among the Anthnts. 21 



port of this opinion, upon the authority of historians, who 

 inform us that Constantine the Great stripped Rome and 

 the cities of Greece of their finest ornaments in order to de- 

 corate his new capital *. We may conclude that these four 

 horses were comprised in the above, if we give credit at the 

 same time to an antient tradition^ which, however, never 

 existed except in the imaginations of some learned men. 

 Zanetti, who has added an engraving of them to his collec- 

 tion of the statues at Venice, even thinks he has discovered 

 some defects in their workmanship ; and for this reason he 

 concludes them to be of Roman origin. It is, however, very 

 certain, and we may refer to the authority of Codinus as a 

 confirmation, that these horses were never at Rome. They 

 were found by the V^cnetians in the great circus of Con- 

 stantinople. It is among the antiquities of this last city, 

 therefore, that v/e must seek their origin, and not among 

 the monuments of Rome. Codinus, who enters into a 

 long detail upon the subject of the antiquities of Byzantium, 



» The exorbitant sums of money expended by Constantine in order to 

 transform Byzandum into an agreeable residence for the Romans must excite 

 our astonishment. Theatres, circuses, public baths, porticoes, temples, pa- 

 laces, gymnasia, triumphal arches, aqueducts, columns surmounted by sta- 

 tues, obelisks, cloaca;, were all constructed with as much magni.lcence and 

 ■witii more regularity than in antient Rome. In order to induce twelve of his 

 friends to reside in his new capital, he first sent them with an army against 

 Sapor, king of the Persians. In the mean time architects were dispatched to 

 take all the dimensions of their house; at Rome; and in order at the same 

 time to induce their families to come to Eyzar.tium, the houses at Constan- 

 tinople were buiit exactly upon the same plan, and with all the accessaries of 

 luxury they possessed at Rome; and when, at the end of 16 months, the pa- 

 tricians returned from their expedition, the emperor asked them jocularly if 

 they intended to return soon to Italy. — " In two months," was their answer; 

 " at the beginning of winter we intend to set out." — " In the mean time (said 

 the emperor) 1 have prepared lodgings for you." When they were conducted 

 to them, ho\v great was their astonishment upon seeing transported, as if bv 

 enchantment, their palaces from Rome to the shores of the Propontis; and 

 they were much delighted when upon entering them they fuusd assembled 

 their wives and children, with their slaves and every thing that was dearest to 

 them. Codinus, who relates this story, enumerates 22 cities from which Con- 

 stantine brought away statues. The church of Kt. Sophia, which was as yet no 

 better than a pagan temple, received 427 of these works of art. Justinian, 

 who consecrated this magnificent temple to the Christian worship, took the 

 statues out of it, and distributed them in the different quarters of tfi? city. 



£ 3 speaks 



