Page:Destruction of the Greek Empire.djvu/405

 A MOBNING'S MASSACEE 363 tempered by the desire for gain. The young of both sexes, and especially the strong and beautiful, could be held as slaves or sold or ransomed. The statement of Leonard is therefore probably correct, that all who resisted were killed, that the Turks slew the weak, the decrepit and sick persons generally, but that they spared the lives of others who surrendered. The Turkish historian Sad-ud-din says, ' Having re- ceived permission to loot, they thronged into the city with joyous heart, and there, seizing their possessions and families, they made the wretched misbelievers weep. They acted in accordance with the precept, " Slaughter their aged and capture their youth." ' 1 The brave Cretan sailors, who were defending the walls near the Horaia Gate, took refuge in certain towers named Basil, Leo, and Alexis. They could not be captured, and would not surrender. In the afternoon, however, their stubborn resistance being reported to the sultan, he consented to allow them to leave the city with all their belongings, an offer which they reluctantly accepted. 2 The Cretans seem to have been the last Christians who quitted their posts as defenders of the city. The panic caused by the morning's massacre was Plight general. Men, women, and children sought to get outside shT p a s rd the city, to escape into the neighbouring country, or to reach the ships in the harbour. Some were struck down on their way ; others were drowned before they could get on board. The foreigners naturally made for their own ships. Some of them have placed on record the manner of their escape. Tetaldi says that 4 the great galleys of Eomania remained 3 till midday trying to save what Christians they could, and receiving four hundred on board,' among whom was one The Capture of Constantinople, from the Taj-ut-Tavarikh by Khodja Sad- ud-din. Translated by E. J. W. Gibb, p. 29. 2 Phrantzes, 287. Professor van Millingen (p. 189) believes that these towers were a little to the south of the present Seraglio Lighthouse. One of them had an interesting inscription, stating that it was built by the emperor Basil in 1024. 3 Another version of Tetaldi's Information calls the galleys in question Venetian (Dethier, p. 905).