The whole appearance of the country from Asti to Alexandria presents an
immense plain extremely fertile, but the crops
Of corn being off the
ground, the landscape would not be pleasing to the eye, were it not
relieved by the frequency of mulberry trees and the vines hung in festoons
from tree to tree. The villages and farmhouses on this road are extremely
solid and well built. We arrived at Alexandria about twelve o'clock, and
after breakfast I hired a horse to visit the field of battle of Marengo,
which is in the neighbourhood of this city, Marengo itself being a village
five miles distant from Alexandria. Arrived on the plain, I was conducted
to the spot where the first Consul stood at the time that he perceived the
approach of Desaix's division. I figured to myself the first Consul on his
white charger, halting his army, then in some confusion, riding along the
line exposed to a heavy fire from the Austrians, who cannonaded the whole
length of the line; aides-de-camp and orderlies falling around him, himself
calm and collected, "spying 'vantage," and observing that the Austrian
deployment was too extended, and their centre thereby weakened, suddenly
profiting of this circumstance to order Desaix's division to advance and
lead the charge which decided the victory on that memorable day, which,
according to Mascheroni:
splende
Nell' abisso de' secoli, qual Sole.
The whole field of battle is an extensive plain, with but few trees, and to
use Campbell's lines:
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