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having nowhere anything that he could ever admire more than all the other things. But even as they direct their mind everywhere, and knitting their brows at everything, they are unable to comprehend the art, but they always depart from there overwhelmed by the helplessness of their sight. So these things are in this wise. And by many devices the Emperor Justinian and the mechanician Anthemius, with Isidorus, contrived that the church, thus suspended in the air, should be secure; of these, it is impossible for me to know all the others, and impossible to describe them in words, but only one will be written by me for the present, by which one might infer the entire power of the work. For it is as follows. The piers, which I just mentioned, are not constructed in the same way as other buildings, but in the following manner. A structure of stones has been built up in a square shape, hard by nature, but smooth in workmanship, and cut, if they were to form the projecting parts of the sides of the pier, at an angle, but if they were assigned the space between, in a four-sided shape. And what joined them was not lime, which they call quicklime, nor asphalt, the pride of Semiramis in Babylon, nor anything else of that sort, but lead poured into the joints, and having flowed everywhere in between, and having melted into the joinings of the stones and binding them to each other. So this, then, was constructed in this manner. Let us now go to the remaining parts of the church. The entire ceiling has been overlaid with pure gold, blending its magnificence with beauty, yet the gleam from the marbles, flashing back at the gold, is victorious. And there are two stoas on either side, not separated by any structure from the church, but even making the measure of its breadth greater, and extending in length to the very end, but they are somewhat lower in height. And for these too the ceiling is a vault and gold is their adornment. Of these two stoas, one has been allotted to the men who are praying, and the other is reserved for women doing the same. They have no difference, nor do they differ from one another at all, but their equality in beauty extends to the sanctuary and their similarity adorns it. And who could be the interpreter of the galleries of the women's section, or describe the numerous stoas and the colonnaded courts with which the church is surrounded? Who could enumerate the beauty of the columns and the marbles with which the sanctuary is adorned? One might think he had chanced upon a meadow with its flowers in full bloom. For he would rightly marvel at the purple of some, the green of others, and those on which the crimson blooms and those from which the white flashes, and furthermore those which nature, like some painter, varies with the most contrasting colours. And whenever someone goes into it to pray, he understands at once that this work has not been fashioned by human power or skill, but by the influence of God; and his mind, lifted up to God, walks in the air, thinking Him not to be far away, but to be especially fond of dwelling in the place He Himself has chosen. And this happens not only to one seeing it for the first time, but this same thing seems continuously to each person, as if the sight were always beginning here. No one has ever had a surfeit of this spectacle, but people present in the sanctuary rejoice in what they see, and when they depart, they pride themselves on their conversations about it. Furthermore, as to the treasures of this church—the gold and silver and precious stones—it is impossible for one who speaks with precision to describe them all, which the Emperor Justinian has dedicated here; but I shall allow those who read these things to judge by one thing alone; for that most sacred space of the sanctuary, unprofaned and trodden only by priests, which they call the altar, possesses forty thousand pounds of silver. So then, the church of Constantinople, which they are accustomed to call "Great," to speak concisely and counting on one's fingertips, and to state in the briefest account the most notable of the facts, was built in this way by the Emperor Justinian. The emperor built it not with money alone, but also

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οὐδαμῆ ἔχοντος ὅ τι ἄν ποτε ἀγα1.1.49 σθείη μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ἀπο1.1.49 σκοποῦντες πανταχόσε τὸν νοῦν, τάς τε ὀφρῦς ἐπὶ πᾶσι συννενευκότες, οὐχ οἷοί τέ εἰσι ξυνεῖναι τῆς τέχνης, ἀλλ' ἀπαλλάσσονται ἀεὶ ἐνθένδε καταπεπληγμένοι τῇ ἐς τὴν ὄψιν ἀμηχανίᾳ. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τῇδέ πη ἔχει. 1.1.50 Μηχαναῖς δὲ πολλαῖς βασιλεύς τε Ἰουστινιανὸς καὶ Ἀνθέμιος ὁ μηχανοποιὸς σὺν τῷ Ἰσιδώρῳ οὕτω δὴ μετεωριζομένην τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ διεπράξαντο εἶναι· ὧνπερ τὰς μὲν ἄλλας ἁπάσας ἐμοὶ εἰδέναι τε ἄπορον καὶ λόγῳ φράσαι ἀμήχανον, μία δέ μοι μόνον ἔν γε τῷ παρόντι γεγράψεται ᾗ δύναιτ' ἄν τις σύμπασαν τοῦ 1.1.51 ἔργου τεκμηριῶσαι τὴν δύναμιν. ἔχει γὰρ ὧδε. οἱ λόφοι, ὧνπερ ἐπεμνήσθην ἀρτίως, οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ταῖς ἄλ1.1.52 λαις οἰκοδομίαις πεποίηνται, ἀλλὰ τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. λίθων ἐπιβολὴ ἐν τετραγώνῳ διαπεπόνηται, σκληρῶν μὲν φύσιν, ἐργασίαν δὲ λείων, ἐντομὴν δέ, εἰ μὲν τὰ προὔχοντα ποιεῖσθαι τῶν τοῦ λόφου πλευρῶν μέλλοιεν, ἐγγωνίων, εἰ δὲ τὴν μεταξὺ κεκλήρωνται χώραν, ἐν τετραπλεύρῳ 1.1.53 γεγενημένων. συνήρμοσε δὲ αὐτοὺς οὐ τίτανος, ἥνπερ ἄσβεστον ὀνομάζουσιν, οὐκ ἄσφαλτος, ἡ Σεμιράμιδος ἐν Βαβυλῶνι φιλοτιμία, οὐκ ἄλλο τοιοῦτον οὐδέν, ἀλλὰ μόλιβδος ἐς τέλμα χυθείς, καὶ μεταξὺ πανταχόσε χωρήσας, τῶν τε λίθων τῇ ἁρμονίᾳ ἐντετηκὼς καὶ συνδέων ἀλλή1.1.54 λοις αὐτούς. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν ταύτῃ ἐξείργασται. ἐπὶ τὰ λειπόμενα δὲ τοῦ νεὼ ἴωμεν. χρυσῷ μὲν ἀκιβδήλῳ καταλήλειπται ἡ ὀροφὴ πᾶσα, κεραννῦσα τὸν κόμπον τῷ κάλλει, νικᾷ μέντοι ἡ ἐκ τῶν λίθων αὐγὴ ἀνταστράπ1.1.55 τουσα τῷ χρυσῷ. στοαί τέ εἰσιν ἑκατέρωθι δύο, οἰκοδομίᾳ μὲν τοῦ νεὼ οὐδεμιᾷ διειργόμεναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ μεῖζον αὐτοῦ ποιοῦσαι τοῦ εὔρους τὸ μέτρον, καὶ τῷ μήκει μέχρι ἐς τὸ πέρας συνεξικνούμεναι, τὸ δέ γε ὕψος καὶ 1.1.56 καταδεέστεραι. καὶ αὐταῖς δὲ ἥ τε ὀροφὴ θόλος καὶ ὁ χρυσὸς ἐγκαλλώπισμα. ταύταιν δὲ ταῖν στοαῖν ἁτέρα μὲν τοὺς ἄνδρας εὐχομένους διακεκλήρωται, γυναιξὶ δὲ ταὐτὸ 1.1.57 ποιουμέναις ἡ ἄλλη ἀνεῖται. παραλλὰξ δὲ οὐδὲν ἔχουσιν, οὐδὲ διαφέρουσι δήπου ἀλλήλαιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἴσον αὐταῖν 1.1.58 τῷ ἱερῷ ἐς κάλλος διήκει καὶ ὡραΐζει τὸ ἐμφερές. τίς δ' ἂν τῶν ὑπερῴων τῆς γυναικωνίτιδος ἑρμηνεὺς γένοιτο, ἢ τάς τε παμπληθεῖς διηγοῖτο στοὰς καὶ τὰς περιστύλους 1.1.59 αὐλάς, αἷς ὁ νεὼς περιβέβληται; τίς δὲ τῶν τε κιόνων καὶ λίθων διαριθμήσαιτο τὴν εὐπρέπειαν, οἷς τὸ ἱερὸν κεκαλλώπισται; λειμῶνί τις ἂν ἐντετυχηκέναι δόξειεν ὡραίῳ τὸ 1.1.60 ἄνθος. θαυμάσειε γὰρ ἂν εἰκότως τῶν μὲν τὸ ἁλουργόν, τῶν δὲ τὸ χλοάζον, καὶ οἷς τὸ φοινικοῦν ἐπανθεῖ καὶ ὧν τὸ λευκὸν ἀπαστράπτει, ἔτι μέντοι καὶ οὓς ταῖς ἐναντιωτάταις ποικίλλει χροιαῖς ὥσπερ τις ζωγράφος ἡ φύσις. 1.1.61 ὁπηνίκα δέ τις εὐξόμενος ἐς αὐτὸ ἴοι, ξυνίησι μὲν εὐθὺς ὡς οὐκ ἀνθρωπείᾳ δυνάμει ἢ τέχνῃ, ἀλλὰ θεοῦ ῥοπῇ τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο ἀποτετόρνευται· ὁ νοῦς δέ οἱ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐπαιρόμενος ἀεροβατεῖ, οὐ μακράν που ἡγούμενος αὐτὸν 1.1.62 εἶναι, ἀλλ' ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν μάλιστα οἷς αὐτὸς εἵλετο. καὶ τοῦτο οὐ τὴν πρώτην μόνον ἰδόντι ξυμβαίνει, ἀλλὰ διηνεκὲς ἑκάστῳ ταὐτὸ τοῦτο δοκεῖ, ὥσπερ ἐνταῦθα τῆς 1.1.63 ὄψεως ἀεὶ ἀρχομένης. τούτου κόρον οὐδεὶς τοῦ θεάματος ἔλαβε πώποτε, ἀλλὰ παρόντες μὲν τῷ ἱερῷ ἄνθρωποι τοῖς ὁρωμένοις γεγήθασιν, ἀπιόντες δὲ τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ 1.1.64 διαλόγοις ἀποσεμνύνονται. ἔτι μέντοι τῶν κειμηλίων τοῦ νεὼ τοῦδε τά τε χρυσώματα καὶ τὰ ἐν ἀργύρῳ καὶ λίθοις ἐντίμοις ξύμπαντα μὲν φράσαι ἀκριβολογουμένῳ ἀμήχανον, ἅπερ Ἰουστινιανὸς βασιλεὺς τῇδε ἀνέθηκεν· ἑνὶ δὲ μόνῳ τεκμηριοῦσθαι τοῖς τάδε ἀναλεγομένοις ἐφί1.1.65 ημι· ὁ γὰρ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὰ μάλιστα χῶρος ἀβέβηλος καὶ μόνοις ἱερεῦσι βατός, ὅνπερ καλοῦσι θυσιαστήριον, λιτρῶν ἀργύρου μυριάδας ἐπιφέρεται τέτταρας. 1.1.66 Τὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἐκκλησίας, ἥνπερ μεγάλην καλεῖν νενομίκασι, συνελόντι τε καὶ ἄκρῳ δακτύλῳ διαριθμησαμένῳ εἰπεῖν, λόγῳ τε βραχυτάτῳ τὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀξιολογώτατα φράσαι, τῇδε Ἰουστινιανῷ δε1.1.67 δημιούργηται βασιλεῖ. οὐ χρήμασι δὲ αὐτὴν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐδείματο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ