name and fame of Don John of Austria throughout the world. Alva wrote,
with enthusiasm, to congratulate him; pronouncing the victory the most
brilliant one ever achieved by Christians, and Don John the greatest
general since the death of Julius Caesar. At the same time, with a
sarcastic fling at the erection of the Escorial, he advised Philip to
improve this new success in some more practical way than by building a
house for the Lord and a sepulchre for the dead. "If," said the Duke,
"the conquests of Spain be extended in consequence of this triumph, then,
indeed, will the Cherubim and Seraphim sing glory to God." A courier,
despatched post haste to Spain, bore the glorious news, together with
the, sacred, standard of the Prophet, the holy of holies, inscribed with
the name of Allah twenty-eight thousand nine hundred times, always kept
in Mecca during peace, and never since the conquest of Constantinople
lost in battle before. The King was at vespers in the Escorial.
Entering the sacred precincts, breathless, travel-stained, excited, the
messenger found Philip impassible as marble to the wondrous news. Not a
muscle of the royal visage was moved, not a syllable escaped the royal
lips, save a brief order to the clergy to continue the interrupted
vespers. When the service had been methodically concluded, the King made
known the intelligence and requested a Te Deum.

The youthful commander-in-chief obtained more than his full mead of
glory. No doubt he had fought with brilliant courage, yet in so close
and murderous a conflict, the valor of no single individual could decide
the day, and the result was due to the combined determination of all.
Had Don John remained at Naples, the issue might have easily been the
same. Barbarigo, who sealed the victory with his blood; Colonna, who
celebrated a solemn triumph on his return to Rome; Parma, Doria,
Giustiniani, Venieri, might each as well have claimed a monopoly of the
glory, had not the Pope, at Philip's entreaty, conferred the baton of