e incapable of contending with the
warlike enthusiasm and youthful vigor of the Saracens. The historian who
presumes to analyze this extraordinary composition should suspect
his own ignorance and that of his Byzantine guides, so prone to the
marvellous, so careless, and, in this instance, so jealous of the truth.
From their obscure, and perhaps fallacious, hints it should seem that
the principal ingredient of the Greek fire was the _naphtha_, or liquid
bitumen, a light, tenacious, and inflammable oil, which springs from the
earth, and catches fire as soon as it comes in contact with the air. The
naphtha was mingled, I know not by what methods or in what proportions,
with sulphur and with the pitch that is extracted from evergreen firs.
From this mixture, which produced a thick smoke and a loud explosion,
proceeded a fierce and obstinate flame, which not only rose in
perpendicular ascent, but likewise burnt with equal vehemence in descent
or lateral progress; instead of being extinguished, it was nourished and
quickened by the element of water; and sand, urine, or vinegar, were the
only remedies that could damp the fury of this powerful agent, which was
justly denominated by the Greeks the _liquid_, or the _maritime_, fire.
For the annoyance of the enemy, it was employed with equal effect, by
sea and land, in battles or in sieges. It was either poured from the
rampart in large boilers, or launched in red-hot balls of stone and
iron, or darted in arrows and javelins, twisted round with flax and tow,
which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil; sometimes it was deposited
in fire-ships, the victims and instruments of a more ample revenge, and
was most commonly blown through long tubes of copper which were planted
on the prow of a galley, and fancifully shaped into the mouths of savage
monsters, that seemed to vomit a stream of liquid and consuming fire.
This important art was preserved at Constantinople, as the palladium of
the state: the galleys and _artillery_ might occasionally be lent to the
allies of Rome; but the composition of the Greek fire was concealed with
the most jealous scruple, and the terror of the enemies was increased
and prolonged by their ignorance and surprise. In the treaties of the
administration of the empire, the royal author suggests the answers and
excuses that might best elude the indiscreet curiosity and importunate
demands of the Barbarians. They should be told that the mystery of the
Greek fire