavoured to abridge the powers of the Great Captain by recalling half the troops in his service, notwithstanding the unsettled state of the kingdom '° He then took the decisive step of ordering his return to Castile, on pretence of em- ploying him in affairs of great importance at home. To allure him more effectually, he solemnly pledged himself, by an oath, to transfer to him, on his land- ing in Spain, the grand-mastership of St. Jago, with all its princely dependencies and emoluments, the noblest gift in the possession of the crown. Find- ing all this ineffectual, and that Gonsalvo still pro- crastinated his return on various pretexts, the king's uneasiness increased to such a degree, that he de- termined to press his own departure for Naples, and bring back, if not too late, his too powerful vassal. ^' He sails lor Qu thc 4th of September, 1506, Ferdinand em- barked at Barcelona, on board a well-armed squad- ron of Catalan galleys, taking with him his young and beautiful bride, and a numerous train of Ara- gonese nobles. On the 24th of the month, after a boisterous and tedious passage, he reached the port of Genoa. Here, to his astonishment, he was 10 Mariana, Hist, de Espaila, — Giannono, Istoria di Napoli, lib. lib. 28, cap. 12. — Ziirita, Anales, 30, cap. 1. — Ciovio, Vita? Illust. toin. vi. lib. C, cap. 5. Viroriim, p. 280. — Oviedo, Quin- 11 Zurita, Anales, torn. vi. lib. ciingeiias, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 3, 7, cap. 6. — Giiicciardini, Istoria, dial. 9. torn. iv. p. 12. cd. di Milano, 1803.
