Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/338

314 314 ITALIAN WARS. PART tion, to counteract the alarming progress of the '- — enemy. He quitted Salerno before the end of winter, strengthening his army by such reinforce- ments as he could collect from every quarter of the country. With this body, he directed his course towards Apulia, with the intention of bringing Ferdinand, who had already established his head- quarters there, to a decisive engagement. Ferdi- nand's force, however, was so far inferior to that of his antagonist, as to compel him to act on the defen- sive, until he had been reinforced by a considera- ble body of troops from Venice. The two armies were then so equally matched, that neither cared to hazard all on the fate of a battle ; and the cam- paign wasted away in languid operations, which led to no important result. nonsaivoiu Jn thc mcan time, Gonsalvo de Cordova was Calabria. slowly fighting his way up through southern Cala- bria. The character of the country, rough and mountainous, like the Alpuxarras, and thickly sprin- kled with fortified places, enabled him to bring into play the tactics which he had learned in the war of Granada. He made little use of heavy-armed troops, relying on his ginetes, and still more on his foot ; taking care, however, to avoid any direct en- counter with the dreaded Swiss battalions. He made amends for paucity of numbers and want of real strength, by rapidity of movement and the wily tactics of Moorish warfare ; darting on the enemy where least expected, surprising his strong- holds at dead of night, entangling him in am- buscades, and desolating the country with those