Surrendering the administration of affairs, both in Austria and over the estates of the empire, to Maximilian, he retired, with his wife and three young daughters, to Lintz, where he devoted himself, at the close of his long and turbulent reign, to the peaceful pursuits of rural life.

A cancerous affection of the leg rendered it necessary for him to submit to the amputation of the limb.

He submitted to the painful operation with the greatest fortitude, and taking up his severed limb, with his accustomed phlegm remarked to those standing by, "What difference is there between an emperor and a peasant?
Or rather, is not a sound peasant better than a sick emperor?
Yet I hope to enjoy the greatest good which can happen to man--a happy exit from this transitory life." The shock of a second amputation, which from the vitiated state of his blood seemed necessary, was too great for his enfeebled frame to bear.
He died August 19th, 1493, seventy-eight years of age, and after a reign of fifty-three years.

He was what would be called, in these days, an ultra temperance man, never drinking even wine, and expressing ever the strongest abhorrence of alcoholic drinks, calling them the parent of all vices.

He seems to have anticipated the future greatness of Austria; for he had imprinted upon all his books, engraved upon his plate and carved into the walls of his palace a mysterious species of anagram composed of the five vowels, A, E, I, O, U.
The significance of this great secret no one could obtain from him.