128 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. emperors do not sacrifice themselves — stands well alongside of the devotion of Leonidas. The poets of the hymn of liberty may well reverence the memory of the three hundred who died for liberty, but the poets of the Greek people have by no means forgotten Constantine Dragazes, the autocrat who sacrificed himself for his country. Suddenly at two o'clock during the night of Tuesday, the 29th of May, 1453, began the last fight, the death agony of the Byzantines. While throughout the city the alarm bells of all the churches were ringing, and while in the churches themselves the women lay prostrate before the altars in fervent prayers of despair, the Greeks and Latins succeeded fortunately in warding off the first charge of the Osmans. The second at- tack, accompanied by the sound of kettle-drums and directed against the Romanos gate where the emperor himself was commanding, was like- wise repulsed, with heavy losses to the Osmans. Futile also were the efforts of the marine soldiers along the docks. Then at last Mohammed or- dered his best troops, the janizaries, to the attack which was preceded and sustained by the terrific fire of the largest pieces of artillery. Still the besieged stood firm, although the combat repeat-
