Pausing to collect himself, Constantine XI pushed away the pile of city-defense maps in front of him, pulled his purple robe tighter, and waited.
君士坦丁十一世暂时收回思绪，推开面前的一堆城防图，裹紧紫袍，静静等待着。
His sense of time was very accurate: The tremor came the moment he expected it, a powerful, violent quake that seemed to originate from deep within the earth. The vibrating silver candelabra hummed, and a wisp of dust that had sat on top of the Great Palace for perhaps a thousand years fell down and drifted into the candle flames, where the motes exploded in tiny sparks.
他的时间感很准确，震动果然准时到来，仿佛来自地心深处，厚重而猛烈。银烛台震得嗡嗡作响，一缕灰尘自顶而下，这灰尘可能已经在达夫纳宫的屋顶上静静地待了上千年。它们落到烛苗里，激出一片火星。这震动是一枚一千二百磅的花岗石质炮弹击中城墙时发出的。
Every three hours — the time it took the Ottomans to reload one of the monstrous bombards designed by the engineer Orban — twelve-hundred-pound stone balls battered the walls of Constantinople. These were the world’s strongest walls: first built by Theodosius II during the fifth century, they had been continually reinforced and expanded, and were the main reason that the Byzantine court had survived so many powerful enemies.
每次间隔三小时，这是奥斯曼帝国的乌尔班巨炮装填一次所需的时间。巨弹击中的是世界上最坚固的城墙，由狄奥多西二世建于公元5世纪，之后不断扩展加固，它是拜占庭人在强敌面前的主要依靠。
But the giant stone balls now gouged openings into the walls with each strike, like the bite of an invisible giant. The emperor could imagine the scene: While the debris from the explosion filled the air, countless soldiers and citizens rushed onto the fresh wound in the walls like a swarm of brave ants under a sky full of dust. They filled in the break with whatever was at hand: bits and pieces taken from other buildings in the city, flaxen-cloth bags of earth, expensive Arabic carpets… He could even imagine the cloud of dust, steeped in the light of the setting sun, drifting slowly toward Constantinople like a golden shroud.
但现在，巨弹每次都能把城墙击开一个大缺口，像被一个无形的巨人啃了一口。皇帝能想象出那幕场景：空中的碎石块还没落下，士兵和市民就向缺口一拥而上，像漫天尘土中一群英勇的蚂蚁。他们用各种东西填堵缺口，有从城内建筑上拆下的砖瓦木块，有装满沙土的亚麻布袋，还有昂贵的阿拉伯挂毯……他甚至能想象出浸透了夕阳金辉的漫天飞尘如何缓慢地飘向城内，像一块轻轻盖向君士坦丁堡的金色裹尸布。
During the five weeks the city had been under siege, these tremors had come seven times a day, spaced as regularly as the strokes of some colossal clock. This was the time and rhythm of another world, the time of heathens. Compared to these tremors, the ringing of the double-headed eagle copper clock in the corner that represented the time of Christendom seemed feeble.
在城市被围攻的五个星期里，这震撼每天出现七次，间隔的时间很均等，像一座顶天立地的巨钟在报时—这是另一个世界的时间，异教徒的时间；与之相比，墙角那座标志基督教世界时间的双头鹰铜钟的钟声听起来格外软弱无力。
The tremors subsided. After a while and with an effort, Emperor Constantine pulled his thoughts back to the reality before him. He gestured to let the guard know that he was ready for his visitor.
震动平息下去好一会儿，君士坦丁才艰难地把思绪拉回现实。示意门前的侍卫让门外等着的人进来。
Phrantzes, one of the emperor’s most-trusted ministers, came in with a slender, frail figure trailing close behind.
大臣法扎兰领着一名瘦弱的女子悄然走进门。
“This is Helena.” Phrantzes stepped aside, revealing the woman.
“陛下，她就是狄奥伦娜。”大臣指指身后的女子说。然后示意躲在他身后的女子走到前面来。
The emperor looked at her. The noblewomen of Constantinople tended to favor clothes bedecked with elaborate decorative elements, while the commoners wore plain, shapeless white garments that draped to the ankles. But this Helena seemed a combination of both. Instead of a tunic embroidered with gold thread, she wore a commoner’s white dress, but over it she draped a luxurious cloak; however, instead of the purple and red reserved for the nobility, the cloak was dyed yellow. Her face was enchanting and sensual, bringing to mind a flower that would rather rot in adoration than fade in solitude.
皇帝一眼就打出了女子的身份。拜占庭上层贵族和下层平民的服饰风格差别很大，通常贵族女服上缀缀满华丽的饰品，平民女子却只是以白色的宽大长衫与连袖外套把自己裹得严严实实，而狄奥伦娜的穿着却是上层的奢华与平民的保守并存：她里面穿着连袖白衫，外面却套着一件华贵的“帕拉”斗篷。这种斗篷本应披在金线刺绣的“丘尼卡”外面；同时，她不敢用象征贵族上层的紫色和红色，那件“帕拉”是黄色的。她的面庞有一种淫荡的妩媚，让人想起宁可美艳地腐烂也不悄然枯萎的花朵——
A prostitute, probably one who did rather well for herself.
一个妓女，混的还不算坏的那种。
Her body trembled. She kept her eyes lowered, but the emperor noticed that they held a feverish glow, hinting at an excitement and zeal rare for her class.
她双目低垂，浑身颤抖，但君士坦丁注意到，她的眼睛像得了热病似的发着光，透出一种她那个阶层的人很少见的兴奋与期待。
“You claim the powers of magic?” the emperor asked. He wanted to conclude this audience as quickly as possible.
“你有魔法？”皇帝问狄奥伦娜，他只想快些把这件事了结。
Phrantzes was usually meticulous. Of the approximately eight thousand soldiers defending Constantinople now, only a small number came from the standing army, and about two thousand were Genoese mercenaries. Phrantzes had been responsible for recruiting the rest, a few at a time, from the city’s inhabitants. Though the emperor wasn’t particularly interested in his latest idea, the capable minister’s standing demanded that he at least be given a chance.
法扎兰是一个稳重踏实的人，现在守城的这八千多名士兵，除去不多的常备军和热那亚的两千雇佣兵，很大一部分都是在这位能干的大臣监督下一点一点从十万市民中紧急征召的。对眼前这事皇帝兴趣不大，只是出于对这位大臣面子的考虑。
“Yes, I can kill the sultan.” Helena’s quiet voice quivered like silk strands in a breeze.
“是的，皇上，我能杀了苏丹。”狄奥伦娜屈膝回答，发颤的声音细若游丝。
Five days earlier, standing in front of the palace, Helena had demanded to see the emperor. When guards tried to push her away, she presented a small package that stunned the guards. They weren’t sure what she was showing them, but they knew it was not something she should have possessed. Instead of being brought to the emperor, she had been held and interrogated about how she had acquired the item. Her confession had been confirmed, and she was then brought to Phrantzes.
五天前，狄奥伦娜在大皇宫门前要求面见皇帝，面对阻拦的卫兵，她突然从胸前掏出一个东西高高举起，卫兵们被那东西镇住了，他们不知道那是什么、从何而来，但肯定那不是寻常之物。狄奥伦娜没有见到皇帝，她被抓起来交给治安官，被拷问那东西是从哪里偷来的，她招供了，他们证实了，然后，她就被送到了法扎兰大臣那里。
Phrantzes now took out the small bundle, unwrapped the flax cloth, and placed the contents on the emperor’s desk.
法扎兰打开手中的一个亚麻布包着的东西，把它小心翼翼地放到皇帝的书案上。
The emperor’s gaze was as stupefied as those of the soldiers five days ago. But unlike them, he knew immediately what he was looking at.
君士坦丁十一世的目光立刻变得与五天前那些第一次看到这东西的士兵一样——与他们不同的是，他知道这是什么。
More than nine centuries earlier, during the reign of Justinian the Great, master craftsmen had cast two chalices out of pure gold, studded with gems and glowing with a beauty that seized the soul. The two chalices were identical save for the arrangement and shapes of the gems. One of the two was kept by successive Byzantine emperors, and the other one had been sealed along with other treasures into a secret chamber in the foundation of Hagia Sophia in 537 C. E., when the great church was rebuilt.
这是一只至屯金的圣杯，上面镶满了宝石，金光中透着晶莹，摄人心魄。圣杯是九百一十六年前查士丁尼大帝时代铸造的，一共两只，除了宝石的形状及分布特征外几乎完全相同，其中一只由历列皇帝保存至今，另一只在公元537年圣索菲亚大教堂重建时，同其他圣物一起放人教堂地基深处一个完全封闭的小密室中。
The glow of the chalice in the Great Palace that the emperor was familiar with had dulled with the passage of time, but the one in front of him now looked so bright it could have been cast only yesterday.
眼前这个显然是后者，因为前一只已经烙上了时间的印痕，变得有些黯淡——当然是与眼前这只对比才能看出来，这只圣杯看上仿佛昨天才铸出来一般崭新。
No one had believed Helena’s confession at first, thinking that she had probably stolen the chalice from one of her rich patrons. Although many knew of the secret chamber under the great church, few knew its exact location. Moreover, the secret chamber was nestled among the giant stones deep in the foundation, and there were no doors or tunnels leading to it. It should have been impossible to enter the chamber without a massive engineering effort.
本来没有人相信狄奥伦娜的话，人们都认为这是她从自己的某个富豪主顾那里偷来的东西，因为虽然很多人知道大教堂下面有密室，但知道精确位置的人很少；而且地基深处的巨大岩石间没有门，甚至连通向密室的通道都没有，不动大工程根本不可能进人。
Four days ago, however, the emperor had ordered the precious artifacts of the city collected in case of Constantinople’s fall. It was really a desperate measure, as he understood very well that the Turks had cut off all routes leading to the city, and there would be nowhere for him to escape with the treasures.
四天前，皇帝考虑到城市，的危局，命令将所有的珍贵文卷和圣物打包，以便紧急时刻能迅速转移。尽管他心里清楚陆路海路都被截断，一旦破城，其实也无处可去。
It had taken thirty laborers working nonstop for three days to enter the secret chamber, whose walls were formed from stones as massive as those in the Great Pyramid of Cheops. In the middle of the chamber was a massive stone sarcophagus sealed shut with twelve thick, crisscrossing iron hoops. It took most of another day to saw through the iron hoops before five laborers, under the gaze of many guards, finally managed to lift the cover off the sarcophagus.
三十个工人花了整整三天的时间才进人密室，他们发现围成密室的石块几乎跟胡夫金字塔上的一样大。圣物都存放在密室中一口厚重的石棺中，石棺月用纵横十二道粗铁箍封死，打开石棺又花了大半天时间。当所有的铁箍，都被锯断，五个工人在周围重兵监视下吃力地移开沉重的石盖。
The onlookers were amazed not by the treasures and sacred objects that had been hidden for almost a thousand years, but by the bunch of grapes placed on top, still fresh.
首先吸住众人目光的不是那已封存千年的圣物和珍宝，而是放在最上面的一串还半新鲜的葡萄！
Helena had claimed to have left a bunch of grapes in the sarcophagus five days ago, and as she had declared, half of the grapes had been eaten, with only seven left on the stem.
狄奥伦娜说，葡萄是她五天前放进去的，而且正如她所说，吃了一半，串上还剩七粒果实。
The workers compared the treasures they recovered against the listing found on the inside of the cover of the stone sarcophagus; everything was accounted for except the chalice. If the chalice hadn’t already been found with Helena, and without her testimony, everyone present would have been put to death even if they all swore that the secret chamber and the sarcophagus appeared intact.
对照镶在棺盖上的一块铜板上刻着的圣物清单，卫兵检查完所有的圣物后，确定少了一只圣杯。如果不是从狄奥伦娜那里找到了圣杯并得到了她的证词，即使在场所有人都证明之前密室和石棺完好无损，也会有人难逃一死。
“How did you retrieve this?” the emperor asked.
“你是怎么把它拿出来的？”皇帝指着圣杯问。
Helena’s body trembled even harder. Apparently, her magic did not make her feel safe. She stared at the emperor with terror-filled eyes, and squeezed out an answer. “Those places… I see them… I see them as…” She struggled to find the right word. “… open…”
狄奥伦娜颤抖得更厉害了，显然，即使她真有魔法，在这里也没有安全感。她惊恐地望着皇帝，好半天才回答：“那些地方。对我来说……对我来说都是……”她吃力地选择着词汇，“都是打开的。”
“Can you demonstrate for me? Take out something from inside a sealed container.”
“那你能在这里做给我看吗，不打开封闭的容器拿出里面的东西？”
Helena shook her head, dread stilling her tongue; she looked to Phrantzes for help.
狄奥伦娜惊恐地摇摇头，说不出话来，只是求助似的望着大臣。
Phrantzes spoke up. “She says that she can only practice her magic in a specific place. But she can’t reveal the location, and no one must be allowed to follow her. Otherwise the magic will lose its power forever.”
法扎兰替她回答：“她说只有到某个地方才能施魔法，她不能说出那个地方，别人也不能跟踪她，否则魔法就会失效，永远失效。”
Helena nodded vigorously.
狄奥伦娜转向皇帝连连点头。
“In Europe, you would already have been burned at a stake,” the emperor said.
皇帝哼了一声，“像她这样的，在欧洲早被烧死了。”
Helena collapsed to the ground and hugged herself. Her small figure looked like a child’s.
狄奥伦娜一下子瘫坐在地上，本来已经很瘦小的身躯缩成一团，看上去像一个小孩。
“Do you know how to kill?” the emperor pressed.
“你会杀人吗？”垒帝转向狄奥伦娜问。
But Helena only trembled. After repeated urgings from Phrantzes, she finally nodded.
狄奥伦娜只是坐在地上不住颤抖。在大臣的催促下，她才点了点头。
“Fine,” the emperor said to Phrantzes. “Test her.”
“那好，”君士坦丁对法扎兰说，“先试试吧。”
Phrantzes led Helena down a long flight of stairs. Torches in sconces along the way cast dim circles of light. Under every torch stood two armed soldiers whose armor reflected the light onto the walls in lively, flickering patterns.
法扎兰领着狄奥伦娜沿一道长长的阶梯向下走去，每隔一段路就有一支插在墙上的火把，在黑暗中照出小块小块的光晕，每支火把下都有一至两名全副武装的士兵，他们的盔甲反射着火光，在暗处的墙上投下跃动的光纹。
Finally, the two arrived at a dark cellar. Helena pulled her cloak tighter around her. This was where the palace stored ice for use during the summers. The cellar held no ice now.
两人最后来到一间阴暗的地堡，寒冷让狄奥伦娜裹紧了斗篷。这里曾是皇宫夏季存放冰块的地方。现在地堡里没有冰决。
A prisoner squatted under the torch in the corner; an Anatolian officer, based on the way he was dressed. His fierce eyes, like a wolf’s, glared at Phrantzes and Helena through the iron bars.
在角落的一支火把下，蹲伏着一个人。他是战俘，从残破的装束看，是奥斯曼帝国的主力安那托利亚军队的一名军官。他很强壮，火光中狼一般地盯着来人。法扎兰和狄奥伦娜在紧锁的铁栏门前停下。
“You see him?” Phrantzes asked.
大臣指指里面的战俘，“看见了？”
Helena nodded.
狄奥伦娜点点头。
Phrantzes handed her a sheepskin bag. “You may leave now. Return with his head before dawn.”
法扎兰把一个羊皮袋递给她，向上指指，“现在走吧，天亮前把他的人头拿给我。”
Helena took out a scimitar from the bag, glinting in the torchlight like a crescent moon. She handed it back to Phrantzes. “I don’t need this.”
狄奥伦娜从羊皮袋中摸出一把土耳其弯刀，像一轮在黑暗中发着冷光的残月。她把刀递还给大臣，“大人，我不需要这个。”
Then she ascended the stairs, her footfalls making no sound. As she passed through the circles of light cast by the torches, she seemed to change shape — sometimes a woman, sometimes a cat — until her figure disappeared.
然后她用斗篷前领半遮住脸，转身沿阶梯向上走去，步伐悄无声息。在两排火把形成的光晕和黑暗中，她仿佛在交替变换外形，时而像人，时而像猫，直到渐渐消失在黑暗中。
Phrantzes turned to one of the officers: “Increase the security around here.” He pointed to the prisoner. “Keep him under constant observation.”
法扎兰目送狄奥伦娜离去，直到她在视野中完全消失，才对身边一名禁卫军官说：“这里要严加守卫。他，”他指指里面的战俘。“一刻也不能放松监视！”
After the officer left, Phrantzes waved his hand, and a man emerged from the darkness, draped in the black robes of a friar.
军官离开后，法扎兰挥挥手，一个人从暗影中走出来，他身披修士的深色披风，刚才恰与黑暗融为一体。
“Don’t get too close,” Phrantzes said. “It’s all right if you lose her, but do not under any circumstances let her discover you.”
“离远点儿，就是跟丢了也没关系，但绝不能让她察觉。”法扎兰低声嘱咐道。
The friar nodded and ascended the stairs as silently as Helena had.
跟踪者点点头，同样无声无息地悄然离去。
That night, Constantine slept no better than he had since the siege of Constantinople began: The jolts from the heavy bombards woke him each time, just as he was about to fall asleep. Before dawn, he went into his study, where he found Phrantzes waiting for him.
像战役开始后的每个夜晚一样。君士坦丁十一世这一夜也没有睡好。敌人的巨炮打击城墙的震动每次都惊醒他，再次人眠时，下一次震动又快到了。天还没亮，他就披衣起身来到书房，却发现法扎兰已经在那里等着了。
He had already forgotten about the witch. Unlike his father, Manuel II, and elder brother, John VIII, Constantine was practical and understood that those who put all their faith in miracles tended to meet with untimely ends.
那个女巫的事他几乎已忘到脑后，与父亲曼努埃尔二世和哥哥约翰八世不同，他更现实一些，知道把一切托付给奇迹的人最终大多死无葬身之地。
Phrantzes beckoned at the door, and Helena entered noiselessly. She looked as frightened as the last time the emperor had seen her, and her hand shook as she lifted the sheepskin bag.
法扎兰向门口挥挥手，狄奥伦娜无声地走了进来。她看上去与第一次来时变化不大，仍处于惊恐和颤抖之中，手中提着一个羊皮袋。
As soon as Constantine saw the bag, he knew that he had wasted his time. The bag was flat, and no blood seeped from it. It clearly didn’t contain the prisoner’s head.
皇帝一看袋子就知道自己在这事上浪费了时间，那袋子瘪瘪的，也没有血迹渗出，显然里面没装着人头。
But the expression on Phrantzes’s face wasn’t one of disappointment. Rather, he looked distracted, confused, as though he was walking while dreaming.
但法扎兰的脸上显然不是一个失败者的表情。他的目光有些恍惚，像在梦游。
“She hasn’t retrieved what we wanted, has she?” the emperor asked.
“她没拿到应该拿的东西吧？”皇帝说。
Phrantzes took the bag from Helena, placed it on the emperor’s desk, and opened it. He stared at the emperor as though he was looking at a ghost. “She almost did.”
法扎兰从狄奥伦娜手中拿过羊皮袋放到书案上，打开来，两眼直勾勾地盯着皇帝，像看到幽灵似的，“陛下，几乎拿到了。”
The emperor looked inside the bag. Something grayish and soft was nestled on the bottom, like old mutton suet. Phrantzes moved the candelabra closer.
皇帝向袋中看去，只见里面装着一块灰色的东西，软软的，像陈年的羊脂。法扎兰把烛台移过来，皇帝看清并认出了那东西。
“It’s the brain of that Anatolian.”
“大脑，那个安那托利亚人的。”
“She cut open his skull?” Constantine glanced at Helena. She trembled in her cloak like a frightened mouse.
“她切开了他的脑壳？”君士坦丁扫了一眼身后的狄奥伦娜，她站在那里裹紧斗篷瑟瑟发抖，目光像一只惊恐的老鼠。
“No, the corpse of the prisoner appeared intact. I had twenty men observe him, five men per watch, keeping him in their sight from different angles. The guards at the cellar door were also on extra alert; not even a mosquito could have entered the space.” Phrantzes paused, as though stricken by his own memories.
“不，陛下，安那托利亚Ax后头部完好无损，全身各处也都完好。我派了二十个人监视他，每次五个轮班，从不同的角度死死盯着他。地窖的守卫也极严，一只蚊子都飞不进去……”法扎兰说着停了下来。好像被自己下面的回忆震惊了。
The emperor nodded at him to continue.
皇帝示意他继续。
“Two hours after she left, the prisoner went into sudden convulsions and fell down dead. Among the observers at the scene were an experienced Greek doctor and veterans of many battles — none could recall anyone dying in this particular manner. An hour later, she returned and showed them this bag. The Greek doctor then cut open the corpse’s skull. It was empty.”
“她走后不到两个小时。安那托利亚人突然全身抽搞，两眼翻自，然后就直挺挺倒地死了。在场的监视者中有一名经脸丰富的希腊医生，还有仃了一辈子仗的老兵。他们都说从来没见过人有这种死相。又过了一个多小时她回来了。拿肴这个东西。这时医生才想起切开死者的头颅一石里面没有大脑，是空的。”
Constantine observed the brain in the bag: It was complete, showing no signs of damage. The fragile organ must have been retrieved with great care. Constantine focused on Helena’s fingers grasping the lapels of her cloak. He imagined the slender fingers reaching forward, picking a mushroom nestled in the grass, picking a fresh blossom from the tip of a branch…
君士坦丁再次仔细观察袋中的大脑。发现它卜分完整。没有什么破裂和报伤。这是人体最脆弱的部分，如此完好一定是被很小心地摘下来的。皇帝吞看狄奥伦娜露在斗篷外的一只手。手指修长纤细，他想象着这双手摘取大脑时的情景。小心冀翼地，像从草丛里摘一朵蘑菇。从枝头上摘一朵小花……
The emperor lifted his gaze up toward the wall, as though observing something rising over the horizon beyond. The palace shook with another pounding from the gigantic bombards, but, for the first time, the emperor did not feel the tremors.
皇帝把目光从袋子里的大脑上移开，抬头向斜上方的墙壁望去，仿佛透过墙壁看到了某个巨大的东西正在天边冉冉升起。巨炮轰击的震动又出现了，第一次，他没有觉察到。
If there really are miracles, now is the time for them to manifest.
如果有神迹，现在是显现的时候了。
Constantinople was in desperate straits, but not all hope was lost. After five weeks of bloody warfare, the enemy had also suffered heavy casualties. In some places, the Turkish bodies were piled as high as the walls, and the attackers were as exhausted as the defenders. A few days ago, a brave fleet from Genoa had broken through the blockade of the Bosporus and entered the Golden Horn, bringing precious supplies and aid. Everyone believed that they were the vanguard of more support from the rest of Christendom.
君士坦丁堡几乎处于绝境，但并没有完全绝望。五个多星期的血战，敌人同样遭到重创，在某些地方，土耳其人的尸体堆得与城垛一样高，他们也已经疲惫不堪。几天前，一支英勇的热那亚船队冲破敌人对海峡的封锁，进人金角湾，送来了宝贵的援兵和给养，人们也都相信这是西欧大规模增援的前锋。
Morale was low among the Ottoman camps. Most commanders secretly wanted to accept the truce terms offered by the Byzantine court and retreat. The only reason the Ottomans had not yet retreated was because of a single man.
奥斯曼帝国阵营中弥漫着一股厌战的情绪，大部分将领都主张答应拜占庭帝国提出的最后条件而撤兵。奥斯曼帝国的败退之所以还没有成为现实。只因为有那个人。
He was fluent in Latin, knowledgeable about the arts and sciences, skilled in warfare; he had not hesitated to drown his brother in a bathtub to secure his own path to the throne; he had decapitated a beautiful slave girl in front of his troops to demonstrate that he could not be tempted by women… Sultan Mehmed II was the axle around which the wheels of the Ottoman war machine revolved. If he broke, the machine would fall apart.
那个人。那个精通拉丁文、博览艺术科学、学识渊博的人；那个明知自己稳继王位，仅仅为了去除隐患就把亲生弟弟溺死在浴盆中的人；那个为了表明自己不好色而把一位美丽女奴在全军面前斩首的人……那个人是庞大凶猛的奥斯曼帝国战车的轮轴，那根轴一断，战车将轰然倒地。
Perhaps a miracle truly has manifested.
也许，神迹真的出现了。
“Why do you want to do this?” the emperor asked. He continued to stare at the wall.
“你为什么要求承担这个使命？”皇帝问，眼睛仍看着斜上方。
“I want to be remembered.” Helena had been waiting for this question.
“我要当圣女。”狄奥伦娜很快回答。显然她早就等着这句问话了。
Constantine nodded. Money or treasure held no allure for this woman; there was no vault or lock that could keep her from what she desired. Still, a prostitute wanted honor.
君士坦丁微微点头。这个理由比较可信，钱或财富对她现在不算什么。全世界的金币她都可探囊取物，但妓女是距圣女最远的女人，这个荣誉对她们是有吸引力的。
“You are a descendant of the Crusaders?”
“你是十字军的后代？”
“Yes.” She paused, and carefully added, “Not the fourth.”
“是，皇上，我的先祖参加过最后一次东征稍顿，狄奥伦纳那又小心地补上一句，”不是第四次。“
The emperor placed his hand on Helena’s head, and she knelt.
皇帝把手放到狄奥伦娜的头上，她软软地跪了下来。
“Go, child. If you kill Mehmed II, you will be the savior of Constantinople, and be remembered as a saint forever. A holy woman of the Holy City.”
“去吧，孩子。杀了穆罕默德二世，你将拯救圣城，你会成为圣女，被万人敬仰。”
At dusk, Phrantzes led Helena onto the walls near the Gate of St. Romanus.
黄昏时，法扎兰领着狄奥伦娜登上了圣罗马努斯门处的城墙。
On the ground near the walls, the sands had turned black with the blood of the dying; corpses were strewn all over as though they had rained down from the sky. A bit farther away, white smoke from the giant cannons drifted over the battlefield, incongruously light and graceful. Beyond them, the Ottoman camps spread as far as the eye could see, banners as dense as a forest flapping in the moist sea breeze under the lead-gray sky.
放眼望去。战场尽收眼底。近处，在已被血浸成褐黑色的沙地上。尸横遍地。仿佛刚刚下了一场死人雨；稍远处，刚刚齐射的臼炮发出的大片白色硝烟正飘过战场，成为这里唯一轻灵的东西；再远处，在铅灰色的天幕下，奥斯曼军队的营帐一直散布到目力所及之处，如林的新月旗在潮湿的海风中猎猎飘扬。
In the other direction, Ottoman warships covered the Bosporus like a field of black iron nails securing the blue surface of the sea.
另一个方向的博斯普鲁斯海峡，奥斯曼帝国的战舰布满海面。远看像一片黑色的铁钉，把蓝色的海面钉死了，使其无法在风中起伏。
Helena closed her eyes. This is my battlefield; this is my war.
狄奥伦娜看着这一切，陶醉地闭上了双眼：这是我的战场了，这是我的战争了。
Legends from her childhood, stories of her ancestors recounted by her father, surfaced in her mind: In Europe, on the other side of the Bosporus, there was a village in Provence. One day, a cloud descended on the village, and an army of children walked out of the cloud, red crosses glowing brightly from their armor and an angel leading them. Her ancestor, a man from the village, had answered their call and sailed across the Mediterranean to fight for God in the Holy Land. He had risen through the ranks and become a Templar Knight. Later, he had come to Constantinople and met a beautiful woman, a holy warrior; they had fallen in love and given birth to this glorious family…
小时候父亲无数次讲述的祖先的传奇又在她脑海中浮现：在海峡对面的欧洲，在普罗旺斯的一处农庄，有一天天降祥云，云中开来一支孩子的军队，在他们威武的盔甲上。十字发出红光，一个天使率领着他们。在他们的召唤下，先祖加人了。他们渡过地中海来到圣地。为上帝而战。先祖在圣战中成长为圣殿骑士，后来在君士坦丁堡遇到一位美丽的圣女骑士。他们坠人爱河。由此诞生了这个伟大的家族……
Later, when she was older, she had found out the truth. The basic frame of the story was true: Her ancestor had indeed been a member of the Children’s Crusade. It was right after the plague had swept through the villages, and he had joined in the hope of filling his belly. When the man had gotten off the boat, he found himself in Egypt, where he and more than ten thousand other children were sold as slaves. After many years of bondage, he escaped and drifted to Constantinople, where he did indeed meet a woman warrior, a holy knight. However, her fate wasn’t much better than his.
长大后，狄奥伦娜渐渐知道了些真相：故事的大框架倒是本没变，她的先祖确实加人了童子军，那时西欧黑死病刚过。田园一片荒芜。加入童子军只是为了混一口饭吃不至于饿死。不过。先性从未今加过任何圣战，因为一下船他便和其他一万多个孩子都被钉上脚镣卖身为奴。多年后才侥幸逃脱，流浪到君士坦丁拱。在那叭他也确实遇到圣女骑士团中的一个比他大许多的女兵。只不过她的命运一点儿都不比他强。
The Byzantine Empire had been hoping for the elite troops of Christendom to fight off the infidels. Instead, they received an army of frail women as poor as beggars. The Byzantine court refused to supply these “holy warriors,” and the women knights became prostitutes.
占庭人眼巴巴地盼着西欧的梢兵来对付异教徒。不想来兰坚醛一批像叫花子似的手无缚鸡之力的女孩子。他们一气之下中断了所有供给，结果圣女们纷纷沦为娼妓。其中的一位后来成了狄奥伦娜的祖奶奶……
For more than a hundred years, Helena’s “glorious” family had barely eked out a living. By her father’s time, the family’s poverty had grown even more acute. A hungry Helena picked up the trade practiced by her own illustrious ancestor, but when her father found out, he had beaten her, telling her that he would kill her if he ever caught her again… unless she took her clients back home so that he could negotiate a better price and keep the money “for her.”
一百多年来，狄奥伦娜这个光荣的家族其实从来食不果腹，到父亲这一代更是一贫如洗。饥饿使狄奥伦娜自作主张干起了祖奶奶那一行，父亲知道后痛揍了她一顿。说再发现她干这个就杀了她。除非……除非她把客人领到家里来，由他与对方议价、收钱。
Helena left home and began to live and ply her trade on her own. She had been to Jerusalem and Trabzon, and even visited Venice. She was no longer hungry, and she dressed in beautiful clothes. But she knew that she was no different from a blade of grass growing in the mud by the road: indistinguishable from the muck, as travelers trampled over her.
狄奥伦娜从此离开家，继续自己的风尘生涯，除了君士坦丁堡，她还到过耶路撒冷和特拉布宗，甚至还乘船到过威尼斯。她不再挨饿，也有好衣服穿，但她知道自己是一株倒在淤泥中的小草，在路人不断的践踏下，早已与淤泥混为一体了。
And then, God granted Helena a miracle.
直到神迹出现，或者说她闯人了神迹。
Even then, she didn’t model herself after Joan of Arc, another woman who had been divinely inspired. What had the Maid of Orléans received from God? Only a sword. But God had given Helena something that would make her into the holiest woman besides Mary…
对于二十多年前在欧洲战争中出现的那个圣女———贞德，狄奥伦娜不以为然，贞德不过是得到了一把自天而降的剑，但上帝赐给狄奥伦娜的东西却可以使她成为仅次于圣母玛丽亚的女人。
“Look, that’s the camp of el-Fātiḥ, the Conqueror.” Phrantzes pointed away from the Gate of St. Romanus.
“看，那就是法齐赫1的营帐。”法扎兰指着圣罗马努斯门正汉寸的方向说。
Helena glanced over and nodded.
狄奥伦娜只是朝那个方向扫了一眼，点了点头。
Phrantzes handed her another sheepskin bag. “Inside are three portraits of him from different angles and in different clothing. I’ve also given you a knife — you’ll need it. We need his entire head, not just the brain. It’s best if you wait until after nightfall. He won’t be in his tent during the day.”
法扎兰又递给她一个羊皮袋，“这里面有三张他的画像，不同角度，穿不同的衣服。还有，刀子也要带着，这次不止要他的大脑。而是要他的整颗人头。最好晚上动手，白天大部分时间他不在那里。”
Helena accepted the bag. “You remember my warning.”
狄奥伦娜接过羊皮袋，“我也请大人记住我的话。”
“Of course.”
“当然，这你放心。”
Don’t follow me. Don’t enter the place where I must go. Otherwise the magic will stop working, forever.
狄奥伦娜是指她的警告：不得跟踪她，更不能进人她去的地方，否则魔法无法将永远失效。
The spy who had followed her last time, in the guise of a friar, had told Phrantzes that Helena had been very careful, turning and looping back on her own path multiple times until she arrived in the Blachernae quarter, the part of the city where bombardment from the Turkish cannons was heaviest.
上次的跟踪者告诉法扎兰，狄奥伦娜离开地堡后他就远远地跟着，她很小心，七拐八拐，最后去了奥多修斯墙北部的布拉赫内区。大臣听后有些意外，那是敌人炮火火最猛烈的区域。除了作战的军人，没人敢去那里。
The spy had watched as Helena entered the ruins of a minaret that had once been part of a mosque. When Constantine had given the order to destroy the mosques in the city, this particular tower had been left alone because, during the last plague, a few diseased men had run inside and died, and no one wanted to get too close. After the siege began, a stray cannonball had blown away the top half of the minaret.
跟踪者最后看到目标走进了一座只剩半截的残塔，那塔以前是一座清真奥斯曼土耳其穆罕默德二世的绰号，意为征服者。寺的一部分，君士坦丁下令拆除城内清真寺时这塔留下了，因为在前次腺鼠疫流行时，有几个病人进人塔内死在了里面，所以没人愿意靠近。开战后，不知在哪次炮击中塔被打塌了一半。
Following Phrantzes’s admonition, the spy had not entered the minaret. But he had questioned two soldiers who had entered it before it had been struck by the stray missile. They told the spy that they had intended to set up a watch station on top of the structure but gave up after realizing it wasn’t tall enough. They told the spy that there was nothing inside except a few bodies that had rotted until they were practically skeletons.
听从大臣的指示。跟踪者没有进入塔内，但调查了以前曾进人其中的两名士兵，在塔被击毁之前。他们曾试图在上面设V，望哨，发现高度不够后就放弃了。据他们说，那里面除了几具快变成白骨的尸体外，什么都没有。
This time, Phrantzes didn’t send anyone to follow Helena. He watched as she made her way through the soldiers thronging the top of the walls. Among the dirt-and-blood-encrusted armor of the soldiers, her bright cloak stood out. But the exhausted soldiers paid her no attention. She descended from the walls, and, without making an obvious effort to throw off anyone who might be following her, headed for the Blachernae quarter.
这次法扎兰没有派跟踪者。他目送着狄奥伦娜，开始她走在城墙上的军人队列中，他们的盔甲覆满尘土和血污，她的“帕拉”斗篷在其中很显眼，但那些在连日的血战中疲惫不堪的士兵没人注意她。她很快走下城墙，再穿过第二道城墙的门，这一次她没有试图摆脱可能的跟踪，径直朝着上次去过的布拉赫内区方向走去。
Night fell.
夜幕降临。
Constantine stared at the drying water stain on the floor, a metaphor for his vanishing hope.
君士坦丁十一世看着地板上一片正在干涸的水渍，像是面对着消失的希望。
The stain had been left by a dozen spies. Last Monday, dressed in the uniforms and turbans of the Ottoman forces, they had sneaked through the blockade in a tiny sailboat to welcome the European fleet that was supposed to be on its way to relieve the siege of Constantinople. But all they saw was the empty Aegean Sea, without even a shadow of the rumored fleet. The disappointed spies had carried out their duty and made their way back through the blockade to bring the emperor the terrible news.
水渍是刚刚离开的十二名海上勇士留下的。上个星期一，他们身着奥斯曼帝国的暗红色军服，头上缠着穆斯林头巾，驾驶着一艘小帆船穿过敌人严密的海上封锁，去迎接驰援的欧洲舰队并向他们通报敌情。但他们见到的只有空荡荡的爱琴海，传说中的西欧舰队连影子都没有。心灰愈冷的勇士们仍履行了自己的积责，再次穿过海上封锁，向皇帝报告了这个噩耗。
Constantine finally understood that the promised aid from Europe was nothing more than a dream. The kings of Christendom had coldly decided to abandon Constantinople to the infidels, after this holy city had withstood the tides of Mohammedans for so many centuries.
现在，君士坦丁终于确定，欧洲的增援只是一厢情愿的美梦，冷酷的基督教世界抛弃了拜占庭，真的要眼看着千年圣城落人异教徒之手了。
Anxious cries from outside filled his ears. A guard came and reported a lunar eclipse: a terrible portent. It was said that Constantinople would never fall as long as the moon shone.
外面有不安的喧哗声，侍卫报告发生月食。这是在明白不过的凶兆，因为在前年的风雨中有这样一句格言：只要明月照耀，君士坦丁堡就不会陷落。
Through the narrow slit of the window, Constantine observed the moon disappearing in shadow, as though entering a grave in the sky. He knew, without knowing exactly why, that Helena would never return, and he would never see the head of his enemy.
透过长窗，皇帝看着那变成一个黑洞的月亮，那是天上的坟墓。他已预感到，狄奥伦纳不会回来，他也得不到那颗人头了。
A day passed; then a night. There was no news of Helena.
果然，一天一夜过去了，又是一个白天，狄奥伦纳没有消息。
Phrantzes and his men stopped in front of the minaret in the Blachernae quarter and dismounted from their horses. Everyone was stunned.
法扎兰一行人策马来到拉赫内区的那座塔前，一眼看到塔时，所有人都愣住了。
Under the cold, white light of the newly risen moon, the minaret appeared complete: Its sharp tip pointed into the starry sky.
在刚刚升起的月亮苍白的冷光下，塔完好无损，尖利的塔顶直指刚露出星星的夜空。
The spy swore that the last time he had been here, the minaret’s top was missing. Several other officers and soldiers, familiar with the area, corroborated his testimony.
带路的跟踪者发誓说上次来时塔确实少了一半，陪同大臣的还有在本区域作战的几名军官和士兵，他们也纷纷证实跟踪者的话。
But Phrantzes gazed at the spy in cold fury. No matter how many witnesses testified to the contrary, he must certainly be lying: The complete minaret was ironclad proof. However, Phrantzes had no time to mete out punishment; now that the city was about to fall, no one would escape the punishment of the Conqueror.
大臣冷冷地看了一眼跟踪者，不管有多少人证明，跟踪者肯定还是撒谎了，因为完整的尖塔是超越一切的铁证。但法扎兰现在没有心思去惩罚谁，城市的末日即将来临，他们所有人都难逃惩罚。
A soldier off to the side knew that the missing top of the minaret hadn’t been destroyed by a cannonball. He had found the top half of the minaret missing one morning two weeks ago. There had been no cannon fire the previous night, and he had recalled that there was no debris on the ground around the minaret. The two soldiers who had been with him that morning had both died in battle. However, seeing the look on Phrantzes’s face, he decided to keep quiet about it.
同时，旁边一名士兵也有话隐瞒。他知道，这塔曾经消失的上半部分并非是被炮火摧毁的，两个星期前的一个夜晚，并没任何炮击，早晨塔尖就不见了，当时他还注意到塔周围的地面上没有一点儿碎砖石。这里的城墙是乌尔班巨炮重点轰击的地段，那巨大的石弹随时都会穿透城墙落到这里，有一次一下子就杀死了十几名士兵，那半截塔随时会被摧毁，所以再也没人到塔里去过。与他一同见证这事的其他两人都已阵亡，他不想再横生枝节，因为说出来也没人会信。
Phrantzes and his men entered the bottom of the minaret. Even the spy who Phrantzes was sure had lied came along. They saw remnants of the corpses of plague victims that had been scattered around the ruin by feral dogs, but there were no signs of anyone living.
法扎兰一行进人塔的底层，看到那些死于鼠疫者的尸骨，已被野狗翻得乱七八糟散了一地，没有活人。
They ascended the stairs. In the flickering torchlight on the second story, they saw Helena curled under a window. She appeared to be asleep, but her half-closed eyes reflected the light from the torches. Her clothes were torn and dirty and her hair unkempt; a few bloody scratch marks crossed her face, perhaps self-inflicted.
他们接着沿着贴墙建的旋梯上到了二层，在火炬的光亮中，一眼就看到了蜷在窗下的狄奥伦娜，她显然睡着了，但双眸仍在半闭的眼皮间映射着火光。她的衣服破了，上面满是尘土，头发蓬乱，脸上有两三道很像是自己抓出的血痕。
Phrantzes looked around. This was the top of the minaret, an empty, cone-shaped space. He noted the thick layer of dust covering everything, but there were few marks in the dust, as though Helena, like them, had arrived only recently.
大臣打量了一下四周，这是塔的最上一层，呈一个锥形空间，空无一物。他注意到，这里到处积满厚厚的灰尘，一碰就会留下明显的痕迹，但周围的痕迹很少，似乎狄奥伦娜也同他们一样是第一次到这里来。
She awoke, and, scrabbling at the walls with her hands, stood up. Moonlight falling through the window turned the messy hair around her face into a silvery halo. She stared, wide-eyed, and seemed to return to the present only with effort. But she then closed her eyes again, as though trying to linger inside a dream.
她很快被惊醒了，两手乱抓着靠墙站起来，窗口透人的一束月光把她的一头乱发映成一团围绕着头部的银雾；她圆睁双眼，好半天才使意识回到现实，然后又突然半闭双眼陷入回忆状，似乎还在留恋刚刚走出的梦境。
“What are you doing here?!” Phrantzes shouted at her.
“你在这里做什么？！”法扎兰厉声问。
“I… I can’t go there.”
“大人，我……我去不了那里！”
“Where?”
“哪里？”
With her eyes still half closed, as if to savor her memory like a child holding on to a favorite toy that she would not give up, she answered, “There’s so much space there. So comfortable…” She opened her eyes and looked around in terror. “But here, it’s like the inside of a coffin, whether I’m inside the minaret or outside. I have to go there!”
狄奥伦娜仍半闭着双眼，执着地陶醉于自己的回忆，像一个孩子挣扎热不让大人把她从心爱的玩具旁拉开。“那里很大，很好，很舒服。这里……”她突然睁开双眼惊恐地环顾着周围。“这里像棺材一样，外面……也像棺材一样窄。我想去那里！”
“What about your mission?”
“你的使命呢？”大臣问。
“Wait!” Helena crossed herself. “Wait!”
“大人，再等等，”狄奥伦娜拼命在面前画着十字，“再等等。”
Phrantzes pointed outside the window. “It’s too late for waiting.”
法扎兰指指窗外，“现在还能等什么？”
Waves of noise cascaded over them. If one listened carefully, two sources could be distinguished.
阵阵声浪从外面传来，仔细听，这声浪分成截然不同的两部分。
One source was from outside the city. Mehmed II had decided to launch the final assault on Constantinople tomorrow. At this moment, the young sultan was riding through the Ottoman camps, promising his soldiers that all he wanted was Constantinople itself — the treasure and women of Constantinople would belong to his army, and after the fall of the city, the soldiers would have three days to loot everything they desired. All the soldiers cheered at the sultan’s promise, and the sound of trumpets and drums added to their glee. This joyous din, mixed with the smoke and sparks rising from fires in front of the camps, covered Constantinople like an oppressive tide of death.
一部分声浪来自城外。穆罕默德二世已经决定明天对君士坦丁堡发起总攻，这时，年轻的苏丹正策马走过奥斯曼军的所有营帐，他向将士们许诺：我只要君士坦丁堡本身，城市中的财富和女人都是你们的，破城后可以在城中自由洗劫三天。全军为苏丹的许诺而欢呼，此起彼伏的欢呼声中还夹杂着军号和手鼓声这声浪随着无数堆营火的烟雾和火星升上天空，变成一片浓重的杀气聚集在城市上空。
The noise coming from inside Constantinople, on the other hand, was lugubrious and subdued. All the citizens had paraded through the city and gathered at Hagia Sophia to attend a final Mass. This was a scene that had never occurred and would never occur again in the history of Christianity: Accompanied by solemn hymns, under the light of dim candles, the Byzantine emperor, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Orthodox Christians of the East and Catholics from Italy, soldiers in full armor, merchants and sailors from Venice and Genoa, and multitudes of ordinary citizens all gathered in front of God to prepare for the final battle of their lives.
来自君士坦丁堡城内的声音则沉浑悲婉。全体市民在大主教的带领下举行了宗教游行。现在，所有人都会聚到圣索菲亚大教堂，参加最后一次安魂弥撒。这是基督教历史上从未有过，也不会再有的场景：在庄严的圣歌声中，在昏暗的烛光下，拜占庭皇帝和大主教、东正教徒、来自意大利的天主教徒、全副武装的城市守军、威尼斯和热那亚的商人以及水手，还有无数的市民，他们一起聚集在上帝面前，准备用生命迎接最后的血战。
Phrantzes knew that his plan had failed. Perhaps Helena was nothing but a skilled fraud, and she possessed no magic at all — he preferred that possibility by far. But there was another, more dangerous alternative: She did possess magic, and she had already gone to Mehmed II, who had given her a new mission.
法扎兰知道这件事不能再继续下去了，也许狄奥伦娜只是一个高明的骗子，她根本没有魔法，这是比较好的结果。但同时他还面临着一个巨大的危险：她真有魔法，而且已经到过敌方，领受奥斯丝人的使命后又回来了。
After all, what could the Byzantine Empire, teetering on the brink of ruin, offer her? The emperor’s promise to make her into a saint was unlikely to be fulfilled: Neither Constantinople nor Rome was likely to declare a witch and a whore a saint. Indeed, she had likely returned with two new targets in mind: Constantine, and himself.
毕竟奄奄一息的拜占庭给不了她什么，甚至那个圣女的荣誉都很难兑现——东正教和天主教教会都很难接受让一个妓女和女巫成为圣女。她这次返回的目标，可能是皇帝甚到也自己。乌尔班已是前车之鉴。
Hadn’t Orban, the Hungarian engineer, already been an example of this? He had come to Constantine first with plans for his giant cannons, but the emperor had no money to pay his salary, let alone finance the construction of such monstrous engines. He had then gone to Mehmed II, and the daily bombardments had served as a constant reminder of his betrayal.
乌尔班，旬牙利工程师，曾到君士坦丁坚建造巨地，但财政空应的拜占庭当局连他徽薄的工资都无法支付，他便投奔穆罕默德二世，为奥斯里建选了一种巨型大炮。长逾八米直径七十五厘米，可发射半吨重的炮弹到一英里远的地方，史称乌尔班大炮。在对君士坦丁竖的攻城战中发挥了巨大的威力，是唯一能摧毁该城市竖因城堵的武器。
Phrantzes looked over at the spy, who immediately unsheathed his sword and stabbed at Helena’s chest. The sword pierced her body and got stuck in a crack in the wall behind her. The spy tried to pull the sword out, but it wouldn’t budge. Helena rested her hands on the sword’s hilt. The spy let go of the weapon, unwilling to touch her hands. Phrantzes left with his men.
大臣向跟踪者示意，后者拔出利剑刺向狄奥伦娜，剑锋刺穿她柔软的胸脯，又刺进她身后的砖缝里。跟踪者想把剑拔出来，没拔动，狄奥伦娜的手也握到剑柄上，他不想碰那双手，便松开剑柄，随法扎兰一行匆匆离去。
Throughout her execution, Helena never made any noise. Gradually, her head drooped, and the silvery halo formed by her tresses fell away from the beam of moonlight and faded into darkness. The moon’s glow lit a small patch of ground in the dark interior of the minaret, where a stream of blood flowed like a slender, black snake.
整个过程中狄奥伦娜没有发出任何声音，她的头慢慢垂了下来。那团银雾离开月光没人黑暗。塔内完全黑了下来，在那束惨白月光照在地上的一小块光亮处，血像一条细细的黑蛇蜿蜒爬过。
In the moments that preceded the great battle, noises from both inside and outside the city stopped. The Eastern Roman Empire welcomed its last dawn on this Earth, at the intersection of Europe and Asia, of land and sea.
法扎兰走出塔门时，城里和城外的声音都消失了，大战前的寂静笼罩着欧亚交界的大地和海洋，东罗马帝国迎来了最后一个黎明。
On the second story of the minaret, the woman magician died, pinned to the wall. She was perhaps the only real magician in the entire history of the human race. Unfortunately, ten hours earlier, the age of magic, brief as it was, had also come to an end.
在塔的二层，被剑钉在墙上的女魔法师死了，她可能是人类历史上唯一真正的魔法师。而在这之前约十小时，短暂的魔法时代也结束了。
The age of magic began at four o’clock on the afternoon of May 3, 1453, when the high-dimensional fragment first intersected with the Earth. It ended at nine o’clock on the evening of May 28, 1453, when the fragment left the Earth behind. After twenty-five days and five hours, the world returned to its normal orbit.
魔法时代开始于公元1453年5月3日16时，那时高维碎块首次接触地球；结束于1453年5月28日21时，这时碎块完全离开地球；历时二十五天五小时。之后，这个世界又回到了正常的轨道上。
On the evening of May 29, Constantinople fell.
29日傍晚，君士坦丁堡陷落了。
As the bloody slaughter of the day was coming to its inevitable end, Constantine, faced with the swarming Ottoman masses, shouted, “The city is fallen and I am still alive.” Then he tore off his imperial robe and unsheathed his sword to meet the oncoming hordes. His silvery armor glinted for a moment like a piece of metallic foil tossed into a tub of dark red sulfuric acid, and then vanished.
在一天的惨烈血战接近尾声时，君士坦丁十一世面对着蜂拥而来的奥斯曼军队，高喊一声：“滩道就没有一个基督徒来砍下我的头吗？！”然后皇帝掀下紫袍，拔剑冲人敌阵，他那银色的盔甲像扔进暗红色镪水的一小片锡箔，转瞬间无影无踪……
The historical significance of the fall of Constantinople would not be apparent for many years. For most, the obvious association was that it marked the final gasp of the Roman Empire. Byzantium was a thousand-year rut behind the wheels of Ancient Rome, and though it enjoyed splendor for a time, it finally evaporated like a water stain under the bright sun. Once, ancient Romans had whistled in their grand, magnificent baths, thinking that their empire, like the granite that made up the walls of the pools in which they floated, would last forever.
君士坦丁堡陷落的历史意义许久之后才显现出来，事情发生时人们首先想到的，就是罗马帝国终于完全消失了。拜占庭是古罗马拖在身后的长达千年的车辙，虽也有过辉煌，但还是终于像烈日下的水渍一样蒸发了。当年，古罗马人在宏伟华丽的浴宫中吹着口哨，认为帝国就像身下的浴池一样，建在整块花岗岩上，将永世延续。
No banquet was eternal. Everything had an end. Everything.
现在人们知道，没有不散的宴席，一切都有个尽头。
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