ring about twenty thousand. It was composed of every
available French soldier between Desenzano and Verona, including
Massena's division.[68] By strenuous exertions they reached the
heights of Rivoli about two in the morning of the fourteenth.
Alvinczy, ignorant of what had happened, was waiting for daylight in
order to carry out his original design of inclosing and capturing the
comparatively small force of Joubert and the strong place which it had
been set to hold, a spot long since recognized by Northern peoples as
the key to the portal of Italy. Bonaparte, on his arrival, perceived
in the moonlight five divisions encamped in a semicircle below; their
bivouac fires made clear that they were separated from one another by
considerable distances. He knew then that his instinct had been
correct, that this was the main army, and that the decisive battle
would be fought next day. The following hours were spent in disposing
his forces to meet the attack in any form it might take. Not a man was
wasted, but the region was occupied with pickets, outposts, and
reserves so ingeniously stationed that the study of that field, and of
Bonaparte's disposition of his forces, has become a classic example
in military science.

[Footnote 68: Somewhat under 40,000. Bonaparte guessed,
and his guess was very shrewd, that all told he was then
confronted by 45,000. The Austrians have never made the
facts clear, though their initial strength is set at
28,000. I have found no estimate of the reinforcements.
In any case they lost 10,000 here, the whole of
Provera's corps at La Favorita, and 18,000 were captured
at Mantua: their fighting force in Italy was
annihilated.]

The gorge by which the Adige breaks through the lowest foot-hills of
the Alps to enter the lowlands has been famous since dim antiquity.
The Romans considered it the entrance to Cimmeria; it was sung in
German myths as the Berner Klause, the majestic gateway from their
inclement clime into the land of the stranger, that warm, bright land
for the luxurious and orderly life of which their hearts were ever
yearning. Around its precipices and isolated, frowning bastions song
and fable had clustered, and the effect of mystery was enhanced by the
awful grandeur of the scene. Overlooking all stands Monte Baldo,
frowning with its dark precipices on the cold summ