Chap. II. BYZANTINE AND UOMANESQUE.

109
five cluirclies to Christ, the Virgin, and favourite saints. These were highly decorated, and
imposing situations were found for them. That of the Holy Apostles at Constantinojde,
and of St. John at Ephesus, appear to have had the church of St. Sophia for their types;
but in them the altar was placed under the centre of the dome, at the junction of four
porticoes, expressing the figure of the cross.
"
The pious munificence of the emperor was
diffused over the Holy Land
; and if reason," says Gibbon,
"
should condemn the monas-
teries of both sexes, which were built or restored by Justinian, yet charity must ajjplaud
the wells which he sank, and the hospitals which he founded, for the relief of the wearv
pilgrims."
"
Almost every saint in the calendar accjuired the honour of a temple; almost
every city of the empire obtained the solid advantages of bridges, hosjiitals, and aqueducts
;
but the severe liberality of the monarch disdained to indulge his subjects in the popular
luxury of baths and theatres." He restored the Byzantine palace; but selfishness, as re-
spected ids own comfort, could not be laid to his charge: witness the costly palace he erected
for the infamous Theodora, and the munificent gifts, equal to 180,000/. sterling, which
he bestowed u])on Antioch for its restoration after an earthijuake. His care was not
limited to the peaceful enjoyment of life by the empire over which he presided ; for the forti-
fications of Europe and Asia were multiplied by Justinian from Belgrade to the Euxine,
from the conflux of the Save to the mouth of the Danul)e ; a chain of above fourscore forti-
fied places was extended along the banks of the great river, and many military stations ap-
peared to extend beyond the Danube, the pride of the Roman name. We might consider-
ably extend the catalogue of the extraordinary works of Justinian ; but our object is a
general view, not a history of the works of this extraordinary person, of whom, applying the
verses architecturally, it might truly be said

Si Poigania ifextra
Defeiufi posseiit : etiam hac defensa luissint ;

and by whom, if architecture could again have been restored, such a consummation would
have been accomplished.
2T2. In 5G5 .histin succeeded to the throne of the East, after whose reign nothing oc-
curs to prevent our proceeding to the ^^'estern part of the empire, except the notice neces-
sary to be taken of Leo the Isaurian, who ordered the statues in the different churches to
be broken in pieces, and the paintings which decorated them to be destroyed. Under him
Ravenna was lost to the Eastern empire, and under his predecessors i\lahomet a])i)eared
;
and in his successors originated the Saracenic architecture described in a jirevious section.
It was under Justin, in 571, that the prophet, as he is called, was born, and was in
6",'52
succeeded by Abubekr.
2~ti. We now return to the emjiire in the West, whose ruin, in 476, drew after it that of
the arts, which had grievously degenerated since the fourth century, at which period their
decadence was strongly marked. lUit we must digress a little by supjilying a cliasm in the
history of our art relative to the ancient basilic;E of Rome, the imdoubted tyjies of the
comjjaratively modern cathedrals of Europe ; and within the city of Rome ive shall find
ample materials for tracing the origin whereof we speak.
274. The severe laws against the Caristians which Severus had passed expired with his
authority, and the i)ersecuted race, between a. n. 21 1 and 249, enjoyed a calm, during which
they had been jiermitted to erect and consecrate convenient edifices for the purposes of re-
ligious worshi)), and to purchase lands even at Rome for the use of the community. Under
Dioclesian, however, in many places the churches were demolished, though in some situations
they were only shut up. I'liis emperor, as if desirous of committing to other hands the
work of persecution he had planned by his edicts, no sooner published them, than he divested
himself, by abdication, of the imperial purple.
275. Under Constantine, in the beginning of the fourth century, the Christians began
again to breathe ; and though that emperor's religion, even to the period of his death, is in-
volved in some doubt, it is certain that his ojiinion, as far as we can judge from his acts
was much inclined towards Christianity. Out of the seven princii)al churches, or basilic.-e,
of Rome, namely, Sta. Croce di Gierusalemme, S. Giovanni Laterano, S. Lorenzo fuori le
iVIura, S. Paolo, S. I'ietro, S. Sebastiano, and Sta. Maria Maggiore, all but the last were
founded by Constantine himself. The ancient basilica, which derived its name from
^amKtvs (a king), and omos (a house), was that part of the palace wherein justice was
administered to the ])eople. The building for this purpose retained its name long after
the extinction of the kingly office, and was in use with the Romans as well as the Grecians.
Vitruvius does not, however, give us any specific diflerence between those erected by one
or the other of those peojile. In lib. v. c. 1. he gives us the details of its form and ar-
rangement, for which the reader is referred to his work. The name of basilica was af"ter-
wards transferred to the first bidldingr, for Christian worship
; not because, as some liave
supposed, the first Christian emjierors used the ancient basilicas for the celebration of their
religious rites, but more probably with reference to the idea of sovereignty which the reli-
gion exercised, though we do not assert that such conclusion is to be necessarily drawn.