Ferdinand temporised, denying the truth of the reports of persecution and alleging that no oppressive measures had been adopted against the Moors, describing whatever hardships they may have suffered as unavoidably incidental to the reorganisation of the recently acquired provinces.  His tranquillising assurances were not accepted with unreserved credence by the Sultan.  By the year 1501, the situation had become so strained, owing to the knowledge spread through the Mussulman world that an edict of general expulsion was in preparation, that it was decided to despatch an embassy to soothe the Sultan’s angry alarm and to protect, if possible, the Christians within his dominions from the threatened vengeance.  For this delicate and novel negotiation, Peter Martyr was chosen.  The avowed object of his mission has been suspected of masking some undeclared purpose, though what this may have been is purely a matter of conjecture.  He was also entrusted with a secret message to the Doge and Senate of Venice, where French influences were felt to be at work against the interests of Spain.  Travelling by way of Narbonne and Avignon, the ambassador reached Venice a few days after the death of the Doge, Barbarigo, and before a successor had been elected.  Brief as was his stay in the city of lagoons, every hour of it was profitably employed.  He visited churches, palaces, and convents, inspecting their libraries and art treasures; he was enraptured by the beauty and splendour of all he beheld.  Nothing escaped his searching inquiries concerning the form of government, the system of elections, the ship-building actively carried on in the great arsenal, and the extent and variety of commercial intercourse with foreign nations.  Mention of his visit is made in the famous diary of the younger Marino Sanuto.[1]

[Note 1:  A di 30 Septembris giunse qui uno orator dei reali di Spagna; va al Soldano al Cairo; qual monto su le Gallie nostre di Alessandria; si dice per prepare il Soliano relaxi i frati di Monte Syon e li tratti bene, e che 30 mila.  Mori di Granata si sono baptizati di sua volonta, e non coacti.]

Delightful and absorbing as he undoubtedly found it to linger amidst the glories of Venice, the ambassador was not forgetful that the important purpose of his mission lay elsewhere.  Delivering his message to the Senate, he crossed to Pola (Pula), where eight Venetian ships lay, ready to sail to various ports in the Levant.  The voyage to Egypt proved a tempestuous one, and it was the twenty-third of December when the storm-beaten vessel safely entered the port of Alexandria, after a narrow escape from being wrecked on the rocky foundations of the famous Pharos of antiquity.  Christian merchants trading in the Levant were at that period divided into two groups, one of which was under the protection of Venice, the other, in which were comprised all Spanish subjects, being under that of France.  The French consul, Felipe de Paredes,