sed
on the strange scene of two armies encamped on dykes, exhausted by an
almost amphibious conflict, like that waged by the Dutch "Beggars" in
their war of liberation against Spain. Though at Arcola the
republicans had been severely checked, yet further west Massena had
held his own; and the French movement as a whole had compelled
Alvintzy to suspend any advance on Verona or on Mantua, to come down
from the heights of Caldiero, and to fight on ground where his
superior numbers were of little avail. This was seen on the second day
of fighting on the dykes opposite Arcola, which was, on the whole,
favourable to the smaller veteran force. On the third day Bonaparte
employed a skilful ruse to add to the discouragement of his foes. He
posted a small body of horsemen behind a spinney near the Austrian
flank, with orders to sound their trumpets as if for a great cavalry
charge. Alarmed by the noise and by the appearance of French troops
from the side of Legnago and behind Arcola, the demoralized
white-coats suddenly gave way and retreated for Vicenza.

Victory again declared for the troops who could dare the longest, and
whose general was never at a loss in face of any definite danger. Both
armies suffered severely in these desperate conflicts;[68] but, while
the Austrians felt that the cup of victory had been snatched from
their very lips, the French soldiery were dazzled by this transcendent
exploit of their chief. They extolled his bravery, which almost vied
with the fabulous achievement of Horatius Cocles, and adored the
genius which saw safety and victory for his discouraged army amidst
swamps and dykes. Bonaparte himself, with that strange mingling of the
practical and the superstitious which forms the charm of his
character, ever afterwards dated the dawn of his fortune in its full
splendour from those hours of supreme crisis among the morasses of
Arcola. But we may doubt whether this posing as the favourite of
fortune was not the result of his profound knowledge of the credulity
of the vulgar herd, which admires genius and worships bravery, but
grovels before persistent good luck.

Though it is difficult to exaggerate the skill and bravery of the
French leader and his troops, the failure of his opponents is
inexplicable but for the fact that most of their troops were unable to
manoeuvre steadily in the open, that Alvintzy was inexperienced as a
commander-in-chief, and was hampered throughout by a bad plan of
campa