The Captain of the Janizaries

by James M. Ludlow

  CHAPTER XLIV.

  Late in the day the Sultan retired to a neighboring mansion, oncepossessed by the Greek Grand Duke, Lucas Notaras, and there soughtrelaxation from the incessant cares of the empire. The day had beenwearisome. Architects had submitted plans for the detailedornamentation of the new seraglio which was rising on the ByzantinePoint. One of the plans led to dispute between the Padishah and thechief Mufti, the expounder of the Moslem law. It was occasioned thus.The porphyry column[91] which stood hard by the palace of the Greekemperors, had once served to hold aloft the bronze statue of Apollo, aprecious relic of ancient Greek mythology. This was afterwardreverenced by the people as the figure of the Emperor Constantine theGreat, or worshipped by them as that of Christ. An architect proposedthat the time-glorious shaft should now be surmounted by the colossalstatue of Mahomet II. The Mufti declared the project to be impious, astempting to idolatry, against which the Koran was so clear anddenunciatory, and also the Sounna or traditional sayings of theProphet. The Sultan's pride rebelled against this assumption of anauthority above his own. But the Sultan's superstitious regard for thefaith among the people, which led him to wash his hands and faceopenly whenever he spoke with the architect, who was a Christianengaged at great cost from Italy, also led him to fear to break withthe prescriptions and customs of his religion in this matter. Hecontented himself with an oath that he had sooner lost the honor of acampaign than the privilege of seeing himself represented as theconqueror of both Constantine and Christ. Generals, too, had been incouncil with him that day regarding the conduct of intrigues for thepossession of the Peloponnesus, and about the wars in Servia, Bozniaand Trebizond. Ill tidings had come from Albania, where Scanderbeg wasconsuming the Turkish armies, as a great spider entraps in his websand at his leisure devours a swarm of hornets, which, could they havefree access to him, would instantly sting him to death. The messengerwho brought this news was rewarded by having hurled at his head animmense vase of malachite, in the exertion of lifting which theimperial wrath was sufficiently eased to allow of his turning to otherbusiness. A plan for the reception of the inmates of the grand haremat Adrianople, when they should be transported to the spaciousbuildings being constructed for them in the seraglio, was also apleasing diversion, and led the Sultan to make the brief visit to thefair ones at the house of Phranza, which has been described. But thenettled spirit of the Padishah was far from subdued. He had during theday given an order, the sequel to which we must relate, and which,while it disturbed his conscience and flooded him at moments with thesense of self-contempt, also inflamed his natural passion for cruelty.He determined to drown the noble, and to satiate the the vicious,craving by an hour or two of unrestrained debauch.

  In the court of the house of the Grand Duke Notaras was spread theroyal banquet. Rarest viands were flanked by flagons of costliestwines. Upon the momentary surprise of the steward when he received theorder to provide the wines, the monarch cried in a contemptuous tone:

  "Ah! I know your thoughts. It is not according to the Koran that wineshould be drunk. But by the staff of Moses,[92] which they found inthe palace of the Caesars yonder, I swear that Mahomet the Emperorshall not yield to Mahomet the Prophet in everything. The Prophet madelaws to suit his own taste, so will I[93]. He can have Mecca andMedina and Jerusalem; but I shall reign without him in my own palacein Stamboul, which I have captured with my own hand. Bring the wine,or I'll spill your black blood as a beverage to those in hell! It willbe sweet enough for your kin who are black with roasting. I will havewine to-day! Cool it in all the snows from Mount Olympus yonder; formy blood is as hot as if I were shod with fire; and my skull boilslike a pot."[94]

  About the table were divans cushioned with down and covered withyellow silk. The Padishah took his seat upon the highest cushion. Byhis side stood the chief of the black eunuchs, splendidly[95] attiredin the waistcoat of flower embroidered brocade, tunic of scarlet,flowing trousers, red turban, and half boots of bronzed leather. Heheld a wand of silver covered with elegant tracery and topped infilagree. As he waved this symbol of his office, there came from thevarious doors opening into the court groups of the harem women. Theywere draped in gauze, in the folds of which sparkled diamonds andglowed the hues of precious stones selected by the taste of the chiefeunuch to set off the complexion and hair of their various wearers,and at the same time to facilitate their grouping into sets ofdancers. The court was made radiant with these beautiful forms, whichmoved in circles or in spirals about the fountains and under theorange trees, whose white blossoms and golden fruit in simultaneousfulness completed the picture for the eye, while their fragranceloaded the air with its delicate delight.

  The Kislar Aga had arranged a scene which especially pleased themonarch, whose head was already swimming with the combined effect ofthe mazy dance and the fumes of the wine. An attendant led into thecourt, held partly by a strong leash and partly by the voice of histrainer, a magnificent leopard. With utmost grace the beast leapedover the ribboned wand, falling so softly to the ground that, thoughof enormous weight, he would not seemingly have broken a twig had itlain beneath his feet. In imitation of this, a eunuch led into thecourt by a leash of roses a Circassian dancer, the gift of aCaramanian prince. Her form was as free from the hindrances of dressas that of her spotted competitor; except that a bright gem burnedupon her forehead, in the node which gathered a part of her hair;while the abundance of her tresses was either held out on her snowyarms, or fell about her as a veil almost to her feet. With a hundredvariations the girl repeated the motions of the leopard, leaping thewands with equal grace as she came to them in the measures of thedance.

  The great brute had laid his head in the lap of his trainer, and waswatching his beautiful rival with apparent enjoyment; only now andthen uttering a low growl as if in jealousy, when the Bravo! of theSultan rewarded some especially fascinating movement. The girl came tothe side of the magnificent monster and dropped her long hair over hishead. The brute closed his eyes as if soothed by the wooing of themaiden. Cautiously, but encouraged by the low voice of the trainer,she placed her head upon the mottled and living pillow. A great pawwas thrown about her shoulder.

  The Sultan was in ecstasy of applause, and shouted:

  "A collar of gold for each of them!"

  The girl attempted to rise, but her splendid lover seemed to havebecome really enamored of the beautiful form he held. Her slightestmotion was answered by a growl; while the swaying of his tailindicated that, as among human kind, so with the brutes, the softestsentiments were to be guarded by those of a severer nature; thatbaffled love must meet the avenging of cruel wrath. Like the affectionof some men, that of the leopard was limited to its own gratification,and utterly regardless of the comfort of its object; for the fondnessof the brute was not such as to prevent his long nails protrudingthrough their velvet covering, and entering the bare flesh of thegirl. She quivered with pain, yet, at the quick warning of thetrainer, she made no outcry. The man drew from his pocket a small bitof raw flesh, and diverted the eyes of the brute from the bloodstreaming at each claw-puncture on the neck and bosom of his victim.The leopard savagely snapped at the morsel, and, at the same instantstruck it with his paw, and leaped to seize it as it was hurled manyfeet away. The girl as quickly darted to a safe distance. Attendantsinstantly appeared and surrounded the beast with their spear points.He crouched at the feet of the trainer, and whined in fear until hewas led out.

  The girls then encircled the seat of the Sultan, and vied with oneanother in the simulated attempt to throw over him a spell. Nor wasthe attempt merely simulated, as each one displayed the utmost art ofbeauty and manner to win from the half-drunken tyrant some token ofhis favor.

  When Elissa came near the Sultan, he bade her play with him as theCircassian did with the leopard. He held her and exclaimed to theothers:

  "Beware your leopard when he growls! but where is the other Arnaout? Iwill have the pearl with the ruby of the harem! where is she, I say?Did I not order you to bring all the odalisks to my
feast?"

  "From your Majesty's orders but lately, Sire, I supposed--" began theeunuch.

  "Supposed? You are to obey, not to suppose," cried the demented man,slashing at him with the cimeter that lay at his feet.

  "But she is not robed for the feast."

  "Bring her as she is, and robe her here. You said that she was fairerthan this one. If she is not fairer than this one, the leopard's clawswill grip her, and the beast shall have your black body for his nextsupper. Bring her!"

  The eunuch soon returned with Morsinia. She wore a sombre feridje, orcloak completely enveloping the person. This she had on at the momentshe was summoned, and the eunuch obeyed literally the mandate of themonarch to bring her as she was.

  As she stood before the Sultan she appeared, in contrast with her halfnaked and bejeweled sisters, like a prophetess; some female Elijahbefore Ahab surrounded by his household of Jezebels. Throwing back theyashmak, or long veil--the one Moslem costume she had very willinglyassumed after her captivity--she gazed upon the tyrant with a look ofamazed inquiry of his meaning in summoning her to such a place. Thesovereignty of her soul asserted and expressed itself in her noblebrow, her clear and steady eye, her dauntless bearing.

  "Sire, I have obeyed," said she, making the obeisance which in formwas obsequious, but which she executed with such dignity that even thedull wit of the reveller felt that she had not really humbled herselfbefore him by so much as the shadow of a thought.

  "Disrobe her!" cried the monarch.

  The woman stepped back, as if to avoid the contact of her person withthe black eunuch; but as suddenly threw off the feridje herself. Ifshe had seemed a gloomy prophetess before, her appearance now wouldhave suggested to an ancient Greek the apparition of Pudicitia, thegoddess of modesty. Her gown of rich pearl-tinted cloth covered hershoulders; and, though opened upon the bosom, it was to show only thethick folds of white lace which embraced the throat in a ruffle, andwas clasped with a single gem--a cameo presented to her by the GreekEmperor.

  The bearing of the woman gave a temporary check to the abominable rageof the royal wretch, and recalled him to his better judgment. For itwas a peculiarity of Mahomet that no passion or debauch couldcompletely divert him from carrying out any plan he had devisedpertaining to his imperial ambition. As certain musicians performwithout the sacrifice of a note the most difficult pieces, when toodrunk to hold a goblet steadily to their lips, and as certain notedgenerals have staggered through the battle without the slighteststrategic mistake, so Mahomet never lost sight of a political ormilitary purpose he had formed. While sleeping and waking, in thewildest revelry and in the privacy of his unspeakable sensuality, thatproject blazed before him like a strong fire-light through the haze.

  "Take her away! Take her away!" said he to the eunuch, recollectinghis purpose of using her in his negotiations with Scanderbeg; andcovering his retreat from his original command by the remark, "She isthe woman who thinks, I want none such to put her head against myheart. She might discover my thoughts; and by the secrets of Allah!if a hair of my beard knew one of my thoughts I would pluck it out andburn it."[96]

  As Morsinia withdrew, a eunuch approached and whispered to the Sultan.

  "Ah! it is good! good!" cried the Monarch. "My Lord, the Grand DukeNotaras, will revisit his mansion. For him we have provided a feastsuch as his master Palaeologus never gave him. Ah! my lovely Arnaoutshall sit at my right hand--for the queen of beauty has precedenceto-day," said he, addressing Elissa. "And the Egyptian shall make memerry with the music of her voice, which I doubt not is sweeter thanthe strains of her native Memnon. And, Tamlich, you shall do me thehonor of representing the king of Nubia, and lie there opposite."

  The eunuch stood bewildered; for never before had a Moslem proposed tointroduce into his harem the person of any man, as now the Duke ofNotaras was to look upon the beauties who should be reserved solelyfor the feasting of the Padishah's eyes.

  Mahomet, knowing his thoughts, bade him obey, and cried,

  "Let the fair houris veil their faces with their blushes. Bring inNotaras!"

  Three blacks entered, each bearing a great salver, on which was acovered dish of gold.

  "To Tamlich I demit the honors of the board," said he, waving theforemost waiter toward the eunuch, whose face almost blanched at thestrange turn affairs were taking, or perhaps with the suspicion thatto-morrow his head would fall from his shoulders as the penalty ofhaving witnessed the Padishah disgrace himself.

  The attendants placed the dishes before the eunuch and the two favoredbeauties. The covers removed revealed the ghastly sight of three humanheads, their unclosed eyes staring upward from their distorted facesand gory locks. The eunuch leaped from the divan. The women fell backshrieking and fainting. They were the heads of the Grand Duke Notarasand his two children.

  Well did the Sultan need the strong diversion of the drunken revelryto drown the thoughts of what he knew to be transpiring at the hour.In spite of his royal word to the distinguished captive who had madehis submission absolute, except to the extent of seeing his childrendishonored to the vilest purposes, Mahomet had ordered that Notarasshould be beheaded at the Hippodrome, having been first compelled towitness the decapitation of his family.

  Even Mahomet was sobered by the horrid ghoulism he had devised, anddismissed the terror-stricken revelers with a volley of curses.

  FOOTNOTES:

  [91] Porphyry column; now the famous Burnt Column.

  [92] Staff of Moses; one of the relics held sacred by the Greeks atthe time.

  [93] Gibbon's statement of Mahomet II's. opinion.

  [94] Punishment of those in hell, according to Koran.

  [95] See effigy in the museum of the Elbicei-Atika at Constantinople.

  [96] A similar remark was made afterward by Mahomet II. to a chiefofficer who asked him his plans for a certain campaign.