The Prince of India; Or, Why Constantinople Fell - Volume 01

and Leonardo di Langasco the Genoese, defending the port of Blacherne in the lowland, had not been able to save the Xiloport

f the towers there were in the ditch serving the uses of the enemy. Contarino the Venetian, on the roof of the Golden Gate, was separated from the wall reaching northward to Selimbria by a breach wide enough to admit a chariot. Gabriel Trevisan, with his noble four hundred Venetians, kept good his grip on the harbor wall from the Acropolis to the gate of St. Peter's. Through the incapacity or tr

abounding of Moslem princes and princes not Moslem, of Pachas, and Beys, and Governors of Castles, of Sheiks, and Captains of hordes without titles; such a medley of costumes, and armor, and strange ensigns; such a forest of tall shafts flying red horse-tails; such a herding of caparisoned steeds; such a company of trumpeters and heralds-had seldom if ever been seen. It seemed the East from the Euphrates and Red Sea to the Caspian, and the West far as the Ir

's back, his confidant and adviser-not Kalil, it is to be remarked,

intelligent; exciting the astonishment of the vulgar disposes them to submit to superiority in another without wounding their vanity. The Rajahs in my country practise this philosophy

tent was extravagantly furnished, and their prostrations were at the step of a throne.

itician or a diplomatist, for instance-or think the heaviest blow

r, my

stand at my left; but here on my right I will have my horse in panoply; and he shall bear my m

ce at the right of the throne was spread, the horse, bitted and house led

ssals honored by his summons, and admitted separately to his

ls before us, and it shall be yours-money, jewels, goods and people-all yours as you can lay hands on it. I reserve only the houses and churches. Are you poor, you may go away rich; if rich, you may be richer; for what you get will be honor

e and matter were his

t hanging fr

sword,

ind them-so also hath God willed, and I say it shall be. I swear it. And that they leave behind them is for us who were appointed from the beginning of the world to take it; that also God wills, and I say it shall be. I swear it. Amin! ... What if the way be perilous, as I grant it is? Is it not written: 'A soul cannot die except by permission of God, according to a writing of God, definite as to time'? And if a man die, is it not also written: 'Repute not those slain in God's cause to be dead; nay, alive with God, they are provided for'? They are people of the 'right hand,' of whom it is written: 'They shall be brought nigh God in the gardens of delight, upon inwrought couches reclining face to face. Youths ever young shall go unto them round about with goblets and ewers, and a cup of flowing wine; and fruits of the sort which they shall choose, and the flesh of birds of the kind which they shall desire, and damsels with eyes like pearls laid up, we will give them as a reward for that which they have done.' ... But the appointed time is not yet for all of us-nay, it is

g with the retinue of a conqueror from chief to chief. From each he drew a d

dead will be useful in the ditch.... Have the ladders at hand.... At the sound of my trumpets, charge.... Proclaim for me that he who is

fifty thousand, abandoned themselves to transports of fanaticism. Of their huts and booths they made heaps, and at night set fire to them; and the tents of the Pachas and great officers being illuminated, and the ships perfecting the bloc

rregular clamor of voices, near by, a confusion of songs and cries. At times the bray of trumpets and the roll of drums great and small shook the air, and smothered ev

ed, even the boldest of them. The cry Allah-il-Allah shouted from the moat was

huts?" asked a prude

e. The city is for us to-morrow. T

e swea

f the Three in the

fire, the

ce already. It is on the hi

ag

, when we are in the tow

ngs I mo

what

tion of my mother's son! What things? Two horses out of the Em

for my camel-enough to take my father and his three wives to Me

ld will

at times for mixing wine and bread in. It is when they eat the body of the

g. I'll gathe

oslem oath, "keep to your gold, whe

-he don'

grinning son of

is it,

ich is first

me

ing of

or yo

y-yeh is n

he other. "I will take som

at

said by a wise man, 'Sweet water in the jar i

s of Byzantium in this per

g coward at night; you have but to present him a danger substantial enough to quicken his imagina

, Pr

t. Multiply the fires, if need be, and keep the thousands in motion abo

r man stopp

d at him in s

of God, and every armed man on the walls who has a wife or daughter will think he hears himself called to for protection. Try i

as the

g was in store for them! Enemies seemed to have arisen out of the earth-devils, not men. The world to the horizon's rim appeared oppressed with them. Nor was it possible to misapprehend the meaning of what they beheld.

esolved to allow the azymite Emperor to exhaust his vanity that in the last hour he and his Latin myrmidons may not deny her

the priestly soothsayers. Nay, the too comforting assurance made its way to the defenders at the gates, and hundreds of them deserted

The mystery was revealed upon entering. A half dozen steaming tubs were scattered over the paved floor, and by each of them stood a scantily attired woman with a dirty yashmak covering her face. The chamber which should have been very sacred if only because there the last of the Byzantine Emperors composedly resigned himself to the inevitable, had become a filthy den devoted to one of the most ignoble of uses. The shame is, of course, to the Greeks of Constantinople.] watching the movements of the Turks. The subtle prophet which sometimes mercifully goes before d

window. His faithful attendants came in occasionally, and s

standards, many of them without meaning to him, the detachments on duty and watchful, the horsemen coming and going, and now

ntered the room, and going to his master's rig

y. Thou hast been true servant to me-I testify it, God hearing-and now I promote thee. Be as my other self. Speak

n took the steel-gloved hand neare

t had ever a more consid

ey were both thinking the same tho

this morning "-thus Phranza upon reco

ou fou

ad warning. The Hegumen

them, O

sty-assembled in a cloi

dius a

d, and there was an impat

always in his master's interest. The night of the day our Christian ships beat the Turks the Grand Vizier sent me an account of a stormy scene in Mahommed's tent, and advised me to beware of Gennadius. Ah, I had fancied myself

f treason,

pious and venerable Gregory, into

he perjured!-He, Patriarch!" cr

hinkest thou he dreams

ur Maje

regards Mahommed the Sultan a bette

and Phranza crosse

rs with undeniable reason....He undertook-so Kalil privily declared-if Mahom

no gate in keeping-he

class? This gowned traitor hath a key to all the gates. Hear him-I will ply

t so brave a prince, so good a master

rd. Let it pass, let it pass-I understand thee.

o go out, and renew the story of the angel, and the man at the foot of the column of Constantine." The calmness

but my utmost now is to die for it-ay, as if I were b

alk not so! It is not too late for composition.

we can put so much glory in dying! A day of Greek regeneration may come-then there may be some to do me honor-some to find worthy lessons in my life-perchance another Emperor of Byzantium

f the guard

the Captain Justiniani, and the Genoese, his

eized his swo

ut it," he s

nting some cannon, he made request for them of the High Admiral, who

le Captain, and tell h

e want? He is rich, and hath a family-boys verging on manhood, and of excellent prom

esty-life, and

ppose thou thought

ly: "If five galleys won the harbor, every Moslem sail opposing, why could

t of the window again

ad I lived, God helping me roll back this flood of Islam, it should have been enforced.... Hither-look hither, Lord Phranza"-he pointed out of the window-"and thou wilt see an argument of as many divisions as there are infidels beleaguering us why the Church of Christ should have one head; and as to whether the head should be Patriarch or Bishop, is it not enough that we are perishing for want of Western swords?"-He would have fallen into silence again, but roused himself: "So much for the place I w

speed to the Gate St. Romain, and suc

e a battle-cry-Christ and Holy Church. At separating, the Emperor, with infinite tenderness, but never more knightly, prayed forgiveness of any he might have wronged or affronted

gates, and was partially successful in arr

f the Communion, and received absolution according to Latin rite; after which the morrow could hold no surprise fo