It is recorded by _Zonaras_, that _Constantine_ being inclinable to build a City, and to give it his own Name, at first pitch’d upon _Sardicus_ a Field of _Asia_; afterwards, upon the Promontory _Sigeum_, and last of all upon _Chalcedon_ and _Byzantium_, for that Purpose. _Georgius Cedrinus_ is of Opinion, that he first pitch’d upon _Thessalonica_, and after he had lived there two Years, being wonderfully taken with the Delightfulness of the Place, he built the most magnificent Temples, _Bagnio’s_ and _Aqueducts_; but being interrupted in his great Designs by the Plague which raged there, he was obliged to leave it, and passing away for _Chalcedon_, (formerly overthrown by the _Persians_, but then upon rebuilding) he was directed by the Eagles frequently carrying the small Stones of the Workmen from thence to _Byzantium_, where _Constantinople_ ought to be built. _Zonaras_ is of the same Opinion; and only differs as to the Story of the Stones, and says, that they were small Ropes which they used in Building. But this seems to be a Fable taken out of _Dionysius_ a _Byzantian_ Writer, who tells us, that _Byzas_ had been the Founder of _Byzantium_, in a Place call’d _Semystra_, seated at the Mouth of the Rivers _Cydarus_ and _Barbysa_, had not a Crow, by snatching a Piece of the Sacrifice out of the Flames, and carrying it to a Promontory of the _Bosporus_, directed _Byzas_ to found _Byzantium_ in that Place. But _Constantine_ does not seem to me to have been so oversighted as were the ancient _Chalcedonians_, for which they stand recorded in the Histories of all Ages. Nay, ’tis distinguishable by any Man of a tolerable Judgment, that _Byzantium_ was a much more commodious Situation for the _Roman_ Empire than that of _Chalcedon_. The far more ancient Historians, among whom are _Sozomen_ of _Salamis_ and _Zosimus_, who wrote in the Reign of _Theodosius the Less_, judged more rationally on this Occasion. They tell us, without taking any Notice of _Sardica_, _Thessalonica_ or _Chalcedon_, that _Constantine_ debating with himself, where he might build a City, and call it by his own Name, equal in Glory and Magnificence to that of _Rome_, had found out a convenient Situation for that Purpose, between old _Troy_ and the _Hellespont_; that he had lay’d the Foundations, and raised part of the Wall to a considerable Height, which is to be seen at this Day on the Promontory _Sigeum_, which _Pliny_ calls _Ajantium_; because the Sepulchre of _Ajax_, which was in that Place, hung over the Chops of the _Hellespont_: They tell you farther, that anciently some Ships were station’d there, and that the _Grecians_, when at War with the _Trojans_, pitch’d their Tents in that Place: That _Constantine_ afterwards came into an Opinion, that _Byzantium_ was a properer Situation; that three hundred and sixty two Years after the Reign of _Augustus_, he rebuilt, enlarged and fortified it with great and strong