_The Walls_
The history of Constantinople--it is proclaimed at every epoch in her
life--has ever its two abiding interests, the Church and the military
spirit. The one is represented for all time in S. Sophia. The other
finds its memorial in the walls.
For centuries, whose heroic story we have so baldly told, the city of
the Cæsars preserved for Europe the justice of Rome, the learning of
Greece. She taught to the barbarians the meaning of _civilitas_, she
led many of the nations into the truest brotherhood of the Catholic
Church. And all through she was fighting a war which never ceased,
often driven back upon her own defences, but again and again issuing
forth a conqueror. By her age-long resistance Constantinople saved
Europe from a new barbarian deluge, from a second Dark Age. And
Constantinople herself was saved by her walls. There is no historic
monument in Europe which has a memory more glorious or more heroic.
To the student of history there is nothing of all he sees in the
"Queen of Cities" that is so full of perpetual and varied interest.
The whole story of Constantinople might be told in commentary on the
great walls that once protected her from the foe. Here it shall only
be pointed how two or three days may be spent--or two or three hours
if it must be so--in learning something of these magnificent ruins
which have so great a history written on their face. The writer has
spent many happy hours in tracing them at every point. Within a few
days of his last visit the knowledge, such as it was, which he had
gained, was a hundredfold increased by the superb work of devotion and
research in which Professor van Millingen has summed up the studies of
many years, which will be, once for all, the classical authority on
the walls and adjoining sites of Byzantine Constantinople. It has
often already been referred to in these pages. Here let it be said
that every word that is written on the walls is revised in the light
of what Professor van Millingen has published, and that no one who
wishes seriously to study the history of the fortifications, or indeed
of the city itself, can now do so with any success without the help of
this almost faultless book.
The simplest method for the traveller is probably first to take the
less interesting and more ruinous walls on the Golden Horn and the Sea
of Marmora--which indeed will probably only be visited in detail by
those who have a special historical interest, and then to turn to the
Land walls, which no one ever visits the city without seeing at least
in superficial view.
[Illustration: KADIKEUI (CHALCEDON), FROM SERAGLIO POINT]
Constantinople, though it has ceased to be the capital city of a
maritime power, has never lost the advantages of its unique maritime
position. The sea, with its currents and its storms, has always been
its first natural protector. Only once has the city been captured
from the sea. But this has not meant that defence was necessary only
for the landward approach. Byzantium had its sea-walls: they were
enlarged by Constantine, and in 439 Theodosius II. completed them by
carrying them on to meet the land-walls, which ended then at
Blachernae northwards and by the Golden Gate on the south. During the
middle ages they constantly needed repair, notably after the arctic
winter of 763-4, when huge ice-floes thronged the Bosphorus and the
Golden Horn, and even broke over the wall at the point of the
Acropolis (Seraglio point). In the ninth century again Theophilus made
a thorough restoration, which is recorded in many inscriptions still
to be seen on the wall by the Dierman Kapoussi at the foot of the
Seraglio gardens. Among later restorations are those of Leo the Wise
and his brother Alexander: a tower, near Koum Kapoussi, bears the
inscription:
+ ΠΥΡΓΟΣ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ Κ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ +
and it is here, it has been suggested, that the Cretans held out in
1453 till Mohammed gave them special terms and allowed them to depart
with all the honours of war. Michael Palæologus, after the recovery of
the city from the Latins, began an inner sea-wall, but no traces of
it, Professor van Millingen says, have survived. In 1351 again all the
seaward walls were repaired, and all the houses that had been built
between them and the sea were destroyed. It appears that the strip of
ground originally outside the walls was smaller than at present,
considerable silting having taken place during the last five
centuries. The Venetian fleet in 1203 drew near enough to the walls to
throw a flying bridge from the ships to the ramparts.
The last gate of the land walls is the Xylo-porta. The first on the
Golden Horn is Aivan-Serai. Near it is a landing-stage, at which the
Emperors used formally to be received by the Senate when they came by
water to Blachernae. Close to this gate are the churches of S. Thekla
and SS. Peter and Mark, and the church (on an ancient site) of S.
Demetrius. From an archway near the next gate comes the splendid
_Nike_ now in the museum. The walls here are now some way from the
Golden Horn, generally at the opposite side of the narrow street, and
can be seen only in fragments, sometimes set into a house, or in a
garden. Balat Kapoussi, gate of the Kynegos (Hunter), protected a
harbour: the name is thought to be connected with the imperial
hunting. The other gates going eastwards that are of interest are the
Porta Phani, the gate of Phanar, where was once a lighthouse, now the
nearest entrance to the patriarchal church and to the little church
of the Mouchliotissa; Petri Kapoussi, the gate of the Petrion, near
the famous convent where so many imperial ladies ended their days, and
where the Venetians cast their bridges on to the walls in 1203,
recovering the city for Isaac Angelus, and in 1204, capturing it for
the Latins. The desperate Turkish attack on this point in 1453 was
repulsed; Aya Kapoussi, the gate of S. Theodosia, comes next. After
the inner bridge are the old Venetian quarter and the great timber
yards. By the outer bridge is the Baluk Bazâr Kapoussi, the gate of
the fish market, where now as in the fifteenth century the fish market
is held. It was the Gate of the Perama (the old ferry was across here,
where is now the bridge) and it was also called Porta Hebraica, for
the Jews early settled there, and held their property till they were
dispossessed to build the Yeni Valideh Djamissi. Beyond it were the
settlements of the merchants of Pisa and Amalfi. Beyond it again is
the Bagtché Kapoussi, the Πόρτα τοῦ Νεωρίου, the harbour in which the
imperial fleet was moored when it came in for repairs. From here
eastwards was the home of the first Genoese colony, and by it is the
pier at which a new Grand Vizier lands in state when he first comes to
take possession of the office of his department. Further still (after
the Porta Veteris Rectoris) is the Yali Kiosk Kapoussi, at the point
where the walls which now separate the Seraglio from the rest of the
city join the ancient fortifications. It was the Porta Eugenii, and
from it the chain was stretched across to Galata. Here the brides of
the Emperors landed when they came by sea, and were "invested with the
imperial buskins and other insignia of their rank."
From this point there is difficulty for the student to trace the
course of the walls. Part can be identified at the beginning of the
Seraglio enclosure; but part cannot be seen at all except from the
sea. Approach is forbidden by the harsh "Yasak, Yasak" of the
sentries. The walls from the Acropolis, now Seraglio point, to the
marble tower at the end of the Land walls, had 188 towers, and were
above five miles in length. Unlike those on the Golden Horn they were
built close to the sea, and the line of their course "was extremely
irregular, turning in and out with every bend of the shore, to present
always as short and sharp a front as possible to the waves that dashed
against them." At least thirteen gates are known. The first is the
Cannon gate, Top Kapoussi, "a short distance to the south of the apex
of the promontory," called by the Greeks the gate of S. Barbara, from
the church which stood near it. Close to it was the Mangana, or
arsenal of the city. The next gate is Deirmen Kapoussi (gate of the
mill), of which the Greek name is unknown. It was near here that the
great ice-floes broke over the wall; and a number of inscriptions
westwards from this point mark the restorations of Theophilus. Near it
"a hollow now occupied by market gardens indicates the site of the
Kynegion, the amphitheatre erected by Severus when he restored
Byzantium," where in later times Justinian II. set his feet on
Leontius and Apsimarus (see above, p. 55).
The next gate is the Demir Kapoussi, with a small opening through
which it is said that the Sultanas sewn in sacks were thrown, and near
it large chambers possibly used as prisons. A little further on there
are arched buttresses through which water used to be brought from the
holy spring of the ancient Church of S. Saviour, and on which was
built the famous Indjili Kiosk, from which the Sultans would view the
splendid panorama of hill and sea which stretches before it. Here,
too, was the palace of Mangana, and not far off the atrium of
Justinian mentioned by Procopius, where stood the splendid statue of
Theodora. Further south was the Church of the Theotokos Hodegetria,
where originally the icon of the B. V. M. attributed to S. Luke (see
p. 263) was kept. The place of the small gate named after the church
is shown by two slabs, built into the inner side of the gateway now
walled up, bearing the inscription "Open me the gates of righteousness
that I may go in and praise the Lord." It was through this gate that
John VI. Palæologus entered in 1355, having tricked the guards by
pretending that his ships were wrecked. Beyond Ahour Kapoussi is the
ruined wall of the palace of Hormisdas, where once was the Bucoleon,
and then comes the small bay which formed the imperial port of the
Bucoleon. A little further one sees clearly the Church of SS. Sergius
and Bacchus above the ruined wall, and here was the gate on which was
an inscription which commemorated the famous Nika insurrection. Beyond
this were two harbours, the Harbour of Julian or S. Sophia, and that
of the Kontoscolion, where the gate is now called Koum Kapoussi.
Within this is the Armenian quarter with its patriarchate. Next comes
Yeni Kapoussi, the new gate, where began the ancient harbour now
silted up, called the harbour of Eleutherius (Vlanga Bostan).
The next gate was called that of S. Æmilianus, now Daoud Pasha
Kapoussi, which ended the walls of Constantine along the shore. The
next is the πόρτα τοῦ Ψαμαθᾶ, Psamathia Kapoussi, named, as is the
quarter, after the sand thrown up on the beach. The next, Narli
Kapoussi, the Pomegranate gate, is that which gave admission to the
monastery of the Studium. Here on the Decollation of S. John Baptist,
August 29, the Emperor was received by the abbat and conducted in
state to the church to attend the Eucharist of the day. On the tower
close by is an inscription recording its reparation by Manuel
Comnenus. Beyond was the church and monastery of Diomed, on whose
steps Basil the Macedonian slept when he first came to Constantinople
a homeless wanderer. The wall ends with the famous Mermer Kuleh.
Perhaps this was at one time the prison of S. Diomed, where Pope
Martin I. was placed in 654, and Maria Comnena, mother of Alexius II.,
was imprisoned by Andronicus Comnenus. Traces of a two-storeyed
building still exist behind this magnificent tower which so splendidly
ends the sea-walls.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE MARBLE TOWER AT S.W. CORNER OF THE WALLS]
So we turn northwards and enter upon the famous defences, so long the
bulwarks of the Empire.
Something has already been said about the building of the Theodosian
walls. It has been seen that Anthemius who ruled as Prætorian prefect
during the minority of the Emperor Theodosius II. enlarged and
refortified the city, and that "the bounds he assigned to the
city, fixed substantially her permanent dimensions, and behind the
bulwarks he raised--improved and often repaired, indeed, by his
successors--Constantinople acted her great part in the history of the
world." Repaired by Constantine, then holding the office that had been
held by Anthemius, thirty-four years after the first construction,
"this was a wall, indeed, τὸ καὶ τεῖχος ὄντως[62]--a wall which, so
long as ordinary courage survived, and the modes of ancient warfare
were not superseded, made Constantinople impregnable, and behind which
civilization defied the assaults of barbarism for a thousand years."
The walls stretch now from the marble tower to a short distance beyond
the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus. Originally they went further, but,
as will be seen, they were superseded by newer fortifications beyond
that point.
The walls, as may be traced to-day, were thus divided. First, within
was the great inner wall from 13½ to 15½ feet thick, which historians
call τὸ κάστρον τὸ μέγα, τὸ μέγα τεῖχος. It rose probably about 50
feet above the ground, with a battlement of 4 feet 8 inches. It was
guarded by ninety-six towers, standing about 180 feet apart, about 60
feet high, and projecting from the wall from 18 to 34 feet. These
towers were distinct buildings from the wall, though connected with
it. The capture of a tower would not necessarily involve the capture
of the wall. From the roof of the tower the engineer discharged stones
and Greek fire, and there, says Nicephorus Gregoras, the sentinels
looked westward day and night, keeping themselves awake at night by
shouting to one another along the line.
Between the inner and outer walls was the inner terrace, ὁ περίβολος,
in which were sheltered the troops for the defence of the outer walls.
It was a space of from 50 to 64 feet. Above it rising now 10 feet, but
probably of old nearly twice as far, was the outer wall, the "little
wall." It is "from 2 to 6½ feet thick, rising some 10 feet above the
present level of the peribolos, and about 27½ feet above the present
level of the terrace between the outer wall and the moat."[63] The
upper part is built above a lower solid portion, "for the most part in
arches, faced on the outer side with hewn blocks of stone," and
supported behind by arches which carried a parapet-wall. This wall was
also protected by towers with small windows. Behind this outer wall
the troops on which fell the brunt of the fighting, as in 1422 and
1453, were sheltered.
Beyond the outer wall was an embankment or terrace, τὸ ἔξω
παρατείχιον, some 60 feet broad. Then came the moat, of at least the
same breadth as the terrace. This is now to a great extent filled up
and used for market gardens, but in front of the Golden Gate it is
still 22 feet deep. It had scarp and counter-scarp, each 5 feet thick,
and the scarp was surmounted by a breast-work with battlements 5 feet
high. Across the moat are walls, which were probably aqueducts. It
seems probable that the moat itself was rarely if ever filled with
water.
To the gates which went through both walls belongs the greatest
historic interest. Some of the ten great gates were merely used to
give entrance to the fortifications; others, connected with bridges
thrown over the moat, formed the public gates of the city. These
latter were specially guarded by towers. Besides these there were a
few posterns, most of which led only into the inner terrace. Starting
from the marble tower we come across a series of inscriptions, one of
Basil and Constantine (975-1025), over the first inner tower, and
after that a number commemorating the restoration by John Palæologus,
1433-44. The first gate is the most renowned of all, the Porta Aurea,
the Golden Gate, built of marble with two beautifully carved capitals.
It is flanked by two great marble towers. It was built between 389 and
391 to commemorate the victory of Theodosius the Great over Maximus.
Through it he entered in triumph in 391, and like the column of
Arcadius and the obelisk in the Hippodrome, it is the still surviving
memorial of his greatness. Above it at one time stood a statue of
Theodosius, and many groups of statuary. An inscription recorded its
foundation:
HAEC LOCA THEVDOSIVS DECORAT POST FATA TYRANNI.
AVREA SAECLA GERIT QVI PORTAM CONSTRVIT AVRO.
Probably, as Professor Bury has suggested, the second line was
inscribed under Theodosius II. when the archway became part of the new
wall. "At the south-western angle of the northern tower the Roman
eagle still spreads its wings; the laureated monogram 'XP' appears
above the central archway on the city side of the gateway, and several
crosses are scattered over the building." Traces of frescoes may still
be seen on the inner walls of the southern arch, which Professor Van
Millingen thinks may have been used as a chapel. It had three
archways, the centre of which was the imperial entrance. Through this
gate passed new sovereigns from the Hebdomon (which Professor Van
Millingen has conclusively proved to have been situated at the
village, now Makrikeui, some three miles westwards of the city) when
they came to be crowned or to take formal possession. Such were
Marcian in 450, Leo I. in 457, Basiliscus in 476, Phocas in 602, Leo
the Armenian in 813, and Nicephorus Phocas in 963. Here too envoys
from the Pope were sometimes met.
[Illustration: WALLS NEAR THE GOLDEN GATE: ROMAN ROAD IN FOREGROUND]
Through it came the imperial triumphs of Heraclius, Constantine
Copronymus, Theophilus, Basil I., Tzimisces, Basil II. The last to
enter in triumph was Michael Palæologus when the Empire was restored
to the Greeks in 1261, and the Emperor walked humbly on foot through
the gate till he reached the church of the Studium.
It was long one of the strongest defences of the city, an almost
impregnable acropolis, as Cantacuzene calls it. When the city was
captured by the Turks, Mohammed II. increased the defences by building
here, in 1457, behind the gate, the great enclosure now called the
Seven Towers, which became the state prison. In it foreign ambassadors
were placed when their countries were at war with Turkey, and there as
late as the war with Revolutionary France a French ambassador was
confined. Mohammed II. built up all the entrances of the Golden Gate;
and the legend still survives that through it a victorious Christian
army shall enter when the city is captured from the Turks.
The gate nearest to it, now called Yedi Koulé Kapoussi, may probably
have existed in Byzantine times, as a public gate called by the same
name as the greater gate. Through it doubtless Basil the Macedonian
came when he turned aside and lay down to sleep on the steps of the
monastery of S. Diomed.
Next to this as we walk northwards comes the second military gate,
and, after walls which have several inscriptions, the second public
gate, the Selivri Kapoussi (gate leading to the Selivria road). This
was originally the πύλη τῆς πηγῆς, gate of the Holy Spring,
which is at the village now called Balukli. After we have looked on
it, with its old towers and dark narrow entrance through which Alexius
the general of Michael Palæologus entered in 1261, it is delightful to
turn aside and follow the shady road half a mile to the little
Christian village, best of all if it is _en fête_ in the week of the
Greek Easter, when you can buy icons and sacred medals, and join the
crowds who throng the church and descend the steps by the baptistery
to the sacred well. The legend of its sacredness goes far back. As
early as Justinian's time there was a church there, as Procopius says,
"in the place which is called the Fountain, where there is a thick
grove of cypress trees, a meadow whose rich earth blooms with flowers,
a garden abounding with fruit, a fountain which noiselessly pours
forth a quiet and sweet stream of water--in short, where all the
surroundings befit a sacred place." There was also for many centuries
a palace and park of the Emperors. The last tale of the sacred well
belongs to the time of the Turkish conquest. On the fatal 29th of May
the village priest was sitting in his garden beside the well frying
his fish, when a messenger rushed up with the news that the Turks had
broken through the wall and were entering the city. The holy man
refused to believe it. "But run to the top of your garden," said his
friend, "and see for yourself." "No. I would as soon believe that
these fish should leap out of the frying-pan into the spring." And
they did; and there are their descendants, as any one may see for
himself, to this day.
Back, after a pleasant rest at Balukli, to the third military gate,
only a short space from that of the πήγη; then to the Porta
Rhegion, the gate of Rhegium Yeni Mevlevi Haneh Kapoussi, which led to
Rhegium on the Marmora twelve miles away. On it are no less than five
inscriptions on the gateway itself, and two on the southern tower. Of
the latter, one reads--
+ ΝΙΚΑ Η ΤΥΧΗ
ΚωΝϹΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟ
ΦΥΛΑΚΤΟΥ ΗΜωΝ ΔΕϹΠΟΤΟΥ
+ +
"The fortune of Constantine our God-protected Emperor
conquers."
The last line has been effaced.
After the fourth military gate comes the gate of S. Romanus, now Top
Kapoussi, near which the last Emperor fell, and through which Mohammed
entered in triumph. Opposite this point the Sultan's tent was placed,
as Phrantzes tells us.
The next military gate is that of the Pempton. To this the road
descends into the valley of the Lycus, and we pass the great breach
made by the Turkish cannon in 1453, through which the troops forced
their entrance. In the Lycus valley it was that Theodosius II. fell
from his horse in 450, an accident from the effects of which he died.
The next public gate is that called Edirnè Kapoussi, the Adrianople
gate, which was of old the gate of Charisius. Within, the road led to
the Imperial cemetery by the Church of the Holy Apostles, where
Theodora, the wife of the great Justinian, was buried. Here was the
part of the walls which was called Μεσοτείχον: and here was
generally the chief point of attack against the city. "Here stood the
gates opening upon the streets which commanded the hills of the city;
here was the weakest part of the fortifications, the channel of the
Lycus rendering a deep moat impossible, while the dip in the line of
the walls as they descended and ascended the slopes of the valley put
the defenders below the level occupied by the besiegers."
This was shown in the very first siege, 626, as well as in the last;
and it was here that the first cannonade was directed against the
walls, in 1422. In the last siege two towers of the inner wall and a
large part of the outer wall were battered to pieces, and the moat was
filled ready for an assault. Giustiniani erected a palisade covered
with hides and supported with earthworks; and it was not till the
gallant Genoese fell mortally wounded that the Turks succeeded in
forcing their way in.
It is through the Edirnè Kapoussi that one naturally enters to see
both the Church of the Chora and the Tekfour Serai, the palace of the
Porphyrogenitus. The large mosque within the gate is that built by
Suleiman in memory of one of his daughters.
Continuing northwards, with the striking view of the ruined palace
rising above the walls, we reach the sixth military gate, and beyond
this the lines of the walls, which have turned eastwards, are much
broken. The sixth military gate is the Kerko-Porta (see above p. 150).
Beyond this the wall of Theodosius comes to an end abruptly. From this
point the fortifications have a different character. "Along the
greater portion of their course these bulwarks consisted of a single
wall, without a moat; but at a short distance from the water, where
they stand on level ground, they formed a double wall, which was at
one time protected by a moat and constituted a citadel at the
north-west angle of the city." They belong, Professor van Millingen
has also clearly proved, to at least three periods, to the days of
Heraclius, of Leo, and of Manuel Comnenus. After the Kerko-Porta the
Theodosian walls turned eastwards; when the palace of Blachernae was
defended it was probably by the erection, after the fifth century, of
a new wall. The wall of Manuel Comnenus, built to give additional
protection, left the earlier wall on an inner line of defence.
The wall of Manuel is stronger than that of Theodosius, but it has no
moat; it resisted all the efforts of the Turkish artillery in 1453.
The public gate in it was that of the Kaligaria (the district where
military shoes were made), and from a tower beside it the last
Emperor and Phrantzes reconnoitred early in the morning of the last
day of the siege. North of this, from the tower which stands at the
point where the wall turns eastwards, the fortifications seem to have
been entirely rebuilt during the repairs of the fourteenth and
fifteenth century. In this piece stands the gate of Gyrolimnè, through
which probably the leaders of the Crusaders in 1203, who were encamped
on the hill just outside, entered to negotiate with Isaac Angelus.
Behind it stood the palace of Blachernae, the site of which may be
expected to reveal much when it is excavated.
Beyond this, from the great tower, unbattlemented, which has on it an
inscription in honour of Isaac Angelus, who reconstructed it in 1188,
the greatest difficulties surround the identification of the different
portions. The first part of the wall is of great height--sometimes
sixty-eight feet--and of thickness varying from over thirty to over
sixty feet. Three towers protect this part: two "twin towers" rising
to a great height above the walls. The special character of the walls
is determined by the fact that, within, the palace of Blachernae stood
upon a terraced hill. The second tower, much higher than that with the
inscription, may be identified with the tower of Isaac Angelus,
described by Nicetas Choniates as built by the Emperor both for the
defence of Blachernae, and for a residence for himself. Beyond it is a
third tower, which has been generally considered to be the tower of
Anemas, mentioned first by Anna Comnena, as the place in which Anemas,
who had conspired against her father, was confined.
All these identifications are difficult; and it is also difficult to
feel sure that a more satisfactory solution of the many problems which
arise would not be to consider that the tower of Isaac Angelus is the
comparatively small one that still bears his inscription, and that
the two others, and northern tower, combine to form the "prison of
Anemas."
Within these towers was certainly the Palace of Blachernae, and the
chambers now so grim and foul, that may sometimes be inspected, are
very likely the prisons built by Alexius Comnenus and connected with
his palace.
Beyond these towers a new series of walls begins. These are "in two
parallel lines, connected by transverse walls, so as to form a citadel
beside the Golden Horn. The inner wall belongs to the reign of
Heraclius; the outer is an erection of Leo V. the Armenian." A
splendid view of these magnificent walls, and of the Golden Horn
below, is obtained from the hill westwards, on which the Crusaders
encamped in 1203. The wall of Heraclius, with its three hexagonal
towers, was built to protect the suburb of Blachernae after the attack
of the Avars in 627: that of Leo was built in 813 when the city was in
danger from the Bulgarians. A citadel was formed between the two
walls, within which was the chapel and sacred well of S. Nicholas. The
gate is the gate of Blachernae, and beyond it is a tower with an
inscription stating that it was reconstructed by "Romanus, the
Christ-loving sovereign." From this point a wall led to the
water's-edge, and in it was the Wooden Gate (Ξυλόπορτα, see
above, p. 273).
We have thus completed the circuit of the most interesting mediæval
defences in Europe. At every point they have memories that go back to
great historic days, memories of treachery as well as heroism, but
above all of a long and gallant defence of all that made the
civilization of Europe enduring and worthy to endure.
To-day as one goes along the great triumphal way, still retaining
fragments at least of its solid pavement that was laid by Justinian,
the way along which countless armies of emperors and of invaders have
passed on their march of triumph or retreat, we are reminded of the
past not only by shattered walls, and by the goats that feed and
scramble where once the soldiers of the empire kept watch, but by the
immemorial cemetery, with its groups of cypress, which stands beside
us as we walk.
It is a perpetual memorial of the vanity of human power. There, where
thousands of Turks are now laid to rest, where the stones gape above
the coffins placed a few feet below, and the strange lozenge-shapes
with their gaudy inscriptions lean and totter on every side; there
once crusading armies camped to sack a Christian city; and there the
soldiers of Mohammed mustered for the last fight which was to give
them the crown of their centuries of war. Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Goths,
men of Italy and Russia and Greece, all have passed; and the men who
have conquered where they fought and failed lie buried where once they
camped. On one side of the great imperial way stretches this vast
gloomy silent graveyard; on the other stand is the shattered wall.
In that long, broken, deserted wall the history of the great city
seems summed up. "Débris colossal du passé, elle nous diminue et nous
écrase, nous et nos existences courtes, et nos souffrances d'une
heure, et tout le rien instable que nous sommes."
FOOTNOTES:
[62] Inscription formerly on the outer wall between the fourth and
fifth towers south of the Golden Gate.
[63] These figures, and all the others, came from Professor Van
Millingen's exhaustive book.