Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 20.djvu/174

 Charles did not delay the attack till the rest of his infantry should arrive: he plunges into the water at the head of his foot-guards, and crosses the river and the morass, the water frequently reaching above his shoulders. While he was thus pressing forward to the enemy, he ordered his cavalry to go round the morass and take them in flank. The Muscovites, surprised that no barrier could defend them, were instantly routed by the king who attacked them on foot, and by the Swedish cavalry.

The horse, having forced their way through the enemy, joined the king in the midst of the battle. He then mounted on horseback; but some time after, observing in the field a young Swedish gentleman, named Gyllenstiern, for whom he had a great regard, wounded and unable to walk, he forced him to take his horse, and continued to command on foot at the head of his infantry. Of all the battles he had ever fought, this was perhaps the most glorious; this was the one in which he encountered the greatest dangers, and displayed the most consummate skill and prudence. The memory of it is still preserved by a medal, with this inscription on one side: Sylvæ, paludes, aggeres, hostes victi: and on the other this verse of Lucan: Victrices copias alium laturus in orbem.

The Russians, chased from all their posts, repassed the Boristhenes, which divides Poland from Muscovy. Charles did not give over the pursuit; but followed them across the Boristhenes, which he passed at Mohilou, the last town of Poland, and