New-York tribune., 1896-03-29
] l..

Besides the elaborate books which began to
appear a quarter Of ccptury ago in Germany
and France and a little later In Greece itself.
there have been published innumerable PAM
phlets entering into the minutest details Of biog-
raphy, law, literature, religion. and at the same
time a diligent search for doc"1ents hithsr-
to unknown or neglected has been carried on.
year or 60 ago tn Tribune had occasion to
speak Of one Of these documents copy of the
market and trade regulations Of medieval Con-
stantinople. THE Projects Book" Of the En-
peror Leo w. This was only a rain-drOp in the
downpour which was partly, and only partly.
stored In the "Biblotheca Graeca medn oevi
and unpublished Documents" Of NJ. Sathas.
There has been something new to say about the
most unexpected topics about the obscure yet
wide-reaching subject OF Paulicianism. for in
stance and the learned world sees now that
the Reformation as we'll as the Renaissance
might never have occurred had II not been for
the outgo OF forces from despised and hated
Byzantium There was something human and
natural after all beneath the artificiality which
was so irksome to the men Of blood and iron
who overran the Empire In the vain effort to
conquer the Saracens. Not the clumsy heed
less barons and mail-clad men-at-arms from
Western Europe were he heroes Of the eternal
war with Asia. but the mild and silken-man
nered statesmen OF the Golden Horn.
The activity Of research involves a vigorous
dispute over authorities. not only the new ones.
but those known in Gibbons time. For example,
the controversy over the authorship Of the "Se-
ciet History" chroaicle Of scancal attributed
to Procopius. the private secretary Of the gen.
eral, Belisarius. seems endless. though DR.. Bury,
who Is partial to German theories of the latest
origin. settles the matter by deciding that Pro-
copius only could have written 1t. Then there is
q complicated tange OF questions relating to the
topography Of Constantinope in Its finest era,
that Of Justinian. A few years ago the new
Editor OF Gibbon was an ardent partisan OF the
Greek archaeologist Pospatis. whose most salient
pecuarity Is scepticism as to the received inter-
pretation Of the written authorities. Now. DR..
Bury has made a complete VOLTAGE on this SUD-
feet and can hardly find terms harsh enough to
characterize the inadequacy Of Pospatis Those
who wish to know what Pospatis's views are
for example. about the vexed question OF the
spot on which the Hippodrome stood, will find
them set forth and defended in the elaborate
work OF Professor Grosvenor on Corstantinople
Meanwhile DR.. Bury's latest opinion Is embodied
In these words: "As the Acropolis IL the scene
Of 20 many great events in the history which
G.bbon recorded. II Is we'll to warn the reader
that our sources make II absolutely certain that
the Hippodrome adjoned the Palace: there was
no public space between them. The Augusteum
did not lie as Pospatis asserted, between the
Palace and the Hppodrome but between the
north side Of the Hlppodrome and st. Sophia"
Whatever may be the outcome Of this contro-
versy. It belongs to a field which was practically
inaccessible to Gibbon. To inspect the site Of
Constantinope was impossible to him. and bare
u more than possible at the present day to q
few persevsring enthusiasts who are Indifferent
70 dogs and Turks. But the location Of the Hip
podroms = no tribe. for all the popular politics