e bade his friends
hasten to the defence, saying he should soon be able to follow. When the
Turks saw his banner, they thought he must be there, and fled, losing
many men in the narrow mountain roads; but the Greeks had only just
brought back the news of their success, when their great leader died.
His horse loved him so much that it would not allow itself to be touched
by any other person, became wild and fierce, and died in a few weeks'
time. The Albanians could not hold out long without their gallant chief;
and when the Turks took Alyssio, the body of Castriotes was taken from
its grave, and the bones were divided among his enemies, who wore them as
charms in cases of gold and silver, fancying they would thus gain a share
of his bravery.

The Turkish empire thus included all Greece on the mainland, but the
Greeks were never really subdued. On all the steep hills were castles or
convents, which the Turks were unable to take; and though there were
Turkish Beys and Pashas, with soldiers placed in the towns to overawe the
people, and squeeze out a tribute, and a great deal more besides, from
the Greek tradesmen and farmers, the main body of the people still
remembered they were Greeks and Christians. Each village had its own
church and priest, each diocese its bishop, all subject to the Patriarchs
of Constantinople; and the Sultans, knowing what power these had over the
minds of the people, kept them always closely watched, often imprisoned
them, and sometimes put them to death. The islands for the most part
were still under Venice, and some of the braver-spirited young men became
Stradiots in the Venetian service; but too many only went off into the
mountains, and became robbers and outlaws there, while those who lived a
peaceable life gave way under their miseries to the two greatest faults
there had always been in the Greek nature, namely, cheating and lying.
They were so sharp and clever that the dull Turks were forced to employ
them, so that they grew rich fast; and then, as soon as the Pasha
suspected them of having wealth, however poor they seemed to be, he would
seize them, rob them, or kill them to get their money; and, what was
worse, their daughters were taken away to be slaves or wives to these
Mahommedans. The clergy could get little teaching, and grew as rude and
ignorant as their flocks; for though the writings of the great teachers
of the early Church were laid up in the libraries in the convents, no