Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/368

342 342 WARS AND POLITICS OF ITALY. PART young to be steeled by familiarity with the iron trade '- — to which he was devoted. It may be fair, however, to charge this on the age rather than on the indi- vidual, for surely never was there one characterized by greater brutality, and more unsparing ferocity in its wars.^* So little had the progress of civilization done for humanity. It is not until a recent period, that a more generous spirit has operated ; that a fellow-creature has been understood not to forfeit his rights as a man, because he is an enemy ; that conventional laws have been established, tending greatly to mitigate the evils of a condition, which with every alleviation is one of unspeakable misery; and that those who hold the destinies of nations in their hands have been made to feel, that there is less true glory, and far less profit, to be derived from war, than from the wise prevention of it. The defeat at Ravenna struck a panic into the confederates. The stout heart of Julius the Second faltered, and it required all the assurances of the Spanish and Venetian ministers to keep him staunch to his purpose. King Ferdinand issued orders to the Great Captain to hold himself in readiness for 24 One example may suffice, oc- of the whole number of fugitives curring in the war of the League, only one escaped with life ; and in 1510. When Vicenza was taken the blackened and convulsed ap- by the Imperialists, a number of pearance of the bodies showed too the inhabitants, amounting to one, plainly the cruel agonies of suffo- or, according to some accounts, six cation. (M^moires de Bayard, thousand, took refuge in a neigh- chap. 40. — Bembo, Istoria Vini- bouring grotto, with their wives ziana, tom. ii. lib. 10.) Bayard and children, comprehending many executed two of the authors of this of the principal families of the diabolical act on the spot. But place. A French officer, detecting the " chevalier sans reproche " was their retreat, caused a heap of fag- an exception to, rather than an ex- gots to be piled up at the mouth of ample of, the prevalent spirit of the the cavern and set on fire. Out age.