“But the arches to east and west are left so that nothing interferes with admiration of their size. Now the arcades of the just mentioned upper chambers are supported from beneath by columns and small arches, which greatly add to the work. In order that the wonder of this building may be more easily grasped, I have here placed in feet the measures of the length, breadth, and height; and of the arches their diameter and height. The length then from the door opposite the holy apse, where is offered the bloodless sacrifice, to the apse itself is 190 feet; the breadth of the nave from north to south is 115. The height from the centre of the dome to the ground is 180 feet. And of the arches, the width of each in feet is [no number given]. And the length from east to west is 200 feet. The width of the opening is 75 feet.[62] There are also to the west two fine porticoes, and everywhere open courts of wonderful beauty.” _Paul the Silentiary._--As this author’s really detailed account of the church is of considerable length, we have reserved it for the next chapter, although it was written before the descriptions just given by Agathias and Evagrius. For the little that is known of the author we are almost entirely indebted to his friend Agathias, who says: “If any one living perchance far from this city, wishes to know and see everything as if present and looking on, let him read what Paulus, son of Cyrus, son of Florus, has written in hexameter verse; he is chief of the Royal Silentiaries, and sprung from a noble race; inheriting ancestral wealth, yet zealously brought up in the study of letters, by which he was the more glorious and famous. He wrote a number of other poems worthy of memory and praise, but it seems to me that that which he wrote on the Great Church is completed with the most skill and labour, even as its subject is more worthy than any other. For you will find in his poem the arrangement of the form, and the nature of the stones explained; the beauty and purpose of the curtains; the lengths and heights, what is curved and what straight, what projects and what is suspended. You will learn, too, how with silver and gold the more sacred part, intended for the divine mysteries, was adorned; as well as whatever ornament great or small is there, which those who frequent the church may see.” The Silentiaries, of whom Paulus was one, were court officials. Their office was an exalted one, as they ranked with the senators, and were employed on all kinds of service, not unfrequently becoming the historians of the emperor. Paulus belonged to the cultivated and literary circle, who during Justinian’s reign interested themselves in literature, and to him are attributed more than eighty poems in the Anthology.[63]