had been
lying at Padua made a short attack on Augereau's division, and on the
ninth drove it into Porto Legnago, the extreme right of the French
line. This could mean nothing else than a renewal of hostilities by
Austria, although it was impossible to tell where the main attack
would be made. On the eleventh Bonaparte was at Bologna, concluding an
advantageous treaty with Tuscany; in order to be ready for any event,
he started the same evening, hastened across the Adige with his
troops, and pressed on to Verona.

On the twelfth, at six in the morning, the enemy attacked Massena's
advance-guard at St. Michel, a suburb of that city. They were repulsed
with loss. Early on the same day Joubert, who had been stationed with
a corps of observation farther up in the old and tried position at the
foot of Monte Baldo, became aware of hostile movements, and occupied
Rivoli. During the day the two Austrian columns tried to turn his
position by seizing his outpost at Corona, but they were repulsed. On
the thirteenth he became aware that the main body of the Austrians was
before him, and that their intention was to surround him by the left.
Accordingly he informed Bonaparte, abandoned Corona, and made ready to
retreat from Rivoli. That evening Provera threw a pontoon bridge
across the Adige at Anghiari, below Legnago, and crossed with a
portion of his army. Next day he started for Mantua, but was so
harassed by Guieu and Augereau that the move was ineffectual, and he
got no farther than Nogara.

The heights of Rivoli command the movements of any force passing out
of the Alps through the valley of the Adige. They are abrupt on all
sides but one, where from the greatest elevation the chapel of St.
Mark overlooked a winding road, steep, but available for cavalry and
artillery. Rising from the general level of the tableland, this
hillock is in itself a kind of natural citadel. Late on the
thirteenth, Joubert, in reply to the message he had sent, received
orders to fortify the plateau, and to hold it at all hazards; for
Bonaparte now divined that the main attack was to be made there in
order to divert all opposition from Provera, and that if it were
successful the two Austrian armies would meet at Mantua. By ten that
evening the reports brought in from Joubert and by scouts left this
conclusion no longer doubtful. That very night, therefore, being in
perfect readiness for either event, Bonaparte moved toward Rivoli with
a force numbe