tinople cannot be ascribed to the general
increase of mankind and of industry, it must be admitted that this
artificial colony was raised at the expense of the ancient cities of
the empire. Many opulent senators of Rome, and of the eastern provinces,
were probably invited by Constantine to adopt for their country
the fortunate spot, which he had chosen for his own residence. The
invitations of a master are scarcely to be distinguished from commands;
and the liberality of the emperor obtained a ready and cheerful
obedience. He bestowed on his favorites the palaces which he had built
in the several quarters of the city, assigned them lands and pensions
for the support of their dignity, [55] and alienated the demesnes
of Pontus and Asia to grant hereditary estates by the easy tenure of
maintaining a house in the capital. [56] But these encouragements and
obligations soon became superfluous, and were gradually abolished.
Wherever the seat of government is fixed, a considerable part of the
public revenue will be expended by the prince himself, by his ministers,
by the officers of justice, and by the domestics of the palace. The most
wealthy of the provincials will be attracted by the powerful motives of
interest and duty, of amusement and curiosity. A third and more
numerous class of inhabitants will insensibly be formed, of servants,
of artificers, and of merchants, who derive their subsistence from their
own labor, and from the wants or luxury of the superior ranks. In less
than a century, Constantinople disputed with Rome itself the preeminence
of riches and numbers. New piles of buildings, crowded together with too
little regard to health or convenience, scarcely allowed the intervals
of narrow streets for the perpetual throng of men, of horses, and of
carriages. The allotted space of ground was insufficient to contain
the increasing people; and the additional foundations, which, on either
side, were advanced into the sea, might alone have composed a very
considerable city. [57]

[Footnote 53: Liutprand, Legatio ad Imp. Nicephornm, p. 153. The modern
Greeks have strangely disfigured the antiquities of Constantinople. We
might excuse the errors of the Turkish or Arabian writers; but it is
somewhat astonishing, that the Greeks, who had access to the authentic
materials preserved in their own language, should prefer fiction to
truth, and loose tradition to genuine history. In a single page of
Codinus we may detect twelve un