The rough energy of the Westerns had disregarded the talismans
of the Greek Church as completely as those of paganism. In vain had
the believers in these charms destroyed during the siege the statues
which were believed to be of ill omen or unlucky. The invaders had a
superstition as deep as their own, but with the difference that they
could not believe that a people in schism could have the protection of
the hierarchy of heaven, or be regarded as the rightful possessors of
so many relics.
During the night following its capture the Golden Gate, which was at
the Marmora side of the landward walls, had been opened, and already
an affrighted crowd was pressing forward to make its escape from the
captured city. Others were doing their best to bury their treasures.
The Emperor himself, either seized with panic or finding that all was
lost--as, indeed, everything was lost so soon as the army had
succeeded in obtaining a foothold within the walls--fled from the
city, He, too, escaped by the Golden Gate, taking with him Euphrosyne,
the widow of Alexis. The brave Theodore Lascaris determined, however,
to make one more attempt. His appeal to the people was useless.
Pages:
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268