Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/156

130 130 ITALIAN WARS. PART II. Gonsalvo's resolution. Remarkable instance f.f it. perhaps poverty, of King Ferdinand, whose in- - adequate remittances to his general exposed him, among many other embarrassments, to the imminent hazard of disaffection among the soldiery, especially the foreign mercenaries, which nothing, indeed, but the most delicate and judicious conduct on his part could have averted. " In this difficult crisis, Gonsalvo de Cordova re- tained all his usual equanimity, and even the cheer- fulness, so indispensable in a leader who would infuse heart into his followers. He entered freely into the distiesses and personal feelings of his men, and, instead of assuming any exemption from fa- tigue or suffering on the score of his rank, took his turn in the humblest tour of duty with the meanest of them, mounting guard himself, it is said, on more than one occasion. Above all, he displayed that inflexible constancy, which enables the strong mind in the hour of darkness and peril to buoy up the sinking spirits around it. A remarkable in- stance of this fixedness of purpose occurred at this time. The forlorn condition of the army, and the in- definite prospect of its continuance, raised a natural apprehension in many of the officers, that, if it did not provoke some open act of mutiny, it would in all probability break down the spirits and constitu- 27 Mariana, Hist, de Espana, The Neapolitan conquests, it will torn. ii. lib. 28, cap. 5. — Guicciar- be remembered, were undertaken dini, Istoria, torn. i. lib. 6, p. 328. exclusively for the crown of Ara- — Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a gon, the revenues of which were Roma, let. 44. — Ulloa, Vita di far more limited than those of Cas- Carlo v., fol. 22. — Chr6nica del tile. Gran Capitan, cap. 107, 108 --