was turned Melas repaired the bridge and crossed the river; thus Moreau
found himself attacked frontally, in the rear, and on his two flanks, by
forces three times larger than his own. It was then that all the
officers who surrounded him begged him to retreat, for on the
preservation of his person depended the preservation of Italy for France.
Moreau refused for some time, for he knew the awful consequences of the
battle he had just lost, and he did not wish to survive it, although it
had been impossible for him to win it. At last a chosen band surrounded
him, and, forming a square, drew back, whilst the rest of the army
sacrificed themselves to cover his retreat; for Moreau's genius was
looked upon as the sole hope that remained to them.

The battle lasted nearly three hours longer, during which the rearguard
of the army performed prodigies of valour. At length Melas, seeing that
the enemy had escaped him, and believing that his troops, tired by the
stubborn fight, needed rest, gave orders that the fighting should cease.
He halted on the left bank of the Adda, encamping his army in the
villages of Imago, Gorgonzola, and Cassano, and remained master of the
battlefield, upon which we had left two thousand five hundred dead, one
hundred pieces of cannon, and twenty howitzers.

That night Souvarow invited General Becker to supper with him, and asked
him by whom he had been taken prisoner. Becker replied that it was a
young officer belonging to the regiment which had first entered Pozzo.
Souvarow immediately inquired what regiment this was, and discovered that
it was the Semenofskoi; he then ordered that inquiries should be made to
ascertain the young officer's name. Shortly afterwards Sub-Lieutenant
Foedor Romayloff was announced. He presented General Becker's sword to
Souvarow, who invited him to remain and to have supper with his prisoner.