Venetians also had galleys upon the lake, but they were unequal to a contest with those of the duke.  The count therefore deemed it advisable to aid the Venetian fleet with his land forces, by which means he hoped to obtain without much difficulty those places which kept Brescia in blockade.  He therefore encamped before Bardolino, a fortress situated upon the lake, trusting that after it was taken the others would surrender.  But fortune opposed this design, for a great part of his troops fell sick; so, giving up the enterprise, he went to Zevio, a Veronese castle, in a healthy and plentiful situation.  Niccolo, upon the count’s retreat, not to let slip an opportunity of making himself master of the lake, left his camp at Vegasio, and with a body of picked men took the way thither, attacked the Venetian fleet with the utmost impetuosity, and took nearly the whole of it.  By this victory almost all the fortresses upon the lake fell into his hands.

The Venetians, alarmed at this loss, and fearing that in consequence of it Brescia would surrender, solicited the count, by letters and messengers, to go to its relief; and he, perceiving that all hope of rendering assistance from the lake was cut off, and that to attempt an approach by land, on account of the ditches, bastions, and other defenses erected by Niccolo, was marching to certain destruction, determined that as the passage by the mountains had enabled him to relieve Verona, it should also contribute to the preservation of Brescia.  Having taken this resolution, the count left Zevio, and by way of the Val d’Acri went to the Lake of St. Andrea, and thence to Torboli and Peneda, upon the Lake of Garda.  He then proceeded to Tenna, and besieged the fortress, which it was necessary to occupy before he could reach Brescia.

Niccolo, on being acquainted with the count’s design, led his army to Peschiera.  He then, with the marquis of Mantua and a chosen body of men, went to meet him, and coming to an engagement, was routed, his people dispersed, and many of them taken, while others fled to the fleet, and some to the main body of his army.  It was now nightfall, and Niccolo had escaped to Tenna, but he knew that if he were to remain there till morning, he must inevitably fall into the enemy’s hands; therefore, to avoid a catastrophe which might be regarded as almost fatal, he resolved to make a dangerous experiment.  Of all his attendants he had only with him a single servant, a Dutchman, of great personal strength, and who had always been devotedly attached to him.  Niccolo induced this man to take him upon his shoulders in a sack, as if he had been carrying property of his master’s, and to bear him to a place of security.  The enemy’s lines surrounded Tenna, but on account of the previous day’s victory, all was in disorder, and no guard was kept, so that the Dutchman, disguised as a trooper, passed through them without any opposition, and brought his master in safety to his own troops.