Disease was rife among the youthful recruits, unused to such hard campaigning, as he had summoned to the colors.

Without food and without arms, they were beginning to desert their Eagles.

The spirit of the marshals and great officers whom he had raised from the dust to affluence and power was waning.
They were worn out with much fighting.

They wanted peace, almost at any price.

He remembered their eager questions when he had joined the army a month ago.
"What reinforcements has your majesty brought ?" "None," he had been compelled to answer.
"What, then, shall we do ?" queried one after the other.
"We must try fortune with what we have," he had declared undauntedly.
Well, they had tried fortune.