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of the men who had lived there. But he does those things which were fitting, to give attendants to each maimed person and to give the same care to the leper as to the healthy; so that if anyone wished to understand the new city, which my father built up from its foundations, he would see the city as fourfold and manifold, composed of those below, those above, and those serving both of these. 15.7.7 But who could count the number of those eating daily or the daily expenditure and the care given to each? For to him I attribute also the things after him. For he set aside for them provisions from land and sea; and he secured for them all possible comfort. For a man of the most glorious rank presides as administrator of this city of ten thousand; and its name is Orphanage. It is called an Orphanage because of the philanthropy of the emperor himself toward orphans and retired soldiers; whence also the name prevailed from the care for orphans. For over all these there are secretariats and business transactions of the administrators regarding the possessions of the poor, and golden bulls awarding to those being supported the inalienable right. 15.7.8 And for the church of the great herald Paul, a great and numerous clergy was enrolled and an abundance of lights. And arriving at this church, you would see choirs singing antiphonally on both sides. For he appointed to the church of the apostles singing men and singing women, according to Solomon. For he also made the work of the deaconesses a matter of care. And he took great care also for the visiting Iberian nuns who previously went from door to door, whenever they came to the city of Constantine; but for these too the care of my father established a very great convent, having arranged for both their food and their proper clothing. So let that Alexander the Macedonian boast of Alexandria in Egypt, of Bucephala in Media, of Lysimachia in Ethiopia. But the emperor Alexios <would not> take so much pride in the cities raised by him, which we know were built by him everywhere, as much as he gloried in this city. 15.7.9 But these precincts and holy institutions would meet you on the left as you enter; and on the right of the great precinct stands a school of grammar for orphan boys gathered from every race, in which a teacher presides and boys stand around him, some flustered about grammatical questions, others composing the so-called schedē. And one can see here a Latin being instructed and a Scythian speaking Greek and a Roman handling the writings of the Greeks and the unlettered Greek speaking Greek correctly, such were the endeavors of Alexios also concerning logical education. The art of the schedos is an invention of the moderns and of the generation in our time. I pass over certain Stylianoi and the so-called Longibardoi and as many as contrived collections of all kinds of names and the Atticists and those who were on the sacred roll of our great church, whose names I omit. But now there is not even a secondary account of these astronomers and poets and prose writers themselves and of the experience derived from them; but draughts is the pursuit, and other lawless works. I say these things, being vexed because of the complete neglect of the circle of learning. For this inflames my soul, that I spent much time on the same subjects, even if, when I had been released from their childish school and proceeded to rhetoric and took up philosophy and in the midst of the sciences rushed to poets and prose writers and from there smoothed out the rough banks of my language, then, with rhetoric encouraging me, I condemned the [of the] much-contrived art of schedography
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ἀνθρώπων ἐνταυθοῖ πολιτευσαμένου. Ἃ δὲ προσῆν, ἐκεῖνα ποιεῖ, ὑπηρέτας ἑκάστῳ διδόναι πεπηρωμένῳ καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν πρόνοιαν τιθέναι τῷ λελωβημένῳ, τῷ ὑγιαίνοντι· ὥστε εἴ τις βούλοιτο τὴν νέαν πόλιν καταμαθεῖν, ἣν ἐκ βάθρων ὁ ἐμὸς πατὴρ ἀνεδείματο, τετραπλῆν ἂν ἴδοι τὴν πόλιν καὶ πολλαπλῆν τῶν κάτω, τῶν ἄνω, τῶν ἀμφοτέροις τούτοις ἐξυπηρετουμένων. 15.7.7 Ἀλλὰ τίς ἐξαριθμῆσαι δυνήσαιτο τοὺς καθ' ἡμέραν ἐσθίοντας ἢ τὴν καθ' ἑκάστην δαπάνην καὶ τὴν γινομένην εἰς ἕκαστον πρόνοιαν; Εἰς ἐκεῖνον γὰρ ἀναφέρω καὶ τὰ μετ' ἐκεῖνον. Ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἀφωρίσατο τὰς ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης αὐτοῖς προνοίας· ἐκεῖνος δὲ τὴν δυνατὴν ῥᾳστώνην αὐτοῖς περιεποιήσατο. Προκάθηται γὰρ ἀνήρ τις τῶν ἐνδοξοτάτων φροντιστὴς τῆς μυριάνδρου ταυτησὶ πόλεως· ὀρφανοτροφεῖον δὲ ταύτῃ τοὔνομα. Ὀρφανοτροφεῖον δὲ προσαγορεύεται, ὅτι ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ὀρφανοὺς καὶ ἀποστρατεύτους φιλανθρωπία τοῦ αὐτο κράτορος· ὅθεν καὶ τοὔνομα ἐπεκράτησε τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ὀρφανῶν προμηθείας. Σέκρετα γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσι καὶ λογοπραγίαι τῶν προνοουμένων κατὰ τὰ τῶν πενήτων κτή ματα καὶ χρυσόβουλλοι λόγοι ἐπιβραβεύοντες τοῖς τρεφο μένοις τὸ ἀναφαίρετον. 15.7.8 Τῷ δὲ ναῷ τοῦ μεγαλοκήρυκος Παύλου κλῆρος μέγας κατείλεκτο καὶ πολὺς καὶ φώτων δαψίλεια. Καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς τουτονὶ τὸν νεὼν ἴδοις ἂν χοροὺς ἑκατέρωθεν ἀντᾴδοντας. Κατέταξε γὰρ τῷ τῶν ἀποστόλων νεῷ ᾄδοντας καὶ ᾀδούσας κατὰ τὸν Σολομῶντα. Ἐπιμελὲς γὰρ καὶ τὸ τῶν διακονισσῶν πεποίηκεν ἔργον. Πολλὴν δὲ φροντίδα καὶ τῶν ἐπιξενουμένων Ἰβηρίδων μοναχῶν ἐπεποίητο θύραν ἐκ θύρας ἀμειβουσῶν τὸ πρότε ρον, ἐπὰν εἰς τὴν Κωνσταντίνου ἐπιδημήσαιεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύταις ἡ κηδεμονία τοὐμοῦ πατρὸς ἀνεδείματο φροντιστή ριον μέγιστον τάς τε τροφὰς καὶ τὰς προσηκούσας ἐσθῆτας διοικονομησαμένου. Ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀλέξανδρος ἐκεῖνος ὁ Μακεδὼν αὐχείτω μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ κατ' Αἴγυπτον Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ, ἐπὶ τῇ κατὰ Μήδους Βουκεφάλῃ, ἐπὶ τῇ κατ' Αἰθιοπίαν Λυσιμαχίᾳ. Ὁ δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ Ἀλέξιος <οὐκ ἂν> οὑτωσὶ ἐπὶταῖς ἀνεγερθείσαις παρ' αὐτοῦ πόλεσιν ἐναβρύνοιτο, ἃς πανταχοῦ ἴσμεν ἀνοικοδομηθείσας αὐτῷ, ὅσον ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πόλει μεγαλαυχεῖ. 15.7.9 Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν τὰ τεμένη καὶ ἱερὰ φροντιστήρια εἰσιόντι σοι κατὰ λαιὰν ἀπαντήσειε· κατὰ δὲ τὴν δεξιὰν τοῦ μεγάλου τεμένους παιδευτήριον ἕστηκε τῶν γραμματικῶν παισὶν ὀρφανοῖς ἐκ παντοδαποῦ γένους συνειλεγμένοις, ἐν ᾧ παιδευτής τις προκάθηται καὶ παῖδες περὶ αὐτὸν ἑστᾶσιν, οἱ μὲν περὶ ἐρωτήσεις ἐπτοη μένοι γραμματικάς, οἱ δὲ ξυγγραφεῖς τῶν λεγομένων σχε δῶν. Καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν καὶ Λατῖνον ἐνταῦθα παιδοτριβούμε νον καὶ Σκύθην ἑλληνίζοντα καὶ Ῥωμαῖον τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων συγγράμματα μεταχειριζόμενον καὶ τὸν ἀγράμματον Ἕλληνα ὀρθῶς ἑλληνίζοντα, τοιαῦτα καὶ περὶ τὴν λογικὴν παί δευσιν τὰ τοῦ Ἀλεξίου σπουδάσματα. Τοῦ δὲ σχέδους ἡ τέχνη εὕρημα τῶν νεωτέρων ἐστὶ καὶ τῆς ἐφ' ἡμῶν γενεᾶς. Παρίημι δὲ Στυλιανούς τινας καὶ τοὺς λεγομένους Λογγι βάρδους καὶ ὅσους ἐπὶ συναγωγὴν ἐτεχνάσαντο παντοδαπῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ τοὺς Ἀττικοὺς καὶ τοὺς γεγονότας τοῦ ἱεροῦ καταλόγου τῆς μεγάλης παρ' ἡμῖν ἐκκλησίας, ὧν παρίημι τὰ ὀνόματα. Ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐδ' ἐν δευτέρῳ λόγῳ τὰ περὶ τού των τῶν μετεώρων καὶ ποιητῶν καὶ αὐτῶν συγγραφέων καὶ τῆς ἀπὸ τούτων ἐμπειρίας· πεττεία δὲ τὸ σπούδασμα καὶ ἄλλα τὰ ἔργα ἀθέμιτα. Ταῦτα δὲ λέγω ἀχθομένη διὰ τὴν παντελῆ τῆς ἐγκυκλίου παιδεύσεως ἀμέλειαν. Τοῦτο γάρ μου τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναφλέγει, ὅτι πολὺ περὶ ταὐτὰ ἐνδιατέ τριφα, κἂν, ἐπειδὰν ἀπήλλαγμαι τῆς παιδαριώδους τούτων σχολῆς καὶ εἰς ῥητορικὴν παρήγγειλα καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἡψά μην καὶ μεταξὺ τῶν ἐπιστημῶν πρὸς ποιητάς τε καὶ ξυγ γραφέας ᾖξα καὶ τῆς γλώττης τοὺς ὄχθους ἐκεῖθεν ἐξωμα λισάμην, εἶτα ῥητορικῆς ἐπαρηγούσης ἐμοὶ κατέγνων τῆς [τοῦ] πολυπλόκου τῆς σχεδογραφίας