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being arrogant, haughty and exulting and raising his eyebrow to heaven, and he thought he was higher than all, and he supposed that all things were managed by him, and the whole world is led under his authority. But also leading many most ingenious and most warlike works, expecting through them to break down a part of the city wall and from this to conquer it and to take the Romans captive and to extinguish the name of Christ. But also armies of armies and generations of generations and multitudes of multitudes, of foot soldiers and cavalry, he had so many that that whole world was covered by them.

4. Then at his command, that of Murad Bey, and by the call of the master of the Turks, they make one palisade. But this one surpassed many very large ones; for it extended from one end of the city, the Golden Gate, to the other end, the Wooden Gate. And the palisade was near the fortress as far as a bowshot, and no more. And it was all solid and very well fortified with very large timbers and thick planks. And they placed wickerwork from branches in front of the palisade, so that they might receive the arrows of the bows and of the crossbows of the Romans, and the stones of the bombards. And behind this he decreed that soldiers should stand from all the nations of this army, daring and brave, on the one hand, as was the custom, to guard the palisade, on the other hand, that they might be protected by it, and also that they might fight from behind it with both crossbows and bows and the great and small countless instruments which they brought for this purpose.

5. But those very large instruments, on which they had hopes that through them they would break down the walls of the city and from this take the city captive, they positioned carefully in a place where there was not a ditch like the other ditches, but it was ruined, and long filled with earth, and opposite this a tower was found by chance to be very dilapidated and split from top to bottom. And the Turks expecting that the stones of the largest bombards would break down that dilapidated tower, and since the place has no ditch to hinder the Turks, they would reach the outer fortress without hindrance, and from the breach they would drive out the Romans, and they would enslave the city. But in the end the expectation of the impious came to nothing, since seventy shots of that very large instrument struck that dilapidated tower, and this caused no harm to the Romans, nor any benefit to the Turks. For the place and ditch and tower were near Saint Kyriake, between Saint Romanos and the Charisios Gate, and nearer than these to the river called Lykos. And this much concerning the uselessness of the bombards.

6. But concerning the other warlike constructions, of all those various kinds prepared against the city for its siege, and the annihilation of the Romans, who then will narrate? but out of the many, I will now narrate a few. Very large wooden towers with many iron-bound wheels they then made, as high as the towers of the city; rather, they even surpassed them. And they had numberless pairs of oxen and buffaloes at the ready, in order to drag the towers with ropes and bring them near the ditch and from them fight against and destroy the outer fortress. But they also made falconets and tortoises and "bear-wagons" and many other wooden and most ingenious works, and they constructed helepoleis and mechanical arms with small wheels, and they made large and medium-sized covered sheds beyond number, and opposite the gates of the city they fashioned great monsters, they made immense wooden fortresses with iron-bound wheels, so that those who saw them and did not know of the fortresses

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ἐπηρμένος, ὑπέρογκος καὶ γαυριώμενος καὶ τὴν ὀφρὺν εἰς οὐρανὸν αἴρων, καὶ ὑψηλὸς παρὰ πάντας ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι, καὶ ὑπελάμβανε παρ' αὑτοῦ διοικεῖσθαι τὰ πάντα, καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοῦ ἄγεται ἅπας ὁ κόσμος. Ἀλλὰ καὶ πάμπολλα ἄγων μηχανικώτατα καὶ μαχιμώτατα ἔργα, προσδοκῶν δι' αὐτῶν μέρος τοῦ τοίχου χαλάσαι τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου ταύτην κατακρατῆσαι καὶ τοὺς Ῥωμαίους αἰχμαλωτίσαι καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ ὄνομα ἀποσβέσαι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ στρατιὰς στρατιῶν καὶ γενεὰς γενεῶν καὶ πλήθη πληθῶν, πεζῶν καὶ ἱππέων, ἔσχε τοσοῦτον ὥστε ἅπας ὁ κόσμος ἐκεῖνος ἐσκέπετο ὑπ' ἐκείνων.

4. Τότε δὲ αὐτοῦ τῇ κελεύσει τοῦ Μουρὰτ Πείς, τῇ κλήσει τε τοῦ δεσπότου τῶν Τούρκων, ποιοῦνται παστίαν μίαν. Ἀλλ' αὕτη ἡ μία πολλὰς ὑπερέβην μεγίστους· καὶ γὰρ ἀπὸ τὸ ἓν ἄκρον τῆς πόλεως τῆς Χρυσίας ἕως τὸ ἕτερον ἄκρον τῆς Ξυλοπόρτης ἐκράτει. Καὶ ἦν δὲ ἡ παστία πλησίον τοῦ κάστρου ὅσον τόξου βολήν, καὶ οὐ πλέον. Καὶ ἦν δὲ πᾶσα στερεὰ καὶ ὀχυρωτάτη ἀπὸ ξύλων μεγίστων καὶ χονδρῶν σανίδων. Καὶ πλοκοτὰς ἀπὸ βέργας ἔθηκαν ἔμπροσθεν τῆς παστίας, ἵνα δέχωνται τὰς σαγίττας τῶν τόξων καὶ τῶν τζαγρῶν τῶν Ῥωμαίων, καὶ τῶν βουμπάρδων τὰς πέτρας. Ὄπισθεν δὲ ταύτης ἐθέσπισεν ἵνα ἵστανται στρατιῶται ἐκ πασῶν γενεῶν τοῦ στρατεύματος τούτου τολμηροὶ καὶ ἀνδρεῖοι, τὸ μέν, ὡς τὸ ἔθος, εἰς προσοχὴν τῆς παστίας, τὸ δὲ ἵνα φυλάσσονται δι' ἐκείνης, οἱ δὲ ἵνα μάχονται ἐξ ἐκείνης ὄπισθεν μετὰ τζαγρῶν τε καὶ τόξων καὶ τῶν σκευῶν τῶν μεγάλων καὶ τῶν μικρῶν τῶν ἀπείρων ὧν ἔφερον διὰ τούτου.

5. Τὰς δὲ σκευὰς τὰς μεγίστους ἐκείνας, ὁποίας εἶχον τὰς ἐλπίδας ὅτι δι' ἐκείνας τὰ τείχη τῆς πόλεως θέλουν χαλάσειν καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου τὴν πόλιν αἰχμαλωτίσαι, ἔστησαν περιέργως εἰς τόπον ἐν ᾧ σοῦδαν οὐκ εἶχεν ὁμοίαν σουδῶν τῶν ἑτέρων, ἀλλὰ κεχαλασμένη ὑπῆρχεν, καὶ ἔκπαλαι γέμουσαν χῶμαν, καὶ ἄντικρυς ταύτης πύργος εὑρέθην ἐκ συμβάσματος λίαν σεσαθρωμένος καὶ ἐσκισμένος ἀπὸ ἄνωθεν ἕως κάτω. Καὶ προσδοκῶντες οἱ Τοῦρκοι ὅτι τῶν μεγίστων βουμπάρδων αἱ πέτραι τὸν σεσαθρωμένον πύργον ἐκεῖνον θέλουν χαλάσειν, καὶ ἐπεὶ ὁ τόπος σοῦδαν οὐκ ἔχει τοὺς Τούρκους νὰ ἐμποδίσῃ, ἀκωλύτως εἰς τὸ ἔξω κάστρον θέλουσι φθάσειν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ χαλάσματος τοὺς Ῥωμαίους θέλουν διώξειν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν θέλουν δουλώσειν. Πλὴν εἰς κενὸν ἐκατήντησε τέλος ἡ τῶν ἀσεβῶν προσδοκία, ἐπεὶ ἑβδομήκοντα βόλια τῆς σκευῆς τῆς μεγίστης ἐκείνης τὸν σεσαθρωμένον ἐκεῖνον ἔκρουσε πύργον, καὶ οὐδεμίαν βλάβην τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις τοῦτο προὐξένησεν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῖς Τούρκοις ὠφέλειαν. Πλὴν γὰρ ὁ τόπος καὶ σοῦδα καὶ πύργος πλησίον ὑπῆρχεν Κυριακῆς τῆς ἁγίας, μέσον Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ τῆς Χαρσῆς τε τὴν πύλην, καὶ πλησιέστερον τούτων εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν ἐπονομαζόμενον Λύκον. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῶν βουμπάρδων τὴν ἀπραξίαν.

6. Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατασκευῶν τῶν μαχίμων, τῶν παντοίων ἐκείνων τῶν κατὰ τῆς πόλεως εἰργασμένων εἰς πολιορκίαν ἐκείνης, καὶ ἀφανισμὸν τῶν Ῥωμαίων, τίς διηγήσεται ἄρα; πλὴν ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν ὀλίγας διηγήσομαι ἄρτι. Πύργους ξυλίνους μεγίστους μὲ τροχοὺς σιδηροδεσμουμένους πολλοὺς ἐποιήσαντο τότε, ὅσον τὸ ὕψος τῶν πύργων τῆς πόλεως· μᾶλλον καὶ ὑπερεῖχον ἐκείνους. Καὶ ζεύγη βοῶν καὶ βουβαλίων ἀπείρων εἴχασιν ἐξ ἑτοίμου, ἵνα τοὺς πύργους ταυρίσουν μετὰ σχοινίων καὶ πλησίον τῆς σούδας φέρωσιν καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνων τὸ ἔξω κάστρον πολεμήσωσι καὶ ἀφανίσουν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ φαλκούνια ἐποιήσαντο καὶ χελώνας καὶ ἀρκουδάμαξα καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ ξύλινα καὶ μηχανικώτατα ἔργα, καὶ ἑλεπόλεις ἐκατεσκεύασαν καὶ μηχανικὰς ἀγκάλας μὲ τροχοὺς μικρούς, καὶ μεγάλας σκεπαστὰς καὶ μεσέας ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν διεπράξαντο, καὶ κατέναντι τῶν πόρτων τῆς πόλεως τεράστια μεγάλα εἰργάσαντο, κάστρη ξύλινα ὑπερμεγέθη ἐποιήσαντο μὲ τροχοὺς σιδηροδεσμουμένους, ὥστε τοὺς θεωροῦντας ἐκεῖνα καὶ ἀγνοοῦντας τῶν κάστρων