280 LEAGUE AGAINST SOLYMAN. קט went unto Zara*, and found there Gabriel, the chief captain of the host, and they made an appointment theret; and he sent three of the captains of the marines with Gabriel. And they went to war against Abruzzo on the twenty-ninth day of the seventh month. And they besieged it, and cast up banks against it; and they burned the suburbs of the city and its houses round about. And many of the uncircumcised fell slain to the ground; and they went off from it with shame, for the famine was sore. And it came to pass, when they returned unto Zara, that the Turks went out against them in the way, and discomfited them with the edge of the sword; and they that remained were taken alive: and Gabriel fled away on his feets, and he escaped with the few men who were with him. And the wrath of Gerolamo di Pesaro was kindled against him; and they took him at Zara, and he beheaded him, and brought him down to the grave in blood. And of the three generals of the host who went with him, no man knoweth of their sepulchre until this day¶. 973. Then the emperor, and the pope, and the men of Venice, heartily agreed to make war against Solyman. And they chose Francesco Maria, the קט 281 A.M. 5295. FRANCIS IN ITALY, A.D. 1537. duke of Urbino, and Andrea Doria to be the chief captains of the host, by land and by sea at that time. 974. And the famine was sore in Turin and Pinerolo*, and they ate the horses and the mules for want of all things†; because of the fury of the oppressor. And when King Francis heard it, it displeased him, and they passed over into Italy, he and his son, with much people, and with a strong hand§, in the eighth month two hundred and ninety-eight, in the year one thousand five hundred and thirty-seven; and the grand-master passed over before them, and sent soldiers unto Pinerolo with corn, and bread, and meat||, and four battering-rams. And Cesare di Napoli, who was sent to watch the passage of the mountains, fled before them, and his men were slain by the edge of the sword. The marquess also, and the soldiers, fled at the cry of them¶, and passed over the river Po in haste, near Montcalier**, and they fortified themselves there. And the horsemen of the king pursued after them, and smote among the * Pinerolo, on the river Cluson, in the valley of Perouse in Piedmont, remained in the possession of the French from 1536 to 1574. Deut. xxvii. 57. § Num. xx. 20. ¶ Num. xvi. 34. Is. li. 14. || Gen. xlv. 23. ** .Moncaglieri מונקאליר 282 ELEONORA & THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY. קט Spaniards with the stroke of the sword*; and there fell of them many slain unto the ground on that day. and 975. And the men of the emperor journeyed thence, and gathered themselves together into the fenced citiest; are they not Chieri Asti, Vercelli, Casale, and Alessandria? and they were quiet there§. And the French besieged Chieri in the middle of the month of November, but could not do anything, and returned back with shame. 976. And there murmured again a part of the Spaniards against the marquess, saying, Give us our money; why should we die of hunger?" And he spake unto their hearts; but they hearkened not unto him for anguish of spirit; so he gave them their money, and they returned unto the camp. 977. And Eleonora, the queen of France, and the queen of Hungary, the widow, said one unto the other, "How long shall the sword devour¶ ?" and they spake to the heart of the emperor and the king; and Paul the pope fulfilled their words** and these two kings hearkened unto their voice, ** קט GIOVANNI BATTISTA AT OSTROVIZZA. 283 and made an armistice for three months, in the ninth month. Then went the Marquess del Guasto to bow before the king at Montcalier. And the king and his nobles honored him much. And he bowed before the king unto the ground, and went from him in peace. And the king and his son returned unto France, but the marquess returned unto his place*. 978. Then Giovanni Battista, the captain of the Venetian host journeyed from Zarat, and three hundred footmen and one hundred and fifty horsemen with him. And they went unto Ostrovizza‡ about the morning watch; and they climbed suddenly upon its walls, and called with a loud voice, and set the houses on fire, whose smoke went up toward heaven. And the Turks awoke from their sleep, and went out abroad, and the uncircumcised slew them with the edge of the sword; and there died of them by the sword and by the great fire about seven hundred men at that time; but of the uncircumcised there died only three who were slain by the stones§ of those in the fort; and they took the prey, and returned unto Zara with gladAnd the booty which the men of war had caught, was three thousand sheep and beeves||, ness. Gen. xviii. 33. .אוסטרוויצה + +TNI, a town of Dalmatia. Num. xxxi. 32. 284 ARMISTICE 1538-ERUPTION AT POZZUOLO. UP and their heart was lifted up very much*. And I went down to Genoa to dwell there, even I and mine household in those days. 979. And the emperor and the king prolonged the covenant of peace in the month of January, one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight, for three months, by the word of the pope and those compassionate queens; and they fortified the cities on the borders, and the land had rest↑. 980. And the earth opened her mouth as a burning ovens at Pozzuolo, which is nigh unto Naples, in those days. And the people feared much; and the inhabitants of Pozzuolo fled before the great flaming fire, and before the stones, which were constantly cast up towards heaven. And the heat and the darkness, and the ashes of the furnace waxed greater and greater far abroad¶,and their hearts melted, and became as water**, for the nations were dismayed at it, and many drew nigh unto the thick darkness to behold it††; but the great fire consumed them‡‡, and the rest fled at their cry§§, for they feared lest some evil should overtake them||||. The sea also saw it and fled¶¶, * 2 Chr. xvii. 6. Num. xvi. 32. פוצולו || ** Josh. vii. 5. ‡‡ Deut. v. 25. Gen. xix. 19. † Jud. iii. 30. Mal. iv. 1. (iii. 19). ¶ 2 Chr. xxvi. 15; Esth. iii. 18. §§ Num. xvi. 34. ¶¶ Ps. cxiv. 3. |