"Now every star before Aurora flies, Whose glowing blushes streak the purple skies; When the dim hills of Italy we view'd, That peep'd by turns, and dived beneath the flood, Lo! Italy appears, Achates cries, And, Italy! with shouts the crowd replies." DRYDEN. [117] "The army, on reaching the Adige, will command all the states of the House of Austria in Italy, and all those of the Pope on this side of the Apennines; it will be in a situation to proclaim the principles of liberty, and to excite Italian patriotism against the sway of foreigners. The word _Italiam. Italiam!_ proclaimed at Milan, Bologna, and Verona, will produce a magical effect."--NAPOLEON, _Montholon_, tom. iii., p. 165. [118] It was dated Cherasco, April the 26th, and sufficiently proves, that notwithstanding all their victories, many of the soldiery, nay, even of the superior officers, were still alarmed at the magnitude of the enterprise on which Napoleon was entering with apparently very inadequate resources. [119] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 169; Thibaudeau, tom. i., p 206; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 117. [120] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 172. [121] Moniteur, No. 241, May 20. [122] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 173; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 126; Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 218. [123] "The loss of the French was only four hundred men."--THIBAUDEAU, tom. i., p. 218. [124] Moniteur, No. 241, May 20. [125] "Vandémiaire and Montenotte," said the Emperor, "never induced me to look upon myself as a man of a superior class: it was not till after Lodi that I was struck with the possibility of my becoming a decisive actor on the scene of political events. It was then that the first spark of my ambition was kindled."--LAS CASES, tom. i., p. 150. [126] Montholon, tom. iii., p, 178. [127] "How subtle is the chain which unites the most trivial circumstances to the most important events! Perhaps this very nickname contributed to the Emperor's miraculous success on his return from Elba in 1815. While he was haranguing the first battalion he met, which he found it necessary to parley with, a voice from the ranks exclaimed, 'Vive notre petit Caporal!--We will never fight against him.'"--LAS CASES, tom. i., p. 170. [128] Thiers, tom. viii., p. 207. [129] "It was in memory of this mission, that Napoleon, when King of Italy, created the duchy of Lodi, in favour of Melzi."--MONTHOLON, tom. iii., p. 179. [130] Botta, tom. i., p. 431; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 179; Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 234; Thiers, tom. viii., p. 208. [131] On the 20th, Buonaparte addressed the following remarkable order of the day to the army:--