the resources of all the neighbouring districts, and was thus able to keep his army well supplied. If, therefore, he could beat the Byzantines on the sea, he was sure of final success. He must, however, have had to pay dearly for it. Of his ships, he lost a great number by the sudden and skilful attacks of the besieged, whose practised divers contrived to attach ropes to them under water, and to haul them in as prizes to the city's harbour. When their own vessels needed repair, they did not spare the timbers of their houses, and even the ladies willingly parted with their hair, as those of Carthage are said to have done, for the manufacture of cables. When their walls were threatened with assault, they drove back the enemy with stones dragged out of the public buildings, and even hurled on them statues of bronze, whole and entire. It must indeed have been a bad time for those treasures of art in which Byzantium was so rich. The citizens had clearly made up their minds to spare neither themselves nor their most precious possessions, but to fight on to the dreadful end. It was some time before they were distressed by scarcity. At last they were reduced to chewing leathern hides soaked in water, and finally, it is said, to the dire and horrible extremity in which the weak become literally the prey of the strong. Some attempted an escape from these horrors, and taking advantage of a violent storm, ventured into their boats, resolved to perish or to get supplies of food. But the enemy pounced with his galleys on the unhappy vessels, which were dangerously overcrowded, and, instead of anything like an engagement, there was a mere work of
