But I cannot determine what I ought to transcribe, till the midst of those dreary habitations. 2. The bishI am satisfied how much I ought to believe." The ops were obliged to check and to censure the forgravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius him- ward zeal of the christians, who voluntarily threw self, indirectly confesses, that he has related whatever themselves into the hands of the magistrates. Some might redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed of these were persons oppressed by poverty and debts, all that could tend to the disgrace, of religion. Such who blindly sought to terminate a miserable existence an acknowledgment will naturally excite a suspicion by a glorious death. Others were allured by the hope that a writer who has so openly violated one of the that a short confinement would expiate the sins of a fundamental laws of history, has not paid a very strict whole life; and others again were actuated by the less regard to the observance of the other; and the sus- honourable motive of deriving a plentiful subsistence, picion will derive additional credit from the character and perhaps a considerable profit, from the alms of Eusebius, which was less tinctured with credulity, which the charity of the faithful bestowed on the priand more practised in the arts of courts, than that of soners. After the church had triumphed over all her almost any of his contemporaries. On some particu- enemies, the interest as well as vanity of the captives lar occasions, when the magistrates were exasperated prompted them to magnify the merit of their respecby some personal motives of interest or resentment, tive sufferings. A convenient distance of time or when the zeal of the martyrs urged them to forget the place gave an ample scope to the progress of fiction; rules of prudence, and perhaps of decency, to overturn and the frequent instances which might be alleged of the altars, to pour out imprecations against the em- holy martyrs, whose wounds had been instantly healperors, or to strike the judge as he sat on his tribunal, ed, whose strength had been renewed, and whose lost it may be presumed, that every mode of torture which members had miraculously been restored, were excruelty could invent or constancy could endure, was tremely convenient for the purpose of removing every exhausted on those devoted victims." Two circum-difficulty, and of silencing every objection. The most stances, however, have been unwarily mentioned, extravagant legends, as they conduced to the honour which insinuate that the general treatment of the of the church, were applauded by the credulous mulchristians, who had been apprehended by the officers titude, countenanced by the power of the clergy, and of justice, was less intolerable than it is usually im- attested by the suspicious evidence of ecclesiastical agined to have been. 1. The confessors who were history. condemned to work in the mines were permitted, by the humanity or the negligence of their keepers, to build chapels, and freely to profess their religion in u [Historical criticism does not consist in rejecting indiscriminately every fact which does not coincide with some peculiar system as Gibbon does in this chapter, in which he consents only when com pelled to it to give credit to the testimony of a martyr. He ought to have well considered the authorities on the subject, and not have excluded them from examination, for pagan historians corroborate in many instances the accounts transmitted to us by the historians of the church concerning the tortures endured by the christians. Celsus reproaches the christians with holding their meetings in secret, from dread of punishment, "for when you are seized, says he, you are dragged to punishment, and before being put to death, you suffer all kinds of tortures." (Origen Cont. Cels. lib. I. ii. vi. viii. passim.) Libanius, the panegyrist of Julian, speaking of the christians, says, "Those who practiced a corrupt religion, were in continual apprehension, they feared that Julian would invent tortures still more refined than any to which they had before been exposed. such as being mutilated, burnt alive, &c., for the emperors had exercised against them all these cruelties. (Libanii parentalis in Julian, ap. Fab. Bibl. græc. v. 9. No. 58. p. 283.)—G.} Such is the fair deduction from two remarkable passages in Eusebius, 1. viii. c. 2. and de Martyr. Palestin, c. 12. The prudence of the historian has exposed his own character to censure and suspi cion. It is well known that he himself had been thrown into prison; and it was suggested that he had purchased his deliverance by some dishonourable compliance. The reproach was urged in his lifetime, and even in his presence, at the council of Tyre. See Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. viii. part. i. p. 67. w The ancient, and perhaps authentic, account of the sufferings of Tarachus, and his companions, (Acta Sincera, Ruinart, p. 419448.) is filled with strong expressions of resentment and contempt, which could not fail of irritating the magistrate. The behaviour of Ædesius to Hierocles, præfect of Egypt, was still more extraordinary, λόγοις τε και έργοις τον δικαστην #igiBaλwv. Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 5. [There is nothing in the acts of Tarrachus and his companions which appears dictated by fierce resentment. It is the fault of persecutors if they take for contempt the firmness of those whom they persecute. "What is your name?" demanded the president Maxi mus, of Tarrachus. "I am a christian." He ordered his jaws to be broken. (Ruinart, p. 460.) Probus, his companion was brought forward. To the same question he made the same reply, "I am a christian, and I am called Probus !" He was commanded to sacrifice to obtain the esteem of his prince, and the friendship of Maxiinus. At this price, I desire neither the esteem of the prince, nor your friendship." After having suffered the most cruel tortures, he was put in irons, and the judge forbade that his wounds should be attended to,-sanguine tuo impleta est terra. (Ruinart p. 462.) The third, Andronicus, appeared; he answered with the same firmness, when commanded to sacrifice. The judge to deceive him, told him that his brothers had complied with this demand. "Wretch," replied he, "wherefore deceive me with these falsehoods ?" And they were at last thrown to wild beasts. In comparing the conduct of the judge with that of the martyrs, will any dare to say that in their answers there was any thing unbecoming or aggravating ? Even those who were present at the trial, were less mild and less respectful. The injustice of Maximus, revolted the feelings of the people so much, that when the martyrs appeared in the amphithe ater, consternation seized every heart, and they murmured, saying that he was an iniquitous judge, who had condemned after this manner. Many left the scene, and went away murmuring against Maximus, and speaking of him with strong dislike. (Ruinart, p. 488.)-G.] x [The superior authorities were but just informed of it when the president of the province, a severe and cruel man, says Eusebius. exiled the confessors; some to Cyprus, others into different parts of Number of martyrs. The vague descriptions of exile and imprisonment, of pain and torture, are so easily exaggerated or softened by the pencil of an artful orator, that we are naturally induced to inquire into a fact of a more distinct and stubborn kind; the number of persons who suffered death in consequence of the edicts published by Diocletian, his associates, and his successors. The recent legendaries record whole armies and cities, which were at once swept away by the undistinguishing rage of persecution. The more ancient writers content themselves with pouring out a liberal effusion of loose and tragical invectives, without condescending to ascertain the precise number of those persons who were permitted to seal with their blood their belief of the gospel. From the history of Eusebius, it may however be collected, that only nine bishops were punished with death; and we are assured, by his particular enumeration of the martyrs of Palestine, that no more than ninety. two christians were entitled to that honourable ap Palestine, and commanded that they should be put to the severest labor. Four of them whom he commanded to abjure their faith, refusing, were burnt alive. (Eusebius De Mart, Palest. chap. 13.— G.] y Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13. Augustin. Collat. Carthagin. Dei, iii. c. 13. ap. Tillemont. Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part. i. p. 46. The controversy with the Donatists has reflected some, though perhaps a partial, light on the history of the African church. a [This estimate is made according to the account of the martyrs, whom Eusebius mentions by name, but he alludes to a much greater number. Thus the ninth and tenth chapters of his work are entitled: Concerning Antoninus Zebinus, Germanus, and other Martyrs; Concerning Peter, Monachus, Asclepius Marcionitas, and other Martyrs. Speaking of those who suffered under Diocletian, he says, I will relate the death of only one of them, that from this my readers may imagine what the remainder suffered. (Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. chap. 6.) Dodwell made, before Gibbon, this estimate, and these objections, but Ruinart (Act. Mart. Pref. p. 24. et seq.) has replied to him in a decisive mamer. Nobis constat Eusebium in historia infinitos passim martyres admisisse quamvis revera paucorum nomina recensuerit. Nec alium Eusebii interpretem quam ipsummet Eusebium proferimus qui (lib. iii. c. 23.) aît sub Trajano plurimos ex fidelibus martyrii certamen subiisse (lib. v. init.) Sub Antonino et Vero innumerabiles prope martyres per universum orbem enituisse affirmat (lib. vi. cap. 1.) Severum persecutionem concitasse refert, in qua per omnes ubique locorum ecclesias, ab athletis pro pietate certantibus illustria confecta fuerunt martyria, sic de Decii, sic de Valeriani persecutionibus loquitur, quæ non Dodwelli faveant conjectationibus judicet æquas lector. Even in the persecutions which Gibbon has represented as much more mild than that of Diocletian, the number of martyrs appears much greater than that to which he limits this last persecution, and this number is proved correct by incontestable records. I will cite one of them only as an example: we find among the letters of St. Cyprian, a letter from Lucianus to Celerinus, written in the depths of a prison, in which he mentions seventeen of his brethren who had died; some in the quar ries, some while suffering tortures, some of hunger in dungeons. Jussi sumus,says he, secundum præceptum imperatoris, fame et siti necar с pellation. As we are unacquainted with the degree of ed by violence the empire which she had acquired by episcopal zeal and courage that prevailed at that fraud: a system of peace and benevolence was soon time, it is not in our power to draw any useful infer- disgraced by proscriptions, wars, massacres, and the ences from the former of these facts: but the latter institution of the holy office. And as the reformers were may serve to justify a very important and probable animated by the love of civil as well as of religious conclusion. According to the distribution of Ro- freedom, the catholic princes connected their own inman provinces, Palestine may be considered as the terest with that of the clergy, and enforced by fire and sixteenth part of the eastern empire: and since there the sword the terrors of spiritual censures. In the were some governors, who from a real or affected Netherlands alone, more than one hundred thousand clemency had preserved their hands unstained with of the subjects of Charles the Fifth are said to have the blood of the faithful, it is reasonable to believe, suffered by the hand of the executioner; and this exthat the country which had given birth to christianity, traordinary number is attested by Grotius," a man of produced at least the sixteenth part of the martyrs genius and learning, who preserved his moderation who suffered death within the dominions of Galerius amidst the fury of contending sects, and who composand Maximin: the whole might consequently amounted the annals of his own age and country, at a time to about fifteen hundred, a number which, if it is when the invention of printing had facilitated the equally divided, between the ten years of the persecu- means of intelligence, and increased the danger of detion, will allow an annual consumption of one hundred tection. If we are obliged to submit our belief to the and fifty martyrs. Allotting the same proportion to authority of Grotius, it must be allowed, that the numthe provinces of Italy, Africa, and perhaps Spain, ber of protestants, who were executed in a single prowhere, at the end of two or three years, the rigour of vince and a single reign, far exceeded that of the the penal laws was either suspended or abolished, the primitive martyrs in the space of three centuries, and multitude of christians in the Roman empire, on of the Roman empire. But if the improbability of whom a capital punishment was inflicted by a judi- the fact itself should prevail over the weight of evicial sentence, will be reduced to somewhat less than dence; if Grotius should be convicted of exaggerattwo thousand persons. Since it cannot be doubted ing the merit and sufferings of the reformers: we that the christians were more numerous, and their shall be naturally led to inquire what confidence can enemies more exasperated, in the time of Diocletian, be placed in the doubtful and imperfect monuments of than they had ever been in any former persecution, ancient credulity; what degree of credit can be assignthis probable and moderate computation may teach used to a courtly bishop, and a passionate declaimer, to estimate the number of primitive saints and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the important purpose of introducing christianity into the world. We shall conclude this chapter by a Conclusion. melancholy truth, which obtrudes itself on the reluctant mind; that even admitting, without hesitation or inquiry, all that history has recorded, or devotion has feigned, on the subject of martyrdoms, it must still be acknowledged, that the christians, in the course of their intestine dissensions, have inflicted far greater severities on each other, than they had experienced from the zeal of infidels. During the of ages ignorance which followed the subversion of the Roman empire in the west, the bishops of the imperial city extended their dominion over the laity as well as clergy of the Latin church. The fabric of superstition which they had erected, and which might long have defied the feeble efforts of reason, was at length as saulted by a crowd of daring fanatics, who from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, assumed the popular character of reformers. The church of Rome defend et reclusi sumas in duabus cellis ita ut nos afficerent fame et siti et ignis vapore. (Cæc.Cypr. Epist. xxii.)-G.] b Euseurs de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13. He closes his narration by assuring us, that these were the martyrdoms inflicted in Palestine, during the whole course of the persecution. The fifth chapter of his eighth book, which relates to the province of Thebais in Egypt, may seem to contradict our moderate computation; but it will only lead us to admire the artful management of the historian. Choosing for the scene of the most exquisite cruelty the most remote and sequestered country of the Roman empire, he relates, that in Thebais from ten to one hundred persons had frequently suffered martyrdom in the sanie da. But when he proceeds to mention his own journey into Egypt, is language insensibly becomes more cautious and moderate. Instead of a large but definite number, he speaks of many christians; (s) and most artfully selects two ambiguous words (iroεNTXμEV, and MVETS.) Which may signify either what he had seen or what he had heard either the expectation, or the execution, of the punishment. [Those who will take the trouble to consult the origi nal, will see that if the word ouvras can there be taken for the expectation of punishment, the passage can have no meaning, and must become absurd.-G.] Having thus provided a secure evasion, he commits the equivocal passage to his readers and translators; justly conceiving that their piety would induce them to prefer the most favourable sense. There was, perhaps, some malice in the re: mark of Theodorus Metochita, that all, who, like Eusebius, had been conversant with the Egyptians, delighted in an obscure and in tricate style. (See Valesius ad loc.) e When Palestine was divided into three, the præfecture of the East contained forty-eight provinces. As the ancient distinctions of nations were long since abolished, the Romans distributed the provinces according to a general proportion of their extent and opu. lence. 4 Ut gloriari possint nullam se innocentiam peremisse, nam et ipse audivi aliquos gloriantes, quia administratio sua, in hac parte, fuerit incruenta. Lactant. Institut. Divin. v. 11. who, under the protection of Constantine, enjoyed the exclusive privilege of recording the persecutions inflicted on the christians by the vanquished rivals or disregarded predecessors of their gracious sovereign. CHAPTER XVII. Foundation of Constantinople.-Political system of Constantine, and his successors.-Military discipline. The palace. The finances. THE unfortunate Licinius was the last rival who opposed the greatness, and the last captive who adorned the triumph, of Constantine. After a tranquil and prosperous reign, the conqueror bequeathed to his family the inheritance of the Roman empire; a new capital, a new policy, and a new religion; and the innovations which he established have been embraced and consecrated by succeeding generations. The age of the great Constantine and his sons is filled with important events; but the historian must be oppressed by their number and variety, unless he diligently separates from each other the scenes which are connected only by the order of time. He will describe the political institutions that gave strength and stability to the empire, before he proceeds to relate the wars and revolutions which hastened its decline. He will adopt the division unknown to the ancients of civil and ecclesiastical affairs: the victory of the christians, and their intestine discord, will supply copious and distinct materials both for edification and scandal. After the defeat and abdication of Licinius, his victorious rival proceeded to lay the foundations of a city destined to A. D. 324. reign in future times, the mistress of the east, and to survive the empire and religion of Constantine. The motives, whether of pride or of policy, which first induced Diocletian to withdraw himself from the ancient seat of government, had acquired additional weight by the example of his successors, and the habits of forty years. Rome was insensibly confound Design of a new capital, e Grot. Annal. de Rebus Belgicis, 1. 1. p. 12. edit. fol. f Fra Paolo (Istoria del Concilio Tridentino, 1. iii.) reduces the number of Belgic martyrs to 50,000. In learning and moderation, Fra-Paolo was not inferior to Grotius. The priority of time gives some advantage to the evidence of the former, which he loses on the other and by the distance of Venice from the Netherlands. ed with the dependent kingdoms which had once | banks, attested the unskilfulness, the terrors, and the acknowledged her supremacy; and the country of devotion of the Grecian navigators, who, after the exthe Cæsars was viewed with cold indifference by a ample of the Argonauts, explored the dangers of the martial prince, born in the neighbourhood of the Dan- inhospitable Euxine. On these banks tradition long ube, educated in the courts and armies of Asia, and preserved the memory of the palace of Phineus, ininvested with the purple by the legions of Britain. fested by the obscene harpies; and of the sylvan The Italians, who had received Constantine as their reign of Amycus, who defied the son of Leda to the deliverer, submissively obeyed the edicts which he combat of the cestus. The straits of the Bosphorus sometimes condescended to address to the senate and are terminated by the Cyanean rocks, which, accordpeople of Rome; but they were seldom honoured ing to the description of the poets, had once floated with the presence of their new sovereign. During the on the face of the waters; and were destined by the vigour of his age, Constantine, according to the various gods to protect the entrance of the Euxine against the exigencies of peace and war, moved with slow digni- eye of profane curiosity. From the Cyanean rocks ty, or with active diligence, along the frontiers of his to the point and harbour of Byzantium, the winding extensive dominions; and was always prepared to length of the Bosphorus extends about sixteen miles, take the field either against a foreign or a domestic and its most ordinary breadth may be computed at enemy. But as he gradually reached the summit of about one mile and a half. The new castles of Euprosperity and the decline of life, he began to medi- rope and Asia are constructed, on either continent, tate the design of fixing in a more permanent station upon the foundations of two celebrated temples, of the strength as well as majesty of the throne. In the Serapis and of Jupiter Urius. The old castles, a work choice of an advantageous situation, he preferred the of the Greek emperors, command the narrowest part confines of Europe and Asia; to curb, with a power-of the channel, in a place where the opposite banks ful arm, the barbarians who dwelt between the Dan- advance within five hundred paces of each other. ube and the Tanais; to watch with an eye of jealousy These fortresses were destroyed and strengthened by the conduct of the Persian monarch, who indignantly Mahomet the second, when he meditated the siege of supported the yoke of an ignominious treaty. With Constantinople; but the Turkish conqueror was most these views, Diocletian had selected and embellished probably ignorant, that near two thousand years bethe residence of Nicomedia: but the memory of Dio- fore his reign, Darius had chosen the same situation cletian was justly abhorred by the protector of the to connect the two continents by a bridge of boats.i church; and Constantine was not insensible to the At a small distance from the old castles we discover ambition of founding a city which might perpetuate the little town of Chrysopolis, or Scutari, which may the glory of his own name. During the late opera-almost be considered as the Asiatic suburb of ConSituation of tions of the war against Licinius, he stantinople. The Bosphorus, as it begins to open Byzantium. had sufficient opportunity to contemplate into the Propontis, passes between Byzantium and both as a soldier and as a statesman, the incomparable Chalcedon. The latter of those cities was built by position of Byzantium; and to observe how strongly the Greeks, a few years before the former; and the it was guarded by nature against an hostile attack, blindness of its founders, who overlooked the supewhilst it was accessible on every side to the benefits rior advantages of the opposite coast, has been stigof commercial intercourse. Many ages before Con- matized by a proverbial expression of contempt.* stantine, one of the most judicious historians of antiquity had described the advantages of a situation, from whence a feeble colony of Greeks derived the command of the sea, and the honours of a flourishing and independent republic. a Description of PLE. If we survey Byzantium in the exCONSTANTINO- tent which it acquired with the august name of Constantinople, the figure of the imperial city may be represented under that of an unequal triangle. The obtuse point, which advances towards the east and the shores of Asia, meets and repels the waves of the Thracian Bosphorus. The northern side of the city is bounded by the harbour; and the southern is washed by the Propontis, or sea of Marmara. The basis of the triangle is opposed to the west, and terminates the continent of Europe. But the admirable form and division of the circumjacent land and water cannot, without a more ample explanation, be clearly or sufficiently understood. (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. i. p. 148.) who supposes that the hard There are very few conjectures so happy as that of Le Clerc, pies were only locusts. The Syriac or Phoenician name of those insects, their noisy flight, the stench and devastation which they occasion, and the north wind which drives them into the sea, all contribute to form the striking resemblance. The residence of Amycus was in Asia between the old and the in Europe, near the village of Mauromole and the Black Sea. See new castles, at a place called Laurus Insana. That of Phineus was Gyllius de Bosph. 1. ii. c. 23. Tournefort, Lettre xv [Amycus reigned in Bebrycia, afterward alled Bithynia. He was the inventor of the gauntlet, of which he made use in boxing. (Clement of Alexandria Stromates, lib. i. p. 363.). "When the Argonauts arrived in his kingdom, he presented himself before them, and asked if any one of them would contend with him. Pollux accepted the challenge, and killed him by a stroke upon the neck. (Bibliotheque d'Apollodore lib. i. § 20. version of M. Clavier.) Epicharmus and Pisander say that Pollux did not kill Amycus, but subdued and Winckelman. (Hist. de l'Art. plate 18. edition of 1789 in octavo.) bound him-and he is thus represented upon a funeral vase given by Theocritus, who gives a detailed account of the combat, (Id. 22.) says that Pollux did not kill him, but made him promise never more phorus Callistus (Hist. Eccl. b. viii. ch. 50.) relates an ancient tradition to maltreat strangers who should pass through his dominions. Nicewhich is worthy of attention. The Argonauts having arrived in Bethem and put them to flight. They took refuge in a very thick forest, brycia, began to ravage it, but Amycus with his subjects, attacked from which they dared not venture forth till one of the celesial deities in the form of a man with the wings of the eagle, appeared to them and promised them the victory. They then marched against Amycus, challenged his troops, and killed him. Upon the battle-fiel in commemoration of the victory, they built a temple, which they named Sosthenium, because they had there recovered their coura and they also erected a statue to the divinity who appeared to them. Constantine afterwards converted it into the church of the archangel Michael. (Notes of M. Clavier upon Apollod. note 88. p. 175.)-G.] The winding channel through which The Bosphorus. the waters of the Euxine flow with a rapid and incessant course towards the Mediterranean, received the appellation of Bosphorus, a name not less celebrated in the history, than in the fables, of antiquity. A crowd of temples and of votive altars profusely scattered along its steep and woody a Polybius, 1. iv. p. 423. edit. Casaubon. He observes that the peace of the Byzantines was frequently disturbed, and the extent of their territory contracted, by the inroads of the wild Thracians. b The navigator Byzas, who was styled the son of Neptune, found-guished by the column of Pompey. ed the city 656 years before the christian æra. His followers were drawn from Argos and Megara. Byzantium was afterwards rebuilt and fortified by the Spartan general, Pausanias. See Scaliger Animadvers. ad Euseb. p. 81. Ducange Constantinopolis, I. i. part i. cap. 15, 16. With regard to the wars of the Byzantines against Philip, the Gauls, and the kings of Bithynia, we should trust none but the ancient writers who lived before the greatness of the imperial city had excited a spirit of flattery and fiction. The deception was occasioned by several pointed rocks alternately covered and abandoned by the waves. At present there are two small islands, one towards either shore: that of Europe is distin The ancients computed one hundred and twenty stadia, or fifteen Roman miles. They measured only from the new castles, but they carried the straits as far as the town of Chalcedon. h Ducas. Hist. c. 34. Leunclavius Hist. Turcia Musulmanica, 1. xv. p. 577. Under the Greek empire these castles were used as state prisons, under the tremendous name of Lethe, or towers of oblivion. i Darius engraved in Greek and Assyrian letters, on two marble The Bosphorus has been very minutely described by Dionysius columns, the names of his subject nations, and the amazing num. of Byzantium, who lived in the time of Domitian. (Hudson Geo-bers of his land and sea forces. The Byzantines afterwards transgraph. Minor. tom. iii.) and by Gilles or Gyllius, a French traveller ported these columns into the city, and used them for the altars of of the xvith century. Tournefort (Lettre XV.) seems to have used their tutelar deities. Herodotus, 1. iv. c. 87. his own eyes, and the learning of Gyllius. * Namque artissimo inter Europam Asiamque divortio Byzantium The port. The harbour of Constantinople, which | place where the distance between the opposite banks may be considered as an arm of the cannot exceed five hundred paces, that Xerxes imBosphorus, obtained in a very remote period, the de- posed a stupendous bridge of boats, for the purpose nomination of the Golden Horn. The curve which it of transporting into Europe an hundred and seventy describes might be compared to the horn of a stag, myriads of barbarians. A sea contracted within such or as it should seem, with more propriety, to that of narrow limits, may seem but ill to deserve the singu an ox. The epithet of golden was expressive of the lar epithet of broad, which Homer, as well as Ŏrriches which every wind wafted from the most dis-pheus, has frequently bestowed on the Hellespont. tant countries into the secure and capacious port of But our ideas of greatness are of a relative nature: the Constantinople. The river Lycus, formed by the con- traveller, and especially the poet, who sailed along the flux of two little streams, pours into the harbour a Hellespont, who pursued the windings of the stream, perpetual supply of fresh water, which serves to and contemplated the rural scenery, which appeared on cleanse the bottom, and to invite the periodical shoals every side to terminate the prospect, insensibly lost of fish to seek their retreat in that convenient recess. the remembrance of the sea; and his fancy painted As the vicissitudes of tides are scarcely felt in those those celebrated straits with all the attributes of a seas, the constant depth of the harbour allows goods mighty river flowing with a swift current, in the midst to be landed on the quays without the assistance of of a woody and inland country, and at length, through boats; and it has been observed, that in many places a wide mouth, discharging itself into the Ægean or the largest vessels may rest their prows against the Archipelago. Ancient Troy," seated on an eminence houses, while their sterns are floating in the water." at the foot of mount Ida, overlooked the mouth of the From the mouth of the Lycus to that of the harbour, Hellespont, which scarcely received an accession of this arm of the Bosphorus is more than seven miles waters from the tribute of those immortal rivulets the in length. The entrance is about five hundred yards Simois and Scamander. The Grecian camp had broad, and a strong chain could be occasionally drawn stretched twelve miles along the shore from the Siacross it, to guard the port and city from the attack of gæan to the Rhatean promontory; and the flanks of an hostile navy." the army were guarded by the bravest chiefs who Between the Bosphorus and the Hel- fought under the banners of Agamemnon. The first The Propontis. lespont, the shores of Europe and Asia of those promontories was occupied by Achilles with receding on either side enclose the sea of Marmara, his invincible Myrmidons, and the dauntless Ajax which was known to the ancients by the denomination pitched his tents on the other. After Ajax had fallen of Propontis. The navigation from the issue of the a sacrifice to his disappointed pride, and to the ingratiBosphorus to the entrance of the Hellespont is about tude of the Greeks, his sepulchre was erected on the one hundred and twenty miles. Those who steer their ground where he had defended the navy against the westward course through the middle of the Propontis, rage of Jove and of Hector; and the citizens of the may at once descry the highlands of Thrace and Bithy-rising town of Rhæteum celebrated his memory with nia, and never lose sight of the lofty summit of Mount divine honours. Before Constantine gave a just preOlympus, covered with eternal snows. They leave ference to the situation of Byzantium, he had conceived on the left a deep gulf, at the bottom of which Nico- the design of erecting the seat of empire on this celemedia was seated, the imperial residence of Diocle- brated spot, from whence the Romans derived their tian; and they pass the small islands of Cyzicus and fabulous origin. The extensive plain which lies below Proconnesus before they cast anchor at Gallipoli; ancient Troy, towards the Rhætean promontory and where the sea, which separates Asia from Europe, is the tomb of Ajax, was first chosen for his new capital; again contracted into a narrow channel. and though the undertaking was soon relinquished, the stately remains of unfinished walls and towers attracted the notice of all who sailed through the straits of the Hellespont.* The geographers who with the most The Hellespont. skilful accuracy have surveyed the form and extent of the Hellespont, assign about sixty miles for the winding course, and about three miles for the ordinary breadth of those celebrated straits.P But the narrowest part of the channel is found to the northward of the old Turkish castles between the cities of Cestus and Abydus. It was here that the adventurous Leander braved the passage of the flood for the possession of his mistress. It was here likewise, in a in extrema Europa posuere Græci, quibus, Pythium Apollinem consulentibus ubi conderent urbem, redditum oraculum est, quærerent, sedem cæcorum terris adversam. Ea ambage Chalcedonii monstra bantur, quod priores illuc advecti, prævisa locorum utilitate pejora legissent. Tacit. Annal. xii. 62. I Strabo. 1. x. p. 492. Most of the antlers are now broke off; or, to speak less figuratively, most of the recesses of the harbour are filled up. See Gill. de Bosphoro Thracio, 1. i. c. 5. m Procopius de Edificiis, 1. i. c. 5. His description is confirmed by modern travellers. See Thevenot, part i. l. i. c. 15. Tournefort, Lettre xii. Niebuhr, Voyage d'Arabie, p. 22. n See Ducange, C. P. I. i. part. i. c. 16. and his Observations sur Villehardouin, p. 289. The chain was drawn from the Acropolis near the modern Kiosk, to the tower of Galata; and was supported at convenient distances by large wooden piles. Thevenot (Voyages au Levant, part. i. 1 i. c. 14.) contracts the measure to 125 small Greek miles. Belon (Observations, 1. ii. c. 1.) gives a good description of the Propontis, but contents himself with the vague expression of one day and one night's sail. When San dys (Travels, p. 21.) talks of 150 furlongs in length, as well as breadth, we can only suppose some mistake of the press in the text of that judicious traveller. Mahudel, but is defended on the authority of poets and medals by M. de la Nauze. See the Academie des Inscriptions, tom. vii. Hist. p. 74. Mem. 240. r [Gibbon does not make the nearest shores of the Hellespont, more distant from each other than are those of the Bosphorus, yet all the ancients speak of this last passage as being broader than the other. They agree in giving it 7 stadia, or 875 paces, in the narrowest part. (Herodotus in Melpom. chap. 85; Polymn, chap. 34; Stra bo, p. 591; Pliny, I. iv. chap. 13.) It is singular that Gibbon, who, in the fifteenth note upon this chapter reproaches D'Anville with being too fond of new and imaginary measures, has here adopted the very same measure of the stadium which D'Anville has given. It was the opinion of this great geographer, that the ancient stadjum was equal to fifty-one toises, and he applies this measure in giving the dimensions of Babylon. Now, seven of these stadia are nearly equivalent to five hundred paces; 7 stadia, 2142 feet; 500 paces, 2133 feet 5 inches. (See the Geogr. of Herodotus, by Rennell, p. 121. -G.] See the seventh book of Herodotus, who has erected an elegant trophy to his own fame and to that of his country. The review appears to have been made with tolerable accuracy; but the vanity, first of the Persians, and afterwards of the Greeks, was interested to magnify the armament and the victory. I should much doubt whether the invaders have ever outnumbered the men of any country which they attacked. See Wood's Observations on Homer, p. 320. I have, with plea. sure, selected this remark from an author who in general seems to have disappointed the expectation of the public as a critic, and still more as a traveller. He had visited the banks of the Hellespont: he had read Strabo; he ought to have consulted the Roman itineraries; how was it possible for him to confound Ilium and Alexandria Troas, (Observations, p. 340, 341.) two cities which were sixteen a Demetrius of Scepsis wrote sixty books on thirty lines of Homer's catalogue. The xiiith book of Strabo is sufficient for our curiosity. p See an admirable dissertation of M. d'Anville upon the Helles-miles distant from each other? pont or Dardanelles, in the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 318-346. Yet even that ingenious geographer is too fond of supposing new, and perhaps imaginary measures, for the purpose of rendering ancient writers as accurate as himself. The stadia employed by Herodotus in the description of the Euxine, the Bosphorus, &c. (1. iv. c. 85.) must undoubtedly be all of the same species; but it seems impossible to reconcile them either with truth or with each other. The oblique distance between Sestus and Abydus was thirty atadia. The improbable tale of Hero and Leander is exposed by M. v Strabo. I. xiii. p. 595. The disposition of the ships which were drawn upon dry land, and the posts of Ajax and Achilles, are very clearly described by Homer. See Iliad ix. 220. x Zosim. 1. ii. p. 105. Sozomen, l. ii. c. 3. Theophanes, p. 18. Nicephorus Callistus, I. vii. p. 48. Zonaras, tom. ii. 1. xiii. p. 6. Zosimus places the new city between Ilium and Alexandria, but this apparent difference may be reconciled by the large extent of its cir Advantages of We are at present qualified to view the | tron sinking under the weight of years and infirmities, Constantinople. advantageous position of Constantinople; was suddenly transformed into a blooming maid, whom which appears to have been formed by nature for the his own hands adorned with all the symbols of imcentre and capital of a great monarchy. Situated in perial greatness. The monarch awoke, interpreted the forty-first degree of latitude, the imperial city com- the auspicious omen, and obeyed, without hesitation, manded, from her seven hills, the opposite shores the will of heaven. The day which gave birth to a of Europe and Asia; the climate was healthy and city or colony was celebrated by the Romans with temperate, the soil fertile, the harbour secure and ca- such ceremonies as had been ordained by a generous pacious; and the approach on the side of the continent superstition; and though Constantine might omit some was of small extent and easy defence. The Bosphorus rites which savoured too strongly of their pagan origin, and the Hellespont may be considered as the two gates yet he was anxious to leave a deep impression of hope of Constantinople; and the prince who possessed and respect on the minds of the spectators. On foot, those important passages could always shut them with a lance in his hand, the emperor himself led the against a naval enemy, and open them to the fleets of solemn procession; and directed the line, which was commerce. The preservation of the eastern provinces traced as the boundary of the destined capital: till the may, in some degree, be ascribed to the policy of Con- growing circumference was observed with astonishstantine, as the barbarians of the Euxine, who in the ment by the assistants, who, at length, ventured to preceding age had poured their armaments into the observe, that he had already exceeded the most ample heart of the Mediterranean, soon desisted from the exer- measure of a great city. "I shall still advance," recise of piracy, and despaired of forcing this insurmoun- plied Constantine, "till HE, the invisible guide who table barrier. When the gates of the Hellespont and marches before me, thinks proper to stop." Without Bosphorus were shut, the capital still enjoyed within presuming to investigate the nature or motives of this their spacious enclosure, every production which could extraordinary conductor, we shall content ourselves supply the wants, or gratify the luxury, of its numer- with the more humble task of describing the extent and ous inhabitants. The sea-coasts of Thrace and Bithy-limits of Constantinople." nia, which languish under the weight of Turkish In the actual state of the city, the paoppression, still exhibit a rich prospect of vineyards, lace and gardens of the seraglio occupy of gardens, and of plentiful harvests; and the Propontis the eastern promontory, the first of the seven hills, and has ever been renowned for an inexhaustible store of cover about one hundred and fifty acres of our own the most exquisite fish, that are taken in their stated measure. The seat of Turkish jealousy and despotism seasons, without skill, and almost without labour. is erected on the foundations of a Grecian republic; but But when the passages of the straits were thrown open it may be supposed that the Byzantines were tempted for trade, they alternately admitted the natural and by the conveniency of the harbour to extend their habartificial riches of the north and south, of the Euxine, itations on that side beyond the modern limits of the and of the Mediterranean. Whatever rude commodities seraglio. The new walls of Constantine stretched were collected in the forests of Germany and Scythia, from the port to the Propontis across the enlarged as far as the sources of the Tanais and the Borys- breadth of the triangle, at the distance of fifteen stadia thenes; whatsoever was manufactured by the skill of from the ancient fortification; and with the city of Europe or Asia; the corn of Egypt, and the gems and Byzantium they enclosed five of the seven hills, which spices of the furthest India, were brought by the vary- to the eyes of those who approach Constantinople, ing winds into the port of Constantinople, which for appear to rise above each other in beautiful order. many ages, attracted the commerce of the ancient About a century after the death of the founder, the new world.a buildings, extending on one side up the harbour, and on the other along the Propontis, already covered the narrow ridge of the sixth, and the broad summit of the seventh hill. The necessity of protecting those suburbs from the incessant inroads of the barbarians, engaged the younger Theodosius to surround his capital with an adequate and permanent enclosure of walls. From the eastern promontory to the golden gate, the extreme length of Constantinople was about three Roman miles; the circumference measured between the city. b Foundation of The prospect of beauty, of safety, and of wealth, united in a single spot, was sufficient to justify the choice of Constantine. But as some decent mixture of prodigy and fable has, in every age, been supposed to reflect a becoming majesty on the origin of great cities, the emperor was desirous of ascribing his resolution, not so much to the uncertain counsels of human policy, as to the infallible and eternal decrees of divine wisdom. In one of his laws he has been careful to instruct posterity, that, in obedience to the commands of God, he laid the everlasting foundations of Constantinople: and though he has not condescended to relate in what manner the celestial inspiration was communicated to his mind, the defect of his modest silence has been liberally supplied by the ingenuity of succeeding writers; who describe the nocturnal vision which appeared to the fancy of Constantine, as he slept within the walls of Byzantium. The tutelar genius of the city, a venerable macumference. Before the foundation of Constantinople, Thessalonica is mentioned by Cedrenus, (p. 283.) and Sardica by Zonaras, as the intended capital. They both suppose, with very little probability, that the emperor, if he had not been prevented by a prodigy, would have repeated the mistake of the blind Chalcedonians. y Pocock's Description of the East, vol. ii. part ii. p. 127. His plan of the seven hills is clear and accurate. That traveller is seldom so satisfactory. 2 See Belon. Observations, c. 72-76. Among a variety of different species, the pelamides, a sort of tunnyes, were the most celebrated. We may learn from Polybius, Strabo, and Tacitus, that the profits of the fishery constituted the principal revenue of Byzantium. a See the eloquent description of Bushequius, epistol. i. p. 64. Est in Europa; habet in conspectu Asiam, Egyptum, Africamque a dextra: quæ tametsi contiguæ non sunt, maris tamen navigandique commoditate veluti junguntur. A sinistra vero pontus est Euxinus, &c. b Datur hæc venia antiquitati, ut miscendo humana divinis, primordia urbium augustiora faciat. T. Liv. in prœm. He says, in one of his laws, pro commoditate urbis quam æterno nomine, jubente Deo, donavimus. Cod. Theodos. I. xiii. tit. v. leg. 7. Extent. d The Greeks, Theophanes, Cedrenus, and the author of the Alexandrian Chronicle, confine themselves to vague and general expressions. For a more particular account of the vision, we are obliged See Ducange, C. P. I. i. p. 24, 25. to have recourse to such Latin writers as William of Malmesbury. • See Plutarch in Romul. tom. i. p. 49. edit. Bryan. Among other ceremonies, a large hole, which had been dug for that purpose, was filled up with handfuls of earth, which each of the settlers brought from the place of his birth, and thus adopted his new country. f Philostorgius, 1. ii. c. 9. This incident, though borrowed from a suspected writer, is characteristic and probable. See in the Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxxv. p. 747-758. a dissertation of M. d'Anville on the extent of Constantinople. He takes the plan inserted in the Imperium Orientale of Banduri as the most complete; but, by a series of very nice observations, he reduces the extravagant proportion of the scale, and instead of 9500, determines the circumference of the city as consisting of about 7800 French toises. A Codinus Antiquitat. Const. p. 12. He assigns the church of St. Anthony as the boundary on the side of the harbour. It is mentioned in Ducange, 1. iv. c. 6; but I have tried, without success to discover the exact place where it was situated. i The new wall of Theodosius was constructed in the year 413. In 447 it was thrown down by an earthquake, and rebuilt in three months by the diligence of the præfect Cyrus. The suburb of the Blachernæ was first taken into the city in the reign of Heraclius. Ducange Const. I. i. c. 10, 11. The measurement is expressed in the Notitia, by 14,075 feet. It is reasonable to suppose that these were Greek feet; the proportion of which has been ingeniously determined by M. d'Anville. He compares the 180 feet with the 70 Hashemite cubits, which in differ ent writers, are assigned for the height of St. Sophia. Each of these cubits was equal to 27 French inches. [The notitia dignitatum imperii, is a record of all the offices of |