The prison where he had been shut up for two years was so hateful to Caesar that he lost not a single moment: the same day he attacked one of the bars of a window that looked out upon an inner court, and soon contrived4 so to manipulate it that it would need only a final push to come out. But not only was the window nearly seventy feet from the ground, but one could only get out of the court by using an exit reserved for the governor, of which he alone had the key; also this key never left him; by day it hung at his waist, by night it was under his pillow: this then was the chief difficulty.
But prisoner though he was, Caesar had always been treated with the respect due to his name and rank: every day at the dinner-hour he was conducted from the room that served as his prison to the governor, who did the honours of the table in a grand and courteous5 fashion. The fact was that Dan Manuel had served with honour under King Ferdinand, and therefore, while he guarded Caesar rigorously, according to orders, he had a great respect for so brave a general, and took pleasure in listening to the accounts of his battles. So he had often insisted that Caesar should not only dine but also breakfast with him; happily the prisoner, yielding perhaps to some presentiment6, had till now refused this favour. This was of great advantage to him, since, thanks to his solitude7, he had been able to receive the instruments of escape sent by Michelotto. The same day he received them, Caesar, on going back to his room, made a false step and sprained8 his foot; at the dinner-hour he tried to go down, but he pretended to be suffering so cruelly that he gave it up. The governor came to see him in his room, and found him stretched upon the bed.
The day after, he was no better; the governor had his dinner sent in, and came to see him, as on the night before; he found his prisoner so dejected and gloomy in his solitude that he offered to come and sup with him: Caesar gratefully accepted.
This time it was the prisoner who did the honours: Caesar was charmingly courteous; the governor thought he would profit by this lack of restraint to put to him certain questions as to the manner of his arrest, and asked him as an Old Castilian, for whom honour is still of some account, what the truth really was as to Gonzalvo's and Ferdinand's breach9 of faith, with him. Caesar appeared extremely inclined to give him his entire confidence, but showed by a sign that the attendants were in the way. This precaution appeared quite natural, and the governor took no offense10, but hastened to send them all away, so as to be sooner alone with his companion. When the door was shut, Caesar filled his glass and the governor's, proposing the king's health: the governor honoured the toast: Caesar at once began his tale; but he had scarcely uttered a third part of it when, interesting as it was, the eyes of his host shut as though by magic, and he slid under the table in a profound sleep.
After half a hour had passed, the servants, hearing no noise, entered and found the two, one on the table, the other under it: this event was not so extraordinary that they paid any great attention to it: all they did was to carry Don Manuel to his room and lift Caesar on the bed; then they put away the remnant of the meal for the next day's supper, shut the door very carefully, and left their prisoner alone.
Caesar stayed for a minute motionless and apparently11 plunged12 in the deepest sleep; but when he had heard the steps retreating, he quietly raised his head, opened his eyes, slipped off the bed, walked to the door, slowly indeed, but not to all appearance feeling the accident of the night before, and applied13 his ear for some minutes to the keyhole; then lifting his head with an expression of indescribable pride, he wiped his brow with his hand, and for the first time since his guards went out, breathed freely with full-drawn breaths.
There was no time to lose: his first care was to shut the door as securely on the inside as it was already shut on the outside, to blow out the lamp, to open the window, and to finish sawing through the bar. When this was done, he undid14 the bandages on his leg, took down the window and bed curtains, tore them into strips, joined the sheets, table napkins and cloth, and with all these things tied together end to end, formed a rope fifty or sixty feet long, with knots every here and there. This rope he fixed15 securely to the bar next to the one he had just cut through; then he climbed up to the window and began what was really the hardest part of his perilous16 enterprise, clinging with hands and feet to this fragile support. Luckily he was both strong and skilful17, and he went down the whole length of the rope without accident; but when he reached the end and was hanging on the last knot, he sought in vain to touch the ground with his feet; his rope was too short.
The situation was a terrible one: the darkness of the night prevented the fugitive18 from seeing how far off he was from the ground, and his fatigue19 prevented him from even attempting to climb up again. Caesar put up a brief prayer, whether to Gad20 or Satan he alone could say; then letting go the rope, he dropped from a height of twelve or fifteen feet.
The danger was too great for the fugitive to trouble about a few trifling21 contusions: he at once rose, and guiding himself by the direction of his window, he went straight to the little door of exit; he then put his hand into the pocket of his doublet, and a cold sweat damped his brow; either he had forgotten and left it in his room or had lost it in his fall; anyhow, he had not the key.
But summoning his recollections, he quite gave up the first idea for the second, which was the only likely one: again he crossed the court, looking for the place where the key might have fallen, by the aid of the wall round a tank on which he had laid his hand when he got up; but the object of search was so small and the night so dark that there was little chance of getting any result; still Caesar sought for it, for in this key was his last hope: suddenly a door was opened, and a night watch appeared, preceded by two torches. Caesar far the moment thought he was lost, but remembering the tank behind him, he dropped into it, and with nothing but his head above water anxiously watched the movements of the soldiers, as they advanced beside him, passed only a few feet away, crossed the court, and then disappeared by an opposite door. But short as their luminous22 apparition23 had been, it had lighted up the ground, and Caesar by the glare of the torches had caught the glitter of the long-sought key, and as soon as the door was shut behind the men, was again master of his liberty.
Half-way between the castle and the village two cavaliers and a led horse were waiting for him: the two men were Michelotto and the Count of Benevento. Caesar sprang upon the riderless horse, pressed with fervour the hand of the count and the sbirro; then all three galloped24 to the frontier of Navarre, where they arrived three days later, and were honourably25 received by the king, Jean d'Albret, the brother of Caesar's wife.
From Navarre he thought to pass into France, and from France to make an attempt upon Italy, with the aid of Louis XII; but during Caesar's detention26 in the castle of Medina del Campo, Louis had made peace with the King of Spain; and when he heard of Caesar's flight; instead of helping27 him, as there was some reason to expect he would, since he was a relative by marriage, he took away the duchy of Valentinois and also his pension. Still, Caesar had nearly 200,000 ducats in the charge of bankers at Genoa; he wrote asking for this sum, with which he hoped to levy28 troops in Spain and in Navarre, and make an attempt upon Pisa: 500 men, 200,000 ducats, his name and his word were more than enough to save him from despair.
The bankers denied the deposit.
Caesar was at the mercy of his brother-in-law.
One of the vassals30 of the King of Navarre, named Prince Alarino, had just then revolted: Caesar then took command of the army which Jean d'Albret was sending out against him, followed by Michelotto, who was as faithful in adversity as ever before. Thanks to Caesar's courage and skilful tactics, Prince Alarino was beaten in a first encounter; but the day after his defeat he rallied his army, and offered battle about three o'clock in the afternoon. Caesar accepted it.
For nearly four hours they fought obstinately31 on both sides; but at length, as the day was going down, Caesar proposed to decide the issue by making a charge himself, at the head of a hundred men-at-arms, upon a body of cavalry32 which made his adversary's chief force. To his great astonishment33, this cavalry at the first shock gave way and took flight in the direction of a little wood, where they seemed to be seeking refuge. Caesar followed close on their heels up to the edge of the forest; then suddenly the pursued turned right about face, three or four hundred archers34 came out of the wood to help them, and Caesar's men, seeing that they had fallen into an ambush35, took to their heels like cowards, and abandoned their leader.
Left alone, Caesar would not budge36 one step; possibly he had had enough of life, and his heroism37 was rather the result of satiety38 than courage: however that may be, he defended himself like a lion; but, riddled39 with arrows and bolts, his horse at last fell, with Caesar's leg under him. His adversaries40 rushed upon him, and one of them thrusting a sharp and slender iron pike through a weak place in his armour41, pierced his breast; Caesar cursed God and died.
But the rest of the enemy's army was defeated, thanks to the courage of Michelotto, who fought like a valiant42 condottiere, but learned, on returning to the camp in the evening, from those who had fled; that they had abandoned Caesar and that he had never reappeared. Then only too certain, from his master's well-known courage, that disaster had occurred, he desired to give one last proof of his devotion by not leaving his body to the wolves and birds of prey43. Torches were lighted, for it was dark, and with ten or twelve of those who had gone with Caesar as far as the little wood, he went to seek his master. On reaching the spot they pointed44 out, he beheld45 five men stretched side by side; four of them were dressed, but the fifth had been stripped of his clothing and lay completely naked. Michelotto dismounted, lifted the head upon his knees, and by the light of the torches recognised Caesar.
Thus fell, on the 10th of March, 1507, on an unknown field, near an obscure village called Viane, in a wretched skirmish with the vassal29 of a petty king, the man whom Macchiavelli presents to all princes as the model of ability, diplomacy46, and courage.
As to Lucrezia, the fair Duchess of Ferrara, she died full of years, and honours, adored as a queen by her subjects, and sung as a goddess by Ariosto and by Bembo.
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1
reclaim
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| v.要求归还，收回；开垦 | |
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2
narcotic
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| n.麻醉药，镇静剂；adj.麻醉的，催眠的 | |
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3
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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4
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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5
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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6
presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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8
sprained
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| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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10
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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11
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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12
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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13
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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14
Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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15
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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16
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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17
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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18
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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19
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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20
gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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21
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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22
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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23
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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24
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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25
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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26
detention
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| n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下 | |
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27
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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28
levy
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| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
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29
vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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31
obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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32
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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33
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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34
archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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35
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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36
budge
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| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
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37
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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38
satiety
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| n.饱和；(市场的)充分供应 | |
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39
riddled
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| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
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40
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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41
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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42
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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43
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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44
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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45
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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46
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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