PAETISAN CHAEGES AGAINST HIM 347 Genoese, who speaks of Justiniani with warm admiration, is hardly less severe upon him in regard to his manner of leaving the fight. He declares that, as he had at first shown courage, now he displayed cowardice. He ought to have borne the pain and remained, or at least to have appointed some one in his place. The spirit of his followers was broken by his desertion. The Podesta of Pera, also a Genoese, seems himself to have condemned his departure. He says the enemy was opposed right manfully, but Justiniani deserted his gate, and withdrew to the sea, and by that gate the Turks entered without resistance. Eemembering that this is the testimony of the chief Genoese official against the great Genoese captain, it may be regarded as reflecting the general opinion of the time. 1 We, however, may well remember that Justiniani had remained in the city with his men, had worked day and night at the repairs of the walls, had, by the testimony of all, been the great organiser of the defence, and, knowing that he died of his wounds, may be charitable enough to believe that he did not desert his post except under the pressure of pain too great to be endured. It is beyond doubt that his departure demoralised both the foreigners who remained and the brave little band of Greeks who had borne with them the brunt of the fighting. Leonard asserts that when his countrymen saw themselves without a leader, they began to abandon their posts. Meanwhile the emperor, behind the stockade, was en- Emperor deavouring to rally his men, and fighting with a courage r Si y to defenders 1 Philip the Armenian, who was probably present in the city, states of that Justiniani and his men deserted their stations and that thus the city stockade - was lost (pp. 675-6). Eiccherio, while speaking of the wound as severe, declares that Justiniani promised to return, and attributes the departure of many of his followers to the fact that the postern gate, which he had required to be opened for his departure, suggested the idea of flight to his men. In other words it created a panic (p. 960). The contemporaries who excuse Justi- niani are Cardinal Isidore (Lamentatio, p. 677 : 4 Ne caeteros deterreret, remedium quaerens clam sese pugnae subduxit ') and Leonard, who both state that he went away secretly so as not to discourage his followers. Tetaldi further declares that he left his command to two Genoese. Leonard and the Podesta wrote while the impression of the fall and the sack of the city were too recent to enable them to give a cool judgment on Justiniani's conduct : the latter dating his letter June 23, and the archbishop August 16.
