382 DESTEUCTION OF THE GEEEK EMPIEE were preserved from the great danger which threatened them. 1 Mahomet published an edict within a few weeks of the capture of the city, that all of the former inhabitants who had paid ransom, or who were ready to enter into an agree- ment with their masters to pay it within a fixed period, should be considered free, be allowed to live in the city, and should for a time be exempt from taxes. Phrantzes states 2 that even on the third day after the capture an order was issued allowing those to return who had fled from the city and who were in hiding, promising that they should not be molested. Upon the question whether on such return they would, as Critobulus relates, have to pay ransom Phrantzes is silent. A few weeks later, after his visit to Adrianople, Mahomet sent orders to various parts of his empire to despatch families of Christians, Jews, and Turks to repeople the city. He endeavoured to allure Greeks and other workmen by employing them on public works, notably in the construction of a palace — for which, Critobulus rightly says, he had chosen the most beautiful site in the city, namely, at Seraglio Point — on the construction of the fortress of the Seven Towers around the Golden Gate, and at the repairs of the Inner Wall. He ordered the Turks to allow their slaves to take part in this work, so that they might earn money not only to live but to save enough for their ransom. 3 Toleration Mahomet's most important step towards conciliation was tLnity S " to decree the toleration of Christian worship and to allow decreed. ^ e Church to retain its organisation. As George Scholarius had been the favourite of the Greeks who had refused to accept the Union with Kome, Mahomet ordered search for him. After much difficulty, he was found at Adrianople, a slave in the house of a pasha, kept under confinement as a prisoner, but treated with distinction. His master had recognised, or had learned, that his captive was a man of exceptional talent. He was sent to the sultan, who was already well disposed towards him on account of his renown 1 Crit. lxxv. 2 Phrantzes, 304. 3 Crit. bk. ii. ch. i.
