PART II. Heroism of Twelfth with very important commands. He was not deficient in energy of character, or military science. But it required powers of a higher order than his to bring the army under subordination, and renew its confidence under present circumstances. The Italians, disgusted with the treatment of their former chief, deserted in great numbers. The great body of the French chivalry, impatient of their present unhealthy position, dispersed among the adjacent cities of Fondi, Itri, and Gaeta, leaving the low country around the Tower of the Garigliano to the care of the Swiss and German infantry. Thus, while the whole Spanish army lay within a mile of the river, under the immediate eye of their commander, prepared for instant service, the French were scattered over a country more than ten miles in extent, where, without regard to military discipline, they sought to relieve the dreary monotony of a camp, by all the relaxations which such comfortable quarters could afford.30 It must not be supposed, that the repose of the two armies was never broken by the sounds of war. More than one rencontre, on the contrary, with various fortune, took place, and more than one display of personal prowess by the knights of the two nations, as formerly at the siege of Barleta. The Spaniards made two unsuccessful efforts to burn the enemy's bridge; but they succeeded, on the other hand, in carrying the strong fortress of Rocca - 30 Garnier, Hist. de France, tom. p. 329.- Machiavelli, Legazione XIV. Guglielma, garrisoned by the French. Among the CHAPTER feats of individual heroism, the Castilian writers expatiate most complacently on that of their favorite cavalier, Diego de Paredes, who descended alone on the bridge against a body of French knights, all armed in proof, with a desperate hardihood worthy of Don Quixote; and would most probably have shared the usual fate of that renowned personage on such occasions, had he not been rescued by a sally of his own countrymen. The French find a counterpart to this adventure in that of the preux chevalier Bayard, who, with his single arm maintained the barriers of the bridge against two hundred Spaniards, for an hour or Such feats, indeed, are more easily achieved with the pen than with the sword. It would be injustice, however, to the honest chronicler of the day to suppose that he did not himself fully "Believe the magic wonders that he sung." Every heart confessed the influence of a romantic age, the dying age, indeed, of chivalry, — but when, with superior refinement, it had lost nothing of the enthusiasm and exaltation of its prime. A shadowy twilight of romance enveloped every object. Every day gave birth to such extravagances, not merely of sentiment, but of action, as made it difficult to discern the precise boundaries of fact 31 Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap. 106.- Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 25, apud Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, tom. xv. -Varillas, Hist. de Louis XII., tom. i. p. 417.-Quintana, Españo- PART II. and fiction. The chronicler might innocently encroach sometimes on the province of the poet, and the poet occasionally draw the theme of his visions from the pages of the chronicler. Such, in fact, was the case; and the romantic Muse of Italy, then coming forth in her glory, did little more than give a brighter flush of color to the chimeras of real life. The characters of living heroes, a Bayard, a Paredes, and a La Palice, readily supplied her with the elements of those ideal combinations, in which she has so gracefully embodied the perfections of chivalry.32 32 Compare the prose romances of D'Auton, of the "6 loyal serviteur" of Bayard, and the no less loyal biographer of the Great Captain, with the poetic ones of Ariosto, Berni, and the like. "Magnanima menzogna! or quando è il vero Sì bello, che si possa a te preporre ? " CHAPTER XV. ITALIAN WARS.-ROUT OF THE GARIGLIANO.—TREATY WITH 1503, 1504. Gonsalvo crosses the River. - Consternation of the French. - Action near Gaeta.- Hotly contested. The French defeated.-Gaeta surrenders. Public Enthusiasm.-Treaty with France.. Review of Gonsalvo's Military Conduct. Results of the Campaign. XV. Gonsalvo se Orsini. SEVEN weeks had now elapsed, since the two CHAPTER armies had lain in sight of each other without any decided movement on either side. During this cures the time, the Great Captain had made repeated efforts to strengthen himself, through the intervention of the Spanish ambassador, Francisco de Rojas,' by reinforcements from Rome. His negotiations were chiefly directed to secure the alliance of the Orsini, a powerful family, long involved in a bitter feud with the Colonnas, then in the Spanish service. A reconciliation between these noble houses was at length happily effected; and Bartolomeo d' Alviano, the head of the Orsini, agreed to enlist under 1 He succeeded Garcilasso de la Vega at the court of Rome. Oviedo says, in reference to the illustrious house of Rojas, "En todas las historias de España no se hallan tantos caballeros de un linage y VOL. III. 18 nombre notados por valerosos ca- PART II. Assumes the offensive. the Spanish commander with three thousand men. This arrangement was finally brought about through the good offices of the Venetian minister at Rome, who even advanced a considerable sum of money towards the payment of the new levies.2 The appearance of this corps, with one of the most able and valiant of the Italian captains at its head, revived the drooping spirits of the camp. Soon after his arrival, Alviano strongly urged Gonsalvo to abandon his original plan of operations, and avail himself of his augmented strength to attack the enemy in his own quarters. The Spanish commander had intended to confine himself wholly to the defensive, and, too unequal in force to meet the French in the open field, as before noticed, had intrenched himself in his present strong position, with the fixed purpose of awaiting the enemy there. Circumstances had now greatly changed. The original inequality was diminished by the arrival of the Italian levies, and still further compensated by the present disorderly state of the French army. He knew, moreover, that in the most perilous enterprises, the assailing party gathers an enthusiasm and an impetus in its career, which counterbalance large numerical odds; while the party taken by sur prise is proportionably disconcerted, and prepared, as it were, for defeat before a blow is struck. From these considerations, the cautious general acquiesced in Alviano's project to cross the Gari 2 Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 28, cap. 5.- Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 6, pp. 319, 320.-Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 48, 57.- Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 14, sec. 4, 5.-Daru, Hist. de Venise, tom iii. pp. 364, 365. |