New-York tribune., 1901-05-05

tnople, writer must be deeply learned in an
exceptionally obscure province of European his
tory, ana this Professor van Millingen evidently
is But he adds to this qualification the further
advantage Of actual residence at Constantinople
not as tourist, but as student OF antiquity
who has made ii his delight TO pry into corners
OF the city which dragomans and Ualets de place
have not heard of. Unearthing interesting bits
OF crumbling monuments he has obtained pho-
tographs Of them for the benefit of his readers
pleasantly reminding a public sated with mosque
and minaret illustrations of the Golden Horn
that Byzantium existed some time before Sultan
MahmOud crossed the Bosporus. 1t is In the
old Notifications Of Constantinople that he
chiefly finds his material. He believes them to
have been for centuries the bulwark OF Europe.
The attention / have for many years devoted
TO the subject" he says in his preface has been
sustained by the conviction that the empire OF
which New Rome was the capital defended the
higher life of mankind against the attacks OF
formidable antagonists, and rendered eminent
service TO the cause of human welfare. This is
what gives the archaeological study Of the city
its dignity and Importance" But this is not the
aspect of the Byzantine Empire uppermost in
the popular mind. Beginning with Scott's
Count Robert Of Paris" or with some even less
profound and accurate study, most readers ac-
quire and permanently retain the impression
that New Rome must have been, almost from
the first, only old Rome TO seed, useful only
as an example TO posterity of the banefuness of !
luxury. A perusal of two or three pages in
Chapter II, where the first beginnings of Con-
stantine's city sketched. ought to start a
wholesome tendency against this conveniently
portable impression. The power that at one
stroke constructed these "aqueducts. porticos ,
and fortifcatons" had Yet fairly be- |
gun to wane. The next chapter, on the Theo- |
the polychromatic charm which has given the
historico-Oriental novel its vogue in these last
generations only with the added assurance of
authenticity.
So numerous were the inhabitants already in
31s that the GOths, who then appeared before
the city after the defeat of the Roman arms at
Adrianople abandoned all hope Of capturing a
stronghold which could draw upon such multi
tudes for its defence. Three years later Athan-
aric marvelled at the variety Of the peoples
which poured into the city, they have ever
since like streams from different points into a
common reservoir. Soon the corn fleets of Alex
andria, Asia Syria and PhRnicia unable
10 provide the city with sufficient bread. The
houses were packed closely that the citizens |
whether at home or abroad, felt confined and
oppressed. Building ground in such
demand that portions of the sea along the shores
OF the city had TO be filled in, and the erections
that artificial land alone formed consider
able town. Solomon goes far as to affirm
that Constantinople had grown more populous
than Rome.
Still, the Eastern Empire did decay; of that
there can be doubt. 1t in the court life
about the Porphyrogeniti that, as every one
knows, the germs of decomposition most
active, and that activity is reflected in this book
in the increasing servity OF the inscriptions,
OF which complete series is Transcribed in the
original and translated, besides generous num-
ber introduced illustrations from photographs
The interest of the book is indeed, very much
enhanced by the number Of its plans, maps,
photographs and drawings Of probably correct
restorations. There is moreover, even for those
not seriously studying the subject, something
interesting every page in the rare peeps
given into that remote Byzantine life OF the
Middle Ages, with its religious phrases that
differ curiously from those OF Western his
torical Christianity-"Theotokos always for the
Blessed Virgin Mary, 'Prodromos" for St John
the Baptist and Many will be surprised
TO learn that polo was played in the suburbs OF
Constantinople centuries before the Turk came.
The Turkish Inhabitants Of these days are not
fond OF such violent exercise, and in this there
is comfort for Christendom seeing that the dry
rot which up the empire of Constantine is
much more rapidly doing its work on the Sui
tanate Of Stamboul.