EFFECT OF THE FOUNDING CHAP. ix. 



sion of the famous missorium, or great dish, for 

 the service of the table, of massy gold, of the 

 weight of five hundred pounds, and of far supe- 

 rior value, from the precious stones, the exquisite 

 workmanship, and the tradition that it had been 

 presented by a Roman patrician to Torismond, 

 one of their former kings. This celebrated piece 

 of furniture was found in Spain by the Arabs, 

 who destroyed the Gothic monarchy in that 

 country, and, with other treasures of greater 

 value, was probably converted into coin by the 

 Mahometan chiefs who had established their 

 dominion in the peninsula 1 . 



One event in the period under consideration 

 must have had a great effect, if not on the quan- 

 tity, yet on the locality of the circulation of the 

 gold and silver coin. The founding of the city 

 of Byzantium, the modern Constantinople, and 

 making it the central point of the Roman empire, 

 would naturally attract thither the metallic as 

 well as the other treasures of the world. It was 

 nearer to Egypt, vhich, up to the time of the 

 invasion of Africa by the Vandals, and the exist- 

 ence of their transitory kingdom, had been one 

 of the chief sources of the revenue of the em- 

 pire. It was nearer to the rich and then popu- 

 lous provinces of Asia, and well situated to 

 watch the movements of the Persians, the only 



1 See Gibbon, cap. xxxi. vol. 5, page 337, edit. 1807- 



