220

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

LXVIII,

Last fare-well of theemperorami theGreeks.

“of gold and beauty; be rich and be happy.“ Many are the provinces of my empire: the in-“ trepid soldier who first ascends the walls of“ Constantinople , shall be rewarded with thego-“ vernmentof the fairest and most wealthy; and“ my gratitude shall accumulate his honours and“ fortunes above the measure of his own hopes.”Such various and potent motives diffused amongthe Turks a general ardour, regardless of life,and impatient for action: the camp re-echoed withthe Moslem shouts of “ God is God , there is“ but one God , and Mahomet is the apostle of“ God ;” h and the sea and land, from Galata tothe seven towers, were illuminated by the blazeof their nocturnal fires.

Far different was the state of the Christians;who, with loud and impotent complaints, de-plored the guilt, or the punishment, of their sins.The celestial image of the virgin had been ex-posed in solemn procession; but their divine pa-troness was deaf to their intreaties: they ac-cused the obstinacy of the emperor for refusinga timely surrender; anticipated the horrors oftheir fate; and sighed for the repose and securityof Turkish servitude. The noblest of the Greeks,and the bravest of the allies, were summoned tothe palace, to prepare them, on the evening of thetwenty-eighth, for the duties and dangers of thegeneral assault. The last speech of Palaeolo-gus was the funeral oration of the Roman em-

* Phranza quarrels with these Moslem acclamations, not fcr thename of God, but for that of the prophet: the pious zeal of Voltaire isexcessive and even ridiculous.