The First Seven Sultans of the Ottoman Dynasty [pp. 42-64]

46 THE FIRST SEVEN SULTANS [January,
to watch it, distress it, and to be ready for some opportunity,.
by stratagem, or surprise, to rush in.
The Governor of Broosa now became alarmed, and incited the
Governors of Edrenas, Modenas, Kete, and Kestil, to go out and;
meet him. They were cut to pieces. IHe of Ket6 fled to the
stronghold of Onilabad. Osman summoned the governor to give
him up; which he consented to do, on condition that Osman
would covenant never to cross the river Rlyndocus. This he
solemnly bound himself to observe, but was inmmediately found
ravaging on the other side, having gogne round it and not crossed
over it. He had now cut his way to the shores of the Marmora,
and taken possession of the Island Kololeumos, opposite the gulf
of Modania, from whence, on a clear day, the spires and domes
of Constantinople could be discerned in the horizon.
All this did not rouse the Greeks to any noble and adequate
effort to avert their coming doom. The Emperor Andronicus
Palaeologus had a sister, Marie, who seemed to be his chief resource in any emergency. IHIe had already thrice affianced her for
reasons of state, and he now offered her to the Grand Khan of
the Moguls, if he would drive back the Turks. The Khan accepted the offer, and threatened Osman, who answered by seizing Tricokea, very important to Nice, and Subludja on the base
of Mount Olympus. He also extended his raids down the Sokarius and Lake Lebandja, and seized all the strong places to
within a few miles of Nicomedia. HIe next turned his attention
to Broosa. This beautiful city and very strong place, according
to Pliny, was built by Prusios, King of Bithynia, under the immediate direction of Hannibal, who had fled to him for refuge
from the Romans. Its abundant waters, the richness of the
plain before it, the beauty and magnificence of its scenery, and
its being the capital-of the great province of Bithynia, all con-.
spired to make it a brilliant prize, both to the aged Osmrnan and
his son, the youthful Orkhon. The governor was a brave man,
and he prepared to make a desperate defence. But before a
blow was struck, an imperial order from Andronicus required
him to surrender the city to Orkhon. The conditions were, leave
to the inhabitants to depart with their effects to Ghemlik, and
the payment of 30,000 ducats as a ransoma from pillage. The
memory of this infamous surrender of the finest city of Asia
Minor, and the equally infamous ransom, was perpetuated in a