BATTLE OF CRECY

HERE were of the Genoese cross-bows about a fifteen thou

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sand; but they were so weary of going a-foot that day a six league armed with their crossbows, that they said to their constables, "We be not well ordered to fight this day, for we be not in the case to do any great deed of arms, as we have more need of rest." These words came to the Earl of Alençon, who said, "A man is well at ease to be charged with such a sort of rascals, to be faint and fail now at most need." Also at the same season there fell a great rain and eclipse, with a terrible thunder; and before the rain there came flying over both battles a great number of crows, for fear of the tempest coming. Then anon the air began to wax clear, and the sun to shine fair and bright, the which was right in the Frenchmen's eyes, and on the Englishmen's backs. When the Genoese were assembled together and began to approach, they made a great leap and cry to abash the Englishmen; but they stood still, and stirred not for all that.

TACITUS, Hist. iii. c. 23, 56.

LIVY, xxii. c. 45.

CESAR, Bell. Gall. vi. c. 39, 40.

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SITE OF THE BATTLE OF TRASIMENE.

ERE at our feet lay the Trasimene, a broad expanse of blue, mirroring in intenser hues the complexion of the heavens. Three wooded islets lay floating as it seemed on its unruffled surface. Towns and villages glittered on the verdant shore. Dark heights of purple waved around; but loftier far and far more distant the Apennines reared their crests of snow. Such was the scene on which the sun shone on that eventful day when Rome lay humbled at the feet of Carthage, when fifteen thousand of her sons dyed yon plain and lake with their blood. From the height of Monte Gualandro the whole battle-field is within view. At the foot of the hill, or a little further to the right, on the shores of the

lake, Flaminius, on his way from Arretium, halted on the eve of the battle. Ere the sun had risen on the morrow he entered the pass between this hill and the water, and marched on into yon crescent-shaped plain, formed by the receding of the mountains from the lake, unconscious that he was watched from those very heights on which we stand by Hannibal's Balearic slingers and light-armed troops, and that the undulating ground at our feet concealed the enemy's horse.-Dennis.

PLINY, Epist. lib. viii. 8, 20. LIVY, xxii. c. 4.

BATTLE OF TRASIMENE.

EEING the foe in front, he marched on through the pass

till it widens into the plain, and there, enveloped by a dense mist which arose from the lake, he was suddenly attacked on every side by Hannibal's main force in front, and by the cavalry and other ambushers in the rear. Flaminius then saw he was entrapped, but nothing daunted he made a more desperate struggle for victory; and so furious was the contest that ensued, so intent were all on the work of destruction, that an earthquake which overthrew many cities in Italy, turned aside the course of rapid rivers, and cast down even mountains in mighty ruin, was unknown, unfelt by any of the combatants. For three hours did the Romans maintain the unequal contest, till at length when their leader Flaminius fell they broke and fled, rushing some to the mountain steeps, which they were not suffered to climb, others to the lake, in whose waters they vainly sought safety. Six thousand, who had broken through the foe at the first attack, and had retired to a height to await the issue of the fight, effected their escape only to be captured on the morrow. Ten thousand scattered fugitives carried the news to Rome.-Dennis.

LIVY, xxii. c. 5, 6.

DISASTROUS RETREAT OF THE ENGLISH FROM CABUL.

IT

T took two days of disorder, suffering, and death to carry the army, now an army no more, to the jaws of the fatal pass. Akbar Khan, who appeared like the Greeks' dread marshal from the spirit-land at intervals upon the route, here demanded four fresh hostages. The demand was acquiesced in. Madly along the narrow defile crowded the undistinguishable host, whose diminished numbers were still too numerous for speed: on every side rang the war-cry of the barbarians: on every side plundered and butchered the mountaineers: on every side, palsied with fatigue, terror, and cold, the soldiers dropped down to rise no more. The next day, in spite of all remonstrance, the general halted his army, expecting in vain provisions from Akbar Khan. That day the ladies, the children, and the married officers were given up. The march was resumed. By the following night, not more than one-fourth of the original number survived. Even the haste which might once have saved now added nothing to the chances of life. In the middle of the pass a barrier was prepared. There twelve officers died sword in hand. A handful of the bravest or the strongest only reached the further side alive as men hurry for life, they hurried on their way, but were surrounded and cut to pieces, all save a few that had yet escaped. Six officers, better mounted or more fortunate than the rest, reached a spot within sixteen miles of the goal: but into the town itself rode painfully on a jaded steed, with the stump of a broken sword in his hand, but one.

LIVY, xxi. c. 25, § 7-10.

XXXV. c. 30. xxiii. c. 24.

CESAR, Bell. Gall. v. c. 35-37.

DEFEAT OF CHARLES THE BOLD AND MASSACRE of his

TROOPS AT MORAT.

N such a predicament braver soldiers might well have ceased

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to struggle. The poor wretches, Italians and Savoyards, six

thousand or more in number, threw away their arms and made

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pitiable attempts to hide themselves from the merciless foe. In the village they crept into chimneys and ovens. To smoke them out or to smother them in their holes, afforded excellent sport to the hunters. Others climbed the huge walnut trees that lined the road, seeking concealment in the foliage. A cry of "Crows!" was immediately raised, and the arquebusiers, gathering in a circle, picked them off one by one, while calling to them to spread their pinions, or asking if there was not air enough to sustain them. But the great mass was driven into the lake, men and horses struggling together and trampling each other down, a few getting rid of their armour and swimming out till they sank from exhaustion, the rest when they had waded up to their chins, standing in a dense crowd, their faces wild with terror, their arms thrown up, their voices sending forth screams for mercy, which were answered with derisive yells. "Ha, they are thirsty! they are learning to swim!" While the spearmen waded after them or collected boats, the arquebusiers calling to each other to mark "the ducks," poured in their fire from the bank. For two hours the slaughter went on, nor ceased until the water over a space of miles was incarnadined with blood.-Kirk.

TACITUS, Ann. ii. c. 17, 18.

Hist. iii. c. 83. xliv. c. 42. iv. c. 33.

LIVY, xxii. c. 4, 6.

BATTLE IN THE MARSHES-DEATH OF DECIUS.

N the beginning of the action, the son of Decius, a youth of the

purple, was slain by an arrow in the sight of his afflicted father, who, summoning all his fortitude, admonished the dismayed troops that the loss of a single soldier was of little importance to the Republic. The conflict was terrible, it was the conflict of despair against grief and rage. The first line of the Goths at length gave way in disorder; the second, advancing to sustain it, shared its fate; and the third only remained entire, prepared to dispute the passage of the morass, which was imprudently attempted by the

presumption of the enemy. Here the fortune of the day turned, and all things became adverse to the Romans; the place deep with ooze, sinking under those who stood, slippery to such as advanced ; their armour heavy, the waters deep; nor could they wield, in that uneasy situation, their weighty javelins. The barbarians, on the contrary, were inured to encounter in the bogs, their persons tall, their spears long, such as could wound at a distance. In this morass the Roman army, after an ineffectual struggle, was irrecoverably lost; nor could the body of the Emperor ever be found. Such was the fate of Decius in the fiftieth year of his age; an accomplished prince, active in war, and affable in peace; who, together with his son, has deserved to be compared, both in life and death, with the brightest examples of ancient virtue.-Gibbon.

TACITUS, Ann. i. c. 68, 70. ii. c. 14.

LIVY, xxi. c. 5.

CÆSAR, Bell. Gall. ii. c. 9, 18, 19. xxii. c. 4-6.

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IVRY-THE BATTLE retrieved.

HERE was a panic. The whole royal cavalry wavered; the supporting infantry recoiled; the day seemed lost before the battle was well begun. The King and Marshal Biron, who were near each other, were furious with rage, but already doubtful of the result. They exerted themselves to rally the troops under their immediate command, and to reform the shattered ranks. However, the German riders and French lancers under Brunswick and Bassompierre had not done their work so thoroughly as Egmont had done. The ground was so miry and soft that, in the brief space which separated the hostile lines, they had not power to urge their horses to full speed. Throwing away their useless lances, they came on at a feeble canter, sword in hand, and were unable to make a very vigorous impression on the more heavily armed. troopers opposed to them. Meeting with a firm resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a little, and fell a short distance back. The King, whose glance on the battle-field was like inspi

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