Note 1003 — Chapter XVII · THE HARBOURS ON THE SEA OF MARMORA.
Reading edition
Von Hammer (Histoire de L’Empire Ottoman, vol. v. note xxxv.) quotes also from Cornelius, the ambassador of Charles V. to Sultan Suleiman, who alludes to the subject in the following words: “Est mamor quoddam hic propere ad mare, in quo sculptus est leo ingens tenens taurum cornibus, tam vasta moles ut a mille hominibus moveri non possit.”
The Venetian historian Sagrado, in his Memorie Istoriche de Monarchi Ottomani, adds that the monument fell to the ground. “In Constantinopoli un Leone di pietra, il quale stava fuori della porta a Marina, che con una zanna afferava on toro, guardava prima verso Levante, si ritrovo che stava rivolto a Ponente. E perche, era situato sopra due colonne, precipito unitamente col toro, che si ruppe una coscia e cade con la testa nel fiume, in cui parea in certo modo che bevese” (Libro, iv. p. 319. Venezia, 1677).
With the above compare the statement found in the Spectator of April 20, 1895, p. 519, when describing the effects of recent earthquakes in Southern Austria, Northern Italy, and Hungary: “At Fiume and Trieste there was also a good deal of disturbance, and at Trieste the statue of the Emperor Charles is reported to have twisted round on its pedestal and now faces opposite to where it faced before. What an omen that would have been considered three hundred years ago!”