Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/65

 surreptitiously adored by the populace with religious rites. They are also endowed with the legal attribute of sanctuary, and slaves not uncommonly fly to them for refuge as a protest against ill-treatment by their masters. Portraits of popular actors, actresses, and charioteers may also be observed, but they are liable to be torn down if posted close to the Imperial images or in any position too reputable for their pretensions. On the inside the porticoes are lined for the most part by shops and workshops. Opening on to them in certain positions are public halls or auditoriums, architecturally decorative and furnished with seats, where meetings can be held and professors can lecture to classes on various topics. Between the pillars of the colonnades next the thoroughfare we find stalls and tables for the sale of all kinds of wares. In the finer parts of the city such stalls or booths must by law be ornamentally constructed and encrusted outside with marbles so as not to mar the beauty of the piazza. At the tables especially are seated the money-changers or bankers, who lend money at usury, receive it at interest, and act generally as the pawnbrokers of the capital. Such pleasant

and wherever business is transacted, that he may safeguard the proceedings"; Severianus, De Mund. Creat., vi, 5 (apud. Chrysost., Migne, vi, 489).]were limited to six feet of length and seven of height.]
 * [Footnote: Emperor must be set up in courts, market-places, assemblies, theatres,