nce again dashed into the midst of the fight, next the
servants of the army, who, now that they were set free from the
Stradiotes and saw their enemies put to flight, ran up armed with the
axes they habitually used to cut down wood for building their huts:
they burst into the middle of the fray, slashing at the horses' legs
and dealing heavy blows that smashed in the visors of the dismounted
horsemen.

The Italians could not hold out against this double attack; the 'furia
francese' rendered all their strategy and all their calculations
useless, especially as for more than a century they had abandoned their
fights of blood and fury for a kind of tournament they chose to regard
as warfare; so, in spite of all Gonzaga's efforts, they turned their
backs upon the French rear and took to flight; in the greatest haste and
with much difficulty they recrossed the torrent, which was swollen even
more now by the rain that had been falling during the whole time of the
battle.

Some thought fit to pursue the vanquished, for there was now such
disorder in their ranks that they were fleeing in all directions from
the battlefield where the French had gained so glorious a victory,
blocking up the roads to Parma and Bercetto. But Marechal de Gie and de
Guise and de la Trimouille, who had done quite enough to save them from
the suspicion of quailing before imaginary dangers, put a stop to this
enthusiasm, by pointing out that it would only be risking the loss of
their present advantage if they tried to push it farther with men and
horses so worn out. This view was adopted in spite of the opinion of
Trivulce, Camillo Vitelli, and Francesco Secco, who were all eager to
follow up the victory.

The king retired to a little village an the left bank of the Taro, and
took shelter in a poor house. There he disarmed, being perhaps among all
the captains and all the soldiers the man who had fought best.

During the night the torrent swelled so high that the Italian army could
not have pursued, even if they had laid aside their fears. The king
did not propose to give the appearance of flight after a victory, and
therefore kept his army drawn up all day, and at night went on to sleep
at Medesano, a little village only a mile lower down than the hamlet
where he rested after the fight. But in the course of the night he
reflected that he had done enough for the honour of his arms in fighting
an army four times as great as his own and killing three t