Wanderings With An Idea - 1

Wanderings With An Idea - 1

The man to whom Columbus proposed to address his request for means with which to
make a voyage of discovery was no less a person than the new King of Portugal.
Columbus was never a man of petty or small ideas; if he were going to do a thing at all,
he went about it in a large and comprehensive way; and all his life he had a way of going
to the fountainhead, and of making flights and leaps where other men would only climb
or walk, that had much to do with his ultimate success. King John, moreover, had shown
himself thoroughly sympathetic to the spirit of discovery; Columbus, as we have seen,
had already been employed in a trusted capacity in one of the royal expeditions; and he
rightly thought that, since he had to ask the help of some one in his enterprise, he might
as well try to enlist the Crown itself in the service of his great Idea. He was not prepared,
however, to go directly to the King and ask for ships; his proposal would have to be put
in a way that would appeal to the royal ambition, and would also satisfy the King that
there was really a destination in view for the expedition. In other words Columbus had to
propose to go somewhere; it would not do to say that he was going west into the Atlantic
Ocean to look about him. He therefore devoted all his energies to putting his proposal on
what is called a business footing, and expressing his vague, sublime Idea in common and
practical terms.
The people who probably helped him most in this were his brother Bartholomew and
Martin Behaim, the great authority on scientific navigation, who had been living in
Lisbon for some time and with whom Columbus was acquainted. Behaim, who was at
this time about forty eight years of age, was born at Nuremberg, and was a pupil of
Regiomontanus, the great German astronomer. A very interesting man, this, if we could
decipher his features and character; no mere star-gazing visionary, but a man of the
world, whose scientific lore was combined with a wide and liberal experience of life. He
was not only learned in cosmography and astronomy, but he had a genius for mechanics
and made beautiful instruments; he was a merchant also, and combined a little business
with his scientific travels. He had been employed at Lisbon in adapting the astrolabe of
Regiomontanus for the use of sailors at sea; and in these labours he was assisted by two
people who were destined to have a weighty influence on the career of Columbus—
Doctors Rodrigo and Joseph, physicians or advisers to the King, and men of great
academic reputation. There was nothing known about cosmography or astronomy that
Behaim did not know; and he had just come back from an expedition on which he had
been despatched, with Rodrigo and Joseph, to take the altitude of the sun in Guinea.
Columbus was not the man to neglect his opportunities, and there can be no doubt that as
soon as his purpose had established itself in his mind he made use of every opportunity
that presented itself for improving his meagre scientific knowledge, in order that his
proposal might be set forth in a plausible form. In other words, he got up the subject. The
whole of his geographical reading with regard to the Indies up to this time had been in the
travels of Marco Polo; the others—whose works he quoted from so freely in later years
were then known to him only by name, if at all. Behaim, however, could tell him a good
deal about the supposed circumference of the earth, the extent of the Asiatic continent,
and so on. Every new fact that Columbus heard he seized and pressed into the service of
his Idea; where there was a choice of facts, or a difference of opinion between scientists,
he chose the facts that were most convenient, and the opinions that fitted best with his
own beliefs. The very word "Indies" was synonymous with unbounded wealth; there
certainly would be riches to tempt the King with; and Columbus, being a religious man,
hit also on the happy idea of setting forth the spiritual glory of carrying the light of faith
across the Sea of Darkness, and making of the heathen a heritage for the Christian
Church. So that, what with one thing and another, he soon had his proposals formally
arranged.
Imagine him, then, actually at Court, and having an audience of the King, who could
scarcely believe his ears. Here was a man, of whom he knew nothing but that his conduct
of a caravel had been well spoken of in the recent expedition to Guinea, actually
proposing to sail out west into the Atlantic and to cross the unknown part of the world.
Certainly his proposals seemed plausible, but still—. The earth was round, said
Columbus, and therefore there was a way from East to West and from West to East. The
prophet Esdras, a scientific authority that even His Majesty would hardly venture to
doubt, had laid it down that only one-seventh of the earth was covered by waters. From
this fact Columbus deduced that the maritime space extending westward between the
shores of Europe and eastern coast of Asia could not be large; and by sailing westward he
proposed to reach certain lands of which he claimed to have knowledge. The sailors'
tales, the logs of driftwood, the dead bodies, were all brought into the proposals; in short,
if His Majesty would grant some ships, and consent to making Columbus Admiral over
all the islands that he might discover, with full viceregal state, authority, and profit, he
would go and discover them.
There are two different accounts of what the King said when this proposal was made to
him. According to some authorities, John was impressed by Columbus's proposals, and
inclined to provide him with the necessary ships, but he could not assent to all the titles
and rewards which Columbus demanded as a price for his services. Barros, the
Portuguese historian, on the other hand, represents that the whole idea was too fantastic
to be seriously entertained by the King for a moment, and that although he at once made
up his mind to refuse the request he preferred to delegate his refusal to a commission.
Whatever may be the truth as to King John's opinions, the commission was certainly
appointed, and consisted of three persons, to wit: Master Rodrigo, Master Joseph the Jew,
and the Right Reverend Cazadilla, Bishop of Ceuta.
Before these three learned men must Columbus now appear, a little less happy in his
mind, and wishing that he knew more Latin. Master Rodrigo, Master Joseph the Jew, the
Right Reverend Cazadilla: three pairs of cold eyes turned rather haughtily on the Genoese
adventurer; three brains much steeped in learning, directed in judgment on the Idea of a
man with no learning at all. The Right Reverend Cazadilla, being the King's confessor,
and a bishop into the bargain, could speak on that matter of converting the heathen; and
he was of opinion that it could not be done. Joseph the Jew, having made voyages, and
worked with Behaim at the astrolabe, was surely an authority on navigation; and he was
of opinion that it could not be done. Rodrigo, being also a very learned man, had read
many books which Columbus had not read; and he was of opinion that it could not be
done. Three learned opinions against one Idea; the Idea is bound to go. They would no
doubt question Columbus on the scientific aspect of the matter, and would soon discover
his grievous lack of academic knowledge. They would quote fluently passages from
writers that he had not heard of; if he had not heard of them, they seemed to imply, no
wonder he made such foolish proposals. Poor Columbus stands there puzzled,
dissatisfied, tongue-tied. He cannot answer these wiseacres in their own learned lingo;
what they say, or what they quote, may be true or it may not; but it has nothing to do with
his Idea. If he opens his mouth to justify himself, they refute him with arguments that he
does not understand; there is a wall between them. More than a wall; there is a world
between them! It is his 'credo' against their 'ignoro'; it is, his 'expecto' against their 'non
video'. Yet in his 'credo' there lies a power of which they do not dream; and it rings out in
a trumpet note across the centuries, saluting the life force that opposes its irresistible "I
will" to the feeble "Thou canst not" of the worldly-wise. Thus, in about the year 1483, did
three learned men sit in judgment upon our ignorant Christopher. Three learned men:
Doctors Rodrigo, Joseph the Jew, and the Right Reverend Cazadilla, Bishop of Ceuta;
three risen, stuffed to the eyes and ears with learning; stuffed so full indeed that eyes and
ears are closed with it. And three men, it would appear, wholly destitute of mother-wit.