OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
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were inhumanly massacred at his command; nor chap.could the emperor’s grief be assuaged by the LXVIILjust though cruel retaliation, of exposing fromthe walls the heads of two hundred and sixtymussulman captives. After a siege of forty days, Distress ofthe fate of Constantinople could no longer be 'averted. The diminutive garrison was exhaust-ed by a double attack; the fortifications, whichhad stood for ages against hostile violence, weredismantled on all sides by the Ottoman cannon;many breaches were opened; and near the gateof St. Romanus, four towers had been levelledwith the ground. For the payment of his feebleand mutinous troops, Constantine was compelledto despoil the churches, with the promise of afourfold restitution; and his sacrilege offered anew reproach to the enemies of the union. Aspirit of discord impaired the remnant of theChristian strength; the Genoese and Venetianauxiliaries asserted the pre-eminence of their re-spective service; and Justiniani and the greatduke, whose ambition was not extinguished bythe common danger, accused each other of trea-chery and cowardice.
During the siege of Constantinople , the wordsof peace and capitulation had been sometimespronounced; and several embassies had passedbetween the camp and the city/ The Greek em-peror was humbled by adversity; and wouldhave yielded to any terms compatible with reli-gion and royalty. The Turkish sultan was de-