es, for the families who dwelt in the hills were often at
deadly feud with each other; the men shot each other down if they met;
and it ended in whole families of men living entirely within their castle
walls, and never going out except armed to the teeth on purpose to fight,
while all the business of life was carried on by the women, whom no one
on either side attempted to hurt. The beautiful buildings in the cities
were going to decay faster than ever, in especial the Parthenon. When it
had lost its roof it was of no further use as a storehouse, so it was
only looked on as a mine of white marble, and was broken down on all
sides. The English Earl of Elgin obtained leave from the Turkish
Government to carry away those carvings from it which are now in the
British Museum, and only one row of beautiful pillars from the portico of
the Temple has been left standing.

As the Russians had been converted to Christianity by the clergy of
Constantinople, and belonged to the same Church, the Greeks naturally
looked most there for help; but they were not well treated by the great
empire, which seemed to think the chief use of them was to harass the
Turks, and keep them from attacking Russia. Thus, in 1770, the Russians
sent 2000 men to encourage a rising of the Mainots in the Morea, but not
enough to help them to make a real resistance; and the Greeks, when they
had a little advantage, were always so horridly cruel in their revenge on
their Turkish prisoners as to disgrace the Christian name, and provoke a
return. In 1790, again, the Suliot Greeks of Albania sent to invite
Constantine, the brother of the Czar of Russia, to be king of Greece, and
arranged a rising, but only misery came of it. The Russians only sent a
little money, encouraged them to rise, and left them to their fate. The
Turkish chief, Ali Pasha, who in his little city of Yanina had almost
become a king independent of the Sultan, hunted them down; and the
Suliots, taking refuge among the rocks, fought to the death, and killed
far more than their own number. In one case the Turks surprised a
wedding-party, which retreated to a rock with a precipice behind. Here
the women waited and watched till all the men had been slain, and then
let themselves be driven over the precipice rather than be taken by the
Turks.

[Picture: Female figures]

CHAP. XLIV.--THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 1815.

[Picture: Decorative ch