Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/259

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 241 gistrates of the most distant provinces were therefore CHAP. directed to institute schools, to appoint professors, and, '_ by the hopes of rewards and privileges, to engage in the study and practice of architecture a sufficient num- ber of ingenious youths, who had received a liberal education*. The buildings of the new city were ex- ecuted by such artificers as the reign of Constantine could afford ; but they were decorated by the hands of the most celebrated masters of the age of Pericles and Alexander. To revive the genius of Phidias and Ly- sippus, surpassed indeed the power of a Roman empe- ror ; but the immortal productions which they had bequeathed to posterity were exposed without defence to the rapacious vanity of a despot. By his commands the cities of Greece and Asia were despoiled of their most valuable ornaments'. The trophies of memorable wars, the objects of religious veneration, the most finished statues of the gods and heroes, of the sages and poets of ancient times, contributed to the splendid triumph of Constantinople ; and gave occasion to the remark of the historian Cedienus", who observes, with some enthusiasm, that nothing seemed wanting except the souls of the illustrious men whom those admirable monuments were intended to represent. But it is not in the city of Constantine, nor in the declining period of an empire, when the human mind was depressed by civil and religious slavery, that we should seek for the souls of Homer and of Demosthenes. During the siege of Byzantium, the conqueror had f'-'iifices. pitched his tent on the commanding eminence of the ' See the Codex Theodot^ xiii. tit. iv. leg. 1. This law is dated in the year 334, and "■as addressed to the prefect of Italy, whose jurisdiction ex- tended over Africa. 'J'he commentary of Godefroy on the whole title well deserves to be consulted. ' Constantinopolis dedicatur pene omnium uibium nudilate. Hieronym. Chrori. p. 181. See Codinus, p. 8, 9. The author of the Antiquiiat. Const. 1. iii. (apud Banduri Imp. Orient, tom. i. p. 41.) enumerates Rome, Sicily, Antibch, Athens, and a long list of other cities. The provinces of Greece and Asia Minor may he supposed to have yielded the richest booty. " Hist. Compend. p. 369. He describes the statue, or rather bust of Homer, with a degree of taste which plainly indicates that Cedrenus copied the style of a more fortunate age. VOL. II. R