de to themselves friends of the military mammon of unrighteousness,
they escaped with a fine ridiculously out of proportion to their
actual gains.[51]

The Dukes of Parma and Modena were also mulcted. The former of these,
owing to his relationship with the Spanish Bourbons, with whom the
Directory desired to remain on friendly terms, was subjected to the
fine of merely two million francs and twenty masterpieces of art,
these last to be selected by French commissioners from the galleries
of the duchy; but the Duke of Modena, who had assisted the Austrian
arms, purchased his pardon by an indemnity of ten million francs, and
by the cession of twenty pictures, the chief artistic treasures of his
States.[52] As Bonaparte naively stated to the Directors, the duke had
no fortresses or guns; consequently these could not be demanded from
him.

From this degrading work Bonaparte strove to wean his soldiers by
recalling them to their nobler work of carrying on the enfranchisement
of Italy. In a proclamation (May 20th) which even now stirs the blood
like a trumpet call, he bade his soldiers remember that, though much
had been done, a far greater task yet awaited them. Posterity must not
reproach them for having found their Capua in Lombardy. Rome was to be
freed: the Eternal City was to renew her youth and show again the
virtues of her ancient worthies, Brutus and Scipio. Then France would
give a glorious peace to Europe; then their fellow-citizens would say
of each champion of liberty as he returned to his hearth: "He was of
the Army of Italy." By such stirring words did he entwine with the
love of liberty that passion for military glory which was destined to
strangle the Republic.

Meanwhile the Austrians had retired behind the banks of the Mincio and
the walls of its guardian fortress, Mantua. Their position was one of
great strength. The river, which carries off the surplus waters of
Lake Garda, joins the River Po after a course of some thirty miles.
Along with the tongue-like cavity occupied by its parent lake, the
river forms the chief inner barrier to all invaders of Italy. From
the earliest times down to those of the two Napoleons, the banks of
the Mincio have witnessed many of the contests which have decided the
fortunes of the peninsula. On its lower course, where the river widens
out into a semicircular lagoon flanked by marshes and backwaters, is
the historic town of Mantua. For this position, if we may trust the
pi