Amerigo VespucciOber, Frederick A. (Frederick Albion)
History
Amerigo Vespucci
Ober, Frederick A. (Frederick Albion)
Vespucci, Amerigo, 1451-1512
He was as deeply devout as Columbus himself, always rendering thanks
to the Almighty for His favors, but was by no means a fanatic in
religion. While Columbus ascribes his discoveries to the especial
favor of some particular saint, on occasions, or his deliverance from
danger to the direct interposition of Providence, Vespucci makes no
such superstitious claims for himself, though acknowledging his
dependence upon God and expressing gratitude for divine support. He
believed, evidently, in the precept of the Golden Rule--"Do unto
others as you would have them do to you"; and this, alas, cannot be
said of Christopher Columbus. Though he married late in life, and had
no children of his own, Vespucci "was full of affectionate feeling for
his family, as his care and attention to the education and advancement
of his nephew, and his memory of relatives in Florence, from whom he
had been so long absent, amply testify."
Finally, the structure which Columbus fain would have raised has
crumbled to ruins, while that built by Vespucci, who labored without
thought of himself, or hope of reward, has been strengthened by the
lapse of time, and will stand so long as the world endures. Vespucci
humbled himself, and was exalted, for the name bestowed upon the
hemisphere which these two were instrumental in revealing to Europe
was suggested by utter strangers to the Florentine--men of penetrating
mind, who perceived an eternal fitness in calling it _America_.
These reflections arise from the fact that, soon after the return of
Vespucci to Seville, he met, and was probably entertained by,
Christopher Columbus. The old Admiral had but recently returned from
his fourth and last voyage to the West Indies, where he had escaped
death by a miracle, and had suffered humiliation at the hands of the
atrocious Ovando. He had come back to Spain to find his friend and
protectress, Isabella, on a bed of death; to encounter the ingratitude
of Ferdinand and meet the charges of his enemies. He was never to make
another voyage until he embarked on that last long journey into the
world unknown.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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