Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/44

18 ITALIAN WARS. PART It. 1501. January. nonors paid 10 Gonsalvo. the breach with the bodies of their dead and dying comrades, and pouring down volleys of shot, arrows, burning oil and sulphur, and missiles of every kind, on the heads of the assailants. But the desperate energy, as well as numbers of the latter, proved too strong for them. Some forced the breach, others scaled the ramparts ; and, after a short and deadly struggle within the walls, the brave garri- son, four fifths of whom with their commander had fallen, were overpowered, and the victorious ban- ners of St. Jago and St. Mark were planted side by side triumphantly on the towers.^^ The capture of this place, although accomplished at considerable loss, and after a most gallant resist- ance by a mere handful of men, was of great ser- vice to the Venetian cause ; since it was the first check given to the arms of Bajazet, who had filched one place after another from the republic, menacing its whole colonial territory in the Levant. The promptness and efficiency of King Ferdinand's succour to the Venetians gained him high rep- utation throughout Europe, and precisely of the kind which he most coveted, that of being the zealous defender of the faith ; while it formed a favorable contrast to the cold supineness of the other powers of Christendom. The capture of St. George restored to Venice the possession of Cephalonia ; and the Great Cap- tain, having accomplished this important object, 23 Giovio, Vitse Dlust. Virorum, del Rey Hernando, torn. i. lib. 4 ubi supra. — Chr6nica del Gran cap. 25. — Bernaldez, Reyes Ca- Capitan, cap. 10. — Zuriia, Hist. t61icos, MS., cap. 167.