Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/257

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 239 in beautiful order''. About a century after the death CHAP, of the founder, the new buildings, extending on one "' side up the harbour and on the other along the Pvo- pontis, already covered the narrow ridge of the sixth, and the broad summit of the seventh hill. The neces- sity of protecting those suburbs from the incessant in- roads of the barbarians, engaged the younger Theo- dosius to surround his capital with an adequate and permanent enclosure of walls'. From the eastern promontory to the golden gate, the extreme length of Constantinople was about three Roman miles''; the circumference measured between ten and eleven ; and the surface might be computed as equal to about two thousand English acres. It is impossible to justify the vain and credulous exaggerations of modern tra- vellers, who have sometimes stretched the limits of Constantinople over the adjacent villages of the Euro- pean, and even of the Asiatic coast'. But the suburbs of Pera and Galata, though situate beyond the har- bour, may deserve to be considered as a part of the city'"; and this addition may perhaps authorise the measure of a Byzantine historian, who assigns sixteen •• Codinus, Antiquitat. Const, p. 12. He assigns the church of St. Antony as the boundary on the side of the harbour. It is mentioned in Ducange, 1. iv. c. 6 ; but 1 have tried, without success, to discover the exact place where it was situated. ' The new wall of Theodosius was constructed in the year 413. In 447 it was thrown down by an earthquake, and rebuilt in three months by the diligence of the prefect Cyrus. The suburb of the Blachernoe was first taken into the city in the reign of Heraclius. Ducange, Const. 1. i. c. 10, 11. '' The measurement is expressed in the Notitia by fourteen thousand and seventy-five feet. It is reasonable to suppose that these were Greek feet ; the proportion of which has been ingeniously determined by M. d'Auville. He compares the one hundred and eighty feet with the seventy-eight Hashe- mite cubits, which in different writers are assigned for the height of St. Sophia. Each of these cubits was equal to twenty-seven French inches. ' The accurate Thevenot (1. i. c. 15.) walked in one hour and three quarters round two of the sides of the triangle, from the kiosk of the seraglio to the seven towers. D'Anville examines with care, and receives with con- fidence, this decisive testimony, which gives a circumference of ten or twelve miles. The extravagant computation of Tournefort, (Lettre xi.) of thirtv-four or thirty miles, without including Scutari, is a strange departure from his usual character. " The sycae, or tig trees, formed the thirteenth region, and were very much embellished by Justinian. It has since borne the names of Pera and Galata. The etymology of the former is obvious; that of the latter is un- known. See Ducange, Const. 1. i. c. 22 ; and Gyllius de Byzant. 1. iv. c. 10.