th astonishment
by the assistants, who at length ventured to observe that he had already
exceeded the most ample measure of a great city. "I shall still
advance," replied Constantine, "till HE, the invisible guide who marches
before me, thinks proper to stop." Without presuming to investigate the
nature or motives of this extraordinary conductor, we shall content
ourselves with the more humble task of describing the extent and limits
of Constantinople.

In the actual state of the city, the palace and gardens of the Seraglio
occupy the eastern promontory, the first of the seven hills, and cover
about one hundred and fifty acres of our own measure. The seat of
Turkish jealousy and despotism is erected on the foundations of a
Grecian republic; but it may be supposed that the Byzantines were
tempted by the conveniency of the harbor to extend their habitations on
that side beyond the modern limits of the Seraglio. The new walls of
Constantine stretched from the port to the Propontis across the enlarged
breadth of the triangle, at a distance of fifteen stadia from the
ancient fortification; and with the city of Byzantium they inclosed five
of the seven hills which, to the eyes of those who approach
Constantinople, appear to rise above each other in beautiful order.
About a century after the death of the founder, the new buildings,
extending on one side up the harbor 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
inclosure of walls. From the eastern promontory to the Golden Gate, the
extreme length of Constantinople was about three Roman miles; the
circumference measured between ten and eleven, and the surface might be
computed as equal to about two thousand English acres. It is impossible
to justify the vain and credulous exaggerations of modern travelers, who
have sometimes stretched the limits of Constantinople over the adjacent
villages of the European, and even of the Asiatic coast. But the suburbs
of Pera and Galata, though situate beyond the harbor, may deserve to be
considered as a part of the city; and this addition may perhaps
authorize the measure of a Byzantine historian, who assigns sixteen
Greek (about fourteen Roman) miles for the circumference of his native
city.