Marcus Curtius [pp. 545-546]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
545
Colli, feebly annoyed by Kilmaine, had crossed the
Adda at Cassano, in the forenoon of the day; he forced
a passage at Lodi, and taking the upper route, by the
way of Brescia, to Mantua, were beyond the reach of
interception. Relinquishing, therefore, further efforts
against these Generals, he determined to attack Pizzighitone before it could be put in a state of defence,
and marched for that purpose on the morning of the
1lth, down the left bank of the Adda. The flight of a
few shells seconded by the cannonade of Mesnard from
the right bank of the river, compelled the garrison of
three hundred men, which Liptay had left behind him,
to surrender. Cremona, a more important fortress,
opened its gates the same day to General Beaumont,
who after charging a body of the fugitives from Lodi,
appeared before it with an advance guard of cavalry.
From this point, which was the present limit of his
career, Bonaparte determined to lead back his forces in
order to secure the country they had overrun; and
turning his views toward Milan, resolved to impress on
that capital and other cities of Lombardy, the stamp of
French authority, in the room of that which his victories
had expelled. This operation, which first called into
exercise his abilities for government, appears to have
awakened the germs of that high ambition, which, nurtured by the possession of great civil qualities, placed
him so far above all the other Generals of his age, and
conducted him to a sphere of elevated greatness which
a mind supported by military talents alone, and ambitious only of success in war, can never reach. In recurring to the events of his early life, he afterwards
said-" Neither my success on the thirteenth of Vendemiaire, nor in the campaign of Montenotte, made me
believe myself a superior man. It was not until after
the battle of Lodi, that I began to think I might become
a decisive actor on our political theatre. Then it was,
that the first spark of high ambition was kindled in my
soul."
Suspending for the moment his further advance to wards the Adige, he thus disposed of his troops: The
light division lately commanded by Laharpe, was dis tributed along the Adda from Como to Cassano; and
that of Serrurier, which had been under orders to oc cupy Pavia, was recalled and posted at Lodi, Pizzighi tone and Cremona, so as to complete the possession of
the line of the Adda. From this last place, he was to
observe the discomfited forces of Beaulieu, who were
reassembling behind the Oglio and the Mincio. Auge reau was directed to take possession of Pavia, and to
exhibit in that celebrated city, which was next to Milan
itself in importance, one of the finest divisions of the
invading army; while to Massena was assigned the still
more honorable duty, of receiving the keys of the noble
capital of Lombardy. At the head of his division, this
distinguished General marched from Lodi, on the 13th
of May.
The hostile forces being now separated, the imperi alists collecting their shattered battalions within the
Venetian frontier, and the republicans spreading their
victorious divisions over the plains of Lombardy, the
reader's attention will be inclined to turn from the con stant success of the one, and the uniform defeat of the
other party, to the conduct of their respective com manders. He will observe that while a lamp of fore sight guided the French General, the Austrian was be
wildered in a cloud of uncertainty. Though active,
courageous, and experienced, Beaulieu was throughout
the struggle, as distracted in his efforts as a sightless
pugilist, who knows neither where to aim nor to expect a blow; and although operating in the open field
and in a populous quarter of his own country, was invariably subjected to the effect of surprise. The passage of the Po, the combat of Fombio, the victory of
Lodi, operations which constituted the leading acts of
this brilliant section of the campaign, were, each of
them, the result of an attempt, which had it been foreseen, might have been frustrated. But while Beaulieu
was guarding the Po at Valenza, Bonaparte had passed
it at Placentia; while he was preparing to support
Liptay at Fombio, that General was already defeated;
and while he felt unassailable and meditated offensive
operations at Lodi, he was himself overthrown by a
blow of such quick and incalculable energy, that it was
impossible to fear, withstand, or recover from it.
The confusion and dismay which these circumstances
spread through the ranks of the imperial army, are aptly
exemplified by the anecdote which Bonaparte records
of an old Hungarian captain, with whom among other
captives he fell in, while making the rounds of his
camp, the night after the surrender of Pizzighitone.
The prisoner, who did not know to whom he spoke,
being asked by the General what he thought of the
state of the war, replied-" nothing could be worse,
and that it was altogether incomprehensible." "We
have to do," he added, "with a young General who is
at one moment in our front, at another in our rear, and
the next on our flanks. One knows not how to take
him. This manner of making war, against all rules, is
insupportable."
Bonaparte on the other hand, seizing the initiative
by his boldness and maintaining it by his activity, divined the intentions of his adversary on all occasions,
and confounded them, as with the overruling force of
destiny. Accordingly, though operating with little more
than his vanguard, he predominated irresistibly in the
campaign, defeating the corps which came in his way,
terrifying those which kept out of it, and in defiance
of obstructions that seemed to others insurmountable,
by an electric shock of genius and audacity, hurling to
the ground the military strength and political power of
his once gigantic antagonist.
MARCUS CURTIUS.
BY OMEGA.
A Roman matron thus addressed her son:
"Why, at this time, wilt thou put armor on;
No foreign foes menace thy native land,
No hostile galleys seek her guarded strandAt peace with all but Gods, thou dost not hope
In martial pride with Heavenly power to cope?
Oh say thou goest not, as miuch I fear,
To view yon gulph of terror and despair:
It open'd at the word of angry Jove,
And'till our prayers win mercy from above,
c
t
t
i