duties of his embassy, and possibly his own good pleasure, detained
Tendilla in Rome from September 13, 1486, until August 29th of the
following year, and, as his stay drew to its close, he pressingly
invited the Italian scholar to return with him to Spain, an invitation
which neither the remonstrances nor supplications of his friends
in Rome availed to persuade him to refuse. No one could more
advantageously introduce a foreigner at the Court of Spain than
Tendilla. What prospects he held out or what arguments he used to
induce Martyr to quit Rome and Italy, we do not know; apparently
little persuasion was required. A true child of his times, Peter
Martyr was prepared to accept his intellectual heritage wherever he
found it. From the obscure parental village of Arona, his steps first
led him to the ducal court of Milan, which served as a stepping-stone
from which he advanced into the wider world of Rome. The papal capital
knew him first as a disciple, then as a master, but the doubt whether
he was satisfied to wait upon laggard pontifical favours is certainly
permissible. He had made warm friendships, had enjoyed the intimacy of
the great, and the congenial companionship of kindred spirits, but his
talents had secured no permanent or lucrative recognition from the
Sovereign Pontiff. The announcement of his resolution to accompany
the ambassador to Spain caused consternation amongst his friends
who opposed, by every argument they could muster, a decision they
considered displayed both ingratitude and indifferent judgment.
Nothing availed to change the decision he had taken and, since to each
one he answered as he deemed expedient, and as each answer differed
from the other, it is not easy to fix upon the particular reason which
prompted him to seek his fortune in Spain.

[Note 8: From Burchard's _Diarium_, 1483-1506, and from the
_Chronicle_ of Pulgar we learn that Antonio Geraldini and Juan de