the general mass. The stores which
had been collected were, however, divided in accordance with the
compact which had been made before the capture. The Venetians and the
crusaders each took half. Out of the moiety belonging to the army
there were paid the fifty thousand silver marks due to the Venetians.
Two foot sergeants received as much as one horse sergeant, and two of
the latter sergeants received as much as a knight. Exclusive of what
was stolen and of what was paid to the Venetians, there were
distributed among the army four hundred thousand marks, or eight
hundred thousand pounds, and ten thousand suits of armor.

The total amount distributed among the crusaders and Venetians shows
that the wealth of Constantinople had not been exaggerated. Eight
hundred thousand pounds were given to the crusaders, a like sum to the
Venetians, with the one hundred thousand pounds due to them. These
sums had been collected in hard cash from a city where the inhabitants
were hostile, and where they had in their wells and cisterns an easy
means of hiding their treasures of gold, silver, and precious
stones--a means traditionally well known in the East. Abundance of
booty was taken possession of by the troops which never went into the
general mass. Sismondi estimates that the wealth in specie and movable
property before the capture was not less than twenty-four million
pounds sterling.

The distribution was made during the latter end of April. Many works
of art in bronze were sent to the melting-pot to be coined. Many
statues were broken up in order to obtain the metals with which they
were adorned. The conquerors knew nothing and cared nothing for the
art which had added value to the metal. The weight of the bronze was
to them the only question of interest. The works of art which they
destroyed were sacrificed not to any sentiment like that of the Moslem
against images which they believed to be idols or talismans. No such
excuse can be made for the Christians of the West Their motive for
destroying so much that was valuable was neither fanaticism nor
religion. It was the simple greed for gain. No sentiment restrained
their cupidity. The great statue of the Virgin which ornamented the
Taurus was sent as unhesitatingly to the furnace as the figure of
Hercules. No object was sufficiently sacred, none sufficiently
beautiful, to be worth saving if it could be converted into cash. Amid
so much that was destroyed it is impossible that t