Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/80

 bath, or institution, as it may properly be called, is brilliantly illuminated during the dark hours of night and morning on an improved system devised by the Praefect Cyrus Constantine.

On the west side of the Augusteum the ground is chiefly taken up by a large covered bazaar, in which dress fabrics of the most expensive kind, silks, and cloth of gold, are warehoused for sale to the Byzantine aristocracy. It is known as the House of Lamps, on account of the multitude of lights which are here ignited for the display of the goods after nightfall. Close by is the Octagon, an edifice bordered by eight porticoes. It contains a library and a lecture theatre, and is the meeting-place of a faculty of erudite monks, who constitute a species of privy council frequently consulted by the Emperor. Preferment to the highest ecclesiastical dignities is the recognized destiny of its members. In the same vicinity is a basilica named the Royal Porch, wherein is preserved a library founded by the Emperor Julian. Here principally judicial causes are heard, and its colonnades have become the habitual resort of advocates, who for the greater part of each day frequent the place in expectation of, or consulting with, clients.