Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/164

 142 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. gentler virtues are unknown in this country. If a man has money he buries it, and if he has any valuable objects he hides them in the depths of his harem. If he wishes to escape suspicion he must avoid living with the appearance of being in easy circumstances." Savary relates an anecdote illustrating the treatment the Greeks received in their own coun- try. The circumstances occurred in 1780. With the exception of the archbishop and of Europeans, no Christian has the right to ride inside a town. The Bishop of Canea took it in his head to disregard this tyrannical regulation. One evening, when he was returning from the country along with several monks, he did not dismount, but passed through and rode quickly up to his own house. The janizaries who were on guard at the gate looked on this action as an insult. The next day they roused the troops, and it was determined to burn the bishop and the priests. The mob, roaring curses, were al- ready carrying combustibles to the bishop's house, and its inhabitants could not have escaped the horrible fate to which they were destined, had not the pasha, warned in time, issued a pro- clamation, by which any Greek, of what class soever, was forbidden to sleep within the walls