OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

225

* has opened to the Turks;” and at these wordshe hastily passed through one of the breachesof the inner wall. By this pusillanimous act,he stained the honours of a military life; and thefew days which he survived in Galata, or the isleof Chios , were embittered by his own and thepublic reproach. 1 " His example was imitatedby the greatest part of the Latin auxiliaries; andthe defence began to slacken when the attackwas pressed with redoubled vigour. The num-ber of the Ottomans was fifty, perhaps an hun-dred, times superior to that of the Christians; thedouble walls were reduced by the cannon to anheap of ruins: in a circuit of several miles, someplaces must be found more easy of access, ormore feebly guarded; and if the besiegers couldpenetrate in a single point, the whole city wasirrecoverably lost. The first who deserved thesultan’s reward was Hassan the janizary, of gi-gantic stature and strength. With his scime-tar in one hand and his buckler in the other, heascended the outward fortification: of the thirtyjanizaries, who were emulous of his valour,eighteen perished in the bold adventure. Has-san and his twelve companions had reached thesummit; the giant was precipitated from therampart; he rose on one knee, and was againoppressed by a shower of darts and stones. But

"* In the severe censure of the flight of Justiniani , Phranza ex-presses his own feelings, and those of the public. For some privatereasons, he is treated with more lenity and respect by Ducas j butthe words of Leonardos Chiensis express his strong and recent indig-nation, gloriae salutis suique oblitns. In the whole series of theirEastern policy, his countrymen, the Genoese, were always suspectedand often guilty.

VOL. XII, Q

CHAP.LX VIII.