Twelve leagues thence lay the city of Rodosto, on the sea. It was very
strong, and rich, and large, and very well garrisoned by Venetians, And
besides all this, there had come thither a body of sergeants, some two
thousand strong, and they had also come to guard the city. When they
heard that Napoli had been taken by force, and that Johannizza had
caused all the people that were therein to be put to death, they fell
in to such terror that they were utterly confounded and foredone. As
God suffers misadventures to fall upon men, so the Venetians rushed to
their ships, helter-skelter, pell-mell, and in such sort that they
almost drowned one another; and the mounted sergeants, who came from
France and Flanders, and other countries, went flying through the land.
Now listen and hear how little this served them, and what a
misadventure was their flight; for the city was so strong, and so well
enclosed by good walls and good towers, that no one would ever have
ventured to assault it, and that Johannizza had no thought of going
thither. But when Johannizza, who was full half a day’s journey
distant, heard tell that they had fled, he rode thither. The Greeks who
had remained in the city, surrendered, and he incontinently caused them
to be taken, small and great-save those who escaped-and led captive
into Wallachia; and the city he ordered to be destroyed and rased to
the ground. Ah! the loss and damage! for the city was one of the best
in Roumania, and of the best situated.