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they pass the small islands of Cyzicus and Procon- C H A P. nefus before they caft anchor at Gallipoli; where XVII. the fea, which feparates Afia from Europe, is again contracted into a narrow channel.

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The geographers who, with the moft fkilful The Helle accuracy, have furveyed the form and extent of the Hellefpont, aflign about fixty miles for the winding courfe, and about three miles for the ordinary breadth of thofe celebrated streights But the narroweft part of the channel is found to the northward of the old Turkish castles between the cities of Ceftus and Abydus. It was here that the adventurous Leander braved the paffage of the flood for the poffeffion of his mistress ". It was here likewife, in a place where the distance between the oppofite banks cannot exceed five hundred paces, that Xerxes imposed a stupendous bridge of boats, for the purpose of transporting into Europe an hundred and feventy myriads of barbarians 17. A fea contracted within fuch nar

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35 See an admirable differtation of M. d'Anville upon the Hellefpont or Dardanelles, in the Memoires de l'Academie des Infcriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 318-346. Yet even that ingenious geogra. pher is too fond of fuppofing new, and perhaps imaginary measures, for the purpose of rendering ancient writers as accurate as himself. The ftadia employed by Herodotus in the defcription of the Euxine, the Bofphorus, &c. (1. iv. c. 85.) must undoubtedly be all of the fame fpecies; but it seems impoffible to reconcile them either with truth or with each other.

16 The oblique distance between Ceftus and Abydus was thirty ftadia. The improbable tale of Hero and Leander is exposed by M. Mahudel, but is defended on the authority of poets and medals by M. de la Nauze. See the Academie des Infcriptions, tom. vii. Hift. p. 74. Mem. p. 240.

17 See the seventh book of Herodotus, who has erected an elegant trophy to his own fame and to that of his country. The review ap

pears

CHAP. row limits, may feem but ill to deferve the finXVII. gular epithet of broad, which Homer, as well as

Orpheus, has frequently beftowed on the Hellefpont. But our ideas of greatness are of a rela tive nature: the traveller, and especially the poet, who failed along the Hellefpont, who pursued the windings of the stream, and contemplated the rural fcenery, which appeared on every fide to terminate the profpect, infenfibly loft the remembrance of the fea; and his fancy painted those celebrated ftreights, with all the attributes of a mighty river flowing with a fwift current, in the midft of a woody and inland country, and at length, through a wide mouth, discharging itself into the Egean or Archipelago ". Ancient Troy, feated on an eminence at the foot of Mount Ida, overlooked the mouth of the Hellefpont, which fcarcely received an acceffion of waters from the tribute of thofe immortal rivulets the Simois and Scamander. The Grecian

18

pears to have been made with tolerable accuracy; but the vanity, firft of the Perfians, and afterwards of the Greeks, was interested to magnify the armament and the victory. I fhould much doubt whether the invaders have ever outnumbered the men of any country which they attacked.

18 See Wood's Obfervations on Homer, p. 320. I have, with pleafure, felected this remark from an author who in general feem's to have disappointed the expectation of the public as a critic, and ftill more as a traveller. He had vifited the banks of the Hellefpont; he had read Strabo; he ought to have confulted the Roman itineraries; how was it poffible for him to confound Ilium and Alex. andria Troas (Obfervations, p. 340, 341.), two cities which were fixteen miles diftant from each other?

19 Demetrius of Scepfis wrote fixty books on thirty lines of Homer's catalogue. The XIIIth Book of Strabo is fufficient for our curiofity.

camp

camp had stretched twelve miles along the fhore c HAP. from the Sigean to the Rhætean promontory; XVII. and the flanks of the army were guarded by the bravest chiefs who fought under the banners of Agamemnon. The first of those promontories was occupied by Achilles with his invincible Myrmidons, and the dauntless Ajax pitched his tents on the other. After Ajax had fallen a facrifice to his difappointed pride, and to the ingratitude of the Greeks, his fepulchre was erected on the ground where he had defended the navy against the rage of Jove and of Hector; and the citizens of the rifing town of Rhæteum celebrated his memory with divine honours Before Constantine gave a juft preference to the fituation of Byzantium, he had conceived the defign of erecting the feat of empire on this celebrated fpot, from whence the Romans derived their fabulous origin. The extenfive plain which lies below ancient Troy, towards the Rhætean promontory and the tomb of Ajax, was first chofen for his new capital; and though the undertaking was foon relinquished, the ftately remains of unfinished walls and towers attracted the notice of all who failed through the streights of the Hellefpont

21

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20 Strabo, 1. xiii. p. 595. The difpofition of the ships which were drawn upon dry land, and the posts of Ajax and Achilles, are very clearly defcribed by Homer. See Iliad ix. 220.

Zofim. I. ii. p. 105.

Sozomen, 1. ii. c. 3. Theophanes, p. 18. Nicephorus Calliftus, 1. vii. p. 48. Zonaras, tom. ii. 1. xiii. p. 6. Zofimus places the new city between Ilium and Alexandria, but this apparent difference may be reconciled by the large extent of its circumference. Before the foundation of Conftantinople, Theffalonica

XVII.

Advantages of Conftantinople.

CHAP. We are at prefent qualified to view the advantageous pofition of Conftantinople; which appears to have been formed by Nature for the centre and capital of a great monarchy. Situated in the forty-first degree of latitude, the Imperial city commanded, from her feven hills 22, the oppofite fhores of Europe and Afia; the climate was healthy and temperate, the foil fertile, the harbour fecure and capacious; and the approach on the fide of the continent was of fmall extent and eafy defence. The Bofphorus and the Hellefpont may be confidered as the two gates of Conftantinople; and the prince who poffeffed thofe important paffages could always fhut them against a naval enemy, and open them to the fleets of commerce. The prefervation of the eastern provinces may, in fome degree, be afcribed to the policy of Conftantine, as the barbarians of the Euxine, who in the preceding age had poured their armaments into the heart of the Mediterranean, foon defifted from the exercise of piracy, and defpaired of forcing this infurmountable barrier. When the gates of the Hellefpont and Bofphorus were fhut, the capital till enjoyed, within their spacious inclosure, every production which could fupply the wants, or gratify the luxury, of its nu

Theffalonica is mentioned by Cedrenus (p. 283.), and Sardica by Zonaras, as the intended capital. They both fuppofe, with very little probability, that the Emperor, if he had not been prevented by a prodigy, would have repeated the mistake of the blind Chalcedo. nians.

22 Pocock's Defcription of the East, vol. ii. part ii. p. 127. His plan of the feven hills is clear and accurate. That traveller is feldom fo fatisfactory.

merous

merous inhabitants.

The fea coafts of Thrace CHAP. and Bithynia, which languifh under the weight of XVII. Turkish oppreffion, ftill exhibit a rich profpect of vineyards, of gardens, and of plentiful har vefts; and the Propontis has ever been renowned for an inexhauftible ftore of the moft exquifite fifh, that are taken in their stated feafons, without fkill, and almost without labour 23. But when the paffages of the Streights were thrown open for trade, they alternately admitted the natural and artificial riches of the north and fouth, of the Euxine, and of the Mediterranean. Whatever rude commodities were collected in the forefts of Germany and Scythia, as far as the fources of the Tanais and the Borysthenes; whatsoever was manufactured by the fkill of Europe or Afia; the corn of Egypt, and the gems and spices of the fartheft India, were brought by the varying winds into the port of Conftantinople, which, for many ages, attracted the commerce of the ancient world 24.

city.

The profpect of beauty, of fafety, and of Founda wealth, united in a fingle spot, was fufficient to tion of the juftify the choice of Conftantine. But as fome decent mixture of prodigy and fable has, in every

23 See Belon. Observations, c. 72—76. Among a variety of different fpecies, the Pelamides, a fort of Thunnies, were the mott celebrated. We may learn from Polybius, Strabo, and Tacitus, that the profits of the fishery conftituted the principal revenue of Byzantium.

24 See the eloquent, defcription of Bufbequius, epiftol. i, p. 64. Eft in Europa; habet in confpectu Alam, Egyptum, Africamque à dextrâ que tamet contiguæ non funt, maris tamen navigan, dique commoditate veluti junguntur. A finiftra vero Pontus eft Euxinus, &c.

age,

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