[531] Ibid. bk. v. ch. x.
[532] Crit. bk. v. ch. xi. It is possible that as some of the Latin writers spoke of the Turks as Teucri, in the belief that they were the descendants of the Trojans, Mahomet may have been under the same illusion.
[533] Les Sultans Ottomans, par Halil Ganem, p. 129 (Paris, 1901).
[534] Chalcondylas.
[535] These and many other fictions of the like kind come from Spandugino and Sansovino.
[536] Zorzo Dolfin (p. 985) says: ‘E homo non dedito a libidine, sobrio, in tempo del ramadan non vol aldir sobrieta; a nulla volupta, a nulla piacea e dedito saluo a gloria.’ This is in striking contradiction with Barbaro’s account, which in describing Mahomet says, ‘Che a un momento importantissimo alla vigilia della gran bataglia s’inebriò col capedan pascia secondo la sua usanza.’ Barbaro’s narrative is written immediately after the capture of the city, and, as usual, he is careless of the accusations which he brings against the Turks or Genoese.
[537] Zorzo Dolfin, p. 936.
[538] Les Sultans Ottomans, pp. 150 and 125.
[539] The fascination of the old Greek stories still continues even among the poorest Greeks, and it is astonishing how generally they are known. I have often heard old Greek women, unable to read or write, tell children Greek paramythia which have evidently been handed down by oral tradition. A few years ago, in travelling among the mountains of Bithynia, I came on Easter Monday to a Greek village, far remote from any other, and away from all lines of communication, where they were performing a miracle-play. The villagers, dressed in their best, were all present as actors or spectators. The play itself was a curious mixture of incidents in the life of Christ and of others—and these formed the largest part—from Greek mythology. No one knew anything of its origin, and all the information obtainable was that the play had always been performed on Easter Monday.
[540] See Aristarchi’s (the Grand Logothete) papers on Photius in the Transactions of the Greek Syllogos of Constantinople, and two volumes edited by him of that patriarch’s sermons and homilies, published 1901.