Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/149

123 ARMIES ON THE GARIGLIANO. - 123 Keeping along the right bank, therefore, to the ciim'tek southeast of the mountains of Fondi, he descended 1__ nearly to the mouth of the Garigliano, the site, as encamron' •' . . the Ciarigli- commonlj supposed, of the ancient Minturnse. '^ ^"°- The place was covered by a fortress called the Tower of the Garigliano, occupied by a small Span- ish garrison, who made some resistance, but surren- dered on being permitted to march out with the honors of war. On rejoining their countrymen un- der Gonsalvo, the latter were so much incensed that the garrison should have yielded on any terms, in- stead of dying on their posts, that, falling on them with their pikes, they massacred them all to a man. Gonsalvo did not think proper to punish this out- rage, which, however shocking to his own feelings, indicated a desperate tone of resolution, which he felt he should have occasion to tax to the utmost in the present exigency.'^ The ground now occupied by the armies was low and swampy, a character which it possessed in an- cient times; the marshes on the southern side being supposed to be the same in which Marius concealed himself from his enemies during his proscription.^" 267. — Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, 20 The marshes of Minturnas lay MS., cap. 188. between the city and the mouth of 18 The remains ofthis city, which the Liris. (Cluverius, Ital. Antiq. stood about four miles above the lib. 3, cap. 10, sec. 9.) The Span- mouth of the Liris, are still to be ish army encamped, says Guicciar- seen on the right of the road. In dini, " in a place called by Livy ancient days it was of sufficient from its vicinity to Sessa, aqu(S <Sj- magnitude to cover both sides of nuessarus, being perhaps the marsh the river. See Strabo, Geogra- es in which Marius hid himself." phia, lib. 5, p. 233, (Paris, 1629, (Istoria, lib. 6.) The historiaa with Casaubon's notes,) p. 110. makes two blunders in a breath. 19 Chronica del Gran Capitan, 1st. Aquce SinuessancB was a name lib. 2, cap. 107. — Giovio, Vita derived not from Sessa, the ancient Magni Gonsalvi, fol. 263. Suessa Aurunca, but from the ad-