pretending that we had done enough, and that it grew late and was time to think of quarters. Secco persisted, and pressed hard to have that body charged; he showed them that people were passing to and fro upon the great road that led to Parma (which was the next town they had to retreat to), and assured them that the enemy were either flying or rallying again; and, as we heard afterwards, he was in the right. His behaviour and counsel denoted him to be a brave and wise man, for all the officers told me afterwards, and some of them before the Duke of Milan’s face, that, if we had but advanced against them, we had certainly obtained the greatest and most glorious victory that the French nation had won for ten years! and, had we known how to have improved it, and obliged the people by our civil treatment of them, in eight days’ time the Duke of Milan would not have had anything left but the castle of Milan, so inclinable were his subjects to revolt from him. And the Venetians would have been much in the same condition, and there would have been no need to care about Naples; for the Venetians would have been able to have raised men only in Venice, Brescia and Cremona (which is but a small place), for all the rest of their territories in Italy would have been lost. But God had dealt by us as Jerome had foretold, and we had the honour of the day, though, to speak truth, our ill conduct did not deserve it, nor did we then know how to manage our victory; but now, in the year 1497, if such good fortune should happen to the king, I think he could order it better. Whilst we were in this suspense the night drew on, and the enemy that had faced us marched off into their camp. We, on the other side, took up our quarters about a quarter of a league from the field of battle. The king lay in a farmhouse or cottage (to judge by the meanness of the building), but the houses belonging to it were full of unthreshed corn, which served for provender for our horses. There were a few houses besides that in which the king lay, but they were even worse than it; so they were but little benefit to us, and every one was forced to quarter as he could. For my part, I remember I lay in a little pitiful vineyard, upon the ground without any shelter; for the king had borrowed my cloak in the morning, and my baggage was not to be found. He that had anything to eat kept himself from starving; but very few had any victuals more than a crust of bread or so, which they took from their servants. I saw the king in his chamber, where there were several wounded; amongst the rest, the seneschal of Lyons and others, whom he caused to be dressed. The king was very cheerful, and every one was pleased he had escaped so well; but we did not boast and swagger as we used to do, for the enemy was at hand. All our Swiss were that night upon the guard; the king gave them three hundred crowns, and they watched very diligently and their drums beat bravely during the whole night.