Nicetas Choniates, The Capture of Constantinople:

“Baldwin, then, having become king, left for the western lands, not with the intention of subduing them (for he considered everything easy to conquer ‘wherever I step, I will shake the earth with my spear,’ as he put it, boasting in his regal way that it was of no great difficulty), but so that he could go through friendly lands, saluted before all as the King of the Romans, for the sake of which he did not deem some of the people in the Roman army and political system worth his attention, so he sent them all away at once. This seemed like the right treatment for the other leaders and marshals of the Romans. For they separated manliness from the other kindred virtues and claimed it as their own as though it were innate and habitual to them, and they allowed none of the other races to be compared to them in the works of war. But none of the Graces or the Muses was ever given hospitable treatment by these barbarians. Beyond that, I think that they were by nature savage and possessed of an anger which far outran their faculty of reason.”

Βασιλεύσας τοίνυν ὁ Βαλδουῖνος ἐς μέρη ἔξεισι τὰ ἑσπέρια, οὐχ ὡς αὐτὰ χειρωσόμενος (πάντα γάρ οἱ ἁλώσιμα ᾤετο, „πᾷ βῶ καὶ κινήσω τὰν γᾶν τῷ δόρατι” μικροῦ κομπάζων καὶ λίαν ἀγερώχως φθεγγόμενος), ἀλλ’ ὡς διὰ φιλίων χώρων παρελευσόμενος καὶ βασιλεὺς ῾Ρωμαίων ἀναγορευθησόμενος πρὸς παντός, οὗ χάριν οὐδὲ κομιδῆς οἱασοῦν κατηξιώκει τινὰς τῶν ῾Ρωμαίων ἐκ τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ τε καὶ πολιτικοῦ συντάγματος, ἀλλ’ ἁπαξάπαντας ἀπεπέμψατο. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῦ στρατοῦ ἡγεμόσι καὶ κόμησι δέδοκτο· τὴν γὰρ ἀνδρείαν τῶν συννόμων ἀρετῶν ἀφορίζοντες καὶ ταύτην ἑαυτοῖς οἰκειοῦντες ὡς συγγενὲς καὶ σύντροφον ἐπιτήδευμα οὐδὲν τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν εἰς ῎Αρεος ἔργα παρασυμβεβλῆσθαι σφίσιν ἠνείχοντο. ἀλλ’ οὐδέ τις τῶν Χαρίτων ἢ τῶν Μουσῶν παρὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις τούτοις ἐπεξενίζετο· καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο οἶμαι καὶ τὴν φύσιν ἦσαν ἀνήμεροι καὶ τὸν χόλον εἶχον τοῦ λόγου προτρέχοντα.

Agathias, Histories 2.4:

“Not only the Persians, but even some of the Romans sing his praises and value him beyond his merit because he was a lover of words and went to the summit of philosophy as it exists among us, the Greek writings having been translated into the Persian language for his benefit. They say that he drank in Aristotle more than the Paianian orator [Demosthenes] absorbed the works of the son of Oluros [Thucydides], that he was filled up with the beliefs of Plato and that even the Timaeus would not escape him, even though it was painted over with geometrical speculation and traces back the beginnings of nature, nor would the Phaedo or Gorgias elude him, nor any other of those subtle and intricate dialogues such as – so I think – the Parmenides.

Yet I cannot believe that he had such excellent education, achieving the pinnacles of learning. For, how could the purity of those ancient terms, and the freedom, and the utter suitability of the speech to the works of nature be preserved in a barbaric tongue utterly foreign to the Muses? How could someone enchanted by regal incense and flattery from childhood, receiving a mode of life entirely barbaric and looking always toward war and its preparation – how, I ask, could someone who has lived thus enjoy and get hold of something great and worthy of notice in these studies?”

ὑμνοῦσι γὰρ αὐτὸν καὶ ἄγανται πέρα τῆς ἀξίας, μὴ ὅτι οἱ Πέρσαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔνιοι τῶν ῾Ρωμαίων, ὡς λόγων ἐραστὴν καὶ φιλοσοφίας τῆς παρ’ ἡμῖν ἐς ἄκρον ἐλθόντα, μεταβεβλημένων αὐτῷ ὑπό του ἐς τὴν Περσίδα φωνὴν τῶν ῾Ελληνικῶν ξυγγραμμάτων.  καὶ τοίνυν φασίν, ὅτι δὴ ὅλον τὸν Σταγειρίτην αταπιὼν εἴη μᾶλλον ἢ ὁ ῥήτωρ ὁ Παιανιεὺς τὸν ᾿Ολόρου τῶν τε Πλάτωνος τοῦ ᾿Αρίστωνος ἀναπέπλησται δογμάτων καὶ οὔτε ὁ Τίμαιος αὐτὸν ἀποδράσειεν ἄν, εἰ

καὶ σφόδρα γραμμικῇ θεωρίᾳ πεποίκιλται καὶ τὰς τῆς φύσεως ἀνιχνεύει κινήσεις, οὔτε ὁ Φαίδων οὔτε ὁ Γοργίας, οὐ μὲν οὖν οὐδὲ ἄλλος τις τῶν γλαφυρῶν τε καὶ ἀγκυλωτέρων διαλόγων, ὁποῖος, οἶμαι, ὁ Παρμενίδης.  ἐγὼ δὲ οὕτως αὐτὸν ἄριστα ἔχειν παιδείας, καὶ ταῦτα τῆς ἀκροτάτης, οὐκ ἄν ποτε οἰηθείην. πῶς μὲν γὰρ οἷόν τε ἦν τὸ ἀκραιφνὲς ἐκεῖνο τῶν παλαιῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ ἐλευθέριον καὶ πρός γε τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων φύσει πρόσφορόν τε καὶ ἐπικαιρότατον ἀγρίᾳ τινὶ γλώττῃ καὶ ἀμουσοτάτῃ ἀποσωθῆναι; πῶς δὲ ἂν ἀνὴρ βασιλείῳ τύφῳ ἐκ παίδων καὶ κολακείᾳ πολλῇ γεγανωμένος δίαιτάν τε λαχὼν ἐς ὅ τι βαρβαρικωτάτην καὶ πρὸς πολέμους ἀεὶ καὶ παρατάξεις ὁρῶσαν, πῶς δὴ οὖν ὧδε βιοὺς ἤμελλε μέγα τι καὶ λόγου ἄξιον ἐν τοῖσδε ἀπόνασθαι τοῖς διδάγμασι καὶ ἐνασκηθῆναι;