How Lançarote required license from the Infant to go with his ships to
Guinea.
Of a truth the condition of the people, as Livy saith, is such that men
are always found to asperse great actions, especially at the beginning;
and it appeareth to me that this is through not having knowledge of the
results, for the man of faint heart, when he seeth the base and start of
great events, always thinketh them more formidable than they really are;
and because his spirit is not sufficient for the accomplishment of these
deeds, he beareth along with him a very natural doubt whether they are
capable of being performed. And this appeareth to be very well proved by
the deeds of our prince. For at the beginning of the colonisation of the
islands, people murmured as greatly as if he were spending some part of
their property on it; and basing their doubts upon this, they gossipped
about it until they declared his work was absolutely impossible, and
judged that it could never be accomplished at all. But after the Infant
began to people those islands, and to shew these persons how they could
profit by the new discovered land; and after the fruits of those
countries began to appear in Portugal in far greater abundance; then
those who had been foremost in complaint grew quiet, and with soft
voices praised what they had so loudly and publicly decried.
And just the same they did in the commencement of this conquest; for in
the first years, seeing the great equipment that the Infant made, with
such great expense, these busybodies left off attending to their own
affairs, and occupied themselves in discussing what they understood very
little about; and the more slowly the results came in of the Infant's
undertaking, the more loudly did they blame it. And the worst of it was
that besides what the vulgar said among themselves, people of more
importance talked about it in a mocking manner, declaring that no profit
would result from all this toil and expense.
But when they saw the first Moorish captives brought home, and the
second cargo that followed these, they became already somewhat doubtful
about the opinion they had at first expressed; and altogether renounced
it when they saw the third consignment that Nuno Tristam brought home,
captured in so short a time, and with so little trouble; and constrained
by necessity, they confessed their mistake, considering themselves
foolish for not having known it before. And so they were forced to turn
their blame into public praise; for they said it was plain the Infant
was another Alexander; and their covetousness now began to wax greater.
And, as they saw the houses of others full to overflowing of male and
female slaves, and their property increasing, they thought about the
whole matter, and began to talk among themselves.
And because that after coming back from Tangier, the Infant usually
remained always in the kingdom of Algarve, by reason of his town which
he was then having built, and because the booty that his captains
brought back was discharged at Lagos, therefore the people of that place
were the first to move the Infant to give them license to go to that
land whence came those Moorish captives.[N76]
For no one could go there with an armed ship without the express
permission of the Infant, as the King had granted him in the same
charter in which he presented him with the Royal Fifth, as you have seen
above.
And the first who interposed to beg for this license, was a squire, who
had been brought up from early youth in the Household of the Infant and
was now married and become Almoxarife[AG] for the King in that town of
Lagos.
[Footnote AG: A Collector of Taxes.]
And because he was a man of great good sense, he understood well how the
matter stood, and the profit that he would be able to gain by his
expedition, if God guided him, so that he could arrive at that land.
And when he had pondered well this plan, he began to speak of it with
some of his friends, stirring them up to join him in that action.
And this matter was not hard for him to compass; for that he was very
well beloved in the place and the inhabitants were in general men of
honour, always ready to exert themselves for a share in good things and
especially in naval contests; because their town was on the coast and
they were much more on shipboard than on land. So Lançarote prepared six
armed caravels to carry out his purpose and spoke to the Infant about a
license; saying that he begged he would grant it him that he might do
him service, as well as obtain honour and profit for himself.
And he gave him an account of the people that were going with him, and
of the caravels that they were taking.
And the Infant was very glad of this and at once commanded his banners
to be made, with the Cross of the Order of Jesus Christ, one of which
each caravel was to hoist.