Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/101

 DYNASTIC TROUBLES. 83 iiius, the inhabitants had the country open to them unless the emperor could command the lake, which, apparently, he was unable to do. The besieged, confident in their strength, in- sulted the emperor and his troops, and made a sortie in which they destroyed his battering-rams and other machines directed against their walls. The army w^ithin was commanded by Theodore Cantacuzenos and Isaac Angelos, who subsequentlj^ came to the throne. Seeing his want of success, Andronicos had recourse to a stratagem which appears to have shocked even the soldiers of what was undoubtedly a cruel period. He sent to the capital and had brought to Nicsea, Euphrosyne, the mother of Isaac Angelos, and tied her on the top of one of the battering-rams, so that it would be impossible or ditiicult to shoot at those working; the ram without endano^erinc: her life. The occupants of the city, however, placed their most skilled archers opposite the machine and continued to shoot, killing a great many without injuring her. At night the troops made a sortie, destroyed the ram, and rescued Euphros- yne. Many sorties were afterwards made, in one of which Theodore was killed. The command was then offered tc Isaac, who, probably because he believed that the city could not hold out, refused it. The bishop then urged that the in- habitants should make terms with the enemy, and, after he had brought over a majority to his way of thinking, headed a procession to Andronicos to propose a surrender upon terms. The emperor was only too glad to accept their submission and to promise them safety, a promise which was in great measure disregarded ; for many of the leaders were thrown from the walls, while yet more were hung or banished. Andronicos passed from Nicjea to Broussa. For a time the He attacks ^^^J ^esistcd bravely ; but, a portion of the wall hav- Broussa. ^^^„ fallen, the inhabitants believed that their ene- mies had already entered, and in the panic they succeeded in doing so. The city was sacked and the inhabitants massacred. Theodore Angelos had his eyes put out, was tied upon an ass, and sent out into the open country, where he would probably have perished had he not fallen in with some Turks, who res- cued him. Forty of the leaders were hung ; others had a foot