a miraculous interposition in favor of their national pride and
ecclesiastical prejudices.

The besiegers, when they first entered the city, fearing lest they might
encounter serious resistance in the narrow streets, put every soul they
encountered to the sword. But as soon as they were fully aware of the
small number of the garrison, and the impossibility of any further
opposition, they began to make prisoners. At length they reached St.
Sophia's, and, rushing into that magnificent temple, which could with
ease contain twenty thousand persons, they performed deeds of plunder and
violence not unlike the scenes which the crusaders had enacted in the
same spot in 1204. The men, women, and children who had sought safety
in the building were divided among the soldiers as slaves, without any
reference to their rank or respect for their ties of blood, and hurried
off to the camp, or placed under the guard of comrades, who formed a
joint alliance for the security of their plunder. The ecclesiastical
ornaments and church plate were poor indeed when compared with the
immense riches of the Byzantine cathedral in the time of the crusaders;
but whatever was movable was immediately divided among the soldiers with
such celerity that the mighty temple soon presented few traces of having
been a Christian church.

While one division of the victorious army was engaged in plundering the
southern side of the city, from the gate of St. Romanus to the Church
of St. Sophia, another, turning to the port, made itself master of the
warehouses that were filled with merchandise, and surrounded the Greek
troops under the grand duke Notaras. The Greeks were easily subdued,
and Notaras surrendered himself a prisoner. About midday the Turks were
in possession of the whole city, and Mahomet II entered his new capital
at the gate of St. Romanus, riding triumphantly past the body of the