was purely combustible, but they wasted the Marble Statues and Images, and Buildings made of the most tough and solid Materials whatsoever; nay, so fierce were they, that they devour’d their own Ruines, and laid the most mountainous Heaps of Rubbish even with the Ground. Nor were the antient _Monuments_ of Old _Byzantium_ demolish’d only by their Enemies, but even by those Emperors who had the greatest Regard and Affection for the City; the Chief of whom was _Constantine_ the _Great_, who, as _Eusebius_ reports, spoil’d the Temples of the Heathen Gods, laid waste their fine Porches, entirely unroofed them, and took away their Statues of Brass, of Gold and Silver, in which they glory’d for many Ages. And to add to the Infamy, that he expos’d them by way of Mockery and Ridicule, in all the most publick Places of the City. To disgrace them the more, he tells us, that he fill’d it with his own Statues of Brass, exquisitely finish’d; and then concludes, that he was so far incensed against the _Heathen Monuments_, that he made a Law for the utter Abolishment of them, and the entire Destruction of their Temples. How far _Eusebius_ himself, and other _Christian_ Authors were provoked against them, is plainly discernible in their Writings; namely, that they inveigh’d with the same Severity against the Images of their Gods, as they do at present against our Statues. The Emperors _Basilius_ and _Gregorius_, were bitterly enrag’d not only against the Images themselves, but against those who wrote too freely in Justification of them. I shall not mention many other Emperors, Successors of _Constantine_, who were so much exasperated even with the Images of the _Christians_, that they not only destroy’d them, but proceeded with such Rigour against those who devis’d, or painted, or engrav’d them, that they were entitled the _Iconomachi_, or Champions that fought against them. I shall say nothing of the Earthquakes, mention’d in History, which happen’d in the Reigns of _Zeno_, _Justinian_, _Leo Conon_, _Alexius Comnenus_, whereby not only the most considerable Buildings of _Constantinople_, but almost the whole City with its Walls were demolish’d, so that they could scarce discover its antient Foundation, had it not been for the _Bosporus_, and _Propontis_, the eternal Boundaries of _Constantinople_, which enclose it. I pass by the large _Wards_ of the City, which through the Poverty of the Inhabitants, after frequent Fires, and the Ravage of War, lay a long Time in Ruins, but were at last rebuilt; tho’ the Streets are promiscuously huddled up without Regularity, or Order. These were the Causes, as _Livy_ relates of Old _Rome_, after it was burnt down, that not only the antient common Shores, but the _Aquæducts_ and _Cisterns_, formerly running in the open Streets, now have their Courses under private Houses, and the City looks rather like one solid Lump of Building, than divided into Streets and Lanes. I shall not mention how