At the same time he sent a few heads to Constantinople, to amuse the sultan and the mob, and some money to the ministers to gain their support.

"For," said he, "water sleeps, but envy never does." These steps were prudent, and whilst his credit increased at court, order was reestablished from the defiles of the Perrebia of Pindus to the vale of Tempe and to the pass of Thermopylae.
These exploits of the provost-marshal, amplified by Oriental exaggeration, justified the ideas which were entertained of the capacity of Ali Pacha.

Impatient of celebrity, he took good care himself to spread his fame, relating his prowess to all comers, making presents to the sultan's officers who came into his government, and showing travellers his palace courtyard festooned with decapitated heads.

But what chiefly tended to consolidate his power was the treasure which he ceaselessly amassed by every means.

He never struck for the mere pleasure of striking, and the numerous victims of his proscriptions only perished to enrich him.