to move her troops over two great military roads within Venetian
jurisdiction, and her defeated armies had just used one of them for
retreat. The victorious commander could scarcely be expected to pause
in his pursuit for lack of a few lines of writing on a piece of
stamped paper. Accordingly, by a simple feint, the Austrians were led
to believe that his object was the seizure of Peschiera and the
passes above Lake Garda; consequently, defying international law and
violating their treaties, they massed themselves at that place to meet
his attack. Then with a swift, forced march the French were
concentrated not on the enemy's strong right, but on his weak center
at Borghetto. Bonaparte's cavalry, hitherto badly mounted and timid,
but now reorganized, were thrown forward for their easy task. Under
Murat's command they dashed through, and, encouraged by their own
brilliant successes, were thenceforward famous for efficiency.
Bonaparte, with the main army, then hurried past Mantua as it lay
behind its bulwarks of swamp-fever, and the Austrian force was cut in
two. The right wing fled to the mountains; the left was virtually in a
trap. Without any declaration of war against Venice, the French
immediately occupied Verona, and Legnago a few days later; Peschiera
was fortified, and Pizzighettone occupied as Brescia had been, while
contributions of every sort were levied more ruthlessly even than on
the Milanese. The mastery of these new positions isolated Mantua more
completely than a formal investment would have done; but it was,
nevertheless, considered wise to leave no loophole, and a few weeks
later an army of eight thousand Frenchmen sat down in force before its
gates.

It was certain that within a short time a powerful Austrian force
would pour out from the Alpine passes to the north. Further advance
into Venetian lands would therefore be ruin for the French. There was
nothing left but the slow hours of a siege, for Mantua had become the
decisive point. In the heats of summer this interval might well have
been devoted to ease; but it was almost the busiest period of
Bonaparte's life. According to the Directory's rejected plan for a
division of command in Italy, the mission assigned to Kellermann had
been to organize republics in Piedmont and in the Milanese, and then
to defend the Tyrolean passes against an Austrian advance from the
north. Bonaparte was to have moved southward along the shore to
revolutionize Genoa, Tusc