Excerpt from Descriptio Sanctae Sophiae (Ekphrasis On Hagia Sophia)
Though he had the mighty mouth and thundering voice of Homer,
Who might sing of all the marble meadows gathered here
In this high temple’s vastness, now fixed firm around the walls
and broadly founded floor? The iron of the miner’s pick
Has carved away the green backs of Karystus’ marble cliffs,
And shattered necks of Phrygian pillars shaped of daedal stone
Which have the look of roses mingled with a mist of white
Or purple, and the shine of finest silver both at once,
Gracefully flashing forth. This great stone sailed the fair-armed Nile
And almost crushed the river barge on which it seemed to soar;
The violet of it shimmers, powdered thick with subtle stars.
And you might see Laconic basalt’s viridescent light,
And glowing marble thinly webbed with widely wandering whorls,
Such as one finds deep in the bosomed clefts of Iassian hills,
Some red as blood, some pale white, shining in their slanted veins,
And some like sallow flowers deeply stained with rich vermillion
While Lydia’s many red-gold rivulets roll over them;
And such stone as the Libyan sun warms through with golden lightning,
As if wrought of the very gold, the crocus-colored blaze
Mined from the Mauretanian mountains’ harsh and rugged cliffs;
And such as the deep-crystaled Celtic crag lifts up to light,
Which bursts with milk that pours down the black marble’s flashing skin
Wherever chance has shed it, trickling down both here and there;
And such as onyx sends forth, with dim metals shining through it,
Prized for its pallor; such as the Atracian countryside
Bears on its gentle plains, not on the lofty-headed glen,
Here glaucous as the sea, not far off from emerald’s purer glow,
And there with bands of deepening green, some almost midnight blue,
With something frost-like sparkling deep within the somber stone—
These mingled graces all rise up together through the rock.
The scintillating temple holds a thousand blazing lights
On cords of many curvings all suspended high aloft;
Some flicker off the balconies, and some burn in the center;
Some shimmer toward the sun, and others toward the evening star,
And from the gilded heights some pour down glimmering flames of fire:
Night shines with rosy feet, and laughs as if she were the dawn!
One man, as he gazes at the tiers of glittering trees,
Finds that the crown and choir kill all cares within his heart;
Another marvels at the floating skiffs that scatter flame,
Another is enchanted by a single swinging lantern,
And yet another’s mind rejoices at that brilliant image,
His Christ in heaven: He who banishes all woes away.
Just as when men who fare upon the road watch stars spring up
Through skies without a cloud, one rising here, another there,
And one man gazes on sweet Hesper steadily, and one
Turns his whole soul on Taurus, and another gladdens at
The sight of Boötes, and yet another stalks Orion,
And yet another spies the arid furrow of the Wain,
And heaven, sprinkled with unending stars, makes plain their path,
And so persuades the Night herself to smile upon their way;
Just so throughout this joyous seat, this house of dancing light,
Each eye is held enchanted by all-radiant Beauty’s rays.
Καὶ τίς ἐριγδούποισι χανὼν στομάτεσσιν Ὸμήρου
μαρμαρέους λειμῶνας ἀολλισθέντας ἀείσει
ἠλιβάτου νηοῖο κραταιπαγέας περὶ τοίχους
καὶ πέδον εὐρυθέμειλον; ἐπεὶ καὶ χλωρὰ Καρύστου ………..620
νῶτα μεταλλευτῆρι χάλυψ ἐχάραξεν ὀδόντι
καὶ Φρύγα δαιδαλέοιο διέθρισεν αὐχένα πέτρου,
τὸν μὲν ἰδεῖν ῥοδόεντα, μεμιγμένον ἠέρι λευκῷ,
τὸν δ’ ἅμα πορφυρέοισι καὶ ἀργυφέοισιν ἀώτοις
ἁβρὸν ἀπαστράπτοντα. πολὺς δ’ εὐπήχεϊ Νείλῳ …………….625
φορτίδα πιλήσας ποταμίτιδα λᾶας ἀνίσχων
πορφύρεος λεπτοῖσι πεπασμένος ἀστράσι λάμπει.
καὶ χλοερὸν λάϊγγος ἴδοις ἀμάρυγμα Λακαίνης
μάρμαρά τε στράπτοντα πολυπλάγκτοισιν ἑλιγμοῖς,
ὅσσα φάραγξ βαθύκολπος Ἰασσίδος εὗρε κολώνης,……….. 630
αἱμαλέῳ λευκῷ τε πελιδνωθέντι κελεύθους
λοξοτενεῖς παίνουσα, καὶ ὁππόσα Λύδιος ἀγκών
ὠχρὸν ἐρευθήεντι μεμιγμένον ἄνθος ἑλίσσων.
ὅσσα Λίβυς φαέθων, χρυσέῳ σελαγίσματι θάλπων,
χρυσοφανῆ κροκόεντα λίθων ἀμαρύγματα τεύχει …………..635
ἀμφὶ βαθυπρήωνα ῥάχιν Μαυρουσίδος ἄκρης·
ὅσσα τε Κελτὶς ἀνεῖχε βαθυκρύσταλλος ἐρίπνη
χρωτὶ μέλαν στίλβοντι πολὺ γλάγος ἀμφιβαλοῦσα
ἔκχυτον, ᾗ κε τύχῃσιν, ἀλώμενον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα·
ὅσσα τ’ Ὄνυξ ἀνέηκε διαυγάζοντι μετάλλῳ …………………….640
ὠχριόων ἐρίτιμα, καὶ Ἀτρακὶς ὁππόσα λευροῖς
χθὼν πεδίοις ἐλόχευσε καὶ οὐχ ὑψαύχενι βήσσῃ,
πῇ μὲν ἅλις χλοάοντα καὶ οὐ μάλα τῆλε μαράγδου,
πῇ δὲ βαθυνομένου χλοεροῦ κυανώπιδι μορφῇ·
ἦν δέ τι καὶ χιόνεσσιν ἀλίγκιον ἄγχι μελαίνης …………………645
μαρμαρυγῆς, μικτὴ δὲ χάρις συναγείρετο πέτρου…
μυρία δ’ αἰολόμορφον ἀνάκτορον ἐντὸς ἐέργει
ἄλλα πολυγνάμπτοισι μετάρσια φάεα σειραῖς· ……………….885
καὶ τὰ μὲν αἰθούσῃσιν ἀναίθεται, ἄλλα δὲ μέσσῳ,
ἄλλα δὲ πρὸς φαέθοντα καὶ ἕσπερον, ἄλλα καρήνοις,
ἔκχυτον ἀστράπτοντα πυρὸς φλόγα· νὺξ δὲ φαεινή
ἠμάτιον γελόωσα ῥοδόσφυρός ἐστι καὶ αὐτή.
καί τις ἀνήρ, στεφάνοιο χοροστασίης τε δοκεύων …………..890
δένδρεα φεγγήεντα, λιπαλγέα θυμὸν ἰαίνει,
ὃς δὲ πυρισπείρητον ἐπακτρίδα, θέλγεται ἄλλος
εἰσορόων λαμπτῆρα μονάμπυκα, σύμβολον ἄλλος
οὐρανίου Χριστοῖο νόον λαθικηδέα τέρπει.
ὡς δ’ ὅταν ἀννεφέλοιο δι’ ἠέρος ἄνδρες ὁδῖται ………………..895
ἀστέρας ἄλλοθεν ἄλλον ἀναθρώσκοντας ἰδόντες
ὃς μὲν ἀποπλάζει, γάνυται δέ τις ἀμφὶ Βοώτην,
ἀλλος ἐπ’ Ὡρίωνα καὶ ἄβροξον ὁλκὸν Ἁμάξης
ὄμμα φέρει· πολλοῖς δὲ πεπασμένος ἀστράσιν αἰθήρ
ἀτραπιτοὺς ὤϊξεν, ἔπεισε δὲ νύκτα γελάσσαι· …………………900
οὕτω καλλιχόροιο κατ’ ἔνδια θέλγεται οἴκου
ἀγλαΐης ἀκτῖνι φεραυγέος ἄλλος ἐπ’ ἄλλῃ.
The Greek text is reprinted from Claudio De Stefani’s magisterial Teubner edition (2011).