.) Haud diu gavisus eo principe fuit urbis Muslemus, (Abulfeda, p.
127.)]

[Footnote 14: Both Nicephorus and Theophanes agree that the siege of
Constantinople was raised the 15th of August, (A.D. 718;) but as the
former, our best witness, affirms that it continued thirteen months, the
latter must be mistaken in supposing that it began on the same day
of the preceding year. I do not find that Pagi has remarked this
inconsistency.]

[Footnote 1411: The Tarikh Tebry embellishes the retreat of Moslemah
with some extraordinary and incredible circumstances. Price, p.
514.--M.]

[Footnote 15: In the second siege of Constantinople, I have followed
Nicephorus, (Brev. p. 33-36,) Theophanes, (Chronograph, p. 324-334,)
Cedrenus, (Compend. p. 449-452,) Zonaras, (tom. ii. p. 98-102,)
Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen, p. 88,) Abulfeda, (Annal. Moslem. p. 126,) and
Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 130,) the most satisfactory of the Arabs.]

In the two sieges, the deliverance of Constantinople may be chiefly
ascribed to the novelty, the terrors, and the real efficacy of the
Greek fire. [16] The important secret of compounding and directing this
artificial flame was imparted by Callinicus, a native of Heliopolis
in Syria, who deserted from the service of the caliph to that of the
emperor. [17] The skill of a chemist and engineer was equivalent to the
succor of fleets and armies; and this discovery or improvement of the
military art was fortunately reserved for the distressful period, when
the degenerate Romans of the East were incapable of contending with the
warlike enthusiasm and youthful vigor of the Saracens. The historian who
presumes to analyze this extraordinary composition should suspect
his own ignorance and that of his Byzantine guides, so prone to the
marvellous, so careless, and, in this instance, so jealous of the truth.
From their obscure, and perhaps fallacious, hints it should seem that
the principal ingredient of the Greek fire was the naphtha, [18] or
liquid bitumen, a light, tenacious, and inflammable oil, [19] which
springs from the earth, and catches fire as soon as it comes in contact
with the air. The naphtha was mingled, I know not by what methods or in
what proportions, with sulphur and with the pitch that is extracted from
evergreen firs. [20] From this mixture, which produced a thick smoke and
a loud explosion, proceeded a fierce and obstinate flame, which not only
rose in perpendicular ascent, but likewise burnt with equ