What gives Scutari special preeminence is that on its heights was fought an epochal battle. In the time of Constantine there had been great political confusion, no less than three rival emperors struggling for the mastery in the West, and as many in the East. Maxentius, the last of the first group, was defeated by Constantine near the Milvian Bridge at Rome in the year 312. To commemorate this victory was erected near the Roman Forum the Arch of Constantine, which has been standing there since 315 A. D. It was during this campaign that Constantine, according to contemporary authorities including the ecclesiastical historian Eusebius, had his vision of the cross emblazoned in the sky, with the motto, "By this conquer." He became a convert to Christianity, manifestly sincere but with many imperfections. With reference to these he must be judged by the standards of his age. Stanley very properly said that he was "Great" because of what he did, and not because of what he was. He had the foresight and the astuteness to recognize that Christianity was the coming power, and he determined to be identified therewith. No sooner had he triumphed in the West than he decided to grapple with the only survivor of the three emperors in the East, Licinius, who met with his initial reverse at Adrianople and with his final defeat in 324 at Chrysopolis, which was our modern Scutari, where Constantine by his brilliant achievement became sole emperor of the whole empire. From that moment there opened up to him his splendid career. He substituted the luminous cross for the Roman eagles on the imperial standards, doubtless saying with Paul, "Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross." Just across the water he was to establish himself, at Stamboul, as it long has been called. Thither, after presiding at over the Nicene Council in 325, when Orthodoxy won Arianism, he decided to remove the capital from Rome to this new city which he proposed to found, which bore his name, the City of Constantine, or Constantinople, and which he dedicated in 330. The place had previously been called Byzantium, from Byzas, the leader of the Greeks, who effected the first settlement 658 B. C. As such it had a long and glorious history, and Byzantine art and architecture have a distinction of their own, and the Empire has been designated the Byzantine quite as often as the Eastern. It successfully resisted a furious assault from Philip of Macedon, against whom Demosthenes used to thunder. In 340 B. C. the great Macedonian besieged it, and he nearly succeeded by a night assault. He proceeded by subterranean tunnels, but the rising of a new moon set the dogs to barking, which awoke the sleeping garrison that thereupon repelled the attack. If Rome was saved by the cackling of geese because of their noise rousing the guard, Byzantium was saved by the barking of dogs, and there would seem to have been some reason for their having had for centuries the freedom of the city. In another sense, salvation came to the town because of the bright lunar rim that appeared, and naturally the crescent became the emblem to be borne aloft on the banners of a grateful people. This, later, was adopted by the Turks, and crescent and cross have for centuries symbolized antagonistic civilizations. Had not Christians been anticipated by Greeks and Mohammedans, the former might well have taken the crescent to themselves, with perhaps a significant addition. The Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity in which membership is eagerly coveted by College students, has for a pin the pleasing design of a crescent and a star. Let the latter with its superior radiance be regarded as the waxing Star of Bethlehem, and the former as the waning power of Islamism, and we have a correct representation of the hopeful facts. We are still standing off from Stamboul, with thronging memories that are classic, christian and crescent, and we cannot refrain from telling the story of Io. According to Grecian fable she was a fair maiden, of whom Jupiter became enamored, greatly to the disquiet of his wife Juno. In her jealousy and rage she vented her wrath upon the lovely creature, who for purposes of escape was changed into a beautiful white heifer or cow. The disguise was discovered, and the goddess pursued her with a tormenting gadfly. from which the poor victim fled everywhere, at last dashing into the water at Scutari and swimming across the strait to Seraglio point, and she gave to this oceanic current its name, The Bosporus, the derivation being from two Greek words, poros a passage or ford, and bous or bos, heifer, and we still say, "Come, Bos," as well as Bosporus. Where Stamboul juts down into the water, Theodosius the Great in the year 381 raised a column to celebrate his victories over barbaric hordes led by such ruthless savages as Attila the Hun, and the memorial is still there. On the top of this Daniel the Stylite, after the strange manner of the order to which he belonged, took his position, and he did not descend for 27 years, trying thus to appease, as a pillar saint, the wrath of God. Higher up in the city is another column that of Constantine himself, still defying the ravages of time. So often have the flames swept over it in the great fires that have occurred, that it is more familiarly known as the Burnt Column. The oldest part of Constantinople, or Stamboul, occupies a triangular peninsula, which is washed on two sides by the |