“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.