Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/157

131 ARMIES ON THE GARIGLIANO. 131 XIV. tion of the soldiers. Several of them, therefore, chapter among the rest Mendoza and the two Colonnas, waited on the commander-in-chief, and, after stat- ing their fears without reserve, besought him to remove the camp to Capua, where the troops might find healthy and commodious quarters, at least until the severity of the season was mitigated ; before which, they insisted, there was no reason to an- ticipate any movement on the part of the French. But Gonsalvo felt too deeply the importance of grappling with the enemy, before they should gain the open country, to be willing to trust to any such precarious contingency. Besides, he distrusted the effect of such a retrograde movement on the spirits of his own troops. He had decided on his course after the most mature deliberation ; and, having patiently heard his officers to the end, replied in these few but memorable words ; " It is indispen- sable to the public service to maintain our present position ; and be assured, I would sooner march forward two steps, though it should bring me to my grave, than fall back one, to gain a hundred years." The decided tone of the reply, relieved him from further importunity.^^ There is no act of Gonsalvo's life, which on the whole displays more strikingly the strength of his character. When thus witnessing his faithful fol- lowers drooping and dying around him, with the consciousness that a word could relieve them from ^ Bemaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, 19, cap. 16. — Guicciardini, Istoria, MS., cap. 188. — Chronica del lib. 6, p. 328. — Zurita, Anales, Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap. 108. — torn. v. lib. 5, cap. 58. Garibay, Compendio, torn. ii. lib.