CH XVII.] DISTRIBUTION OF PROVISIONS. 193 servants, of artificers, and of merchants, who derive their subsistence from their own labour, and from the wants or luxury of the superior ranks. In less than a century, Constantinople disputed with Rome itself the pre-eminence of riches and numbers. New piles of buildings, crowded together with too little regard to health or convenience, scarcely allowed the intervals of narrow streets for the perpetual throng of men, of horses, and of carriages. The allotted space of ground was insufficient to contain the increasing people; and the additional foundations, which, on either side, were advanced into the sea, might alone have composed a very considerable city.* The frequent and regular distributions of wine and oil, of corn or bread, of money or provisions, had almost exempted the poorest citizens of Rome from the necessity of labour. The magnificence of the first Cæsars was in some measure imitated by the founder of Constantinople;+ but his libe favour which would justly have been deemed a hardship, if it had been imposed upon private property. *The passages of Zosimus, of Eunapius, of Sozomen, and of Agathias, which relate to the increase of buildings and inhabitants at Constantinople, are collected and connected by Gyllius (de Byzant. lib. 1, c. 3). Sidonius Apollinaris (in Panegyr. Anthem. 56, p. 290, edit. Sirmond) describes the moles that were pushed forwards into the sea; they consisted of the famous Puzzolan sand, which hardens in the water. + Sozomen, 1. 2, c. 3. Philostorg. 1. 2, c. 9. Codin. Antiquitat. Const. p. 8. It appears by Socrates, (1. 2, c. 13,) that the daily allowances of the city consisted of eight myriads of airov, which we may either translate with Valesius by the words modii of corn, or consider as expressive of the number of loaves of bread. [Registers were kept of all the common people at Rome who received these distributions; their right to them was strictly personal. Constantine attached it to the houses of his new capital, in order to induce the lower classes to provide themselves dwellings as quickly as possible. Code Theod. 1. 14.-GUIZOT.] [Corn was distributed to the poor of Rome from very early times, in the temple of Ceres, under the superintendence of the Ediles Cereales, whose office appears to have been almost similar to that of our Poor Law Commissioners or guardians. At a later period, A. U. c. 629-30, when the spoils of victory had enriched the treasury, and conquered countries paid large annual tributes of grain, Caius Gracchus, then tribune of the people, was the author of a law by which these abundant stores were sold to the commonalty of Rome at the low rate of three-fourths of an as (or about one halfpenny) for the modius or peck, which was only one-fourth of the current price. This law is mentioned by Cicero (pro Sextio, c. 48); by Plutarch (in Vit. C. Gracchi, tom. iv, p. 658, 659), and by other writers. The "magnificence of the first Caesars," though VOL. II. 194 DIVISIONS OF THE CITY. [CH. XVIL rality, however it might excite the applause of the people, has incurred the censure of posterity. A nation of legislators and conquerors might assert their claim to the harvest of Africa, which had been purchased with their blood; and it was artfully contrived by Augustus, that in the enjoy ment of plenty, the Romans should lose the memory of freedom. But the prodigality of Constantine could not be excused by any consideration either of public or private interest; and the annual tribute of corn imposed upon Egypt for the benefit of his new capital, was applied to feed a lazy and indolent populace, at the expense of the husbandmen of an industrious province.* Some other regulations of this emperor are less liable to blame, but they are less deserving of notice. He divided Constantinople into fourteen regions or quarters,† dignified the public council with it may have enhanced, did not originate the example which Gibbon has here represented Constantine as imitating.-ED.] * See Cod. Theodos. 1. 13 and 14, and Cod. Justinian. edict. 12, tom. ii, p. 648, edit. Genev. See the beautiful complaint of Rome in the poem of Claudian de Bell. Gildonico, ver. 46-64. Cum subiit par Roma mihi, divisaque sumsit Equales aurora togas; Ægyptia rura In partem cessere novam. [The tribute drawn from Egypt was no less at the expense of Rome. By the emperor's command, the Alexandrian fleets bore to Constantinople the harvests, which during four months of the year had fed the inhabitants of the ancient capital. Claudian has forcibly depicted the scarcity which was thus produced. "Hæc nobis, hæc ante dabas; nunc pabula tantum De Bell. Gild. v. 34.-GUIZOT.] [Gibbon's quotation is appropriate, because it applies to and illustrates his text. That of M. Guizot has reference only to Claudian's times, and to circumstances about a hundred years after the building of Constantinople. In that space of time, the Romans had learned to draw their cereal supplies from other quarters; the more western provinces of Africa furnished them, and they were cut off by the insurrection which is the subject of Claudian's poem: "-hunc quoque nunc Gildo rapuit."—v. 63. This was the cause of the scarcity, which Rome is represented as so earnestly imploring Jupiter to relieve; it had no connection whatever with the tribute drawn by Constantine from Egypt to his new city.-ED] + The regions of Constantinople are mentioned in the code of Jus tinian, and particularly described in the Notitia of the younger Thee CH. XVII.] PRIVILEGES CONFERRED. 193 the appellation of Senate, communicated to the citizens the privileges of Italy,† and bestowed on the rising city the title of Colony, the first and most favoured daughter of ancient Rome. The venerable parent still maintained the legal and acknowledged supremacy, which was due to her age, to her dignity, and to the remembrance of her former greatness. As Constantine urged the process of the work with the impatience of a lover, the walls, the porticoes, and the principal edifices, were completed in a few years, or, according to another account, in a few months;§ but this extraordinary diligence should excite less admiration, since many of the buildings were finished in so hasty and imperfect a manner, that under the succeeding reign, they were preserved with dosius; but as the four last of them are not included within the wall of Constantine, it may be doubted whether this division of the city should be referred to the founder. * Senatum constituit secundi ordinis; Claros vocavit. Anonym. Valesian. p. 715. The senators of old Rome were styled Clarissimi. See a curious note of Valesius, and Ammian. Marcellin. 22. 9. From the eleventh epistle of Julian, it should seem that the place of senator was considered as a burden, rather than as an honour; but the abbé de la Bleterie (Vie de Jovien, tom. ii, p. 371,) has shown that this epistle could not relate to Constantinople. Might we not read, instead of the celebrated name of Βυζαντίοις, the obscure but more probable word Βισανθήνοις? Bisanthe or Rhodestus, now Rhodosto, was a small maritime city of Thrace. See Stephan. Byz. de Urbibus, p. 225, and Cellar. Geograph. tom. i, p. 849. + Cod. Theodos. 1. 14. 13. The commentary of Godefroy (tom. v, p. 220) is long, but perplexed; nor indeed is it easy to ascertain in what the Jus Italicum could consist, after the freedom of the city had been communicated to the whole empire. Julian (Orat. 1. p. 8,) celebrates Constantinople as not less superior to all other cities, than she was inferior to Rome itself. His learned commentator (Spanheim, p. 75, 76,) justifies this language by several parallel and contemporary instances. Zosimus, as well as Socrates and Sozomen, flourished after the division of the empire between the two sons of Theodosius, which established a perfect equality between the old and the new capital. § Codinus (Antiquitat. p. 3,) affirms that the foundations of Constantinople were laid in the year of the world 5837, (A.D. 329,) on the twenty-sixth of September, and that the city was dedicated on the eleventh of May, 5838, (A.D. 330). He connects these dates with several characteristic epochs, but they contradict each other; the authority of Codinus is of little weight, and the space which he assigns must appear insufficient. The term of ten years is given us by Julian, (Orat. 1. p. 8,) and Spanheim labours to establish the truth of it; (p. 69-75,) by the help of two passages from Themistius (Orat. 4. p. 58,) and Philostorgius, (lib. 2, e. 9,) which form 196 DEDICATION OF THE CITY. [CH. XVII. difficulty from impending ruin. But while they displayed the vigour and freshness of youth, the founder prepared to celebrate the dedication of his city. The games and lar gesses which crowned the pomp of this memorable festival may easily be supposed; but there is one circumstance of a more singular and permanent nature, which ought not entirely to be overlooked. As often as the birthday of the city returned, the statue of Constantine, framed by his order, of gilt wood, and bearing in his right hand a small image of the genius of the place, was erected on a triumphal car. The guards, carrying white tapers, and clothed in their richest apparel, accompanied the solemn procession as it moved through the Hippodrome. When it was opposite to the throne of the reigning emperor, he rose from his seat, and with a grateful reverence adored the memory of his predecessor. At the festival of dedication, an edict, engraved on a column of marble, bestowed the title of SECOND or NEW ROME on the city of Constantine.§ But the name of Constantinople has prevailed over that honourable epithet; and after the revolution of fourteen centuries, still perpetuates the fame of the author.** a period from the year 324 to the year 334. Modern critics are divided concerning this point of chronology, and their different sentiments are very accurately discussed by Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv, p. 619-625. * Themistius, Orat. 3. p. 47. Zosim. lib. 2. p. 108. Constantine himself, in one of his laws, (Cod. Theod. lib. 15, tit. 1,) betrays his impatience. + Cedrenus and Zonaras, faithful to the mode of superstition which prevailed in their own times, assure us that Constantinople was consecrated to the Virgin Mother of God. The earliest and most complete account of this extraordinary ceremony may be found in the Alexandrian Chronicle, p. 285. Tillemont and the other friends of Constantine, who are offended with the air of Paganism, which seems unworthy of a Christian prince, had a right to consider it as doubtful; but they were not authorized to omit the mention of it. § Sozomen, lib. 2, c. 2. Ducange, C. P. lib. 1, c. 6. Velut ipsius Romæ filiam, is the expression of Augustin. De Civitat. Dei, lib. 5, c. 25. Eutropius, lib. 10, c. 8. Julian Orat. 1. p. 8. Ducange C. P. lib. 1, c. 5. The name of Constantinople is extant on the medals of Constantine. **The lively Fontenelle (Dialogues des Morts, 12,) affects to deride the vanity of human ambition, and seems to triumph in the disappointment of Constantine, whose immortal name is now lost in the vulgar appellation of Istambol, Turkish corruption of tic rv módy. Yet the original name is still I reserved: 1. By the nations of Europe. 2. By the modern Greeks. 3. By the Arabs, whose writings are diffused over the wide extent of their conquests in Asia and Africa. See D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque CH. XVII.] NEW FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 197 The foundation of a new capital is naturally connected with the establishment of a new form of civil and military administration. The distinct view of the complicated system of policy, introduced by Diocletian, improved by Constantine, and completed by his immediate successors, may not only amuse the fancy by the singular picture of a great empire, but will tend to illustrate the secret and internal causes of its rapid decay. In the pursuit of any remarkable institution, we may be frequently fed into the more early or more recent times of the Roman history; but the proper limits of this inquiry will be included within a period of about one hundred and thirty years, from the accession of Constantine to the publication of the Theodosian Code ;* from which, as well as from the Notitia of the east and west, we derive the most copious and authentic information of the state of the empire. This variety of objects will suspend, for some time, the course of the narrative; but the interruption will be censured only by those readers who are insensible to the importance of laws and manners, while they peruse, with eager curiosity, the transient intrigues of a court, or the accidental event of a battle. The manly pride of the Romans, content with substantial power, had left to the vanity of the east the forms and ceremonies of ostentatious greatness. But when they lost even the semblance of those virtues which were derived from their ancient freedom, the simplicity of Roman manners was insensibly corrupted by the stately affectation of the courts of Asia. The distinctions of personal merit and influence, so conspicuous in a republic, so feeble and obscure under a monarchy, were abolished by the despotism of the emperors, who substituted in their room a severe subordination of Orientale, p. 275. 4. By the more learned Turks, and by the emperor himself in his public mandates. Cantemir's History of the Othman Empire, p. 51. The Theodosian code was promulgated A.D. 433. See the Prolegomena of Godefroy, c. 1, p. 185. + Pancirolus, in his elaborate commentary, assigns to the Notitia a date almost similar to that of the Theodosian code; but his proofs, or rather conjectures, are extremely feeble. I should be rather inclined to place this useful work between the final division of the empire, (A.D. 395,) and the successful invasion of Gaul by the barbarians, (A.D. 407.) See Histoire des Anciens Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vii, p. 40. Scilicet externæ superbiæ sueto, non inerat notitia nostri (perhaps mostra); apud quos vis imperii valet, inania transmittuntur. Tacit. |