Gaeta was the only important place which still held out for the French, and contained a garrison capable of defending it; and thither the remnant of the troops beaten at Seminara and at Cerignola had retired.
Louis XII.

hastened to levy and send to Italy, under the command of Louis de la Tremoille, a fresh army for the purpose of relieving Gaeta and recovering Naples; but at Parma La Tremoille fell ill, "so crushed by his malady and so despairing of life," says his chronicler, John Bouchet, "that the physicians sent word to the king that it was impossible in the way of nature to recover him, and that without the divine assistance he could not get well." The command devolved upon the Marquis of Mantua, who marched on Gaeta.

He found Gonzalvo of Cordova posted with his army on the left bank of the Garigliano, either to invest the place or to repulse re-enforcements that might arrive for it.

The two armies passed fifty days face to face almost, with the river and its marshes between them, and vainly attempting over and over again to join battle.

Some of Gonzalvo's officers advised him to fall back on Capua, so as to withdraw his troops from an unhealthy and difficult position; but "I would rather," said he, "have here, for my grave, six feet of earth by pushing forward, than prolong my life a hundred years by falling back, though it were but a few arms' lengths." The French army was dispersing about in search of shelter and provisions; and the Marquis of Mantua, disgusted with the command, resigned it to the Marquis of Saluzzo, and returned home to his marquisate.