Conqueror to Abdul Medjid

In its general plan the Seraglio was a series of three courts, opening one into the other; and around and within them, embowered in groves of plane-trees and of cypresses, rose the numerous and picturesque edifices which served the convenience of the imperial household. But however inferior in the magnificence created by art, no royal abode has ever been invested by nature with the beauty and lordliness surrounding that in which the Ottoman Sultans sat enthroned from Mehemet the Conqueror to Abdul Medjid, with its grand outlook over Asia, Europe, and the great waterway between the lands on the north and on the south.

” It was at once a royal palace, a fortress, and a sanctuary; here was the brain and heart of Islam, a city within a city, inhabited by a people, and guarded by an army, embracing within its walls an infinite variety of edifices, places of pleasure or of horror; where the Sultans were bom, ascended the throne, were deposed, imprisoned, strangled ; where all conspiracies began and the cry of rebellion was first heard; where for three centuries the eyes of anxious Europe, timid Asia, and frightened Africa were fixed, as on a smoking volcano, threatening ruin on all sides.”

The slopes which descend from S. Sophia and the Hippodrome to the Sea of Marmora, immediately outside the Seraglio Enclosure, are also* haunted by memories of splendour and power, for. upon them stood the great palace of the Emperors of New Rome from the time of Constantine the Great to almost the end of the Byzantine Empire. The site did not command so extensive a view of the Bosporus as the Seraglio enjoyed, nor had it the outlook of the latter upon the Golden Horn and the busy life of the harbour. But its prospect over the Sea of Marmora and the hills and mountains of the Asiatic coast, rising to the snows of Mount Olympus or merged in the pale blue of the distant horizon, was wider. It had also the advantage of a sunnier and more temperate climate.

The site was furthermore recommended by its proximity to the Hippodrome, as direct communication between the palace and that arena of the city’s public life, in serious or gay mood, was of paramount importance in Constantinople as at Rome.

We must therefore imagine these slopes wooded with trees, and crowded with stately buildings, often domed, for the accommodation of a Court which sought, in pomp and luxury never surpassed, to find all that power and pleasure can do to satisfy the human heart As in the case of Byzantine churches, so in the edifices forming the “ Sacred Palace marriage under comet,” artistic effort was chiefly devoted to the decoration of the interior, and it was with similar means, marble revetments and mosaics, that artistic effects were produced.

The throne-room, for instance, was, as we shall find in the sequel, almost a facsimile of the Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus. Like that church it was an octagonal hall enclosed in a square, and surmounted by a dome pierced by windows.

Porphyry and variegated marbles

Each division of the octagon formed a bay under a semi-dome, and above the bays was a rich entablature, with a cornice that projected so as to constitute a gallery. The floor was paved with slabs of porphyry and variegated marbles, arranged to form beautiful designs and set in borders of silver, while walls and vaults gleamed with mosaics. The hall was entered from the west, and in the bay directly opposite stood the throne, with an icon of Christ in mosaic in the conch above it The bay immediately to the south of the throne was the emperors robing-room, leading to a chapel in which his robes of state, his crowns and arms, and two enamelled gold shields, studded with pearls and precious stones, were kept under the guardianship of S. Theodore. The other state rooms of the palace were all varieties of the same type, displaying more or less skill and taste, according to the fluctuations of art in Constantinople.

Of all the magnificence that once adorned these slopes, nothing remains but unshapely masses of brickwork, broken shafts, fallen capitals and empty sarcophagi 1 Slopes that vied with the Palatine as a seat of power, they are without a vestige of the grandeur that lingers around the ruined home of the Caesars! The higher part of the site of the palace is now occupied by the Mosque of Sultan Achmed, the six minarets of which, combined with the four minarets of S. Sophia, make so striking a feature in the aspect of this part of the city. Upon the lower slopes lives a Turkish population that never dreams of the splendour buried beneath its humble dwellings.

Durwesh never knew his victuals

TALE XXIII

I heard of a certain rich man, who was as notorious for parsimony as Hatim Tai for liberality. His external form was adorned with wealth, but the meanness of his disposition was so radicated, that he never gave even a loaf of bread to any one: he would not have bestowed a scrap on the cat of Abu Horiera, nor thrown a bone to the dog of companions of the cave. In short, no one ever saw his door open nor his table spread. A Durwesh never knew his victuals, excepting by the smell; no bird ever picked up any crumbs that fell from his table.

I heard that he was sailing on the Mediterranean Sea towards Egypt, with all the pride of Pharaoh in his imagination, according to the word of God, ‘ Until the time that he was drowned.’ Suddenly a contrary wind assailed the ship, in the manner as they have said, ‘ What can the heart do that it may not record with your sorrowful disposition; the north wind is not always favorable for the ship.’ He lifted up the hands of imploration, and uttered ineffectual lamentations. God hath said, ‘ “When you embark on ships offer up your prayers unto the Lord.’

Of what benefit will it be to the servant in the time of need, to lift up his hands in imploration, which are extended during prayers, but when any favour is wanted are folded under his arms? ‘ Bestow comfort on others with silver and gold, and from thence derive also benefit yourself. Know thou, that this edifice of yours will remain, use therefore bricks of gold and bricks of silver.’

They have related, that he had poor relations in Egypt, who were enriched with the remainder of his wealth. At his death they rent their old garments and made up silks and damask. In that same week I saw one of them riding a fleet horse, with an angelic youth running after him. I said, “Alas! if the dead man should return amongst his tribe and relations, the heirs would feel more sorrow in restoring him his estate than they suffered on account of his death.” On the strength of the acquaintance which had formerly subsisted between us, I pulled his sleeve, and said, “Enjoy thou, 0 good man of happy endowments, that wealth which the late possessor accumulated to no purpose.”

Religion obtains perfection from the virtuous

RULE V.

A learned man without temperance, is a blind man carrying a link: he showed the road to others, but doth not guide himself, lie who through inadvertency trifled with life, threw away his money without purchasing any thing.

RULE VI.

A kingdom gains credit from wise men, and religion obtains perfection from the virtuous. Kings stand in more need of wise men, than wise men do of appointments at court. Listen, 0 king, to my advice; for you have not more valuable maxim in all your archives than this: “Entrust not your affairs to any but wise men, although public business is not the occupation of the wise.”

Three things are not permanent without three things:—Wealth, without commerce; science, without argument; a kingdom, without government.

RULE VIII.

Showing mercy to the wicked is doing injury to the good; and pardoning oppressors is injuring the oppressed. When you connect yourself with base men and show them favour, they commit crimes with your power, whereby you participate in their guilt.

RULE IX.

You cannot rely on the friendship of kings, nor confide in the sweet voices of boys: for those change on the slightest suspicion, and these alter in the course of a night. Give not your heart to her who has a thousand lovers; but if you should bestow it on her, be prepared for a separation.

RULE X.

Reveal not to a friend every secret that you possess, for how can you tell but what he may some time or other become your enemy. Likewise inflict not on an enemy every injury in your power, for lie may afterwards become your friend. The matter wlucli you wish to preserve as a secret, impart it not to any one, although he may be worthy of confidence, for no one will be so true to your secret as yourself.

It is safer to be silent than to reveal one’s secret to any one, and telling him not to mention it. 0 good man! stop the water at the spring-head, for when it is in full stream you cannot arrest it. You should never speak a word in secret, which may not be related in every company.

The territory of Manasses

The Egyptians bought them off, and they turned back; however, they possessed themselves of a portion of Palestine, and have given their name to one town, Scythopolis, in the territory of Manasses. This was in the last days of the Jewish monarchy, shortly before the captivity. At length Cyaxares got rid of them by treachery; he invited the greater number of them to a banquet, intoxicated, and massacred them. Nor was this the termination of the troubles, of which they were the authors; and I mention the sequel, because both the office which they undertook and their manner of discharging it, their insubordination and their cruelty,

are an anticipation of some passages in the early history of the Turks. The Median King had taken some of them into his pay, made them his huntsmen, and submitted certain noble youths to their training. Justly or unjustly they happened one day to be punished for leaving the royal table without its due supply of game: without more ado, the savages in revenge murdered and served up one of these youths instead of the venison which had been expected of them, and made forthwith for the neighbouring kingdom of Lydia. A war between the two states was the consequence.

But to return to Dariusit is said to have been in retaliation for these excesses that he resolved on his expedition against the Scythians, who, as I have mentioned, were in occupation of the district between the Danube and the Don. For this purpose he advanced from Susa in the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf, through Assyria and Asia Minor to the Bosphorus, just opposite to the present site of Constantinople, where he crossed over into Europe. Thence he made his way, with the incredible number of 700,000 men, horse and foot, to the Danube, reducing Thrace, the present Bumelia, in his way. When he had crossed the stream, he was at once in Scythia; but the Scythians had adopted the same sort of strategy, which in the beginning of this century was practised by their successors against Napoleon.