Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/189

163 their chars ler. THE FRENCH DRIVEN FROM NAPLES. 163 position, in a manner that rarely failed to repress chapter every thing like insubordination. The reader will — * — readily recall an example of this in the mutiny before Tarento ; and it was doubtless by the asser- tion of similar power, that he was so long able to keep in check his German mercenaries, distin- guished above the troops of every other nation by their habitual license and contempt of authority. While Gonsalvo relied so freely on the hardy Hiscnnu- •^ *' deuce lu constitution and patient habits of the Spaniards, he trusted no less to the deficiency of these qualities in the French, who, possessing little of the artificial character formed under the stern training of later times, resembled their Gaulish ancestors in the fa- cility with which they were discouraged by unex- pected obstacles, and the difficulty with which they could be brought to rally. ^^ In this he did not mis- calculate. The French infantry, drawn from the militia of the country, hastily collected and soon to be disbanded, and the independent nobility and gentry who composed the cavalry service, were alike difficult to be brought within the strict curb of mili- tary rule. The severe trials, which steeled the souls, and gave sinewy strength to the constitutions, of the Spanish soldiers, impaired those of their ene- mies, introduced divisions into their councils, and relaxed the whole tone of discipline. Gonsalvo watched the operation of all this, and, coolly waiting the moment when his weary and disheartened ad- 28 "Prima," says Li vy pithily, plus quam viroruin,postrema minus speaking of the Gauls in the time quam foeminarum." Lib. 10, cap. of the Republic, " eorum prcelia 28.