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the wars, for their uselessness both greatly astonished and greatly dismayed.

7. But others were digging the earth from behind the palisade, and they went down to a great depth, so that from below, from the lower part of the trench, they might cross unseen during the night while the Romans were standing and fighting above, and reach the walls of the main and greatest fortress of the city, and cut this secretly from everyone, and prop it up according to the custom of warriors, then light a fire to the timbers of the props, in order to burn down the wooden structure supporting the fortress, and suddenly the walls of the city will fall, and at once the Turkish troops will boldly charge against the Romans and from the breach drive them out and capture the city. Others were searching for the aqueducts which long ago brought water to the cisterns of the city, so that they might find one of them, and, unbeknownst to the Romans, get inside the city through the aqueduct by night, and unexpectedly capture and take it captive.

8. Moreover, the lord of the Turks sent out heralds everywhere, and they proclaimed thus, and said under oath that the emir was giving over to the Muslims for plunder and booty both the wealth of the city and all its people, and you will get the profit. These things he said, but with such a stratagem so that all the armies of the Muslims might be gathered, which is what then happened. For when the rumor spread among the nations of the Muslims that the city was given over to plunder and captivity, from almost every land and race of Muslims they arrived for the profit, not only those skilled in raiding and wars, but also the unskilled and civilians, that is, merchants, money-changers, perfumers, and shoemakers, but also many Turkish monks. For such a reason they all gathered, the soldiers for the booty, and the civilians to buy the spoils, that is, the captives, some the women, others the men, others the infants, and others the animals, and others the goods, and the Turkish monks to have our nuns as profit and a boon of booty from the lord of the Turks. Therefore, for this expectation, countless multitudes of Muslims gathered from every land, so that all who beheld the fullness of the army marveled.

9. Then indeed they also gathered such an innumerable quantity of arrows that at first we disbelieved the rumor of the report until the hour of the battle. And the collection of these happened thus. Every house of every person found in the dominion of the Turks, of all the east and west, each gave of these from ten to twenty bow arrows. But they shot even more of these at the hour of the battle, such as the armory of the Turk and the quivers of the army had. He also had with him then, bound in iron, the envoys of the emperor, whom he himself had rather requested that he send concerning peace and friendship. But he, as a cruel and inhuman barbarian, condemned them to irons and imprisonment, and threatened the innocent as if they were guilty with death, putting forward a pretext, forsooth, but a flimsy one; for he said: “Because the Romans met me shamelessly, for this reason I have condemned them to prison.”

10. But also then one of the Muslims was high and great and feared among them, as one who was descended from the line and race of Muhammad. They honored him as a patriarch, and they venerated him as a prophet, and they revered him as Muhammad himself. So great and such a person was he then that the daughter of the emir and lord of the Muslims, a virgin

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τοὺς πολέμους, καὶ τὸ ἀχρησίμευτον γὰρ ἐκείνων καὶ λίαν ἐξέπληξε καὶ μέγα ἐθρόησεν.

7. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν γῆν ἄλλοι ἔσκαπτον ἐκ τῆς παστίας ὄπισθεν, καὶ εἰς βάθος πολὺ ἐκατέβησαν, ὡς ἵνα κάτωθεν ἀπὸ τὴν κάτω ὄψιν τῆς σούδας περάσωσιν ἀθεώρητοι τὴν νύκτα ἄνω ἱσταμένων Ῥωμαίων καὶ μαχομένων, καὶ φθάσωσιν εἰς τὰ τείχη τοῦ καθολικοῦ καὶ μεγίστου κάστρου τῆς πόλεως, καὶ κόψωσι τοῦτο λα θραίως πάντων, καὶ πουντελειάσωσιν κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῶν πολεμούντων, εἶτα πῦρ εἰς τὰ ξύλα τῶν πουντελείων ἀνάψωσιν, ὅπως τὴν ξυλίνην κατασκευὴν τὴν κρατοῦσαν τὸ κάστρον καταφλέξωσιν, καὶ ἄφνω πεσοῦνται τὰ τείχη τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἅμα εὐθὺς τῶν Τούρκων τὰ στρατεύματα θρασέως κατὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίων εἰσβάλλουσιν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ χαλάσματος ἐκείνους διώξουσιν καὶ τὴν πόλιν κρατήσουσιν. Ἄλλοι τοὺς ἀγωγοὺς ἀνεγύρευον τοὺς ἔκπαλαι τὸ νερὸν εἰς τὰς στέρνας τῆς πόλεως ἔφερον, ὅπως τινὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπιτύχωσιν, καὶ λαθραίως τῶν Ῥωμαίων διὰ τοῦ ἀγωγοῦ ἐντὸς γενήσονται τῆς πόλεως νυκτός, καὶ ἀπαραπροσδοκήτως ταύτην κρατήσουσι καὶ αἰχμαλωτίσουσιν.

8. Πλὴν καὶ κήρυκας ἐξαπέστειλε πανταχόθεν ὁ δεσπότης τῶν Τούρκων, καὶ ἐδιελάλησαν οὕτως, καὶ εἶπον ἐνόρκως ὅτι τῆς πόλεώς τε τὸν πλοῦτον καὶ τὸν λαὸν ἅπαντα ὁ ἀμηρᾶς εἰς διαγουμὰν παραδίδη καὶ κοῦρσος τοῖς Μουσουλμάνοις, καὶ φθάσετε εἰς τὸ κέρδος. Ταῦτα μὲν εἶπε, μετὰ τεχνάσματος δὲ τοιούτου ὅπως νὰ συναχθῶσι τὰ στρατεύματα πάντα τῶν Μουσουλμάνων, ὁποῖον καὶ ἐγένετο τότε. Ὡς γὰρ ἐξεχύθη ἡ φήμη εἰς τὰ ἔθνη τῶν Μουσουλμάνων πῶς ἐπαραδόθην ἡ πόλις εἰς διαγουμὰν καὶ αἰχμαλωσίαν, σχεδὸν ἐκ πάσης γῆς καὶ γενεᾶς Μουσουλμάνων ἔφθασαν πρὸς τὸ κέρδος μὴ μόνον οἱ ἐπιστήμονες εἰς τὰ κούρση καὶ τοὺς πολέμους, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἀνεπιστήμονες καὶ σαρλίδες, τουτέστι πραγματεῦται, καταλλάκται, μυροψοὶ καὶ τζαγκάροι, ἀλλὰ καὶ Τούρκων πολλοὶ καλογέροι. Ὑπὲρ αἰτίας τοιαύτης ἐσυνήχθησαν πάντες, οἱ μὲν στρατιῶται διὰ τὸ κοῦρσος, οἱ δὲ σαρλίδες ἵνα ἀγοράσουν τὰ κουρσιμαῖα, ἤγουν τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους, καὶ οἱ μὲν τὰς γυναῖκας, ἄλλοι τοὺς ἄνδρας, ἄλλοι τὰ βρέφη, καὶ ἄλλοι τὰ ζῶα, καὶ ἄλλοι τὰ πράγματα, οἱ δὲ Τουρκοκαλογέροι τὰς καλογραίας ἡμῶν κέρδος καὶ κοῦρσος εὐεργεσίαν νὰ ἔχουν παρὰ τοῦ δεσπότου τῶν Τούρκων. ∆ιὰ γοῦν τὴν προσδοκίαν ταύτην ἐσυνάχθησαν ἐκ πάσης τῆς γῆς Μουσουλμάνων ἀναρίθμητα πλήθη, ὥστε ἐκατεθαύμαζον πάντες οἱ θεωροῦντες τὴν πλησμονὴν τοῦ φωσάτου.

9. Τότε δὴ καὶ σαγίττας συνῆξαν τοσοῦτον ἀναρίθμητον πλῆθος ὥστε ἐδυσπιστοῦμεν τὸ πρῶτον τὴν φήμην τοῦ λόγου ἕως τοῦ πολέμου τὴν ὥραν. Ἡ δὲ συναγωγὴ τούτων ἐγένετο οὕτως. Πᾶσα οἰκία παντὸς ἀνθρώπου τοῦ εὑρισκομένου εἰς τὴν δεσποτείαν τῶν Τούρκων ἀνατολῆς καὶ δύσεως πάσης δέδωκε τούτων ἑκάστη ἀπὸ δέκα ἕως εἴκοσι σαγίττας τῶν τόξων. Ἀλλὰ καὶ πλείονας τούτων ἐδόξευσαν τοῦ πολέμου τὴν ὥραν, ὁποίας τὸ ἁρματοφυλάκιον εἶχε τοῦ Τούρκου καὶ τὰ ταρφάσια τοῦ φωσάτου. Εἶχε καὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ τότε σιδηροδεσμουμένους τοὺς ἀποκρισιαρίους τοῦ βασιλέως, ὁποίους αὐτὸς ᾐτήσατο μᾶλλον ἵνα πέμψῃ περὶ εἰρήνης τε καὶ ἀγάπης. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὡς βάρβαρος ὠμὸς καὶ ἀπάνθρωπος σίδηρα καὶ φυλακὰς αὐτοὺς κατεδίκασε, καὶ τοὺς ἀναιτίους ὡς ὑπαιτίους ἠπείλει εἰς θάνατον, προβαλλόμενος δὲ τάχα καὶ αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ ψυχράν· ἔλεγε γάρ· «∆ιότι με οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι ἀναισχύντως συνέτυχον, διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοὺς εἰς φυλακὴν κατεδίκασα».

10. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τότε τις τῶν Μουσουλμάνων ὑψηλός τε καὶ μέγας καὶ φοβερὸς παρ' ἐκείνοις, ὡς ὅτι ἐκ σειρᾶς τε καὶ γένους τοῦ Μουχουμὲτ κατήγετο. Τοῦτον καὶ ὡς πατριάρχην αὐτὸν ἐτιμοῦσαν, καὶ ὡς προφήτην αὐτὸν προσεκύνουν, καὶ ἐσέβοντο τοῦτον ὡς αὐτὸν τὸν Μωάμεθ. Τοσοῦτον καὶ τοιοῦτος μέγιστος ἦν οὖν ἐκεῖνος ὅτι τὴν θυγατέραν τοῦ ἀμηρᾶ καὶ δεσπότου τῶν Μουσουλμάνων παρθένον