ed the god of day, or, as it was
afterward interpreted, the emperor Constantine himself, with a sceptre
in his right hand, the globe of the world in his left, and a crown of
rays glittering on his head.[53]

The Circus, or Hippodrome, was a stately building about four hundred
paces in length and one hundred in breadth. The space between the two
_metae_ or goals was filled with statues and obelisks; and we may still
remark a very singular fragment of antiquity, the bodies of three
serpents, twisted into one pillar of brass. Their triple heads had once
supported the golden tripod which, after the defeat of Xerxes, was
consecrated in the temple of Delphi by the victorious Greeks. The beauty
of the hippodrome has been long since defaced by the rude hands of the
Turkish conquerors; but, under the similar appellation of Atmeidan, it
still serves as a place of exercise for their horses. From the throne,
whence the emperor viewed the Circensian games, a winding staircase
descended to the palace; a magnificent edifice, which scarcely yielded
to the residence of Rome itself, and which, together with the dependent
courts, gardens, and porticos, covered a considerable extent of ground
upon the banks of the Propontis between the Hippodrome and the Church of
St. Sophia. We might likewise celebrate the baths, which still retained
the name of Zeuxippus,[54] after they had been enriched, by the
munificence of Constantine, with lofty columns, various marbles, and
above threescore statues of bronze. But we should deviate from the
design of this history if we attempted minutely to describe the
different buildings or quarters of the city. It may be sufficient to
observe that whatever could adorn the dignity of a great capital, or
contribute to the benefit or pleasure of its numerous inhabitants, was
contained within the walls of Constantinople. A particular description,
composed about a century after its foundation, enumerates a capitol or
school of learning, a circus, two theatres, eight public and one hundred
and fifty-three private baths, fifty-two porticos, five granaries, eight
aqueducts or reservoirs of water, four spacious halls for the meetings
of the senate or courts of justice, fourteen churches, fourteen palaces,
and four thousand three hundred and eighty-eight houses, which, for
their size or beauty, deserved to be distinguished from the multitude of
plebeian habitations.

The populousness of his favored city was the next and m