Page 186 - the-prince

Florentines were so completely defeated at all points that
scarcely a third of them escaped, and Castruccio was again
covered with glory. Many captains were taken prisoners,
and Carlo, the son of King Ruberto, with Michelagnolo
Falconi and Taddeo degli Albizzi, the Florentine commis-
sioners, fled to Empoli. If the spoils were great, the slaughter
was infinitely greater, as might be expected in such a battle.
Of the Florentines there fell twenty thousand two hundred
and thirty-one men, whilst Castruccio lost one thousand
five hundred and seventy men.
But Fortune growing envious of the glory of Castruccio
took away his life just at the time when she should have pre-
served it, and thus ruined all those plans which for so long
a time he had worked to carry into effect, and in the suc-
cessful prosecution of which nothing but death could have
stopped him. Castruccio was in the thick of the battle the
whole of the day; and when the end of it came, although fa-
tigued and overheated, he stood at the gate of Fucecchio to
welcome his men on their return from victory and person-
ally thank them. He was also on the watch for any attempt
of the enemy to retrieve the fortunes of the day; he being of
the opinion that it was the duty of a good general to be the
first man in the saddle and the last out of it. Here Castruc-
cio stood exposed to a wind which often rises at midday on
the banks of the Arno, and which is often very unhealthy;
from this he took a chill, of which he thought nothing, as he
was accustomed to such troubles; but it was the cause of his
death. On the following night he was attacked with high fe-
ver, which increased so rapidly that the doctors saw it must

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