From Old Rome, New Rome adopted old vices--among others, the passion for the entertainments of the circus and the factions to which they gave rise. The two chief parties were the Blues and the Greens, and when Justinian ascended the throne the Greens were partisans of heresy and Anastasius--the Blues, of orthodoxy and Justinian. In January, A.D. 532, their rivalry came to a head, or rather the licentious oppressions of the Blues drove the Greens to despair. The arrest of some ringleaders of both parties led to a temporary union: a joint attack on the prefect's palace resulted; the palace was burnt, the prisons thrown open; the city was in the possession of the mob, who encountered with all the fury of religious enthusiasm the wild barbarian soldiery. The women threw from roofs and windows stones on the heads of the troops, who in return darted firebrands against the houses. For five days the tumult raged and the flames spread. The conflagration destroyed St. Sophia, the baths of Zeuxippus, the Brazen Porch of the palace, St. Sampson's Hospital with its inmates, and the porches which led to the Forum. Justinian had lost his throne had not the empress Theodora inspired him with courage. The sedition was at last suppressed, but not before thirty thousand of the rioters, whose watchword had been Νίκα, perished in the contest. On the fortieth day after the fire the St. Sophia still standing was begun. After prayer by the patriarch Eutychius the foundation-stone was laid by Justinian on the twenty-third of February, A.D. 532. Large purchases of adjacent lots were made for the purpose of enlarging the site. The land on the right hand of the nave, as far as the pillar of St. Basil, was bought from Charito--on the left, as far as the pillar of St. Gregory, from Xenophon, a cobbler; that for the bema, from a eunuch named Antiochus; for the vestry and treasure-house, from a lady named Anna. The three last named did not want to sell. The emperor in person had to wait on the lady, who, overcome by this mark of zeal or condescension, fell at his feet and gave him the ground, stipulating that she might be buried near it, and trusting that at the day of judgment she might have a share in the merit of such a work. Antiochus was more obdurate, but a cruel advantage was taken of his passion for the sports of the circus. He was arrested on some pretext just before the great games and thrown into prison. As the time of the festival approached he gradually weakened, and when the day at length arrived he surrendered at discretion. The circus was crowded, the emperor in his seat, the races just beginning, but the sport was suspended till Antiochus was brought from prison, and in sight of the eager spectators conducted to the emperor's box to conclude the bargain. The poor cobbler Xenophon was treated scurvily. He had a longing to play the great man once in his life, and demanded as a condition of sale that the factions of the circus should give him a royal salute.