676 
rienced by the Greek empire, during the 
Jong reign. of Justinian, was truly fright- 
ful. Nearly all the provinces became 
depopulated, and Tialy atone was re- 
duced to Jess than one quarter of her in- 
habitants. Even Constantinople herself, 
although the head of the empire, -was 
menaced with a siege by the Bulgarians ; 
but she was saved from this imminent 
danger by her fortunate position op one 
hand, and the strength of her fortifica- 
tions on the other. . If one were disposed 
to make a comparison between the local 
situation of ancient and new Rome, it 
would be greatly in favour of the latter. 
Rome seemed destined only to be the 
capital of Italy, but the moment that the 
empire extended-beyond Italy, its situa- 
tion presented great disadvantages. 
The communication hetween the capital 
and the provinces always experienced 
great difficulties and delays; in addition 
to which, it might have been easily in- 
terrupted in time of war. An invasion 
- of Italy, and the siege of Rome, menaced 
the empire with destruction, although 
the provinces might remain untouched ; 
in addition to this, Rome was defended 
with difficulty, and had been frequently 
lost and retaken in the course of the 
same war. The last of the emperors had 
already experienced all the inconve- 
niences incident to its position, and they 
accordingly preferred to take up their 
residence at Milan or Ravenna.. Con- 
stantinople, ou the contrary, united all 
the advantages incident to. the most fa- 
vourable position, for being built on the 
borders of the Bosphorus, it was capable 
of keeping up a communication with ali 
parts of the ancient world. The north 
and the south, the east and the west, 
possessed an equal facility of access; it 
seemed expressly created by nature to 
govern both Europe and Asia: accor- 
dingly, in the course of a few years, it 
was found to equal Rome, both in point 
of extent and magnificence. 
-During the middle ages, such Euro- 
peans as possessed any degree of curio- 
sity, repaired to Byzantium, for the ex- 
press purpose of admiring its’ magnifi- 
cence; and perhaps the pleasure of be- 
holding that superb city, weighed not a 
little with those who determined to make 
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The 
existence of the empire was so essen- 
tially connected with that of the capital, 
that this perhaps was the chief cause 
why it supported itself during a thousand 
ears after the fall of the western world, 
i short, during the period just alluded 
to, the whole ewpire was confined to the 
: 
Retrospect of French Literature—History. 
capital, and the former could never be - 
said to be subdued unuil the latter had 
been captured. Constantine, Theodo- 
sius the Younger, Justinian, Heraclius, 
had all augmented tle fortifications to- 
wards the sea, while the harbour itself 
was defended by an iron chain. The 
extremity of the Chiersonese, on which 
Constantinople was built, had been de- 
fended by means of a wall, built under 
the inspection of the Emperor Anasta- 
sius. The Bulgarians, who towards the 
end of the reign of Justinian, crossed the 
Danube, were arrested in their progress 
by these fortifications alone. The sol~ 
diery had wholly degenerated, and. the 
emperor’s guards were chiefly composed 
of cowards. It was. with ditficulty that 
Belisarius) could assemble the appear- 
ance of an army, to confront the enemy, 
and he beat them by +his able ma- 
neuvres alone; but having fallen into 
disgrace he was unable to derive any ade 
vantage from the victory, while Justi= 
nian, although conqueror, submitted to- 
the custom, equally dangerous and 
shameful, of purchasing the safety. of his 
provinces, by means of money. 
“Lettre sur Armenie, &¢.—A letter 
relative to Armenia, Armenian literature, 
&e. &e, &c. by Farner Vitta-For, 
of Alexandria, a Missionary in Armenia, 
Asia was formerly prodactive of great 
men, memorable events, celebrated wars, 
and wonderful: revolutions: the arts and _ 
sciences shone there with astonishing 
splendour, while Rome and Greece were 
not as yet in existence, In the inter 
esting history of that happy climate, we 
discover the origin of nations, the foun- 
dations of the primitive cities, the esta- 
blishment of monarchical government, 
the causes of the first wars, aud the first 
conquests. Of all the eastern countries, 
the history of Armenia may be justly re- 
garded as one of the most curious in the 
universe. No people ever experienced 
such frequent revolutions, no region was 
ever the theatre of so many tragical 
scenes; of wars so memorable, or of 
events so extraordinary. That country 
seemed to be the rendezvous whither all 
the great captains of antiquity repaired, 
in. order to obtain palms, representative 
of their glory. Cyrus, Semiramis, Ti- 
granes, Arsaces, Alexander, Mithridates, 
Sylia, Lucullus, Murena, Gabinius, 
Gassius, Pompey, Mark Antony, Casar, 
and. many other heroes, have — illus-- 
trated that region of the world by their 
grand exploits, This land of happiness, 
this second Eden, was destined to be 
fox some time the scene of glory; and it 
. seemed 
