Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/261

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 2iS pod which, after the defeat of Xerxes, was consecrated CH A P. in the temple of Delphi by the victorious Greeks''. _____ The beauty of the hippodrome has been long since de- faced by the rude hands of the Turkish conquerors: but, under the similar appellation of Atmeidan, it still serves as a place of exercise for their horses. From the throne, whence the emperor viewed the Circensian games, a winding staircase " descended to the palace ; a magnificent edifice, which scarcely yielded to the re- sidence of Rome itself, and which, together with the dependent courts, gardens, and porticoes, covered a considerable extent of ground upon the banks of the Propontis between the hippodrome and the church of St. Sophia**. We might likewise celebrate the baths, which still retained the name of Zeuxippus, after they had been enriched by the munificence of Constantine, with lofty columns, various marbles, and above three- score statues of bronze ". But we should deviate from to produce such a chain of evidence as may be alleged on this occasion. See Banduri ad Antiquitat. Const, p. 668; Gyllius de Byzant. 1, ii.c. 13. 1. The original consecration of the tripod and pillar in the temple of Delphi may be proved from Herodotus and Pausanias. 2. The pagan Zosimus aorees with the three ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius, Socrates, and So- zomen, that the sacred ornaments of the temple of Delphi were removed to Constantinople by the order of Constantine ; and among these the serpen- tine pillar of the hippodrome is particularly mentioned. 3. All the Eu- ropean travellers who have visited Constantinople, from Buondelmonte to Pocock, describe it in the same place, and almost in the same manner : the differences between them are occasioned only by the injuries which it has sustained from the Turks. ISIahomet the second broke the under jaw of one of the serpents with a stroke of his battle axe. Thevenot, 1. i. c. 17. <: The Latin name cochlea was adopted by the Greeks, and very fre- quently occurs in the Byzantine history. Ducange, Const. 1. ii. c. i. p. 104. •* There are three topographical points which indicate the situation of the palace. 1. The staircase, which connected it with the hippodrome, or Atmeidan. 2. A small artificial port on the Propontis, from whence there was an easy ascent, by a flight of marble steps, to the gardens of the palace. 3. The Augusteum was a spacious court, one side of which was occupied by the front of the palace, and another by the church of St. Sophia. Byzantium. The difficultv of assigning their true situation has not been felt by Ducange. History'seems to connect them with St. Sophia and the palace ; but the original plan inserted in Banduri, places them on the other side of the city, near the harbour. For their beauties, see Chron. Paschal, p. 285, and Gyllius de Byzant. 1. ii. c. 7. Christodorus (see Antiquitat. Const. 1. vii.) composed inscriptions in verse for each of the slatues. He was a Theban poet in genius as well as in birth : Bceotum in crasso jurares aere natum. r2
 * The guardians of the most holy relics would rejoice if they were able
 * Zeuxippus was an epithet of .Tupiter, and the baths were a part of old