from _Constantinople_. I shall omit the Statues of great Numbers of Emperors and Princes, which were set up in the _Circo_. Among these stood the Statue of the Emperor _Justinian_, which has been celebrated in Verse. There were also the Statutes of some Eunuchs, who were most in the Interest and Favour with their Masters. Among others, there was the Statue of _Plato_ the Eunuch, the Emperor’s Chamberlain, who was burnt to Death in the Reign of _Basiliscus_. There was an Inscription, according to _Suidas_, fix’d upon the Breast of this Statue, which ran thus; _Whosoever shall remove this Statue into another Place, let him be hang’d_. Yet was it taken out of the Church of _Procopius_, and carry’d into the _Hippodrom_. I have not time to take Notice of the numberless Statues of all the Combatants, Wrestlers, Charioteers, formerly placed in the _Hippodrom_; of which, though there is nothing remaining at present, yet the Memory of them is still preserved in a small Poem of three hundred Verses, in which some Chariot-Racers are mention’d with particular Honours, though no Notice be there taken of a Person named _Thomas_, a Man of surprizing Agility and Speed, in that kind of Exercise. I have seen the Fragment of a Stone at _Constantinople_ with this Inscription, Θομᾶ Ἡνιόχου. This probably is the same Person mention’d by the Emperor _Theodoric_, in a Letter to _Faustus_ a _Roman Prætor_, in the following Words: _Of our Imperial Bounty and Consideration we have given and granted to_ Thomas, _the famous Chariot-Racer, a present Stipend to be continued to him, till we have farther experienced, and been fully satisfied of his wonderful Skill in that Exercise; but having now received ample Testimony of his Superiority in that Performance, and that having left his Countrey, he hath chosen voluntarily to settle himself within our Dominions, we, out of our Imperial Munificence, have encouraged him by a monthly Salary to continue among us. He has, by his frequent Successes, received the repeated Applauses, and stood high in the Favour of the People, whom he has sometimes, though unfortunately, vindicated, and at other times has eminently distinguish’d himself in the Race of the Chariot. Victory so often attended him, that he was look’d upon as a Sorcerer by a Set of People, who would have accounted it the highest Commendation to have been thought so themselves, for the same Reasons. And ’tis no Wonder that Men should ascribe those Excellencies to the Power of Sorcery and Enchantment, which they cannot arrive to themselves, the Sight of a Chariot-Race, in ancient Times, was had in the highest Honour and Esteem, though at present ’tis little better than the Occasion of Buffoonry, an Incentive to trifling Disputes, an Encouragement to Roguery and Sharping, and the constant Source of Broils and Quarrels._ Thus far the Emperor: From whose Words I would observe, that the Chariot-Racer here mention’d, who had left _Constantinople_, probably