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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 611 heights, which they proposed to cover with new fortifications ; and in the absence of the emperor, who was detained at De- motica by sickness, they ventured to brave the debility of a female reign. A Byzantine vessel, which had presumed to fish at the mouth of the harbour, was sunk by these audacious strangers ; the fishermen were murdered. Instead of suing for pardon, the Genoese demanded satisfaction ; required, in an haughty strain, that the Greeks should renounce the exercise of navigation ; and encountered, with regular arms, the first sallies of the popular indignation. They instantly occupied the debateable land ; and by the labour of a whole people, of either sex and of every age, the wall was raised, and the ditch was sunk, with incredible speed. At the same time they attacked and burnt two Byzantine galleys ; while the three others, the remainder of the Imperial navy, escaped from their hand ; the habitations without the gates, or along the shore, were pillaged and destroyed ; and the care of the regent, of the empress Irene, was confined to the preservation of the city. The return of Cantacuzene dispelled the public consternation : the em- peror inclined to peaceful counsels ; but he yielded to the obstinacy of his enemies, who rejected all reasonable terms, and to the ardour of his subjects, Avho threatened, in the style of scripture, to break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Yet they reluctantly paid the taxes that he imposed for the con- struction of ships and the expenses of the war ; and, as the two nations were masters, the one of the land, the other of the sea, Constantinople and Pera were pressed by the evils of a mutual siege. The merchants of the colony, who had believed that a few days would terminate the war, already murmured at their losses ; the succours from their mother- country were delayed by the factions of Genoa ; and the most cautious em- braced the opportunity of a Rhodian vessel to remove their families and effects from the scene of hostility. In the spring, Destruction of the Byzantine fleet, seven galleys and a train of smaller vessels, ^m ***" ^'^' issued from the mouth of the harbour and steered m a single line along the shore of Pera ; unskilfully presenting their sides to the beaks of the adverse squadron. The crews were com- posed of peasants and mechanics ; nor was their ignorance compensated by the native courage of barbarians. The wind was strong, the waves were rough ; and no sooner did the Greeks perceive a distant and inactive enemy, than they leaped headlong into the sea, from a doubtful to an inevitable peril. The troops that marched to the attack of the lines of Pera were