idea of staking the kingdom of
Naples against the embroidered coat of the duke of Guise."[166]

On the retreat of the French, Alva laid siege at once to two or three
places, of no great note, in the capture of which he and his lieutenants
were guilty of the most deliberate cruelty; though, in the judgment of
the chronicler, it was not cruelty, but a wholesome severity, designed
as a warning to such petty places not to defy the royal authority.[167]
Soon after this, Alva himself crossed the Tronto, and took up a position
not far removed from the French, who lay in the neighborhood of Ascoli.
Although the two armies were but a few miles asunder, there was no
attempt at hostilities, with the exception of a skirmish in which but a
small number on either side were engaged, and which terminated in favor
of the Spaniards. This state of things was at length ended by a summons
from the pope to the French commander to draw nearer to Rome, as he
needed his presence for the protection of the capital. The duke, glad,
no doubt, of so honorable an apology for his retreat, and satisfied with
having so long held his ground against a force superior to his own, fell
back, in good order, upon Tivoli, which, as it commanded the great
avenues to Rome on the east, and afforded good accommodations for his
troops, he made his head quarters for the present. The manner in which
the duke of Alva adhered to the plan of defensive operations settled at
the beginning of the campaign, and that, too, under circumstances which
would have tempted most men to depart from such a plan, is a remarkable
proof of his perseverance and inflexible spirit. It proves, moreover,
the empire which he held over the minds of his followers, that, under
such circumstances, he could maintain implicit obedience to his orders.

[Sidenote: ROME MENACED BY THE SPANIARDS.]

The cause of the pope's alarm was the rapid successes of Alva's
confederate, Mark Antony Colonna, who had defeated the papal levies,
and taken one place after another in the Campagna, till the Romans began
to tremble for their capital. Colonna was now occupied with the siege of
Segni, a place of considerable importance; and the duke of Alva,
relieved of the presence of the French, resolved to march to his
support. He accordingly recrossed the Tronto, and, passing through the
Neapolitan territory, halted for some days at Sora. He then traversed
the frontier, but had not penetrated far into the Campagna when h