War had reared those veterans, for it had reared whole generations in the Commonwealth; but hitherto they had been scattered, or in the service of opposing parties. Now, when internal agreement had summoned them to one camp and one command, the hetman hoped to crush with such soldiers the stronger Hussein and the equally strong Kaplan. These old soldiers were led by trained men whose names were written more than once in the history of recent wars, in the changing wheel of defeats and victories.
The hetman himself stood at the head of them all like a sun, and directed thousands with his will; but who were the other leaders who at this camp in Hotin were to cover themselves with immortal glory? There were the two Lithuanian hetmans—the grand hetman, Pats, and the field hetman, Michael Kazimir Radzivill. These two joined the armies of the kingdom a few days before the battle, and now, at command of Sobieski, they took position on the heights which connected Hotin with Jvanyets. Twelve thousand warriors obeyed their commands; among these were two thousand chosen infantry. From the Dniester toward the south stood the allied regiments of Wallachia, who left the Turkish camp on the eve of the battle to join their strength with Christians. At the flank of the Wallachians stood with his artillery Pan Kantski, incomparable in the capture of fortified places, in the making of intrenchments, and the handling of cannon. He had trained himself in foreign countries, but soon excelled even foreigners. Behind Kantski stood Korytski’s Russian and Mazovian infantry; farther on, the field hetman of the kingdom, Dmitri Vishnyevetski, cousin of the sickly king. He had under him the light cavalry. Next to him, with his own squadron of infantry and cavalry, stood Pan Yendrei Pototski, once an opponent of the hetman, now an admirer of his greatness. Behind him and behind Korytski stood, under Pan Yablonovski, voevoda of Rus, fifteen squadrons of hussars in glittering armor, with helmets casting a threatening shade on their faces, and with wings at their shoulders. A forest of lances reared their points above these squadrons; but the men were calm. They were confident in their invincible force, and sure that it would come to them to decide the victory.
There were warriors inferior to these, not in bravery, but in prominence. There was Pan Lujetski, whose brother the Turks had slain in Bodzanoff; for this deed he had sworn undying vengeance. There was Pan Stefan Charnyetski, nephew of the great Stefan, and field secretary of the kingdom. He, in time of the siege of Kamenyets, had been at the head of a whole band of nobles at Golemb, as a partisan of the king, and had almost roused civil war; now he desired to distinguish himself with bravery. There was Gabriel Silnitski, who had passed all his life in war, and age had already whitened his head; there were other voevodas and castellans, less acquainted with previous wars, less famous, but therefore more greedy of glory.
Among the knighthood not clothed with senatorial dignity, illustrious above others, was Pan Yan, the famous hero of Zbaraj, a soldier held up as a model to the knighthood. He had taken part in every war fought by the Commonwealth during thirty years. His hair was gray; but six sons surrounded him, in strength like six wild boars. Of these, four knew war already, but the two younger had to pass their novitiate; hence they were burning with such eagerness for battle that their father was forced to restrain them with words of advice.
The officers looked with great respect on this father and his sons; but still greater admiration was roused by Pan Yarotski, who, blind of both eyes, like the Bohemian king31 Yan, joined the campaign. He had neither children nor relatives; attendants led him by the arms; he hoped for no more than to lay down his life in battle, benefit his country, and win glory. There too was Pan Rechytski, whose father and brother fell during that year.
There also was Pan Motovidlo, who had escaped not long before from Tartar bondage, and gone to the field with Pan Myslishevski. The first wished to avenge his captivity; the second, the injustice which he had suffered at Kamenyets, where, in spite of the treaty and his dignity of noble, he had been beaten with sticks by the janissaries. There were knights of long experience from the stanitsas of the Dniester—the wild Pan Rushchyts and the incomparable bowman, Mushalski, who had brought a sound head out of Kamenyets, because the little knight had sent him to Basia with a message; there was Pan Snitko and Pan Nyenashinyets and Pan Hromyka, and the most unhappy of all, young Pan Adam. Even his friends and relatives wished death to this man, for there remained no consolation for him. When he had regained his health, Pan Adam exterminated chambuls for a whole year, pursuing Lithuanian Tartars with special animosity. After the defeat of Pan Motovidlo by Krychinski, he hunted
