repaired; and the six battles of the French formed
their encampment against the front of the capital, the basis of the
triangle which runs about four miles from the port to the Propontis. [65]
On the edge of a broad ditch, at the foot of a lofty rampart, they had
leisure to contemplate the difficulties of their enterprise. The gates
to the right and left of their narrow camp poured forth frequent sallies
of cavalry and light-infantry, which cut off their stragglers, swept the
country of provisions, sounded the alarm five or six times in the
course of each day, and compelled them to plant a palisade, and sink an
intrenchment, for their immediate safety. In the supplies and convoys
the Venetians had been too sparing, or the Franks too voracious: the
usual complaints of hunger and scarcity were heard, and perhaps felt
their stock of flour would be exhausted in three weeks; and their
disgust of salt meat tempted them to taste the flesh of their
horses. The trembling usurper was supported by Theodore Lascaris,
his son-in-law, a valiant youth, who aspired to save and to rule his
country; the Greeks, regardless of that country, were awakened to the
defence of their religion; but their firmest hope was in the strength
and spirit of the Varangian guards, of the Danes and English, as they
are named in the writers of the times. [66] After ten days' incessant
labor, the ground was levelled, the ditch filled, the approaches of
the besiegers were regularly made, and two hundred and fifty engines of
assault exercised their various powers to clear the rampart, to batter
the walls, and to sap the foundations. On the first appearance of a
breach, the scaling-ladders were applied: the numbers that defended the
vantage ground repulsed and oppressed the adventurous Latins; but they
admired the resolution of fifteen knights and sergeants, who had
gained the ascent, and maintained their perilous station till they were
precipitated or made prisoners by the Imperial guards. On the side
of the harbor the naval attack was more successfully conducted by the
Venetians; and that industrious people employed every resource that was
known and practiced before the invention of gunpowder. A double line,
three bow-shots in front, was formed by the galleys and ships; and the
swift motion of the former was supported by the weight and loftiness of
the latter, whose decks, and poops, and turret, were the platforms of
military engines, that discharged their sho