The rout was great on their side: three hundred of their men-at-arms, and most of their Estradiots fled, some to Reggio[429], and others to Parma, which was about eight leagues from the field of battle. When our army was first engaged in the morning, the Count de Petillane and the Lord Virgil Ursini fled from us: the Lord Virgil only retired to a gentleman’s house hard by, and stayed there upon his parole; but the truth is, we had done him an injury. The Count de Petillane went over to the enemy; he was a person well known in their army, for he had always had a command under the Florentines or King Ferrand. As soon as he was got amongst them he began to cry out “A Petillane, a Petillane;” and he followed those who fled above three leagues, calling out to them, and assuring them that there was no danger, and that if they faced about, the day would still be their own: by which means he rallied a great part of them, and gave them good hopes; and if it had not been for him, it would have been a total defeat, for it was a great encouragement to them to have such an officer escape from us and come to their assistance. He was eager for attacking us again that very night, but all the rest of the officers opposed it. He told me so himself afterwards, and the Marquis of Mantua confirmed it, and owned that advice to be his; and this is certain, had it not been for him, their army would not have kept together till morning. As soon as we were got up to the king, we discovered a great body of men-at-arms drawn up in order of battle outside their camp, with some infantry; but we could only see their heads and the tops of their pikes and lances. They had stood there all day, but they were farther off than we imagined: before we could have come at them we must have passed the river, which was deep, and increased every hour, for it had thundered, lightened, and rained most prodigiously all that day, especially during the fight and while we were in the pursuit. The king immediately called a council of war, in which it was debated whether he should advance against this new body or not. There were then with him three Italian knights; one of them was Signor John James di Trivulce (who is yet living, and behaved himself very well that day); another was Signor Francisco Secco, a brave man of seventy-two years of age, who had been bred a soldier under the Florentines; the third was Signor Camillo Vitelli, who, with three of his brothers, was then in the king’s service. These came unsent for from Citta-de-Castello as far as Sarzana (which is a great way), to be present at this battle; and, finding that it was impossible to come in time enough with his troops, Camillo left them to march slowly after, and advanced with all speed to overtake the king. The last two were of opinion that we should attack the body that was still unbroken; but the French officers being consulted, gave their judgment against it,