A beautiful equestrian statue of great size, representing either Bellerophon and Pegasus or, as the populace believe, Joshua on horseback commanding the sun to stand still, was likewise sent to the furnace.  The horse appeared to be neighing at the sound of the trumpet, while every muscle was strained with the ardor of battle.  The colossal Hercules of Lysippus, which, having adorned Tarentum, had thence been transported to the Elder and subsequently to the hippodrome of the New Rome, met with a like fate.  The artist had expressed, in a manner which had won the admiration of beholders, the deep wrath of the hero at the unworthy tasks set before him.  He was represented as seated, but without quiver or bow or club.  His lion’s skin was thrown loosely about his shoulders, his right foot and right hand stretched out to the utmost, while he rested his head on his left hand with his elbow on his bent knee.  The whole figure was full of dignity; the chest deep, the shoulders broad, the hair curly, the arms and limbs full of muscle.

The figure of an ass and its driver, which Augustus had had cast in bronze to commemorate the news brought to him of the victory of Actium, met with the same fate.

For the sake of melting them down into money the barbarians seized also the ancient statue of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus; the statues of a sphinx, a hippopotamus, a crocodile, an elephant, and others, which had represented a triumph over Egypt; the monster of Scylla and others; most of which were probably executed before the time of Christ.

The celebrated statue of Helen was destroyed by men who knew nothing of its original.  There must be added to these the graceful figure of a woman who held in her right hand the figure of an armed man on horseback.  Then near the eastern goals, known as the “reds,” stood the statues of the winners in the chariot races.  They stood erect in their bronze chariots, as the originals also had been seen when they gained their victories, as if they were still directing their steeds to the goals.  A figure of the Nile bull in deadly conflict with a crocodile stood near.  These and other statues were hastily sent to the furnace to be converted into money.  We may judge of the value and artistic merit of the bronze statues which were destroyed, by the specimens which remain.  The four horses which the emperor Theodosius had brought from Chios and placed in the hippodrome escaped, by some lucky chance, the general plunder, and were taken to Venice, where they still adorn the front of St. Mark’s.

The pillage of the relics of Constantinople lasted for forty years.  More than half of the total amount of objects carried off were, however, taken away between the years 1204 and 1208.  During the few days which followed the capture of the city the bishops and priests who were with the crusaders were active in laying hands on this species of sacred spoil; and the statement of a contemporary writer is not