Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/380

 362 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. appreciating either their liistorical interest or the vahie with which the labor of the artist had endowed them, the Cru- saders knew only the value of the metals of which they were composed/ The emperors had been buried within the precincts of the Church of the Holy Apostles, the site of which was afterwards chosen by Mahomet the Second for the erection of the mosque now called by his name. Their tombs, beginning with that of Justinian, were ransacked in the search for treasure. It was not until the palaces of the nobles, the churches, and the tombs had been plundered that the pious brigands turned their attention to the statues. A colossal figure of Juno, which had been brought from Samos, and which stood in the forum of Constantino, was sent to the melting-pot. We may judge of its size from the fact that four oxen w^ere required to transport its head to the palace. The statue of Paris pre- senting to Venus the apple of discord followed. The Anemo- dulion, or Servant of the Winds, was a lofty obelisk, whose sides were covered wdth bas-reliefs of great beauty, represent- ing scenes of rural life, and allegories depicting the seasons, wdiile the obelisk was surmounted by a female figure wdiich turned WMth the w^nd, and so gave to the whole its name. The bas-reliefs were stripped off and sent to the palace to be melted. A beautiful equestrian statue of great size, repre- senting either Bellerophon and Pegasus or, as the populace believed, Joshua on horseback, commanding the sun to stand still, w^as likewise sent to the furnace. The horse appeared to be neighing at the sound of the trumpet, w^hile every mus- cle was strained with the ardor of battle. The colossal Her- cules of Lysippus, which, having adorned Tarentum, had thence been transported to the Elder and subsequently to the hippodrome of the New Rome, met W'ith a like fate. The artist had expressed, in a manner which won the admiration of beholders, the deep wrath of the hero at the unworthy ' The bronze, or " Corinthian copper," was formed of copper, gold, and silver. The stand of the tripod of Plataea still remains in the hippo- drome, and was probably spared on account of the inferior quality of its metal.