פח MASSACRE AT MODON. 137 hearts were merry with wine; and they became drunken with them* at that time. The wine was yet in their throat; and the man who spake to them, slew the post-captain of the Turks, who was on the citadel. And he gave the signal, and the men who were in the ship went out swifter than the leopards, and stronger than the lions. And they slew the watchers of the gate with the edge of the sword, and they came into the city of Modon upon that quiet and secure people, according as he had told them. And they slew all whom they met in the markets and in the streets with the edge of the sword; and their wives and their children, and all their property they plundered, and there was none to deliver from their hands, for they were terrified before them. And when the thick smoke ascended from the houses which they burned with fire, the galleys came, even those which were at a distance of ten miles, as an eagle flieth. And they came against the city with two hundred men, and filled also their hands with their swords devouring flesh, and their arrows were drunken with blood; and they stretched their hand unto the spoil. And many of the inhabitants of the city fled at their voices, and were put to flight by the sword, and stayed not; for they knew not whence this great evil came unto them. * Gen. xliv. 34. 138 MODON.-LOUISE DIES, 1531. פח And many gathered themselves into the palace which was in the midst of the city, whose doors were of brass; and they fortified themselves there, and their lives were unto them a spoil. And it came to pass, at eventide, that two thousand Turks riding on horses gathered themselves, and came also into the city with anger, and with wrath, and with a great noise; and the earth was rent at their voice. And the uncircumcised fled before them, and they gathered themselves unto the ships with the spoil and the plunder; there were not missed of them more than twenty-five men. And the captives, whom the ships could not carry, they slew with the edge of the sword. And they returned unto Malta, which the emperor gave them to dwell in, [] after their expulsion from Rhodes, to abide there. And the wrath of Solyman was greatly kindled against them, and against those who joined them. · And of the children of Israel, there was not taken even one, for when they heard their voice they fled unto the mountain; and their lives were unto them a prey. Only their riches and all their property the men of Modon plundered, for they were oppressors unto them.` 806. And Louise of Savoy*, the mother of the king, died on the seventeenth day of October, in the year one thousand five hundred and thirty-one. .אלויסיה מסאבוייא * פט A. D. 1531-IBRAHIM PASHA. 139 And she was buried at Paris, without the city; and the king wept over her, and honored her greatly. 807. And Solyman would return to war against Vienna, and he commanded Zay*, the chief of his armament at sea; and his ships went out from the haven of Constantinople on the second day of the month of May, one thousand five hundred and thirty-one, with joy and with singing, with tabrets and high-sounding trumpets; and the earth was rent at the noise of the cannons. And their number was fifty light galleys, and sixty heavy ones; and they went to the coast of Corfu, for so the king had commanded him, and they met there the rest of the galleys, and they were one in the hand of Zayt. 808. And the Sofi, king of Persia, sent messengers unto him, and they spake to him on the sixth of the month; and Ibrahim Pasha went with them to accompany them. 809. And they went into the high place on the tenth of the month, and paid the bullocks with their lips. And they blessed the great banner, which is the banner of Mohammed: and they brought it into the palace with gladness, and with .זאי * i. e. They were united under his command. Hosea xiv. 3, offered the calves of their lips: i. e. They offered the sacrifice of prayer. 140 PROCESSION OF SOLYMAN. פט songs, and with three thousand janissaries, and many nobles and honorable men, Turks, were found there at that time. 810. And they removed from Constantinople many of the men of the host on the twelfth day of the same month; and they carried on waggons one hundred and twenty cannons of brass, and gunpowder in abundance and sling-stones*. And on the fifteenth day of the month, there removed three thousand janissaries, the sultan's bodyguard; and they went into the camp. And on the sixteenth day of the same month, there removed four hundred slaves of the king, bought with his money, riding upon horses, who were clothed in silk clothes embroidered with gold, and their spears in their hands; and fifty waggons covered with purple went after them, and four horses to each of them, and upon them were some of the concubines whom the sultan kept in his house of women, and silver and gold in abundance, and four thousand horsemen went with them to accompany them; and they all went into the camp. 811. And on the seventeenth day of the same month, Solyman removed at the dawn of morning, and four thousand janissaries ran before him. And פט PROCESSION OF SOLYMAN. 141 after them ran four hundred camels bearing tents, and two hundred horses covered with silk-coverings and precious stones in abundance. And two thou sand horsemen went after them, and the great standard in the middle embroidered with pearls, whose like was not seen in the whole world. And a hundred boys, servants of the king, drave after them riding on horses beautiful to look upon, who were clothed in golden garments, and each had his spear in his hand; they wore their hair upon their shoulders, and red turbans upon their heads, and above a golden crown round about. And twelve of them wore helmets of brass covered with precious stones, and the last wore a turban embroidered with goodly stones, a wondrous thing, for the merchants of Venice made it, and Ibrahim Pasha bought it for one hundred and forty thousand ducats, and gave it to Solyman as a present. 812. And after them went one thousand footmen clothed in silk garments, like the brightness of the firmament, and high turbans of gold and white feathers on their heads, and their bows by their sides, and in their midst rode Solyman the king. And he was clothed with purple garments, embroidered with gold, after the manner of Damascus; and the worth of his sword which was on his thigh, and of his dagger, was inestimable. And the turban which he had on his head was covered |