Battle of Fleurus

“ Nor was there any stop to the slaughter till night separated the combatants; and the king himself, the last of those that retreated, was carried off by his guards, with a wound in the shoulder, on his own shield.
The last battle was fought by the same leaders, near what are called the Arusine plains in Lucania; but success was then wholly on the side of the Romans. Chance brought the termination of the struggle which valour would have given; for the elephants being again brought into the front line, the heavy stroke of a weapon descending on the head of a young one, made it turn about ”

“ What sort of men were those whom we find trampled down by elephants in the first battle? The wounds of all were in their breasts; some had fallen dead upon their enemies; all had swords in their hands, and threatening left in their looks; and their anger lived even in death itself. Pyrrhus was so struck with admiration at the sight, that he exclaimed, "Oh, how easy were it for me to gain the empire of the world, if I had Romans for my soldiers; or for the Romans, if they had me for their king!" ”

“ The slaughter thus caused would have been enormous, had not two of the Flavian soldiers performed a memorable exploit. Concealing their identity by snatching up shields from among the enemy's dead,65 they cut the ropes which suspended the weights of the engine. They fell immediately, riddled with wounds, and so their names have perished. But of their deed there is no doubt.
Fortune had favoured neither side when, as the night wore on, the moon rose and threw a deceptive glamour over the field of battle. Shining from behind the Flavians the moon was in their favour. ”

“ The campaign of 1690 on the continent of Europe is marked by two battles, one of which, Luxemburg’s victory of Fleurus, belongs to the category of the world’s great battles. It is described under Fleurus, and the present article only deals summarily with the conditions in which it was fought. These, though they in fact led to an encounter that could, in itself, fairly be called decisive, were in closer accord with the general spirit of the war than was the decision that arose out of them. ”

“ Je suppose que vous êtes à Fleurus. Communiquez constamment avec le général Gérard, afin qu’il puisse vous aider pour attaquer Sombreffe, s’il était nécessaire.
La division Girard est à portée de Fleurus; n’en disposez point à moins de nécessité absolue, parce qu’elle doit marcher toute la nuit. Laissez aussi ma jeune Garde et toute son artillerie à Fleurus.
Le comte de Valmy, avec ses deux divisions de cuirassiers marche sur la route de Bruxelles; il se lie avec le maréchal Ney, pour contribuer à l’opération de ce soir, à l’aile gauche. ”

“ The next affair was a war with the Belgae, which was attended with far more bloodshed, as being a struggle with men fighting for their liberty. In the course of it were displayed many brave acts among the soldiery, and a remarkable one of the general himself, who, when his troops were on the point of flight, having snatched a buckler from a retreating soldier, hurried to the front of the army, and restored the battle by his own extertions. Then followed a naval war with the Veneti, but there was a greater struggle in it with the Ocean than with the ships of the enemy ”

“ The cannon could not be removed without making too great a sacrifice of men, as the Vigilant lay within one hundred yards of the southern part of the works, and with her incessant fire, hand grenades and musketry, from the round-top, killed every man that appeared upon the platforms.”
After this devastating conflict, Fleury was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army. He had already received from Congress the gift of a horse, as a testimonial of their sense of his merit at the battle of Brandywine, where a horse was shot under him. ”

“ Pyrrhus, victorius in the first battle, laid waste Campania, Liris, [25] and Fregellae, whilst all Italy was in alarm, and took a view of Rome, which was well-nigh captured, from the heights of Praeneste, filling the eyes of the trembling city, at the distance of twenty miles, with smoke and dust. The same prince being afterwards twice forced from his camp, twice wounded, and driven over sea and land into Greece, his own country, peace and quiet ensued; and so vast was the spoil from so many wealthy nations, that Rome could not contain her own victory. ”

“ So from afar they watched the fight. But still
Penthesileia brake the ranks, and still
Before her quailed the Achaeans: still they found
Nor screen nor hiding-place from imminent death.
As bleating goats are by the blood-stained jaws
Of a grim panther torn, so slain were they.
In each man's heart all lust of battle died,
And fear alone lived. This way, that way fled
The panic-stricken: some to earth had flung
The armour from their shoulders; some in dust
Grovelled in terror 'neath their shields: the steeds
Fled through the rout unreined of charioteers. ”

“ And now death and bloodshed ran riot; men fell by hundreds; deeds of heroic valor were achieved on either side; feats of individual daring were displayed like those which Homer sings in the story of Troy. But the battle ended in the defeat of the assailants. Of the seven leaders only two survived, and one of these, Amphiaraüs, was about to suffer the fate he had foretold, when Jupiter rescued him from death by a miracle. The earth opened beneath him, and he, with his chariot and horses, was received unhurt into her bosom. ”

“ The Flemings saw them plainly, but paid not any attention to them; nor did any one quit his ranks. The three knights were well mounted, and so much used to this business that they cared not for them. Philip said to his captains, “Our enemies are near at hand: let us draw up here in battle-array for the combat. ”

“ This he continued to do until the hour which the Flemings had fixed upon to attack them. It was on the point of day when they began their march in close order, without uttering a word. The Lord de St. Py, who was on the watch, no sooner saw this manœuvre than he found they were in earnest, and, hastening to his companions, said to them, “Now, my lords, be alert: we have but to do our utmost, for our enemy is on his march, and will be instantly here. These barons of new date are advancing slowly, and think to catch and surprise us: show yourselves true men at arms, for we shall have a battle.” ”

“ Directed by Minerva, the weapon flew right into the face of the unfortunate Pandarus, striking him lifeless to the earth.
Headlong he falls, his helmet knocks the ground;
Earth groans beneath him, and his arms resound.
Pope, Iliad, Book V.
Instantly Æneas leaped down from his chariot, with his shield and spear, to defend the body of his heroic comrade against being despoiled by the Greeks. This was one of the customs of war in those times. When a hero was slain in battle the enemy carried off his arms and armor as trophies of victory. ”

“ FLEURIS, BATTLE OF.—Fought, June, 17th, 1794, between the Allies, under the Prince of Cobourg, and the French revolutionary army, commanded by Marshal Jourdan. The Allies had 100,000 men, and having met the enemy on the plains of Fleuris, were signally defeated. Between 8000 and 10,000 were killed, wounded and taken prisoners, and Jourdan was able to form a junction with the French armies of the Moselle—the Ardennes and the north. ”

“ They were not yet drawn up in order of battle, neither had they got their arms in readiness, when they found themselves attacked in front, in rear, and in flank. In a moment all the ranks were put into disorder. Flaminius, alone undaunted in so universal a surprise, animates his soldiers both with his hand and voice; and exhorts them to cut themselves a passage with their swords through the midst of the enemy. But the tumult which reigned everywhere, the dreadful shouts of the enemy, and a fog that was risen, prevented his being seen or heard. ”

“ For these dread monsters too, I ween, the goddess Hera, bride of Zeus, had nurtured to be a trial for Heracles. And therewithal came the rest of the martial heroes returning to meet the foe before they reached the height of outlook, and they fell to the slaughter of the Earthborn, receiving them with arrows and spears until they slew them all as they rushed fiercely to battle. And as when woodcutters cast in rows upon the beach long trees just hewn down by their axes, in order that, once sodden with brine, they may receive the strong bolts ”

“ At Fleurus we were obliged to separate the French and the Prussians, because they would rise from their beds, or their bundles of straw, to tear each other to pieces. Ah! war! those who wish for it, and those who make men like ferocious beasts, will have a terrible account to settle above.
XX
The removal of the wounded continued until night. About noon shouts of Vive l'Empereur extended along the whole line of our bivouac from the village of Bry to Sombref. Napoleon had left Fleurus with his staff and had passed in review the whole army on the plateau. ”

“ To say the truth, no country is better furnished with men, money, and arms than Syria; but it had fallen into the hands of so spiritless a monarch, that the highest praise of Antiochus was that he was conquered by the Romans. There were two persons who impelled the king to war; on the one hand Thoas, prince of Aetolia, who complained that his service in the war against Macedonia had not been sufficiently rewarded by the Romans; on the other, Hannibal, who, conquered in Africa, exiled from his country, and impatient of peace, was seeking through the whole world for an enemy to the Roman people. ”

“ The Carthaginian army replied to it with a great noise of trumpets, cymbals, flutes of asses’ bones, and tympanums. The Barbarians had already leaped outside the palisades, and were facing their enemies within a javelin’s throw of them.
A Balearic slinger took a step forward, put one of his clay bullets into his thong, and swung round his arm. An ivory shield was shivered, and the two armies mingled together.
The Greeks made the horses rear and fall back upon their masters by pricking their nostrils with the points of their lances. ”

“ The relics of the unhappy army, scattered wherever the hope of escape drove them, through Armenia, Cilicia, and Syria, scarcely brought home the news of the disaster.
The head of Crassus, when cut off, together with his right hand, was carried to the king, and treated by the enemy, not unjustly, with mocking insult. Molten gold was poured into his mouth, that the flesh of him whose mind had burnt with desire of gold, might, when dead and inanimate, be burnt with gold itself. ”

“ They defiled through the street of Khamon, and the Cirta gate, pell-mell, archers with hoplites, captains with soldiers, Lusitanians with Greeks. They marched with a bold step, rattling their heavy cothurni on the paving stones. Their armour was dented by the catapult, and their faces blackened by the sunburn of battles. Hoarse cries issued from their thick beards, their tattered coats of mail flapped upon the pommels of their swords, and through the holes in the brass might be seen their naked limbs, as frightful as engines of war. ”

“ On reaching the summit, which had been left vacant when the Macedonian light troops drove back the Romans, he formed line of battle by the left, and thus gained the ground of vantage.
But while he was yet in the act of forming his right, the mercenaries were upon him, crushed in by the advance of the solid cohorts; for Flamininus had rallied his light troops in the intervals of his maniples, and was carrying all before him with great slaughter, himself leading his left wing, the right and centre being a little retired, with the elephants in front. ”

“ How desperate the engagement was, the result manifested; for not a man of the rebel troops survived. Whatever place each had occupied in the battle, that very spot, when life was extinct, he covered with his corpse. Catiline was found, far in advance of his men, among the dead bodies of the enemy; a most glorious death, had he thus fallen for his country.
13 CHAP. II. THE WAR BETWEEN CAESAR AND POMPEY. Almost the whole world being now subdued, the Roman empire was grown too great to be overthrown by any foreign power. ”

“ In the deep shadows hideous instruments, invented by barbarians, could be seen: tomahawks studded with nails; poisoned javelins; pincers resembling the jaws of crocodiles; in short, the tetrarch possessed in his castle munitions of war sufficient for forty thousand men.
He had accumulated these weapons in anticipation of an alliance against him among his enemies. But he bethought him that the proconsul might believe, or assert, that he had collected this armoury in order to attack the Romans; so he hastened to offer explanations of all that Vitellius had observed. ”

“ Mon intention est que tous les généraux prennent directement vos ordres; ils ne prendront les miens que lorsque je serai présent. Je serai entre dix et onze heures à Fleurus; je me rendrai à Sombref laissant ma garde, infanterie et cavalerie, à Fleurus. Je ne la conduirais à Sombref qu'en cas qu'elle fut nécessaire. Si l'ennemi est à Sombref, je veux l'attaquer; je veux même l'attaquer à Gembloux et m'emparer aussi de cette position, mon intention étant, après avoir connu ces deux positions, de partir cette nuit, et d'opérer avec mon aile gauche, que commande le maréchal Ney, sur les Anglais. ”

“ The Three Knights reconnoitring the Flemings in the Mist.
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Upon this the Flemings halted on the Mont d’Or, and formed in one thick and strong battalion; when Philip said aloud, “Gentlemen, when the attack begins, remember our enemies were defeated and broken at the battle of Bruges by our keeping in a compact body. Be careful not to open your ranks, but let every man strengthen himself as much as possible, and bear his staff right before him. You will intermix your arms, so that no one may break you, and march straight forward with a good step, without turning to the right or left ”