Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/147

121 XIV. ARMIES ON THE GARIGLIANO. 121 ish, German, and Italian, which the Castilian min- chapter ister, Francisco de Roxas, had levied in Rome ; and he was in daily hopes of a more important ac- cession from the same quarter, through the good offices of the Venetian ambassador. Lastly, he had obtained some additional recruits, and a remit- tance of a considerable sum of money, in a fleet of Catalan ships lately arrived from Spain. With all this, however, a heavy amount of arrears remained due to his troops. In point of numbers he was still far inferior to the enemy ; no computation swelling them higher than three thousand horse, two of them light cavalry, and nine thousand foot. The strength of his army lay in his Spanish in- fantry, on whose thorough discipline, steady nerve, and strong attachment to his person, he felt he might confidently rely. In cavalry, and still more in artillery, he was far below the French, which, together with his great numerical inferiority, made it impossible for him to keep the open country. His only resource was to get possession of some pass or strong position, which lay in their route, where he might detain them, till the arrival of fur- ther reinforcements should enable him to face them on more equal terms. The deep stream of the Garigliano presented such a line of defence as he wanted. ^^ 15 Zurita, Hist, del Rey Her- lib. 19, cap. 16. — Ferreras, Hist, nando.tom.i. lib.5, cap.38,43,44, d'Espagne, torn. viii. pp. 252- 48, 57. — Giovio, VitEs Illust. Vi- 257. — Carta del Gran Capitan, rorum, fol. 258, 259. — Sismondi, MS. Hist, des Francais, torn. xv. p. 417. The Castilian writers do not state — Garibay, Compendio, torn. ii. the sum total of the Spanish force, VOL. III. 16