THE DECLINE AND FALL

tm

chap, evacuated their houses, and embarked with theirlxviii. mos t precious effects.

Amount of 1° ^ ie au d sac ^ of great cities, an his-tfae spoil, torian is condemned to repeat the tale of uni-form calamity: the same effects must be pro-duced by the same passions; and when thosepassions may be indulged without controul,small, alas! is the difference between civilizedand savage man. Amidst the vague exclama-tions of bigotry and hatred, the Turks are notaccused of a wanton or immoderate effusion ofChristian blood; but, according to their m xims(the maxims of antiquity), the lives of the van-quished were forfeited; and the legitimate re-ward of the conqueror was derived from the ser-vice, the sale, or the ransom, of his captives otboth sexes. 1 The wealth of Constantinople hadbeen granted by the sultan ^ his victorioustroops; and the rapine of an hour is more pro-ductive than the industry of years. But as noregular division was attempted of the spoil, therespective shares were not determined by merit;and the rewards of valour were stolen away bythe followers of the camp, who had declined thetoil and danger of the battle. The narrative oftheir depredations could not afford either amuse-ment or instruction; the total amount, in the lastpoverty of the empire, has been valued at fourmillions of ducats; 3 and of this sum a small part

1 Busbequius expatiates, with pleasure and applause, on the rightsof war, and the use of slavery, among the ancients and the Turks (deLegat. TurcicA, epist. iii, p. 161).

* This sum is specified in a marginal note of Leunclavius (Clialco-eondyles, 1. viii, p. 211); but, in the distribution to Venice, Genoa,

Florence,