ductions the world had ever known, the works of the most
celebrated artists of the age of Pericles.

These were amply employed. To adorn the new city, the cities of Greece
and Asia were despoiled of their choicest treasures of art. In the Forum
was placed a lofty column of porphyry, one hundred and twenty feet in
height, on whose summit stood a colossal statue of Apollo, supposed to
be the work of Phidias. In the stately circus or hippodrome, the space
between the goals, round which the chariots turned in their swift
flight, was filled with ancient statues and obelisks. Here was also a
trophy of striking historical value, the bodies of three serpents
twisted into a pillar of brass, which once supported the golden tripod
that was consecrated by the Greeks in the temple of Delphi after the
defeat of Xerxes. It still exists, as the choicest antiquarian relic of
the city.

The palace was a magnificent edifice, hardly surpassed by that of Rome
itself. The baths were enriched with lofty columns, handsome marbles,
and more than threescore statues of brass. The city contained numbers of
other magnificent public buildings, and over four thousand noble
residences, which towered above the multitude of plebeian dwellings. As
for its wealth and population, these, in less than a century, vied with
those of Rome itself.

With such energy did Constantine push the work on his city that its
principal edifices were finished in a few years,--or in a few months, as
one authority states, though this statement seems to lack probability.
This done, the founder dedicated his new capital with the most
impressive ceremonies, and with games and largesses to the people of the
greatest pomp and cost. An edict, engraved on a marble column, gave to
the new city the title of Second or New Rome. But this official title
died, as the accepted name of the city, almost as soon as it was born.
Constantinople, the "city of Constantine," became the popular name, and
so it continues till this day in Christian acceptation. In reality,
however, the city has suffered another change of name, for its present
possessors, the Turks, know it by the name of Stambol.

An interesting ceremony succeeded. With every return of the birthday of
the city, a statue of Constantine, made of gilt wood and bearing in its
right hand a small image of the genius of the city, was placed on a
triumphal car, and drawn in solemn procession through the Hippodrome,
attended by the guards