Page:Destruction of the Greek Empire.djvu/360

 320 DESTEUCTION OF THE GEEEK EMPIRE final arrange- ments for general attack. himself solely to completing his final preparations, 1 He ordered that during the following nights fires should be lighted and torches burned, that the soldiers should fast during the following day, should go through their ceremonial ablutions seven times and ask God's aid in capturing the city. The sultan rose early on the morning of Sunday the 27th. He called those in charge of the guns and ordered them to concentrate the fire of their cannon against the walls of the stockade. He disposed his bodyguard, accord- ing to the arms they carried, into regiments — some of which contained upwards of a thousand men — and directed that when the order was given they should be sent forward in succession; that after one division had fought it should retire and rest while another took its place. In so doing he intended that the general attack should continue until it ended in victory without giving the besieged any time for rest. It was perhaps the best way to take advantage of his enormous superiority in numbers. Then he visited the other troops from sea to sea, repeat- ing his orders to the leaders, encouraging all by his presence, and seeing that all arrangements had been made as he had directed. Mahomet sent a message to Galata insisting that the Genoese should prevent help being sent clandestinely to the city. Proclaims He caused his heralds to proclaim through the camp of'pfunder. that his soldiers would be allowed to sack the city during 1 The narrative of Phrantzes relating the decision of the meeting of the Turkish council concludes by stating that this was on the 27th — that is, Sunday (p. 269). It may have been, but it is difficult to believe that the council meeting, the sending of Zagan to learn the opinion of the soldiers, his return and the decision, together with the subsequent proclamation, were all crowded into one day. Barbaro gives the proclamation as being made on Monday the 28th. Leonard says that, as a result of the meeting, a proclamation was issued for the attack to be on Tuesday and for the three preceding days to be devoted to prayer and one of them to fasting. If he is correct, the council could not have been on the 27th. Tetaldi states that the council lasted during four days. The statement appears possible, and perhaps gives the explanation of the apparent discrepancies in the narratives.