"'Tis terrible to rouse the lion,
Dreadful to cross the tiger's path;
But the most terrible of terrors,
Is man himself in his wild wrath."
Solyman spent two years in making preparation for another march to
Vienna, resolved to wipe out the disgrace of his last defeat by
capturing all the Austrian States, and of then spreading the terror of
his arms far and wide through the empire of Germany. The energy with
which he acted may be inferred from one well authenticated anecdote
illustrative of his character. He had ordered a bridge to be constructed
across the Drave. The engineer who had been sent to accomplish the task,
after a careful survey, reported that a bridge could not be constructed
at that point. Solyman sent him a linen cord with this message:
"The sultan, thy master, commands thee, without consideration of the
difficulties, to complete the bridge over the Drave. If thou doest it
not, on his arrival he will have thee strangled with this cord."
With a large army, thoroughly drilled, and equipped with all the
enginery of war, the sultan commenced his campaign. His force was so
stupendous and so incumbered with the necessary baggage and heavy
artillery, that it required a march of sixty days to pass from
Constantinople to Belgrade.
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