Such was the community whose possession of a matchless site decided Constantine to select them as the nucleus of population for his new Rome, the meditated capital of the East. And, in order to fill with life and movement the streets newly laid out, he engrafted on this doubtful stock a multitude of servile and penurious immigrants, whom he allured from their native haunts by the promise of free residence and rations.[374] Nevertheless a metropolis constituted from such elements was scarcely below the level of the times, and was destined to prove a successful rival of the degenerate Rome which Constantine aspired to supplant.
The impressions of life and colour which affect a stranger on entering a new city arise in great part from the costume of its inhabitants. At Constantinople there prevails in this age a decency in dress foreign to Rome during the first centuries of the Empire, and even to Greece in the most classic period. Ladies invested with garments of such tenuity as to reveal more than they conceal of their physical beauties, to the confusion of some contemporary Seneca, are not here to be met with in the streets;[375] the Athenian maiden, with her tunic divided almost to the hip, or the Spartan virgin displaying her limbs bare to the middle of the thigh, have no reflection under the piazzas of renascent Byzantium. A new modesty, born of Christian influences, has cast a mantle of uniformity over the licence as well as over the simplicity of the pagan world. In observing the costume of this time a modern eye would first, perhaps, note the fact that in civil life the garb of men differs but little from that of women. Loose clothing, which hides the shape of the body, and in general the whole of the lower limbs, is common to both sexes. Men usually shave, but a moustache is often worn; their hair is cropped, but not very close.[376] Head-gear is an exception, and so, for the lower classes, are coverings for the feet. A workman, an artisan, or a slave, the latter a numerous class, wears a simple tunic of undyed wool, short-sleeved, girt round the waist and reaching to the knees, with probably a hood which can be drawn over the head as a protection against the weather.[377] This garment is in fact the foundation dress of all ranks of men, but the rich wear fine materials, often of silk and of varied hues, have long sleeves, and use girdles of some costly stuff. They, in addition, are invested in handsome cloaks reaching to the ankles, which are open for their whole length on the right side and are secured by a jewelled clasp over the corresponding shoulder. Shoes often highly ornamented,[378] and long hose, coloured according to taste, complete the dress of an ordinary Byzantine gentleman. On less formal occasions a short sleeveless cloak, fastened at the neck, but open down the front, is the customary outer vestment. The tunic or gown of women reaches to the feet, and, in the case of ladies, is embroidered or woven with designs of various patterns and tints. The latter usually consist of some small variegated device which is repeated in oblique lines all over the garment. Shawls, somewhat similar in colour and texture to the gown, thrown over the back and shoulders or wound round the bust, are habitually worn at the same time. Gloves, shoes and stockings of various hues, and a simple form of cap which partly conceals the hair, are also essential to the attire of a Byzantine lady. As in all ages, jewellery is much coveted, and women of any social rank are rarely to be seen without heavy necklaces, earrings of an elaborate spreading design,[379] and golden girdles.[380] A less numerous class of the community are male ascetics, celibates of a puritanical cast, who love to placard themselves by wearing scarlet clothing and binding their hair with a fillet;[381] also virgins devoted to the service of the churches, who are known by their sombre dress, black hoods, gray mantles, and black shoes.[382] Philosophers adopt gray, rhetoricians crimson, and physicians blue, for the tint of their cloaks.[383] To these may be added the courtesans who try to usurp the costume of every grade of women, even that of the sacred sisterhood.[384] Such is the population who usually crowd the thoroughfares and lend them a gaudy aspect which is still further heightened by numbers of private carriages—literally springless carts—bedizened with paint and gilding, and most fashionable if drawn by a pair of white mules with golden trappings.