Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/90

 From the western arch of the Milion we enter the Mese, that is, the Middle, Main, or High Street of the city, which traverses the whole town from east to west with a southerly inclination between the Augusteum and the Golden Gate. It is bounded in almost all of its course by porticoes said to have been constructed by Eubulus, one of the wealthy Romans who were induced to migrate by Constantine. The same patrician gifted the city with two other colonnades which extend for a considerable distance along the eastern portion of the north and south shores. The Mese proceeds at first between the north of the Hippodrome and the Judicial or Royal Basilica with the adjacent buildings already mentioned. Contiguous to the Royal Porch is a life-size statue of an elephant with his keeper, erected by Severus to commemorate the fact that the animal had killed a money-changer, who was afterwards proved dishonest, to avenge the death of his master. Near the western flank of the Circus is the Palace of Lausus, said to be one of those reared by Constantine to allure some of the Roman magnates to reside permanently in his new capital. Subsequently, however, it was transformed into an inn for the public entertainment of strangers. In its vestibule and galleries were collected many gems of Grecian statuary, but most of these have been destroyed by the great fire which raged in this quarter under Zeno. Amongst them were the celebrated Venus of Cnidos in white marble, a nude work of Praxiteles; the Lindian Athene in smaragdite; the Samian Hera of Lysippus; a