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THE GOOD AND THE EVIL IN HIM 397 made him a successful one, but his ambition, which was spasmodically great — which meditated the conquest of Naples, an expedition against Eome, and other conquests, as stages in his great design of conquering the world 1 — wanted pertinacity and was joined to an emotional, almost a senti- mental, nature. He relieved his loneliness and friendless- ness by hard work, study, and the companionship of artists and learned men. Cantemir calls him the most glorious prince who ever occupied the Ottoman throne, but adds that he did not listen to the voice of conscience, and that he broke his word without any hesitation when it seemed politic so to do. Chalcondylas speaks of him as great in intellect, in conquest, and in cruelty. Halil Ganem says, with truth, that by his military exploits Mahomet occupies the first place in the Ottoman annals. He impartially states also that he shed abundance of blood to secure peaceful possession of the throne, and for his pleasure. ' To shed blood became for this grand monarch a function which he exercised with an incredible maestria? 2 His long series of victorious conquests and especially his success in the capture of the city have caused him to be known in Ottoman history as the Fetieh or Conqueror. In forming a judgment upon the character of a ruler whose reign marks an epoch of importance in the world's history, it is needful to take account of his life and his acts in their entirety : to ask what the man accomplished and with what means ; what were his ideals and how far he realised them. We may recognise that Cromwell was a great ruler notwithstanding Drogheda, and that William the Third was a great statesman in spite of Glencoe, even supposing that he fully approved of that massacre. Taking a broad view of the character of Mahomet, we may observe that his conquests were made by means of over- whelming numbers, that his army from its composition was the most mobile in existence, and that its greatest success was but the final act in a series which had been 1 Zorzo Dolfin, p. 936. 2 Les Sultans Ottomans, pp. 150 and 125.