whole
army; for as there were 2500 knights, they formed each with their three
followers a total of 10,000 men. Five thousand light horse rode next,
who carried huge wooden bows, and shot long arrows from a distance like
English archers. They were a great help in battle, for moving rapidly
wherever aid was required, they could fly in a moment from one wing to
another, from the rear to the van, then when their quivers were empty
could go off at so swift a gallop that neither infantry or heavy cavalry
could pursue them. Their defensive armour consisted of a helmet and
half-cuirass; some of them carried a short lance as well, with which to
pin their stricken foe to the ground; they all wore long cloaks adorned
with shoulder-knots, and plates of silver whereon the arms of their
chief were emblazoned.

At last came the young king's escort; there were four hundred archers,
among whom a hundred Scots formed a line on each side, while two hundred
of the most illustrious knights marched on foot beside the prince,
carrying heavy arms on their shoulders. In the midst of this magnificent
escort advanced Charles VIII, both he and his horse covered with
splendid armour; an his right and left marched Cardinal Ascanio Sforza,
the Duke of Milan's brother, and Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, of
whom we have spoken so often, who was afterwards Pope Julius II. The
Cardinals Colonna and Savelli followed immediately after, and behind
them came Prospero and Fabrizia Colonna, and all the Italian princes
and generals who had thrown in their lot with the conqueror, and were
marching intermingled with the great French lords.

For a long time the crowd that had collected to see all these foreign
soldiers go by, a sight so new and strange, listened uneasily to a dull
sound which got nearer and nearer. The earth visibly trembled, the glass
shook in the windows, and behind the king's escort thirty-six bronze
cannons were seen to advance, bumping along as they lay on their
gun-carriages. These cannons were eight feet in length; and as their
mouths were large enough to hold a man's head, it was supposed that
each of these terrible machines, scarcely known as yet to the Italians,
weighed nearly six thousand pounds. After the cannons came culverins
sixteen feet long, and then falconets, the smallest of which shot balls
the size of a grenade. This formidable artillery brought up the rear of
the procession, and formed the hindmost guard of the French army