g this insurmountable
barrier. When the gates of the Hellespont and Bosphorus were
shut, the capital still enjoyed within their spacious
inclosure every production which could supply the wants or
gratify the luxury of its numerous inhabitants. The
sea-coasts of Thrace and Bithynia, which languish under the
weight of Turkish oppression, still exhibit a rich prospect
of vineyards, of gardens, and of plentiful harvests; and the
Propontis has ever been renowned for an inexhaustible store
of the most exquisite fish that are taken in their stated
seasons without skill and almost without labour. But when
the passages of the straits were thrown open for trade, they
alternately admitted the natural and artificial riches of
the north and south, of the Euxine and the Mediterranean.
Whatever rude commodities were collected in the forests of
Germany and Scythia, and as far as the sources of the Tanais
and Borysthenes; whatsoever was manufactured by the skill of
Europe or Asia, the corn of Egypt, the gems and spices of
the furthest India, were brought by the varying winds into
the port of Constantinople, which for many ages attracted
the commerce of the ancient world.

"The prospect of beauty, of safety, and of wealth united in
a single spot was sufficient to justify the choice of
Constantine. But as some mixture of prodigy and fable has in
every age been supposed to reflect a becoming majesty on the
origin of great cities, the emperor was desirous of
ascribing his resolution not so much to the uncertain
counsels of human policy as to the eternal and infallible
decrees of divine wisdom. In one of his laws he has been
careful to instruct posterity that in obedience to the
commands of God he laid the everlasting foundations of
Constantinople, and though he has not condescended to relate
in what manner the celestial inspiration was communicated to
his mind, the defect of his modest silence has been
liberally supplied by the ingenuity of succeeding writers,
who describe the nocturnal vision which appeared to the
fancy of Constantine as he slept within the walls of
Byzantium. The tutelar genius of the city, a venerable
matron sinking under the weight of years and infirmities,
was suddenly transformed into a blooming maid, whom his own
han