Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/250

 232 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP. Chrysopolis, or Scutari, which may almost be consi- L dered as the Asiatic suburb of Constantinople. The Bosphorus, as it begins to open into the Propontis, passes between Byzantium and Chalcedon. The latter of those cities was built by the Greeks, a few years be- fore the former; and the blindness of its founders, who overlooked the superior advantages of the opposite coast, has been stigmatized by a proverbial expression of contempt''. The port. The harbour of Constantinople, which may be con- sidered as an arm of the Bosphorus, obtained, in a very remote period, the denomination of the Golden e^ Horn. The curve which it describes might be com- pared to the horn of a stag, or, as it should seem, with more propriety, to that of an ox'. The epithet of golden was expressive of the riches which every wind wafted from the most distant countries into the secure and capacious port of Constantinople. The river Ly- cus, formed by the conflux of two little streams, pours into the harbour a perpetual supply of fresh water, which serves to cleanse the bottom, and to invite the periodical shoals of fish to seek their retreat in that convenient recess. As the vicissitudes of tides are scarcely felt in those seas, the constant depth of the harbour allows goods to be landed on the quays with- out the assistance of boats; and it has been observed, that in many places the largest vessels may rest their prows against the houses, while their sterns are floating in the water". From the mouth of the Lycus to that of the harbour, this arm of the Bosphorus is more than seven miles in length. The entrance is about five hun- ^ Namque artissiino inter Europam Asiamque divortio Byzantium in ex- trema Europa posuere Graeci, quibus, Pjthium ApoUmem consulentibus ubi conderent urbem, redditum oraculum est, quaererent sedem cctcornm terris adveisam. Ea ainbage Chalcedonii monslrabantur, quod priores illuc ad- vecti, praevisa locorum utilitate pejora legissent. Tacit. Annal. xii. 62. ' Strabo, 1. x. p. 492. Most of the antlers are now broke off; or, to speak less figuratively, most of the recesses of the harbour are filled up. See Gyllius de Bosphoro Thracio, 1. i. c. 5. ™ Procopius de ^^Ldificiis, 1. i. c. 5. His description is confirmed by mo- dern travellers. See Thevenot, part i. 1. i. c. 15; Tournefort, Lettre xii.; Nicbuhr, Voyage d'Arabie, p. 22.