ropontis between the Hippodrome and the church of St. Sophia.
We might likewise celebrate the baths, which still retained the name
of Zeuxippus, 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 most serious
object of the attention of its founder. In the dark ages which succeeded
the translation of the empire, the remote and the immediate consequences
of that memorable event were strangely confounded by the vanity of the
Greeks and the credulity of the Latins. It was asserted and believed
that all the noble families of Rome, the Senate, and the equestrian
order, with their innumerable attendants, had followed their Emperor to
the banks of the Propontis; that a spurious race of strangers and
plebeians was left to possess the solitude of the ancient capital; and
that the lands of Italy, long since converted into gardens, were at once
deprived of cultivation and inhabitants. In the course of this history
such exaggerations will be reduced to their just value: yet, since the
growth of Constantinople 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