The Sun Of Wittenburg

Among the engagements fought by the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries,
no victory was more hotly contested and more hardly won than the battle
of Wittenburg, in . Some who were present at it, when they came
back to Spain, magnified, as old soldiers are wont, the wonders of
the day; and among other extravagant exaggerations, it was reported
that the sun had stood still to give the victorious Spaniards time
to pursue their enemies.

When the Duke of Alva returned, Charles Quint inquired of him his
account of the event. The Duke, who did not wish either to compromise
his veracity or diminish the honours of the day, replied, "Sire,
I had too much occupation on earth for my thoughts to have leisure
to observe what took place in the heavens."