levying a Tax upon them, which was call’d _Diceraton_, for repairing these Walls. I learn from the _Constitutions_ of _Justinian_, that in his Time the Walls were commonly call’d the _old_ and the _new_ Walls, where he decrees, _That a larger Fee shall be paid the Bearers, and those who attend a Corpse beyond the_ new _Walls of the City_. What I would observe from hence is, that the old Walls which were built by _Constantine_, and that the new Walls which were built by _Theodosius the Less_, were both standing in the Reign of _Justinian_. The Walls of old _Byzantium_ I have described in the Beginning of this Book; and as to the Condition they were in formerly, we may learn more fully from _Herodian_, who writes, that _Byzantium_ was inclosed with a very large and a very strong Wall, made of square Stones of a great Size, so artfully cemented, that it was look’d upon as one compacted Piece of Work. This is also confirm’d by the Authority of _Pausanias_, who tells us, _That he never saw the Walls of_ Babylon, _or of_ Memnon, _nor ever heard of any Person who had seen them: But the Walls of_ Byzantium _and_ Rhodes, says he, _are accounted exceeding strong; and yet the Walls which inclose_ Messene _are stronger than these_. ’Tis recorded by some Historians, that the _Athenians_ kept their Treasury at _Byzantium_, because it was a well fortify’d Place. Whether those Walls which the Author of the _Ancient Description of the Wards_ calls the double Walls are the same which we see at _Constantinople_ at present, or whether they were built by _Theodosius_, I leave it to the Judgment of the Reader. Thus far I shall give my Opinion, _viz._ That they do not seem to me to be entirely the same Walls which that Author describes. For he places the Church of the _Apostles_ in a _Ward_ which is near to the Walls of the City, and places the fourteenth _Ward_ without the Walls of the City, which at present, if not all of it, at least the best part of it, is within the Walls. I would add, that _Theodosius the Less_, who reign’d before _Justinian_, does not place the _Blachernæ_ within the Walls of the City, and yet I have the Authority of _Procopius_, that these were apart of the Suburbs in the Time of _Justinian_, tho’ at present they are enclosed within the Walls, as were also the seven Towers, and the Church which was built by _Stadius_, (or rather _Studius_) who was afterwards _Consul_. CHAP. XX. _Of the Gates of_ Constantinople, _and the seven Towers of Old_ Byzantium.