The name of
Iskander acted as a spell. They stopt not to inquire. A magic
sympathy at once persuaded them that this great man had, by the grace
of Heaven, recurred to the creed and country of his fathers. And so
every townsman, seizing the nearest weapon, with a spirit of patriotic
frenzy, rushed into the streets, crying out, "The Cross, the Cross!"
"Liberty!" "Greece!" "Iskander and Epirus!" Ay! even the women lost
all womanly fears, and stimulated instead of soothing the impulse of
their masters. They fetched them arms, they held the torches, they
sent them forth with vows and prayers and imprecations, their children
clinging to their robes, and repeating with enthusiasm, phrases which
they could not comprehend.
The Turks fought with the desperation of men who feel that they are
betrayed, and must be victims. The small and isolated bodies were soon
massacred, all with cold steel, for at this time, although some of the
terrible inventions of modern warfare were introduced, their use was
not general. The citadel, indeed, was fortified with cannon; but the
greater part of the soldiery trusted to their crooked swords, and their
unerring javelins.
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