e Mother of God!" [Sidenote: and works of art destroyed.] In
contrast with the treasures thus acquired may be set relics of a very
different kind, the remains of ancient art which they destroyed: 1. The
bronze charioteers from the Hippodrome; 2. The she-wolf suckling Romulus
and Remus; 3. A group of a Sphinx, river-horse, and crocodile; 4. An
eagle tearing a serpent; 5. An ass and his driver, originally cast by
Augustus in memory of the victory of Actium; 6. Bellerophon and Pegasus;
7. A bronze obelisk; 8. Paris presenting the apple to Venus; 9. An
exquisite statute of Helen; 10. The Hercules of Lysippus; 11. A Juno,
formerly taken from the temple at Samos. The bronzes were melted into
coin, and thousands of manuscripts and parchments were burned. From that
time the works of many ancient authors disappeared altogether.

[Sidenote: The pope and the doge divide the spoil.] With well-dissembled
regret, Innocent took the new order of things in the city of
Constantinople under his protection. The bishop of Rome at last
appointed the Bishop of Constantinople. The acknowledgment of papal
supremacy was complete. Rome and Venice divided between them the
ill-gotten gains of their undertaking. If anything had been wanting to
open the eyes of Europe, surely what had thus occurred should have been
enough. The pope and the doge--the trader in human credulity and the
trader of the Adriatic--had shared the spoils of a crusade meant by
religious men for the relief of the Holy Land. [Sidenote: Works of art
carried to Venice.] The bronze horses, once brought by Augustus from
Alexandria, after his victory over Antony and transferred from Rome to
Constantinople by its founder, were set before the Church of St Mark.
They were the outward and visible sign of a less obvious event that was
taking place. For to Venice was brought a residue of the literary
treasures that had escaped the fire and the destroyer; and while her
comrades in the outrage were satisfied, in their ignorance, with
fictitious relics, she took possession of the poor remnant of the
glorious works of art, of letters, and of science. Through these was
hastened the intellectual progress of the West.

[Sidenote: The punishment of Constantinople.] So fell Constantinople,
and fell by the parricidal hands of Christians. The days of retribution
for the curse she had inflicted on Western civilization were now
approaching. In these events she received a first instalment of her
punishm