Heg. 928,

Rhodes is

to an au

The vessels agreed on were faithfully furnished; J.C.1522. and the knights put on board them the remains & 929. of the riches of the Order, and the ornaments The grand of the churches, which they wished to convey master of from the avidity of the Muffulmen. Two days admitted after the capitulation, Achmet having had a con- dience of ference with the grand mafter about the execution ror. of the treaty, this minifter informed him, that Solyman defired to see him. L'ifle Adam had a dislike to the interview; but

it would not have

been prudent to refufe fuch an abfolute van-
quifher, who might retract his word under that
pretext, without its being poffible to make him
repent of it. On the other hand, the knights,
who knew how little the Turks respect the law
of nations, preffed their grand mafter not to trust
himself in the hands of these barbarians; but
L'ifle Adam, accustomed to the greatest dangers,
repaired to the camp of the Turks early in the
morning, without any other escort than a few of
his brethren. Though it was then the most
rigorous feafon of the year, the officers of the
grand feignior left this illuftrious old man, with
all his retinue, expofed to the inclemency of
the weather, 'till the beginning of the night.
They then clothed him in a magnificent veft, as
likewife his followers, and introduced them, with
an interpreter, into the tent of the emperor, who
received them on his throne. Solyman had a
lofty foul.
The refiftance of the knights of

Rhodes,

the empe

J.C.1522. Rhodes, in kindling his wrath, had excited his Heg. 928, &929. admiration. He treated the grand mafter kindly, praised his valour, and faid to him, that the conqueft or the fall of empires was the common play of Fortune; he tried even to prevail on L'ifle Adam to enter into his fervice, reprefenting to him his having just experienced, how little he could depend on the friendship and alliance of the Chriftian princes, and that, if he would embrace the law of Mahomet, he might expect the greatest dignities in the Ottoman empire. The grand mafter, as firm in his faith as attached to his Order, answered the emperor, that he should be unworthy of his favor, if he were capable of accepting his offers. He feized this occafion to defire Solyman to grant the vanquifhed a neceffary protection, and to order, that the knights fhould not be molested in their retreat or their embarcation. The fultan replied, that his word was inviolable; and, as a mark of his protection, he gave him his hand to kifs.

Notwithstanding fuch pofitive promises, a crowd of janiffaries, under pretext of visiting their comrades in garrifon in the town, rushed in unexpectedly five days after the capitulation. They pillaged fome churches, and particularly the infirmary, which was immenfely rich, and where the fick were ferved with as much magnificence as care. They infulted the citizens of Rhodes, and put the houfes of the richest persons

under

A

under contribution. The complaints of the grand mafter put a stop to this disorder. Achmet, who had been a witness of the reception which Solyman had given the knights, ordered the aga of the janiffaries to be told, that his head would answer for the conduct of his men. And indeed the fultan, jealous of his perfonal reputation as much as of the glory of his arms, was defirous that the vanquished fhould carry to all the extremities of the universe, teftimonies of the vanquisher's kindness, and the affurance of his being faithful to his word. In confequence, the diforder was foon repreffed.

C. 1522.

Heg. 928,

& 929.

goes him

Rhodes,

kindly.

Solyman, in order to fecure the tranquility of Solyman Rhodes, refolved to vifit it himfelf, before the felf to knights had left it. After having examined the and treats the grand ruins of these redoubtable fortifications, which mater were no longer any thing but heaps of ftones and afhes, before which, even by the confeffion of the Turks, more than forty thousand soldiers had fallen by the hands of fix thousand, the emperor would fain enter the palace of the grand mafter. L'ifle Adam went out to meet his vanquisher. The monarch accofted him in an affable manner; he exhorted him even to fupport with courage this misfortune, and told him that he might peaceably embark every thing belonging to the Order and to the Rhodians who were defirous of following him; that if the time agreed on were not fufficient, he, the emperor, would voluntarily

Heg, 929.

J.C. 1523. voluntarily prolong it. He gave the grand mafter new affurances of an inviolable fidelity in the execution of the capitulation; then turning to Achmet, he said: "It is not without some pain "that I oblige this Chriftian, at his age, to go "out of his house.”

leaves

after the

four thou

L'ifle Adam did not abufe the favor granted him by his enemy. Having learned that he was preparing to return in two days to Conftantinople, the grand master, that he might not remain at the mercy of those who should command at Rhodes in the abfence of the emperor, haftened his embarcation, which was made in the night between the last day of December 1522, and the Solyman first of January 1523. Four thoufand Rhodians, Rhodes, men, women, and children, refolved to escape the knights & dominion of these barbarians. They embarked fand Rho- with the knights and attached themfelves to the embarked. fortune of the Order. The precipitation and disorder of this flight presented a moving fpectacle; nothing was heard but cries, murmurs, and complaints. The knights loft a fine fovereignty; and the Rhodians regretted a fortunate climate, where the fertility of the foil and the falubrity of the air had furnished them with a livelihood both plentiful and ferene. Almoft every one lamented a friend or relation abandoned to the yoke of the Muffulmen. An inhabitant of Rhodes, unfortunately of a too illustrious birth, would willingly have followed these fugi

dians are

Heg. 929.

tives. This was a fon of prince Zizim, the bro- 1.C. 1523. ther, of the emperor Bajazet II. who, the reader must remember, fought an afylum in Rhodes, and afterward perished by the treachery of pope Alexander VI. This prince, obliged to leave the island, left an infant fon there, who was brought up and inftructed in the Chriftian religion. He married and had two fons. This family, though respected by the knights, lived at Rhodes in retirement, and almoft forgotten. On the news of the fiege, the fon of Zizim flattered himself with remaining confounded in the crowd of Greeks; but Solyman was ignorant of nothing that could intereft him. He discovered the afylum of the nephew of his grandfather, and took care how he let him efcape. When they had fecured this unfortunate prince, his wife, and children, they asked them, if they perfifted in the Christian religion. All having declared that they would live and die Chriftians; the fultan feized this pretext to cut off every shoot of this adverse branch; he ordered all four to be beheaded, and fet out the next day for Conftantinople, after having affured himself of the departure of the knights.

regulations

admini

Solyman, on his return to Conftantinople, He makes determined to employ himself on government. both for the He caused several cadis to be punished, who had ftration of been guilty of partiality in the adminiftration of the finan justice, or fraud in the receipt of the public

ces.