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iv HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
was the country of his Roman ancestors, to whom, like Augustus, he was fond of
claiming kindred. He was at last induced to adopt the spot on which he had defeated
his last enemy, and he was confirmed in his choice by a vision. While examining the
situation, he fell asleep; and the genius who presided over mortal slumbers, appeared
to him in a dream. She seemed the form of a venerable matron, far advanced in life,
and infirm under the pressure of many years and various injuries. Suddenly she assumed
the appearance of a young and blooming virgin; and he was so struck with the beautiful
transition, that he felt a pride and pleasure in adorning her person with all the ornaments
and ensigns of his own imperial power. On awaking from his dream, he thought himself
bound to obey what he considered a celestial warning, and forthwith commenced his
project. The site chosen had all the advantages which nature could possibly confer
upon any single spot. It was shut in from hostile attack, while it was thrown open
to every commercial benefit. Almost within sight, and within an easily accessible
distance, were Egypt and Africa, with all the riches of the south and west, on the one
hand; on the other were Pontus, Persia, and the indolent and luxurious East. The
Mediterranean sent up its wealth by the Hellespont, and the Euxine sent hers down
by the Bosphorus. The climate was the most bland and temperate to be found on the
surface of the globe; the soil, the most fertile in every production of the earth; and the
harbour, the most secure and capacious that ever opened its bosom to the navigation of
mankind : winding round its promontories, and swelling to its base, it resembled the
cornucopise of Amalthea, filled with fruits of different kinds, and was thence called
"The Golden Horn."
His first care was to mark out the boundaries. He advanced on foot with a lance
in his hand, heading a solemn procession, ordering its line of march to be carefully
noted down as the new limits. The circuit he took so far exceeded expectation, that
his attendants ventured to remonstrate with him on the immensity of the circumference.
He replied, he would go on till that Being who had ordered his enterprise, and whom he
saw walking before him, should think proper to stop. In this perambulation he walked
round six of the hills on which the modern city is built. Having marked out the area,
his next care was to fill it with edifices. On one side of him rose the forests of Mount
Haemus, whose arms ramify to the Euxine and the mouth of the Bosphorus, covered
with wood; these gave him an inexhaustible supply of timber, which the current of the
strait floated in a few hours into his harbour, and which centuries of use have hardly yet
thinned, or at all exhausted. On the other, at no great distance, was Percenessus, an
island of marble rising out of the sea, affording that material ready to be conveyed by
water also into his harbour, and in such abundance, that it affords at this day, to the
present masters of the city, an inexhaustible store, and lends its name to the sea on
whose shores it so abounds.
The great materials being thus at hand, artists were wanted to work them up.
So much, however, had the arts declined, that none could be found to execute the
Emperor's designs, and it was necessary to found schools every where, to instruct scholars
for the purpose; and, as the pupils became improved and competent, they were des- |
