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15 [When these things had so transpired and whatever else one might logically surmise from them, and when the Turks had gathered all the booty in their tents, the general of the West again entered this city, so that they might inspect it more carefully and that nothing hidden anywhere might escape their notice, at which time indeed all the things of the city had been utterly destroyed and overturned and nothing, neither a holy church nor a monastery nor even the meanest of houses, was left unshaken. The reason was that those of the citizens who possessed wealth which had not been spent during the long siege, having heard of the enemies' attack and fearing what they had suffered, had deposited it, some in holy churches, others in tombs, and others in whatever places they could, so that if they should happen to die as expected, some of those who came after, having found it, as happens, might contend for their souls, but if they should escape death, they might both find it and use it for their freedom. But they were cheated of their hope. For upon being captured, we were shown to be superior to being unjustly killed, God having shown his own mercy, except for a few, and those, as we have previously recounted, but they did not succeed in using what they had for their ransom. For the Turks, being clever and most resourceful in many contrivances due to their great experience in these matters, approaching whom of the citizens they had made captives, and especially the women because of their being easily deceived, with words possessing much persuasiveness, promised them complete freedom, if they would reveal to them money, both their own and others'. And they, deceived by the very name of freedom, each one straightway made it a matter of urgency to reveal to her own master both her own things and her neighbor's, if she had any knowledge about them. When this evil had its beginning and many of the Turks found money, with the women revealing the places where these things were hidden, word of this went through the whole army, and all who held human captives were stirred to a like zeal, some with promises tinged with deceit, others with similarly different words, exhorting and cheating them into revealing their own money. And as many as they saw to be more disobedient than the others (for many of the more prudent hoped to yield to their flattery and their many deceitful words, and thus keep their hidden things safe) upon these they inflicted certain manifold tortures, until they drove them also to necessity and broke their resistance. Wherefore also many of the notables, some being seduced by flatteries, others not enduring the tortures, were zealous to reveal their hidden things, even unwillingly. For nature knows how to yield readily to every necessity, and especially when death is the prospect. This became the reason for the demolition of the holy churches and monasteries. For since some, because it was unsuspected, had deposited money in holy churches, and these things in the very sanctuaries under the most holy altars, and since necessity was upon them, made these things known to their tormentors, the Turks undertook to destroy their beauty and the divine altars, upon which the mystical and living and saving sacrifice for the whole world was performed, in their desire for money to overturn them with haste and, alas!, make them a thing to be trampled by whomever wished; for they supposed that money lay under every stone and for this reason they made all things desolate. This same outrageous destruction also happened to the holy icons, and some they gave to the fire, as if punishing us for our veneration of them, while others, O the forbearance of God, they used shamelessly in the middle of the marketplace for receiving their purchases, and some they perhaps even kept, as many as were more eager than others to acquire money, and sold them for silver.]

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15 [Τούτων οὕτω κεχωρηκότων καὶ ὅσα ἄν τις ἐκ τούτων ἀκολούθως εἰκάσειεν ἕτερα καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν λείαν ἐν ταῖς σκηναῖς συναγηοχότων τῶν Τούρκων, ὁ τῆς ∆ύσεως στρατηγὸς καὶ αὖθις τὴν πόλιν εἰσέδυ ταύτην, ἵν' ἀκριβέστερον κατοπτεύσωσι καὶ μηδὲν αὐτοὺς λάθῃ κρυπτόμενον ὁπουδήποτε, ὅτε δὴ καὶ τὰ τῆς πόλεως ἄρδην ἅπαντα ἠφάνιστό τε καὶ ἀνατέτραπτο καὶ οὐδέν, οὔτε ναὸς ἱερὸς οὔτε μονὴ οὔτ' οἰκία καὶ τῶν φαυλοτέρων αὐτῶν ἀσάλευτος καταλέλειπτο. Τὸ δ' αἴτιον, ὅτι τῶν πολιτῶν, ὅσοι περιουσίαν ἐκέκτηντο τῷ μακρῷ συγκλεισμῷ μὴ δαπανηθεῖσαν, τὴν ἔφοδον τῶν πολεμίων ἀκηκοότες, ὃ πεπόνθεσαν δεδιότες, οἱ μὲν ναοῖς ἱεροῖς, οἱ δὲ μνήμασιν, ἕτεροι δὲ οἷς ἐδύναντο τόποις ἐναπέθεντο ταύτην, εἰ μὲν αὐτοῖς θανεῖν γένοιτο κατὰ τὴν προσδοκίαν, τῶν ἔπειτα ταύτην ἵνα τινὲς εὑρηκότες, οἷα συμβαίνει, τῆς ἐκείνων ψυχῆς ὑπεραγωνίσωνται, εἰ δὲ τὸν θάνατον ἀποφύγοιεν, εὕρωσί τε καὶ χρήσωνται πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν. Οἱ δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐψεύσθησαν. Ἁλόντες γὰρ τοῦ μὲν ἀδίκως τεθνάναι, θεοῦ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἔλεον ἐπιδειξαμένου, πλὴν ἐνίων, κἀκείνων, οἷον προδιειλήφειμεν, ἀνώτεροι διεδείχθημεν, τοῦ δὲ τοῖς προσοῦσι χρήσασθαι πρὸς ἀνάρρυσιν οὐκ ἐπέτυχον. ∆εινοὶ γὰρ ὄντες οἱ Τοῦρκοι καὶ πρὸς ἐπινοίας πολλὰς εὐπορώτατοι τῇ περὶ τὰ πράγματα τούτων πολυπειρίᾳ, οὓς τῶν πολιτῶν ἐποίησαν αἰχμαλώτους καὶ μάλιστα τὰς γυναῖκας διὰ τὸ τούτων εὐεξαπάτητον, λόγοις ὑπελθόντες πολὺ τὸ ἐπαγωγὸν κεκτημένοις, ἐλευθερίαν αὐταῖς ὑπισχνοῦντο τελείαν, εἰ χρήματα τούτοις γνωρίσειαν οἰκεῖά τε καὶ ἀλλότρια. Αἱ δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸ τοὔνομα τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀπατηθεῖσαι, γνωρίζειν εὐθὺς ἑκάστη τῷ ἰδίῳ δεσπότῃ σπουδῆς ἔργον πεποίητο καὶ τὰ ἑαυτῆς καὶ τοῦ γείτονος, εἴ τινα περὶ τούτων εἴδησιν εἶχεν. Ὡς δ' ἀρχὴ τοῦδε γέγονε τοῦ κακοῦ καὶ χρήματα πολλοὶ τῶν Τούρκων ἀνεῦρον, γνωριζουσῶν τοὺς ταῦτα κρύπτοντας τόπους τῶν γυναικῶν, λόγος γίνεται περὶ τούτου διὰ παντὸς τοῦ στρατεύματος καὶ πάντες οἱ κατασχόντες αἰχμαλώτους ἀνθρώπους πρὸς τὸν ὅμοιον διανίστανται ζῆλον, τοὺς μὲν ὑποσχέσεσι περικεχρωσμέναις ἀπάτῃ, τοὺς δὲ λόγοις ὁμοίως ἑτέροις ἐπὶ φανερώσει τῶν ἰδίων παρακαλοῦντες χρημάτων καὶ φενακίζοντες. Ὅσους δὲ δυσπειθεστέρους τῶν ἄλλων ἑώρων (ἤλπιζον γὰρ τῶν νουνεχεστέρων πολλοὶ τῆς θωπείας αὐτοὺς ὑπενδοῦναι καὶ τῶν πολλῶν ἐκείνων ἀπατηλῶν λόγων, κἀντεῦθεν τὰ κεκρυμμένα διατηρῆσαι) τούτοις πολυειδεῖς τινας τιμωρίας ἐπῆγον, ἕως καὶ τούτοις εἰς ἀνάγκην ἐνέβαλον καὶ τὴν ἔνστασιν ἔλυσαν. Ὅθεν καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν δοκούντων, οἱ μὲν ταῖς θωπείας καθυπαχθέντες, οἱ δὲ τὰς τιμωρίας οὐκ ἐνεγκόντες, φανεροῦν τὰ κεκρυμμένα σπουδάζοντες ἦσαν καὶ ἄκοντες. Πρὸς γὰρ πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην, καὶ μάλισθ' ὅταν θάνατος ᾖ τὸ προκείμενον, εὐχερῶς οἶδεν ὑποπίπτειν ἡ φύσις. Τοῦτο τῆς τῶν ἱερῶν ναῶν καὶ μονῶν κατασκαφῆς αἴτιον γέγονεν. Ἐνίων γὰρ διὰ τὸ ἀνύποπτον ἱεροῖς ἐναποθεμένων ναοῖς χρήματα καὶ ταῦτ' ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀδύτοις ὑπ' αὐτὰς τὰς ἱερωτάτας τραπέζας καὶ τῆς ἀνάγκης ἐφεστηκυίας γνώριμα ταῦτα τοῖς τιμωροῦσι θεμένων, ἀφανίζειν τὸ κάλλος αὐτῶν ἐπεχείρουν οἱ Τοῦρκοι καὶ τὰς θείας τραπέζας, ἐφ' αἷς ἡ μυστικὴ καὶ ζῶσα καὶ σωστικὴ παντὸς ἐπετελεῖτο τοῦ κόσμου θυσία, τῇ τῶν χρημάτων ἐπιθυμία κατὰ σπουδὴν ἀνατρέπειν καὶ καταπάτημα φεῦ! τοῖς βουλομένοις τιθέναι· ὑπέλαβον γὰρ ὑπὸ παντὶ λίθῳ χρήματα κεῖσθαι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πάντ' ἀνάστατα πεποιήκεσαν. Αὕτη κἀπὶ τῶν ἱερῶν εἰκόνων συμβέβηκεν ἐν ὕβρει διαφθορὰ καὶ τὰς μὲν πυρὶ παρέσχον, οἷον ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν τούτων προσκύνησιν ζημιοῦντες, ταῖς δ' εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τῶν ὠνίων, ὢ θεοῦ ἀνοχῆς, ἐπὶ μέσης τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἀναίδην ἐχρήσαντο, τινὰς δὲ καὶ διετήρησαν ἴσως, ὅσοι τῶν ἄλλων εἰς κτῆσιν χρημάτων θερμότεροι καὶ ἀργυρίου ταύτας ἀπέδοντο.]