222

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP

LXVHI.

The gene-ral assault,May 2!>.

glorious than the long prosperity of the Byzan-tine Caesars.

In the confusion of darkness, an assailant maysometimes succeed ; but in this great and gene-ral attack, the military judgment and astrologi-cal knowledge of Mahomet advised him to ex-pect the morning, the memorable twenty-ninthof May, in the fourteen hundred and fifty-thirdyear of the Christian era. The preceding nighthad been strenuously employed: the troops, thecannon, and the fascines, were advanced to theedge of the ditch, which in many parts present-ed a smooth and level passage to the breach; andhis fourscore gallies almost touched with theprows and their scaling ladders the less defensi-ble walls of the harbour. Under pain of death,silence was enjoined; but the physical laws ofmotion and sound are not obedient to disciplineor fear; each individual might suppress hisvoice and measure his footsteps; but the marchand labour of thousands must inevitably pro-duce a strange confusion of dissonant clamours,which reached the ears of the watchmen of thetowers. At day-break, without the customarysignal of the morning gun, the Turks assaultedthe city by sea and land; and the similitude ofa twined or twisted thread has been applied tothe closeness and continuity of their line ofattack . 1 The foremost ranks consisted of therefuse of the host, a voluntary crowd, who foughtwithout order or command ; of the feebleness ofage or childhood, of peasants and vagrants, and

1 Besides the 10,000 guards, and the sailors and the marines, Ducasnumbers in this general assault 250,000 Turks, both horse and foot.