Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/305

 chap. XL] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 261 Constantinople to Saint Sophia, or the eternal wisdom, had been twice destroyed by fire : after the exile of John Chrysostom, and during the Nika of the blue and green factions. No sooner did the tumult subside than the Christian populace de- plored their sacrilegious rashness ; but they might have re- joiced in the calamity, had they foreseen the glory of the new temple, which at the end of forty days was strenuously under- taken by the piety of Justinian. 103 The ruins were cleared away, a more spacious plan was described, and, as it required the consent of some proprietors of ground, they obtained the most exorbitant terms from the eager desires and timorous conscience of the monarch. Anthemius formed the design, and his genius directed the hands of ten thousand workmen, whose payment in pieces of fine silver was never delayed beyond the evening. The emperor himself, clad in a linen tunic, surveyed each day their rapid progress, and encouraged their diligence by his familiarity, his zeal, and his rewards. The new cathedral of St. Sophia was consecrated by the patriarch, five years, eleven months, and ten days from the first foundation ; and, in the midst of the solemn festival, Justinian exclaimed with devout vanity, " Glory be to God who hath thought me worthy to accomplish so great a work ; I have vanquished thee, O Solo- mon ! " 104 But the pride of the Roman Solomon, before twenty 103 Among the crowd of ancients and moderns who have celebrated the edifice of St. Sophia, I shall distinguish and follow, 1. Four original spectators and historians : Procopius (de Aedific. 1. i. c. 1), Agathias (1. v. p. 152, 153), Paul Silen- tiarius (in a poem of 1026 hexameters, ad calcem Annse Comnen. Alexiad.), and Evagrius (1. iv. c. 31). 2. Two legendary Greeks of a later period : George Codinus (de Origin. C. P. p. 64-74), and the anonymous writer of Banduri (Imp. Orient, torn, i. 1. iv. p. 65-80). 3. The great Byzantine antiquarian Ducange (Comment, ad Paul. Silentiar. p. 525-598, and C. P. Christ. 1. iii. p. 5-78). 4. Two French travellers— the one Peter Gyllius (de Topograph. C. P. 1. ii. c. 3, 4) in the xvith ; the other, Grelot (Voyage de C. P. p. 95-164. Paris 1680, in quarto) : he has given plans, prospects and inside views of St. Sophia ; and his plans, though on a smaller scale, appear more correct than those of Ducange. I have adopted and reduced the measures of Grelot ; but, as no Christian can now ascend the dome, the height is borrowed from Evagrius, compared with Gyllius, Greaves, and the Oriental Geographer. [The dimensions of St. Sophia given in the text differ by but a few feet from those given in Salzenberg's great work (Altchristliche Baudenkmale von Constantinopel, 1854). There is an excellent study of the church by Lethaby and Swainson, Sancta Sophia, 1894, which contains a felicitous prose translation of the poem of Paulus. The latest and most elaborate work on the Church, "F.K<ppaa-is rrjs ayias ~2o<pias, in 3 vols. (1907, etc.).] 104 Solomon's temple was surrounded with courts, porticoes, &c. ; but the proper structure of the house of God was no more (if we take the Egyptian or Hebrew cubit at 22 inches) than 55 feet in height, 36| in breadth, and 110 in length — a small parish church, says Prideaux (Connection, vol. i. p. 144 folio) ; but few sanctuaries could be valued at four or five millions sterling !