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to seem. There were many large towers set outside and having successive windows all around. And the walls towards the mainland were raised to a great height, but those towards the sea were raised less high, and both harbors within the wall were closed with chains, and their moles on either side bore towers projecting far out. The Byzantines had 17 five hundred ships, most of them single-banked, but some were also two-banked, and some of them were fitted with rudders both at the prow and at the stern, and they had double sets of pilots and sailors, so that they could both sail towards and retreat without turning around and confound the enemy both in their approach and in their withdrawal." To this Dio adds that there were seven towers standing from the Thracian gates towards the sea; and if someone approached any other of these, it was quiet; but if he shouted something at the first one or even threw a stone at it, it spoke by some device and passed on the same thing for the second one to do, and so it went through all of them in like manner, nor did they disturb one another, but in turn each one received both the voice and the echo from the one before it. Such, then, was the city of Byzantium of old; but the renowned Constantine made it many times larger. And 18 churches were founded in it by him and many things were done for its adornment, and above all also the round porphyry column, which, as the story goes, he brought from Rome and set up in the forum, which is paved with stone slabs, from which it has been nicknamed Plakoton; and on it he set up a bronze statue, a wonder to behold both for its art and for its size. For it was colossal, and it showed the precision of an ancient hand, almost moulding it lifelike; and the statue is said to be a column of Apollo and to have been brought from the city of Ilium in Phrygia. But that most divine emperor set up the statue in his own name, having fitted into its head some of the nails which had fastened the body of the Lord to the saving cross; which also has lasted until our time, standing on the column. But it fell during the reign of Alexios Komnenos, when a violent and strong wind blew; and it was shattered and crushed many of those who happened to be there. And he also brought the Palladium from Troy and set this up in the Plakoton forum. 19 Therefore, with many other things, as has been said, the great Constantine adorned the city, and Byzantium, which was formerly a bishopric of Thracian Heraclea, having been made subject to the Perinthians by Severus after its capture, as is related in the accounts of Severus, he raised to patriarchal honor, reserving for elder Rome the primacy on account of its seniority and the fact that the empire had been transferred from there to here. At that time the bishop of Byzantium was the most holy Metrophanes, who was the son of Dometius, the brother of the emperor Probus; which Dometius, having been converted from unbelief to faith and for this reason having left Rome, came to Byzantium and was raised to the eminence of the episcopate. After him, Probus, his other son, is established on this archiepiscopal throne, whom Metrophanes his brother succeeded. During the time of this emperor, Arius, a priest of the church in Alexandria, became known, daring to say that the Son and Word of God was a creature and of a different substance and not co-eternal with the Father, though he himself was not the originator of the heresy. For 20 Origen first, among many other corrupt doctrines, introduced the idea that the only-begotten Son of God was created and alien to the Father's substance and unable to see the Father, and he introduced that the Son himself happens to be invisible to the Spirit, belching forth these pronouncements from the evil treasure of his heart, but they lay in writings only and were kept silent and had not yet been made public; but Arius brought these things into the open and proclaimed them on the housetops and tripped up many into impiety, and filled the churches with tumults and schisms. When that most pious emperor learned of this, in Nicaea the
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δοκεῖν. πύργοι τε πολλοὶ καὶ μεγάλοι ἔξω τε ἐκκείμενοι καὶ θυρίδας πέριξ ἐπαλλήλους ἔχοντες ἦσαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἤπειρον τείχη ἐς μέγα ὕψος ἦρτο, τὰ δὲ πρὸς θάλασσαν ἧττον ὑψοῦτο, οἵ τε λιμένες ἐντὸς τείχους ἀμφότεροι κλειστοὶ ἁλύσεσιν ἦσαν καὶ αἱ χηλαὶ αὐτῶν πύργους ἐφ' ἑκάτερα πολὺ προέχοντας ἔφερον. πλοῖα δ' ἦσαν τοῖς Βυζαντίοις 17 πεντακόσια, τὰ μὲν πλεῖστα μονήρη, ἔστι δ' ἃ καὶ διήρη, καί τισιν αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκ τῆς πρῴρας καὶ ἐκ τῆς πρύμνης πηδάλια ἤσκητο, καὶ κυβερνήτας ναύτας τε διπλοῦς εἶχον, ὅπως καὶ ἐπιπλέωσι καὶ ἀναχωρῶσι μὴ ἀναστρεφόμενοι καὶ τοὺς ἐναντίους ἔν τε τῷ πρόσπλῳ καὶ τῷ ἀπόπλῳ αὐτῶν σφάλλωσι." πρὸς τούτοις ἐπάγει ὁ ∆ίων, ὡς ἑπτὰ ἀπὸ τῶν Θρᾳκίων πυλῶν πύργοι καθεστηκότες πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν ἦσαν· τούτων δ' εἰ μέν τις ἄλλῳ τῳ προσέμιξεν, ἥσυχος ἦν· εἰ δὲ δὴ τῷ πρώτῳ τι ἐνεβόησεν ἢ καὶ λίθον προσέρριψεν, αὐτός τε ἐλάλει ἔκ τινος μηχανῆς καὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ τὸ αὐτὸ παρεδίδου ποιεῖν, καὶ οὕτω διὰ πάντων ὁμοίως ἐχώρει, οὐδὲ ἐπετάραττον ἀλλήλους, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ μέρει πάντες παρὰ τοῦ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἕτερος τήν τε φωνὴν καὶ τὴν ἠχὴν διεδέχοντο. Τοιαύτη μὲν οὖν τοῦ Βυζαντίου πάλαι ἡ πόλις ἐτύγχανεν· ὁ δὲ ἀοίδιμος Κωνσταντῖνος πολλαπλασίαν αὐτὴν ἐξειργάσατο. καὶ 18 ναοὶ δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ παρ' αὐτοῦ καθιδρύθησαν καὶ πολλὰ πρὸς κόσμον ταύτης γεγόνασιν, ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ καὶ ὁ κυκλοτερὴς κίων ὁ πορφυροῦς, ὃν ἐκ Ῥώμης, ὡς λόγος, κομισθέντα κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἔστησεν, ἣ κατέστρωται λιθίναις πλαξίν, ἀφ' ὧν Πλακωτὸν παρωνόμασται· καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῦ χάλκεον ἐνίδρυσεν ἄγαλμα, θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι διά τε τὴν τέχνην διά τε τὸ μέγεθος. τὸ μὲν γὰρ πελώριον ἦν, ἡ δὲ ἀκρίβειαν ἐδείκνυ χειρὸς ἀρχαίας μικροῦ πλαττούσης καὶ ἔμπνοα· λέγεται δὲ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος εἶναι στήλη τὸ ἄγαλμα καὶ μετενεχθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ Φρυγίᾳ πόλεως τοῦ Ἰλίου. ὁ δὲ θειότατος αὐτοκράτωρ ἐκεῖνος εἰς οἰκεῖον ὄνομα τὸ ἄγαλμα ἔστησε, τῇ κεφαλῇ τούτου τινὰς τῶν ἥλων ἐναρμοσάμενος, οἳ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ κυρίου προσεπαττάλευσαν τῷ σωτηρίῳ σταυρῷ· ὃ καὶ μέχρις ἡμῶν διήρκεσεν ἐπὶ τοῦ κίονος ἑστηκός. πέπτωκε δὲ βασιλεύοντος Ἀλεξίου τοῦ Κομνηνοῦ, ἀνέμου πνεύσαντος βιαίου τε καὶ σφοδροῦ· κἀκεῖνό τε συντέτριπτο καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐκεῖ παρατυχόντων συνέτριψε. καὶ τὸ Παλλάδιον δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Τροίας μετήνεγκε καὶ ἐν τῇ Πλακωτῇ καὶ τοῦτο ἔστησεν ἀγορᾷ. 19 Ἄλλοις τε οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, πολλοῖς τὴν πόλιν ὁ μέγας Κωνσταντῖνος ἐκόσμησε καὶ πρότερον ἐπισκοπὴν ὂν τὸ Βυζάντιον τῆς Θρᾳκικῆ Ἡρακλείας, ὡς ὑπὸ Σευήρου τοῖς Πειρινθίοις ὑποτεθὲν μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν, ὡς ἐν τοῖς περὶ Σευήρου ἱστόρηται, εἰς τιμὴν ἀνήγαγε πατριαρχικήν, τῇ πρεσβυτέρᾳ Ῥώμῃ τὰ πρεσβεῖα τηρήσας διὰ τὴν πρεσβυγένειαν καὶ τὸ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκεῖθεν ἐνταῦθα μετενεχθῆναι. ἦν δὲ τότε τοῦ Βυζαντίου ἐπίσκοπος Μητροφάνης ὁ ἱερώτατος, υἱὸς ∆ομετίου ἀδελφοῦ Πρόβου τοῦ βασιλέως γενόμενος· ὅσπερ δὴ ὁ ∆ομέτιος ἐξ ἀπιστίας εἰς πίστιν μετενεχθεὶς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν Ῥώμην λιπών, εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον παραγέγονε καὶ εἰς τὴν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἀνήχθη περιωπήν. μεθ' ὃν Πρόβος υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἕτερος εἰς τὸν ἀρχιερατικὸν τοῦτον ἱδρύεται θρόνον, ὃν Μητροφάνης ὁ ἀδελφὸς διεδέξατο. Ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος καὶ ὁ Ἄρειος τῆς ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ ἐκκλησίας ἱερεὺς ἐγνωρίζετο, κτίσμα τολμήσας εἰπεῖν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ λόγον καὶ οὐσίας ἑτέρας καὶ οὐ συναΐδιον τῷ πατρί, οὐκ αὐτὸς γεννήτωρ τῆς αἱρέσεως γεγονώς. πρῶτος 20 γὰρ Ὠριγένης πρὸς ἄλλαις πλείσταις δόξαις διεφθαρμέναις καὶ τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ κτιστὸν καὶ ἀλλότριον εἶναι τῆς οὐσίας τῆς πατρικῆς εἰσηγήσατο καὶ μὴ δυνάμενον ὁρᾶν τὸν πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν υἱὸν ἀόρατον εἰσῆγε τυγχάνειν τῷ πνεύματι, ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ ἐξερευγόμενος ταυτὶ τὰ ἀπόφημα, ἀλλ' ἦσαν ἐν μόνοις γράμμασι κείμενα σεσίγηντό τε καὶ οὔπω δεδημοσίευντο· ὁ Ἄρειος δὲ εἰς προῦπτον ταῦτα προήνεγκε καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων ἐκήρυξε καὶ πολλοὺς εἰς ἀσέβειαν ὑπεσκέλισε θορύβων τε καὶ σχισμάτων τὰς ἐκκλησίας· ἐνέπλησεν. ὃ γνοὺς ὁ εὐσεβέστατος βασιλεὺς ἐκεῖνος ἐν Νικαίᾳ τῇ