Note 80 — BOOK XVII.

The saying of the Abbé de Vertot was but an expression of politeness addressed to somebody who offered him documents, not in the interests of truth, but in the interest of some families, who wished that their names should be mentioned. In fact, if the documents they offered him concerned the truth, they had nothing to do but to publish them; now, we see nothing that has been published upon the siege of Rhodes that proves that the Abbé de Vertot was mistaken, or forgot anything of importance. It has not even been attempted to attack the authenticity of the facts he relates by any criticism that has survived to our times. There only remains the famous expression, my siege is completed, without any one having sought to explain in what sense and upon what subject this expression was made.