in concert with Carmagnola in his operations against that city. How it could be possible to manœuvre ships of war, as some of these galleys are expressly called, in the river, it would be vain for us to imagine. But Philip on his side had also a fleet in the Po, though inferior to the Venetian, under the command of a Genoese, Grimaldi, and manned in great part by Genoese, the hereditary opponents and rivals of Venice. The two generals on land, Sforza and Piccinino, then both in the service of Philip – men whose ingenuity and resource had been whetted by previous defeats, and who had thus learned Carmagnola's tactics – amused and occupied him by threatening his camp, which was as yet imperfectly defended, piutosto allogiamento che ripari: but in the night stole away, and under the walls of Cremona were received in darkness and silence into Grimaldi's ships, and flung themselves upon the Venetian fleet. These vessels being sea-going ships, were heavy and difficult to manage in the river – those of their adversaries being apparently of lighter build; and Grimaldi's vessels seem to have had the advantage of the current, which carried them "very swiftly" against the Venetians, who, in the doubtful dawn, were astonished by the sight of the glittering armour and banners bearing down upon them with all the impetus of the great stream. The Venetian admiral sent off a message to warn Carmagnola; but before he could reach the riverbank, the two fleets, in a disastrous jumble, had drifted out of reach. Carmagnola stood on the shore, hot with ineffectual haste, spending his wrath in shouts of encouragement to his comrades, and in cries of rage and dismay as he saw the tide of fortune drifting on, carrying the ships of Philip in wild concussion against the hapless Venetians, the armour of the combatants gleaming, the trumpets blaring, the roars of falling masts and cordage adding to the confusion, out of which stood the high poops, each a little castle, with its crown of armed men. When things became desperate, Trevisano, the admiral, got to shore in a little boat, and fled, carrying with him the treasure of 60,000 gold pieces, which was one of the great objects of the attack. But this was almost all that was saved from the rout. Bigli says that seventy ships were taken, of which twenty-eight were ships of war; but in this he is probably mistaken, as he had himself described the fleet as one of thirty ships. "The slaughter," he adds, "was greater than any that was ever known in Italy, more than 2500 men being said to have perished, in witness of which the Po ran red, a great stream of blood, for many miles." A few ships escaped by flight, and many fugitives, no doubt, in boats and by the banks, where they were assailed by the peasants, who, taking advantage of their opportunity, and with many a wrong to revenge, killed a large number. Such a disastrous defeat had not happened to Venice for many a day.
The Venetian historian relates that Carmagnola received the warning and appeal of the admiral with contempt – "as he was of a wrathful nature, di natura iracondo, and with a loud voice reproved the error of the Venetians, who, despising his counsel, refused the support to the army on land which they had given to their naval expedition; nor did he believe what the messengers told him, but said scornfully that the admiral, fearing the form of an armed man, had dreamt that all the enemy in their boats were
