212

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP

LXVIII.

veterans of Italy and Greece , long practised inthe arts and perils of the sea. Their weight wasdirected to sink or scatter the weak obstaclesthat impeded their passage: their artillery sweptthe waters: their liquid fire was poured on theheads of their adversaries, who, with the designof boarding, presumed to approach them; andthe winds and waves are always on the side ofthe ablest navigators. In this conflict, the im-perial vessel, which had been almost over-powered, was rescued by the Genoese; but theTurks, in a distant and closer attack, were twicerepulsed with considerable loss. Mahomet him-self sat on horseback on the beach, to encou-rage their valour by his voice and presence, bythe promise of reward, and by fear, more potentthan the fear of the enemy. The passions of hissoul, and even the gestures of his body/ seemedto imitate the actions of the combatants; and,as if he had been the lord of nature, he spurredhis horse with a fearless and impotent effort intothe sea. His loud reproaches, and the clamoursof the camp, urged the Ottomans to a third at-tack, more fatal and bloody than the two former;and I must repeat, though I cannot credit, theevidence of Phranza, who affirms from their ownmouth, that they lost above twelve thousand menin the slaughter of the day. They fled in dis-order to the shores of Europe and Asia, whilethe Christian squadron, triumphant and unhurt,

1 I roost confess, that I have before my eyes the living picturewhich Thucydides (1. vii, c, 71) has drawn of the passions and get*tures of the Athenians in a naval engagement in the great harbour ofSyracuse .