“Sultan Amurath, having laid siege to Bagdad, and taken it, ordered
thirty thousand Persians to be put to death, though they had
submitted, and laid down their arms. Amongst these unfortunate victims,
was a musician. He besought the officer, who had the command to see the
Sultan’s orders executed, to spare him but for a moment, and permit him
to speak to the Emperor. The officer indulged him, and, being brought
before the Sultan, he was suffered to give a specimen of his art. He
took up a kind of psaltry, which resembles a lyre, and has six strings
on each side, and accompanied it with his voice. He sung the taking of
Bagdad, and the triumph of Amurath. The pathetic tones and exulting
sounds of the instrument, together with the alternate plaintiveness
and boldness of his strains, melted even Amurath; he suffered him to
proceed, till, overpowered with harmony, tears of pity gushed forth,
and he revoked his cruel orders. In consideration of the musician’s
abilities, he not only ordered those of the prisoners, who remained
alive, to be spared, but gave them their liberty.”
_Prince Cantimer’s Account of the Transactions
of the Ottomans._