DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25694#0061
42
MAHOMET THE GREAT.
whose person the Emperor became so enamoured, that he espoused her; and in the vigour of youth,
and plenitude of power, resigned himself to the blandishments of his fair Sultana. His infatuation
continued for several years, during which time the Janissaries, whose turbulent spirits could only
be subjugated by employment, frequently exhibited signs of discontent. These murmurs, at length,
reached the ears of the Emperor, who could not be insensible to the effect which his delusion was
calculated to produce on his subjects. His ambition, after a long and painful struggle, obtained
the ascendancy, and he gave orders that the great Bashaws and Turkish nobility should be convened
within the palace. Into this assembly the Emperor led Irene, who had on that day been adorned in
her most magnificent apparel. When the tumult of acclamation was stilled, which the appearance
of the Empress had excited, the Emperor addressed the Divan on the subject of their discontents;
assuring them, that he was now prepared to give a convincing proof how much they had mistaken his
character, and the objects of his devotion ; since nothing but death should efface the remem-
brance of the glorious achievements of his predecessors. After this address, he seized the fair and
trembling Greek by the hair, and, at the same time, drawing his scymetar, struck off her head, to the
amazement and terror of the whole assembly.
After this dismal tragedy, Mahomet, with a fury proportioned to the sacrifice he had made,
invaded the populous and fertile country of the Morea, which he quickly subdued ; and then
penetrated into Albania and Trebizond, where a shadow of the Greek Empire was preserved by
Commenus, whose memory perished in the capitulation of his empire.
Epirus had now for a series of years exhibited a continued scene of slaughter and desolation.
The Emperor, following the policy of his predecessors, anxiously sought for the possession of that
once fertile country. All his Bashaws had been defeated by Scanderberg, and the Emperor himself
had no better fortune ; at. length, tired out with defeats, he found it convenient to dissemble,
and in the recognition of the independence of his country, the hero of Epirus accomplished all his
wishes. Mahomet afterwards carried the terror of his arms once more into the Morea, which he ren-
dered tributary to the Turkish Empire ; and nothing but an expedition, by which he annihilated
the Persian army, saved the republic of Venice from his vengeance.
In his plan for the conquest of Rhodes, he was unsuccessful, and he retired from the siege of that
island with the loss of ten thousand men, and the greatest part of his fleet. Meditating the subjuga-
tion of Italy, he took Trieste and Otranto, and penetrated into the heart of Calabria, while Venice
and Rome were filled with terror at the report of the progress of his arms. His victorious career
was only arrested by despatches from his son Bajazet, who had received a great overthrow from
the Caramanian King, assisted by the Sultan of Egypt. The Emperor immediately left Italy, and
passing into Asia, halted at a small town in Bithynia, where he was suddenly taken ill, and
died, not without the suspicion of his death having been accelerated by poison, in the fifty-second
year of his age, and thirtieth of his reign.
The character of Mahomet presents us with those dazzling marks of distinction by which a con-
queror secures the applause of posterity ; who forget the faults of the man in their admiration of the
hero His name will be identified to the latest posterity with the conquest of the capital of the
Eastern Empire ; while his other splendid enterprizes entitle him to rank with the greatest com-
manders of the West. His classical acquirements would not have disgraced the schools of Aristotle
or of Plato ; but to the learning of an Athenian, he united the ferocity of a Muscovite; and it is not,
perhaps, unjust to say of Mahomet, that he possessed learning without virtue, and courage without
magnanimity.
The Vignette represents the attack on Constantinople by the Turkish gallies which had been
drawn over land.
MAHOMET THE GREAT.
whose person the Emperor became so enamoured, that he espoused her; and in the vigour of youth,
and plenitude of power, resigned himself to the blandishments of his fair Sultana. His infatuation
continued for several years, during which time the Janissaries, whose turbulent spirits could only
be subjugated by employment, frequently exhibited signs of discontent. These murmurs, at length,
reached the ears of the Emperor, who could not be insensible to the effect which his delusion was
calculated to produce on his subjects. His ambition, after a long and painful struggle, obtained
the ascendancy, and he gave orders that the great Bashaws and Turkish nobility should be convened
within the palace. Into this assembly the Emperor led Irene, who had on that day been adorned in
her most magnificent apparel. When the tumult of acclamation was stilled, which the appearance
of the Empress had excited, the Emperor addressed the Divan on the subject of their discontents;
assuring them, that he was now prepared to give a convincing proof how much they had mistaken his
character, and the objects of his devotion ; since nothing but death should efface the remem-
brance of the glorious achievements of his predecessors. After this address, he seized the fair and
trembling Greek by the hair, and, at the same time, drawing his scymetar, struck off her head, to the
amazement and terror of the whole assembly.
After this dismal tragedy, Mahomet, with a fury proportioned to the sacrifice he had made,
invaded the populous and fertile country of the Morea, which he quickly subdued ; and then
penetrated into Albania and Trebizond, where a shadow of the Greek Empire was preserved by
Commenus, whose memory perished in the capitulation of his empire.
Epirus had now for a series of years exhibited a continued scene of slaughter and desolation.
The Emperor, following the policy of his predecessors, anxiously sought for the possession of that
once fertile country. All his Bashaws had been defeated by Scanderberg, and the Emperor himself
had no better fortune ; at. length, tired out with defeats, he found it convenient to dissemble,
and in the recognition of the independence of his country, the hero of Epirus accomplished all his
wishes. Mahomet afterwards carried the terror of his arms once more into the Morea, which he ren-
dered tributary to the Turkish Empire ; and nothing but an expedition, by which he annihilated
the Persian army, saved the republic of Venice from his vengeance.
In his plan for the conquest of Rhodes, he was unsuccessful, and he retired from the siege of that
island with the loss of ten thousand men, and the greatest part of his fleet. Meditating the subjuga-
tion of Italy, he took Trieste and Otranto, and penetrated into the heart of Calabria, while Venice
and Rome were filled with terror at the report of the progress of his arms. His victorious career
was only arrested by despatches from his son Bajazet, who had received a great overthrow from
the Caramanian King, assisted by the Sultan of Egypt. The Emperor immediately left Italy, and
passing into Asia, halted at a small town in Bithynia, where he was suddenly taken ill, and
died, not without the suspicion of his death having been accelerated by poison, in the fifty-second
year of his age, and thirtieth of his reign.
The character of Mahomet presents us with those dazzling marks of distinction by which a con-
queror secures the applause of posterity ; who forget the faults of the man in their admiration of the
hero His name will be identified to the latest posterity with the conquest of the capital of the
Eastern Empire ; while his other splendid enterprizes entitle him to rank with the greatest com-
manders of the West. His classical acquirements would not have disgraced the schools of Aristotle
or of Plato ; but to the learning of an Athenian, he united the ferocity of a Muscovite; and it is not,
perhaps, unjust to say of Mahomet, that he possessed learning without virtue, and courage without
magnanimity.
The Vignette represents the attack on Constantinople by the Turkish gallies which had been
drawn over land.