Tremoille and James Trivulzio for his principal
lieutenants; the Venetians were under the orders of two generals, the
Count of Petigliano and Barthelemy d'Alviano, both members of the Roman
family of the Orsini, but not on good terms with one another. The French
had to cross the Adda to reach the enemy, who kept in his camp.
Trivulzio, seeing that the Venetians did not dispute their passage, cried
out to the king, "To-day, sir, the victory is ours!" The French advance-
guard engaged with the troops of Alviano. When apprised of this fight,
Louis, to whom word was at this same time brought that the enemy was
already occupying the point towards which he was moving with the main
body of the army, said briskly, "Forward, all the same; we will halt upon
their bellies." The action became general and hot. The king, sword in
hand, hurried from one corps to another, under fire from the Venetian
artillery, which struck several men near him. He was urged to place
himself under cover a little, so as to give his orders thence; but, "It
is no odds," said he; "they who are afraid have only to put themselves
behind me." A body of Gascons showed signs of wavering: "Lads," shouted
La Tremoille, "the king sees you." They dashed forward; and the
Venetians were broken, in spite of the brave resistance of Alviano, who
was taken and brought, all covered with blood, and with one eye out, into
the presence of the king. Louis said to him, courteously, "You shall
have fair treatment and fair captivity; have fair patience." "So I
will," answered the condottiere; "if I had won the battle, I had been the
most victorious man in the world; and, though I have lost it, still have
I the great honor of having had against me a King of France in person."
Louis, who had often heard talk of the warrior's intrepid presence of
mind, had a fancy for putting it to further proof, and, all the time
chatting with him, gave secret orders to have the alarm sounded not far
from them. "What is this, pray, Sir Barthelemy?" asked the king: "your
folks are very difficult to please; is it that they want to begin
again?" "Sir," said Alviano, "if there is fighting still, it must be
that the French are fighting one another; as for my folks, I assure you,
on my life, they will not pay you a visit this fortnight." The Venetian
army, in fact, withdrew with a precipitation which resembled a rout: for,
to rally it, its general, the Count of Petigliano, appointed for its
g