His long and toilsome march had been accomplished without an untoward
accident, and with scarcely a disorderly act on the part of the
soldiers. No man's property had been plundered. No peasant's hut had
been violated. The cattle had been allowed to graze unmolested in the
fields, and the flocks to wander in safety over their mountain pastures.
One instance only to the contrary is mentioned,--that of three troopers,
who carried off one or two straggling sheep as the army was passing
through Lorraine. But they were soon called to a heavy reckoning for
their transgression. Alva, on being informed of the fact, sentenced them
all to the gallows. At the intercession of the duke of Lorraine, the
sentence was so far mitigated by the Spanish commander, that one only of
the three, selected by lot, was finally executed.[947]

The admirable discipline maintained among Alva's soldiers was the more
conspicuous in an age when the name of soldier was synonymous with that
of marauder. It mattered little whether it were a friendly country or
that of a foe through which lay the line of march. The defenceless
peasant was everywhere the prey of the warrior; and the general winked
at the outrages of his followers, as the best means of settling their
arrears.

What made the subordination of the troops, in the present instance,
still more worthy of notice, was the great number of camp followers,
especially courtesans, who hung on the skirts of the army. These latter
mustered in such force, that they were divided into battalions and
companies, marching each under its own banner, and subjected to a sort
of military organization, like the men.[948] The duke seems to have been
as careless of the morals of his soldiers as he was careful of their
discipline; perhaps willing by his laxity in the one to compensate for
his severity in the other.

It was of the last importance to Alva that his soldiers should commit no
trespass, nor entangle him in a quarrel with the dangerous people
through the midst of whom he was to pass; and who, from their superior
knowledge of the country, as well as their numbers, could so easily
overpower him. Fortunately, he had received such intimations before his
departure as put him on his guard. The result was, that he obtained such
a mastery over his followers, and enforced so perfect a discipline, as
excited the general admiration of his contemporaries, and made his march
to the Low Countries one of the most memorabl