~ SCULPTURE. 45 
best productions of that time is a relief now preserved in the Capitoline 
Museum. It is known by the name of Pretas Militaris and represents 
warriors transporting a wounded companion in arms from the fiéld of battle 
(pl. 7, fig.1). Here belong also some statues of Constantine and his sons ; 
but these also exhibit the decline of art, which now advanced with gigantic 
steps, as is shown by the contracted stature and disproportionate breadth 
given to the human figure. 
This decline of the arts, however, did not take place so suddenly as some 
endeavor to maintain; the decay in fact was very gradual, so that it was 
not till the end of the fifth century that they went so far as to patch together 
new buildings out of ancient fragments. In Reme especially it was during 
the sway of Pope Gregory the Great that this deterioration of art gained 
the ascendency; although the bishops in the provinces had been in the 
practice for several decenniums of pulling down the temples and building 
churches and basilicas out of them, while they eagerly destroyed the statues 
of the gods with true fanatical rage. 
As soon as Constantine the Great had resolved to rear anew Rome on 
the site of ancient Byzantium, not only were the best artists summoned to 
Byzantium from Rome, but also the finest and most celebrated works of art 
throughout the whole extent of the Roman dominion were carried off to the 
new capital; and when its dedication took place in the year 330, men 
beheld with admiration in the streets and public squares of Byzantium, no 
longer as objects of idolatrous veneration but simply as creations of art, 
the statues of the Pythian Apollo and Apollo Smintheus, the tripod of the 
Delphic oracle, the Muses of Helicon, the famous statue of Pan, the Cybele, 
said to have been set up by the Argonauts on Mount Dindymus, the 
Athene from Lindus, the Amphitrite from Rhodes, and countless other 
productions of genius; though these were afterwards destroyed by the 
Christians as idolatrous images deserving no better fate, and were partly 
buried in fragments under the floors of churches, in order that they might 
be as it were trodden under foot by the professors of the true faith. But 
we need not be astonished that, in spite of this fanatical zeal for destruc- 
tion, so many statues of the gods have been preserved to our times; for the 
adherents of the old religion buried these images, in order to preserve them 
from destruction, from which cause they are- found even now in places 
where no temple or altar ever stood. 
But Constantine did not content himself with merely collecting works of 
art; he also caused others to be executed. To these belong the above 
mentioned portrait-statues, which were set on high pillars, and a fountain, 
whose plastic ornaments had reference to the Christian religion. Above 
appeared Christ as the good shepherd, and another bronze group repre- 
sented Daniel in the lions’ den, a subject which in succeeding times was 
often treated by sculptors. Constantine also caused a statue to be executed 
of Athalaric, king of the Goths. 
Among the many churches which Constantine built in his new capital 
was the Church of Peace, designed to be the emperor’s burial-place, which 
‘was afterwards enlarged by Constantius and dedicated to St. Sophia. He 
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