By Constantine's command the cities of Greece and Asia were despoiled of their most valuable ornaments.

The trophies of memorable wars, the objects of religious veneration, the most finished statues of the gods and heroes, of the sages and poets of ancient times, contributed to the splendid triumph of Constantinople.
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The Circus, or Hippodrome, was a stately building of about four hundred paces in length and one hundred in breadth.

The space between the two _metae_, or goals, was filled with statues and obelisks, and we may still remark a very singular fragment of antiquity--the bodies of three serpents twisted into one pillar of brass.

Their triple heads had once supported the golden tripod which, after the defeat of Xerxes, was consecrated in the temple of Delphi by the victorious Greeks.