Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/369

343 WARS AND POLITICS OF ITALY. 34^ taking the command of forces to be instantly raised chapter for Naples. There could be no better proof of the • '— rojal consternation. ^^ The victory of Ravenna, however, was more fatal The Fren< u •' ' retreat. to the French than to their foes. The uninterrupt- ed successes of a commander are so far unfortunate, that they incline his followers, by the brilliant illu- sion they throw around his name, to rely less on their own resources, than on him whom they have hitherto found invincible ; and thus subject their own destiny to all the casualties which attach to the fortunes of a single individual. The death of Gaston de Foix seemed to dissolve the only bond which held the French together. The officers be- came divided, the soldiers disheartened, and, with the loss of their young hero, lost all interest in the service. The allies, advised of this disorderly state of the army, recovered confidence, and renewed their exertions. Through Ferdinand's influence over his son-in-law, Henry the Eighth of England, the latter had been induced openly to join the League in the beginning of the present year.^^ The Catholic king had the address, moreover, just before the battle to detach the emperor from 25 Guicciardini, Istoria, torn. v. He had become a party to it as ear- lib. 10, pp. 310 - 312, 322, 323. — ly as November 17, of the preceding Chronica del Gran Capitan, lib. 3, year; he deferred its publication, cap. 7. — Mariana, Hist, de Espafia, however, until he had received the torn. ii. lib. 30, cap. 9. — Giovio, last instalment of a subsidy, that Vita Magni Gonsalvi, lib. 3, p. Louis XH. was to pay him for the 288. — Carbajal, Anales, MS., aiio maintenance of peace. (Rymer, 1512. — See also LetteradiVettori, Fcedera, torn. xiii. pp. 311-323 Maggio 16, 1514, apud Machia- — Sismondi, Hist, des Frangais, velli, Opere. torn. xv. p. 385.) Even the chival- ^ Dumont, Corps Diplomatique, rous Harry the Eighth could not torn. iv. p. 137. escape the trickish spirit of the age.