l'HE DECLINE AND FALL
188
CHAP.
LXVIII.
down in the woods of Heraclea and Nicomedia;and the stones were dug from the Anatolianquarries. Each of the thousand masons wasassisted by two workmen; and a measure of twocubits was marked for their daily task. Thefortress' 1 was built in a triangular form; eachangle was flanked by a strong and massy tower;one on the declivity of the hill, two along thesea-shore; a thickness of twenty-two feet wasassigned for the walls, thirty for the towers;and the whole building was covered with a solidplatform of lead. Mahomet himself pressed anddirected the work with indefatigable ardour:his three vizirs claimed the honour of finishingtheir respective towers; the zeal of the cadhisemulated that of the janizaries; the meanest la-bour was ennobled by the service of God andthe sultan; and the diligence of the multitudewas quickened by the eye of a despot, whosesmile was the hope of fortune, and whose frownwas the messenger of death. The Greek em-peror beheld, with terror, the irresistible pro-gress of the work; and vainly strove, by flat-tery and gifts, to assuage an implacable foe,who sought, and secretly fomented, the slightestoccasion of a quarrel. Such occasions mustsoon and inevitably be found. The ruins ofstately churches, and even the marble columnswhich had been consecrated to St. Michael thearchangel, were employed without scruple by