Maurice pressed on, his army gathering force at every step. He entered the Tyrol, swept through all its valleys, and took possession of all its castles and sublime fastnesses; and the blasts of his bugles reverberated through the cliffs of the mountains, ever sounding the charge and announcing victory, never signalling a defeat. The emperor was reduced to the terrible humiliation of saving himself from capture only by flight. He could scarcely credit the statement when he received the appalling tidings that his foes were within a day’s march of Innspruck, and that a squadron of horse might at any hour cut off his retreat.
It was night when this communication was made to him,—a dark and stormy night,—the 20th of May, 1552. The rain fell in torrents, and the wind howled through the fir-trees and through the crags of the Alps. The tortures of the gout would not allow him to mount his horse, neither could he bear the jolting in a carriage over the rough roads. Some attendants wrapped the monarch in blankets, took him into the courtyard of the palace, and placed him upon a litter. Servants led the way with lanterns; and thus, through the inundated and storm-swept defiles, they fled with their helpless sovereign through the long hours of the tempestuous night, not daring to stop one moment, lest they should hear behind them the iron hoofs of their pursuers.
What a change for one short month to produce! What a comment upon earthly grandeur! It is well for man, in the hour of exultant prosperity, to be humble: he knows not howsoon he may fall. Instructive, indeed, is the apostrophe of Cardinal Wolsey, illustrated as the truth he uttered is by almost every page of history:—
“This is the state of man: To-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms:
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And—when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening—nips his root;
And then he falls as I do.”
The fugitive emperor did not venture to stop for refreshment or repose until he had reached the strong town of Villach in Corinthia. The troops of Maurice soon entered the city which Charles had abandoned, and the imperial palace was surrendered to pillage. Heroic courage, indomitable perseverance, always command respect. These are noble qualities, though they may be exerted in a bad cause. The will of Charles was unconquerable. In these hours of disaster, tortured with pain, driven from his palace, impoverished, and borne upon his litter in humiliating flight before his foes,he was just as determined to enforce his plan as in the most brilliant hour of victory.[205]