art and splendid
faculties."

The Milanese army was much larger than the Venetian, and was commanded
by the famous strategist Niccolo Piccinino. Gattamelata could make
little headway against such odds, but all that was possible to do he
accomplished "with equal courage, fidelity, and zeal." At length, in
attempting to bring relief to the besieged city of Brescia, he found
himself shut in between the Lake of Garda and the Alps.

It was in the month of September, 1438. Snow already lay on the
mountains, and the rivers were swollen with the autumn rains. The
roads were out of repair, bridges were washed away, and even the fords
were impassable. To make matters worse, the army was short of
provisions. Such conditions would have forced any other general to lay
down his arms, but not Gattamelata. With admirable coolness, he led
his men in a retreat across the mountains and around the lake. Three
thousand horsemen and two thousand infantry made up their number, and
all were devoted to their leader. Torrents were bridged, old roads
repaired, new ones opened, and at the end of a month the army emerged
upon the Lombard plain.

[Illustration: EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF GATTAMELATA (DONATELLO) _Piazza
del Santo, Padua_]

Thus were the Venetian arms saved, and at the same time the Milanese
were baffled in a design to come between Venice and her army.
Gattamelata's retreat was a victory of peace, less showy, perhaps,
than a victory of war, but requiring the finest qualities of
generalship. In recognition of his services the Venetian Signory
conferred the title of nobility upon him, with a palace and a pension.

In the following year, the Venetian cause was strengthened by alliance
with Florence, and Gattamelata yielded the first place in command to
Sforza, the general of the Florentine forces. In 1440 the united
armies succeeded in relieving Brescia, but in the same year a calamity
befell Gattamelata. Exposure to cold brought on paralysis, and after a
lingering illness of two years he died. The honor of a great funeral
was accorded him at the public expense, and he was buried in the
church of S. Antonio at Padua. The next year the sculptor, Donatello,
was commissioned to make an equestrian statue of the great condottiere
to be set up in the square in front of the church.[56]

With quiet dignity Gattamelata rides forward on his horse as if
reviewing his army. There is nothing pompous in his attitude or
manner. He seems a plain man i