90 CARNOT. 



modifications in the system of fortification, as to the 

 nature of attack and defence. By the aid of this inven- 

 tion and by that of guns of various kinds, which arose 

 from it, the besieger, while still at a great distance, could 

 breach the walls by his artillery. On the other hand, 

 the besieged gained the means of annoying the enemy 

 long before he had reached the walls by his covert ways. 

 Vast banks then rested against the walls, on which the 

 largest guns could be easily worked. Thence arose the 

 necessity of giving to the walls thus destined an immense 

 and expensive thickness, that they might resist the 

 thrust of these accumulations of earth. They at the 

 same time protected the outward base of the rampai'ts 

 towards the open country, by banks ingenfously contrived 

 so as to agree with the undulations of the ground. By 

 thus defilading the ramparts, they deprived the besieger 

 of the possibility of making a breach from afar ; they 

 obliged him to approach very near to the body of the 

 place, before he could expect much effect from his cannon 

 against the walls of the besieged surmounted with guns. 

 It is recounted that Soliman II. held a consultation 

 with his generals, relative to the best way of besieging 

 Rhodes. One among them, an experienced man, ex- 

 plained the difficulties of the enterprise. The only 

 answer the Sultan made was : " Advance up to me, but 

 remember that if thou puttest only the point of thy foot 

 on the carpet in the midst of which I am sitting, thy 

 head shall fall." After some hesitation the Ottoman 

 general thought best to raise the fearful carpet, and roll 

 it on itself, in proportion as he advanced. He thus 

 safely got closely up to his master, who then exclaimed : 

 " I have now nothing further to teach thee ; thou know- 

 est the art of besieging." Such is, in fact, the fi^ithful 



