CHAPTER XXIX.
Two new comers joined the party at Corinth, where, crossing theisthmus on horses, they re-embarked. One was Giustiniani, a Genoese,of commanding form and noble features, the very type of chivalricgentility, bronzed by journeyings under various skies, and scarredwith the memorials of heroic soldiership on many fields. The other wasa Dacian, short of stature, with broad and square forehead, and acrooked neck which added to the sinister effect of his squinting eyes.
"Well, Urban," said the Genoese, "you still have confidence in yournew ordnance, and think that saltpetre and charcoal are to take theplace of the sword, and that every lout who can strike a fire willsoon be a match for a band of archers:--Eh!"
"Yes, Sire, and if the emperor would only allow me a few hundredducats, I would cast him a gun which, from yonder knoll, would heave astone of five talents'[65] weight, and crash through any galley everfloated from the docks of Genoa or Venice. Four such guns on eitherside would protect this isthmus from a fleet. But, I tell you, nobleGiustiniani, that without taking advantage of our new science, theemperor cannot hold out long against the Turk. The Turk is usinggunpowder. He is willing to learn, and has already learned, what theemperor will find out to his cost, that the walls of Constantinopleitself cannot long endure the battering of heavy cannon."
"You are right, Urban," replied the Genoese. "The Turk is also aheadof us in the art of approaching citadels. I have no doubt that hiszigzag trenches[66] give the assailant almost equality with thebesieged in point of safety. I will gladly use my influence at thecourt of Byzantium in behalf of your scheme for founding large cannon,Urban; if, perchance, the defence of the empire may receive a tithe ofthe treasure now squandered in princely parades and uselessembassages."
The galley glided smoothly through the little gulf of AEgina, with itshistoric bays of Eleusis and Salamis. Giustiniani and Urban discussedthe disposition of the Greek and Persian fleets during the ancientfight at Salamis, as they moved under the steep rocky hill on whichXerxes sat to witness the battle. They soon rounded the headland,opposite the tomb of Themistocles, and anchored in the harbor of thePiraeus.
This port of Athens was crowded with shipping. There were Spanishgalleasses like floating castles, with huge turrets at stem and stern,rowed by hundreds of galley slaves. Other vessels of smaller sizefloated the standard of France. Those of the maritime cities of Italyvied with one another in the exquisite carving of their prows and thegaiety of their banners.
The chief attention was centred upon a splendid galley of Byzantium,whose deck was covered with silken awnings, beneath which a band ofmusic floated sweet strains over the waters. This was the vessel ofthe imperial chamberlain, Phranza, who, having been entertained inAthens with honors befitting his dignity, was now about to return toConstantinople.
Giustiniani ordered his galley alongside of that of the chamberlain,by whom he was received with distinguishing favors. Constantine tookthis opportunity to deliver, through the Genoese, Scanderbeg's lettersto Phranza. They were read with evident gratification by thechamberlain. With a hearty welcome, not devoid of some curiosity onhis part, as he scrutinized the appearance of the strangers, heinvited Constantine and his companion to complete their journey in hisgalley.
Morsinia was at first as much dazed by the splendor, as she wasmortified by her ignorance of the formalities, with which she wasreceived. But the natural dignity of her bearing stood her in goodstead of more courtly graces: for these modern Greeks emulated thoseof ancient times in the reverence they paid to womanly beauty. Thechamberlain was somewhat past middle life. He was a man whose studioushabits, as the great historian of his times, did not dull hisbrilliancy as the master of etiquette. Nor had his astuteness as astatesman been acquired by any sacrifice of his taste for socialintrigues. The diversions from the cares of state, which other greatmen have found at the gaming-table or in their cups, Phranza sought instudying the mysteries of female character; admiring its virtues, andyet not averse to finding entertainment in its foibles. A true Greek,he believed that physical beauty was the index of the rarer qualitiesof mind and heart. He would have been a consenting judge at the trialof that beautiful woman in the classic story, the perfection of whoseunrobed form disproved the charge of her crime. He was such an ardentadvocate of the absolute authority of the emperor that, though ofdecided aristocratic tendencies, he held that no marriage alliance,however high the rank of the bride, could add to the dignity of thethrone: indeed, that beauty alone could grace the couch of a king;that the first of men should wed the fairest of women, and thuscombine the aristocracy of rank with the aristocracy of nature. He hadfrequent opportunities to express his peculiar views on this subject;for, among the problems which then perplexed his statecraft, was thatof the marriage of the emperor--that the succession might not be leftto the hazard of strife among the families of the blood of thePalaeologi. Had the choice of the royal spouse been left entirely inhis hands, he would have made the selection on no other principle thanthat adopted by the purveyor of plumage for the court, who seeks therarest colors without regard to the nesting-place of the bird.
The genuine politeness of the courtier, together with Morsinia'swomanly tact in adapting herself to her new environment, soon relievedher from the feeling of restraint, and the hours of the voyage passedpleasantly. Her conversation, which was free from the conventionalitiesof the day, was, for this very reason, as refreshing to Phranza as thesimple forms of nature--the mountain stream, the tangles of vines andwild flowers--are to the habitues of cities. There was a native poetryin her diction, an artlessness in her questions, and a transparenthonesty in her responses. Indeed, her very manner unveiled thefeatures of so exalted and healthy a mind, of a disposition so frankand ingenuous, of a character so delicately pure and exquisitelybeautiful, that they compensated many fold any lack of artificialculture. The great critic of woman forgot to study her face: he onlygazed upon it. He ceased to analyze her character: he simply felt herworth.
But no fairness of a maiden, be she Albanian or Greek, can longmonopolize the attention of an elderly man whose swift vessel bearshim through the clustering glories of the AEgean. Nor could any awe forhis rank, or interest in his learned conversation, absorb Morsiniafrom these splendors which glowed around her. They gazed in silenceupon the smooth and scarcely bending sea, which, like a celestialmirror, reflected all the hues of the sky--steely blue dissolving intosoftest purple; white mists transfused by sunset's glow into billowsof fire; monolithic islands flashing with the colors of mighty agatesin the prismatic air; clouds white as snow and clear cut as diamonds,lifting themselves from the horizon like the "great white throne" thatSt. John saw from the cliffs of Patmos yonder.
Crossing the AEgean, the voyagers hugged the old Trojan coast until offthe straits of the Hellespont. They lay during a day under the lee ofYeni Sheyr shoals, and at night ran the gauntlet of the new Turkishforts, Khanak-Kalesi and Khalid-Bahar, at the entrance to the Sea ofMarmora. Two days later there broke upon the view that most queenly ofcities, Byzantium, reclining upon the tufted couch of her seven hills,by the most lovely of seas, like a nymph beside her favorite fountain.The galley glided swiftly by the "Seven Towers," which guard onMarmora the southern end of the enormous triple wall. The bastions andtowers of this famous line of defenses cut their bold profile againstthe sky for a distance of five or six miles in a straight line, untilthe wall met the extremity of the Golden Horn on the north; thusmaking the city in shape like a triangle--the base of giganticmasonry; the sides of protecting seas.
Gay barges and kaiks shot out from the shore to form a welcomingpageant to the returning chamberlain. With easy oars they driftedalmost in the shadows of the cypress trees which lined the bank andhid the residences of wealthy Greek merchants and the pavilions ofprinces. The lofty dome of St. Sophia flashed its benediction upon thetravelers, and its challenge of a better faith far across theBosphorus to the Asiatic Moslem, whose minarets gleamed likespear-heads from beside their mosques. From the point where the GoldenHor
n meets the strait of the Bosphorus and the sea of Marmora, rosethe palace of the emperor, embowered in trees, and surrounded withgardens which loaded the air with the perfume of rarest flowers andthe song of birds. Rounding the point into the Golden Horn, the grimold Genoese tower of Galata, on the opposite bank, saluted them withits drooping banner. They dropped anchor in the lovely harbor. Strongarms with a few strokes sent the tipsy kaiks from the galley throughthe rippling water to the landing. An elegant palanquin brought thewife of Phranza to meet her lord. Another, which was designed for thechamberlain, he courteously assigned to Morsinia; while Constantineand the gentlemen of the suite mounted the gaily caparisoned horsesthat were in readiness. The chamberlain insisted upon Morsinia andConstantine becoming his guests, at least until their familiarity withthe city should make it convenient for them to reside elsewhere.
FOOTNOTES:
[65] A modern Greek talent weighs 125 English pounds.
[66] The present art of "slow approach" was an invention of the Turks.
The Captain of the Janizaries Page 29
