Page:Destruction of the Greek Empire.djvu/343

DISCOED BETWEEN ITALIANS AND GENOESE 303 while the latter, as the possessors of a walled city on the opposite side of the Golden Horn and as the more numerous, considered themselves the superiors of their rivals. The Venetians, on account of their position within the city, were compelled in their own interest either to help the Greeks or to get away. The Genoese claimed to be in an independent position. Each accused the other of the wish to desert the city. The most common charge, and one persisted in by the Charge of Venetians, was that the Genoese were traitors to the city agTifsUhe and to Christianity, and it is difficult to say whether the Genoese - charge is well founded or not. Barbaro, himself a Venetian, seldom loses an opportunity of speaking ill of the Genoese ; but the coarseness and recklessness of his attacks lessen their value. If the charges of treachery depended on his evidence alone, they might be dismissed. But other evidence is at hand. We have seen that the Genoese are alleged to have claimed that they could have burnt the sultan's ships when they made their passage overland and would have done so if they had not been his friends. Leonard, who was a Genoese, evidently believed that they were traitors to Christianity and were playing a double game. ' They ought to have prevented the building of the fortress at Eoumelia- Hissar. But,' he concludes, ' I will keep silence, lest I should speak ill of my own people, whom foreigners may justly condemn.' They are nevertheless condemned by him because they ' did not lend help to the Lord against the mighty.' The evidence in their favour is, however, not weak. First and foremost, John Justiniani was a Genoese. His loyalty and the bravery and labours day and night of the Genoese soldiers were beyond cavil. Ducas himself states that the Genoese sent men from Galata who fought valiantly under Justiniani ; that many of them acted as spies, sold provisions to the Turks, and secretly during the night brought to the Greeks the news they had gathered. The Podesta of Galata, writing shortly after the capture of the city, declares that every available man had been sent across the Horn to the defence of the walls. He protests that he