Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/364

338 838 WARS AND POLITICS OF ITALY. I'ART II. (iaston de Foi. February 5. Early in 1512, France, by great exertions and without a single confederate out of Italy, save the false and fluctuating emperor, got an army into the field superior to that of the allies in point of numbers, and still more so in the character of its commander. This was Gaston de Foix, duke de Nemours, and brother of the queen of Aragon. Though a boy in years, for he was but twenty- two, he was ripe in understanding, and possessed consummate military talents. He introduced a severer discipline into his army, and an entirely new system of tactics. He looked forward to his results with stern indifference to the means by which they were to be effected. He disregarded the difficulties of the roads, and the inclemency of the season, which had hitherto put a check on mili- tary operations. Through the midst of frightful morasses, or in the depth of winter snows, he per- formed his marches with a celerity unknown in the warfare of that age. In less than a fortnight after leaving Milan, he relieved Bologna then besieged by the allies, made a countermarch on Brescia, defeated a detachment by the way, and the whole Venetian army under its walls ; and, on the same day with the last event, succeeded in carrying the 30, can. 5, 14. — Peter Martyr, Opus Lpist., epist. 483. Vettori, it seems, gave credence to the same suggestion. " Spagna ha sempre amato assai questo suo Vicere, e per errore che abbia fatto non I'ha gastigato, ma piu presto fatto piii grande, e si puo pensare, come molti dicono, che sia suo fi- glio, c che abbia in pcnsicro lasdoi'lo Re di Napoli.^' Machiavelli, Opere, let. di 16 Maggio, 1514. According to Aleson, the king would have appointed Navarro to the post of commander-in-chief, had not his low birth disqualified him for it in the eyes of the allies. Annales de Navarra, torn. v. lib. 35, cap. 12.