fixed on a peculiar carriage, drawn
by forty of the strongest oxen, and the roads were widened for the
passage of such enormous weights. Lebanon furnished her loftiest cedars
for the timbers of the church; and the seasonable discovery of a vein of
red marble supplied its beautiful columns, two of which, the supporters
of the exterior portico, were esteemed the largest in the world. The
pious munificence of the emperor was diffused over the Holy Land; and if
reason should condemn the monasteries of both sexes which were built or
restored by Justinian, yet charity must applaud the wells which he
sunk, and the hospitals which he founded, for the relief of the weary
pilgrims. The schismatical temper of Egypt was ill entitled to the
royal bounty; but in Syria and Africa, some remedies were applied to
the disasters of wars and earthquakes, and both Carthage and Antioch,
emerging from their ruins, might revere the name of their gracious
benefactor. [107] Almost every saint in the calendar acquired the
honors of a temple; almost every city of the empire obtained the
solid advantages of bridges, hospitals, and aqueducts; but the severe
liberality of the monarch disdained to indulge his subjects in the
popular luxury of baths and theatres. While Justinian labored for the
public service, he was not unmindful of his own dignity and ease. The
Byzantine palace, which had been damaged by the conflagration, was
restored with new magnificence; and some notion may be conceived of the
whole edifice, by the vestibule or hall, which, from the doors perhaps,
or the roof, was surnamed chalce, or the brazen. The dome of a spacious
quadrangle was supported by massy pillars; the pavement and walls were
incrusted with many-colored marbles--the emerald green of Laconia, the
fiery red, and the white Phrygian stone, intersected with veins of a
sea-green hue: the mosaic paintings of the dome and sides represented
the glories of the African and Italian triumphs. On the Asiatic shore of
the Propontis, at a small distance to the east of Chalcedon, the
costly palace and gardens of Heraeum [108] were prepared for the summer
residence of Justinian, and more especially of Theodora. The poets of
the age have celebrated the rare alliance of nature and art, the harmony
of the nymphs of the groves, the fountains, and the waves: yet the crowd
of attendants who followed the court complained of their inconvenient
lodgings, [109] and the nymphs were too often alarme