OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 227

The victorious Turks rushed through the chapbreaches of the inner wall; and as they ad- LXvmvanced into the streets, they were soon joinedby their brethren, who had forced the gate Phe-nar on the side of the harbour. q In the firstheat of their pursuit, about two thousand Chris-tians were put to the sword; but avarice soonprevailed over cruelty; and the victors acknow-ledged, that they should immediately have givenquarter, if the valour of the emperor and hischosen bands had not prepared them for a simi-lar opposition in every part of the capital. ItLossofthewas thus, after a siege of fifty-three days, thatConstantinople , which had defied the power ofChosroes, the Chagan, and the caliphs, was irre-trievably subdued by the arms of Mahomet thesecond. Her empire only had been subvertedby the Latins; her religion was trampled in thedust by the Moslem conquerors/

The tidings of misfortune fly with a rapid The Turk*wing; yet such was the extent of Constantin piiiage"'ople, that the more distant quarters might pro-long some moments the happy ignorance of theirruin.’ But in the general consternation, in thefeelings of selfish or social anxiety, in the tumultand thunder of the assault, a sleepless night and

' Cantemir, p. 96. The Christian ships in the mouth of the harbourhad flanked and retarded this naval attack.

r Chalcocondyles most absurdly supposes that Constantinople wassacked by the Asiatics, in revenge for the ancient calamities of Troy;and the grammarians of the fifteenth century are happy to melt downthe uncouth appellation of Turks into the more classic name ofTcua'i.

• When Cyrus surprised Babylon during the celebration of a festi-val, so vast was the city, and so careless were the inhabitants) thatmuch time elapsed before the distant quarters knew ihat they werecaptives (Herodotus , 1. i, c. 191), and Usher (Annal. p 78), who hasquoted from the prophet Jeremiah a passage of similar import.