Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/280

252 ation without difficulty in the bay of Trianda, on the northwest side of the island.

He encamped his forces on the slope of St. Stephen’s hill, and pitched his own tent on the summit, and on the following day despatched a herald to summon the town to surrender. He knew well that the demand would be rejected with scorn by the knights, but he had worded his message craftily, with the hope of seducing the Greek inhabitants, to whom he promised a general amnesty and an increase of privileges under the Turks. His cunning design was frustrated by the staunch courage of the Rhodians, who preferred staking their all on the fortunes of the Order, to accepting the tempting but dangerous offers of Paleologus. When it is remembered that the population of Rhodes mostly professed the Greek faith, it is somewhat surprising that they should have remained so loyal to the sway of a Roman Catholic body. Either the differences and jealousies between the rival creeds must in those days have been less embittered than of late, or the fraternity must have learnt a lesson in religious toleration very unusual to the professors of their faith. There are facts which show that both these causes must have operated to produce such laudable results. As a proof that the differences between the two religions were then by no means so marked as at present, may be mentioned the fact that a miraculous picture of the Virgin, held in the highest esteem by the knights, was during the siege lodged in a Greek chapel, where i received the joint adoration of both sects. This painting had been brought from Acre by the knights on their expulsion from that city. After their arrival in Rhodes it had been deposited in a chapel, built for the purpose on an eminence about a mile to the west of the town. This hill was called Mount Philermo, and the image bore the name of Our Lady of Philermo. When the approach of the Turks rendered this chapel no longer a place of security, the picture was brought within the fortress, nor was any objection made to its being lodged in a Greek chapel. No surer