“Now in the joints they have put sheets of soft lead, lest the stones, as they lie on one another, adding weight to weight, should have their backs broken. Thus with the lead inserted, the pressure is softened, and the stone foundation is gently burdened.
Cornice of Dome.—“A rim (antux) curving round, is firmly fixed on the backs (of the arches), where rests the base of the hemisphere[67]; this is the circle of the lowest course which they have set as a crown on the backs of the arches (apsides). And just under the projecting firmament (kosmos), the hanging stones form a narrow curved path, on which the man who cares for the sacred lights can walk fearlessly, and trim each in turn.
The Dome.—“And above all rises into the immeasurable air the great helmet [of the dome], which, bending over, like the radiant heavens, embraces the church. And at the highest part, at the crown, was depicted[68] the cross, the protector of the city. And wondrous it is to see how the dome gradually rises, wide below, and growing less as it reaches higher. It does not however spring upwards to a sharp point, but is like the firmament which rests on air, though the dome is fixed on the strong backs of the arches.”
(Here is a lacuna in the Greek text; two broken lines, 94, 95, speak of “window openings made in the apses, through which streams the splendour of the golden morning light.”)
“With dauntless pen I will describe what plan the emperor devised for the broad church, and how, with builder’s skill, both the curves of the arches and the vault of the wide-extended house were formed with thin bricks (plinthoi), and raised on firm foundations. Thus the skilful master-man, well versed in every craft, formed a ceiling to the lofty nave. Yet he did not send to the hills of Phœnician Lebanon, nor to search the dark woods of the Alpine crags, nor where some Assyrian or Celtic woodman goads on the oxen in dense forests, nor did he think to use fir (peuke) or pine (elate) to roof the house. From neither the glades of Daphne[69] by Orontes, nor from the wooded crags of Patara[70] came cypress wood, to form a covering for the mighty temple. For our noble king, since nature could produce no timber great enough, had it covered with stones (lithoi) laid in a round form. Thus on the four arches (apsides) rose, like a beauteous helmet, the deep-bosomed swelling roof (kaluptra): and it seems that the eye, as it wanders round, gazes on the circling heavens. And beneath the two great arches (apsides), to the east and to the west, you must know that it is all open, and extended in the air.
“But towards the murmuring south wind and the cold dry north, a wall, mighty in strength, rises to the under side of the rounded arch (antux). Now this wall is made bright with eight windows, and rests below on great props of marble. For beneath it six columns, like the fresh green of the emerald, in union support untired the weight of wall. And these again are borne on strong columns fixed immovable on the ground, glittering jewels of Thessalian marble, with capitals above them like locks of golden hair. These separate the middle portion of the glorious nave from the neighbouring aisle (aithousa) that stretches alongside. Never were such columns, blooming with a many-hued brightness,[71] hewn from the craggy hills of sea-washed Molossis.
North Aisle, Centre Division.—“And in the aisle itself, in the middle space Anthemius of many crafts, and with him Isiodorus the wise,—for both of them, acting under the will of the king, built the mighty church—have placed two pairs of columns, and in measure they are less than those others near them, but they are as bright with fresh green bloom, and they came from the same quarry.
“Yet their bases are not placed in a row, one after the other, but they stand on the pavement two facing two opposite; and above their capitals on fourfold arches (seireai) rises the underside of the women’s galleries. And close by these columns on the north side is a door, admitting the people to the founts that purify the stains of mortal life, and heal every deadly scar.
“Thus on four columns of beautiful Thessalian stone, in order, placed here and there, towards the twilight and to the dawn, along the length of the aisle (aithousa) there curves a weight of bending vaults (kulindroi) extending to the walls, which are pierced with openings; on the northern side they lean on the spaces that join the twin windows,[72] but on the south, instead of windows are empty spaces like a colonnade.
North Aisle, East and West Divisions.—“And again towards the east and west stand two columns from Thessaly, with lofty crests, and twin piers (stemones) from famous Proconnesus, fixed close by the doors. Towards the east there is but one door, though on the side of the cold north they walk through twain.