216 THE IMPERIAL FLEET SAILS, A.M. 5295. P small and great, besides one hundred ships which went out from Italy; the like was not seen in the seas of Tunis since it became a nation*. 877. And Barbarossa observed the thing: for whatever was done in Italy and Spain, it was told unto him exactly, day by day. And he also gathered together a host and horsemen, Arabians in multitudes, besides the six thousand Turks, men of valor, whom he had brought over. And the night was unto them for watching, and the day for labort. And he had about six thousand men [p] captives, who made trenches round about. And he builded in Goletta§ a fortress and bulwarks of cunning workmanship, to shoot therefrom with stones, and with arrows, and with cannon. And his renown went out far and wide, for he helped marvellously, yea, mightily. 878. And the ships of the emperor went out from Genoa, and from the rest of the cities of Italy, at the beginning of the month of April two hundred and ninety-five, in the year one thousand five hundred and thirty-five, and they went unto Sardinia, and the Marquess del Guasto was head over them. And they sojourned there until the emperor came, and the soul of the people *Exod. iv. 24. Neh. iv. 16. + Gen. xxxvii. 11. גוליטה $ ቦ ALESSANDRO DEI MEDICI. 217 was much discouraged because of the way*, for the sea wrought and was tempestuoust. But Andrea Doria went unto Barcelona to bow before the emperor, and abode there about a month of days, until the rest of the ships were gathered together, and the soldiers who went with him. 879. And the ships of the Ishmaelites came into the seas of Genoa to see the nakedness of the land§; and they took captives, and returned unto their country. Also the man Lewis Prisinda||, who brought about the covenant between the emperor and the king of Tunis, was taken in their pits; for the Ishmaelites that went with him, sold him unto Barbarossa, who put him into prison. 880. And many of the nobles of Florence besought the emperor after the death of Clement, to take off from them the yoke of Alessandro dei Medici, who had spilled their blood like water, and made himself altogether a prince over them** which was not according to the covenant which they made with them. And also some of his kinsmen and of their family, sought for this matter††; and they could not speak peaceably unto him‡‡. And Num. xxi. 4. .פריסינרה || ** Num. xvi. 13. Gen. xxxvii. 4. ↑ Jonah i. 11. § Gen. xlii. 9. ¶ Lam. iv. 20. tt viz. The deposition of Alessandro. 218 IPPOLITO DEI MEDICI. P they went to speak unto the emperor when he was at Barcelona, and to entreat before him, for the city which was tributary, until that day. And he said unto them, "I will go and return, and that which the Lord will put in my mouth, that I will take heed to speak*." And also the Cardinal Ippolito dei Medici went to speak unto the emperor, to intreat him for his people. And it came to pass, when he was at Itrit, that he fell sick and died, for they gave him deadly poison to drink, by command of Alessandro the duke, because he presumed in his heart to got. 881. And the emperor and Andrea Doria and the best of the nobles of Spain, whose hearts were willing to go, went to sea in ships, at the end of the third month. And they went along the coast of Sardinia, and came unto Cagliari on the thirteenth day of the month June, which is the fourth month. And they found there ships of Italy; and the Marquess del Guasto, the chief of the host of the emperor, went to bow before him, and to speak with him there. And the land and the sea clave asunder at the voice of the battering-rams, and the high-sounding trumpets||; and they rejoiced together on that day. And Num. xxii. 38; xxiii. 12. Num. xvi. 31; xxxi. 5. .איטרי + .קאלייארי $ P BARBAROSSA SIXTY-SIX YEARS OLD. 219 the men removed thence, and went into the seas of Tunis on the fifteenth of the same month. And the report was heard at Tunis, and the country trembled, for the fear of the emperor fell upon them. 882. And Barbarossa rode about in the streets of the town, and spake unto the hearts of the men of the city and to the captains of his hosts, and their spirit revived*, for he was wise and a mighty man of valor in war, both by sea and land. And he was sixty-six years old, and his eyes were not shut from looking into all this†, and the beginning of his kingdom were two galleys, and the Lord was with him, and he was a prosperous man, and a wild man, his hand was against every man, and every man's hand was against him, until that day. For the stars of his heavens drew back, and he knew it not. 883. And on the sixteenth day of the month on the same day, the emperor and his men went on shore at Porto Farinas, and pitched their tents by the light-house which is near Goletta, and not even a dog moved his tongue against them. And his wise men said unto him, "It is better for us to war against Goletta first, than to enter the city, lest the war might be both before Gen. xlv. 27. Gen. xiv. 12. || Exod xi. 7. + Is. xliv. 18. .פורטו פארינה $ 220 SIEGE OF GOLETTA. and behind us:" and they besieged it about a month of days. And the Turks went out against them, and the Arabs who ride daily upon swift horses, swifter than the leopards and stronger than the lions*; and they warred against them day by day. And the men of the emperor made trenches round about, so that they could not pass over against them, for they hunted their steps that they could not go. And the Turks who were at Goletta threw great stones into the camp of the emperor and into his ships by day and by night, all those days, until they became tired of throwing; but they destroyed only very few, because of the number of their trenches, and by their little understanding; or because they fought from heaven against them, they shut their eyes lest they might see it. 884. And the men of the emperor brought down from the ships seventeen battering-rams of the best battering-rams of brass which they had brought with them, and they also builded a fort near Goletta, and besieged it, and Goletta was besieged. 885. And there came out from Goletta about six hundred Turks, all men, on the twenty-third day of the fourth month. And they fell upon the |