The Secret History

by

Procopius of Caesarea

translated by Richard Atwater

(Chicago: P. Covici, 1927 New York Covici Friede 1927)

Reprinted, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1961, with indication that copyright had expired on the text of the translation.

Preface by Procopius

In what I have written on the Roman wars up to the present point, the story was arranged in chronological order and as completely as the times then permitted. What I shall write now follows a different plan, supplementing the previous formal chronicle with a disclosure of what really happened throughout the Roman Empire. You see, it was not possible, during the life of certain persons, to write the truth of what they did, as a historian should. If I had, their hordes of spies would have found out about it, and they would have put me to a most horrible death. I could not even trust my nearest relatives. That is why I was compelled to hide the real explanation of many matters glossed over in my previous books.

These secrets it is now my duty to tell and reveal the remaining hidden matters and motives. Yet when I approach this different task, I find it hard indeed to have to stammer and retract what I have written before about the lives of Justinian and Theodora. Worse yet, it occurs to me that what I am now about to tell will seem neither probable nor plausible to future generations, especially as time flows on and my story becomes ancient history. I fear they may think me a writer of fiction, and even put me among the poets.

However, I have this much to cheer me, that my account will not be unendorsed by other testimony: so I shall not shrink from the duty of completing this work. For the men of today, who know best the truth of these matters, will be trustworthy witnesses to posterity of the accuracy of my evidence.

Still another thing for a long time deferred my passion to relieve myself of this untold tale. For I wondered if it might be prejudicial to future generations, and the wickedness of these deeds had not best remain unknown to later times: lest future tyrants, hearing, might emulate them. It is deplorably natural that most monarchs mimic the sins of their predecessors and are most readily disposed to turn to the evils of the past.

But, finally, I was again constrained to proceed with this history, for the reason that future tyrants may see also that those who thus err cannot avoid retribution in the end, since the persons of whom I write suffered that judgment. Furthermore, the disclosure of these actions and tempers will be published for all time, and in consequence others will perhaps feel less urge to transgress.

For who now would know of the unchastened life of Semiramis or the madness of Sardanapalus or Nero, if the record had not thus been written by men of their own times? Besides, even those who suffer similarly '-from later tyrants will not find this narrative quite unprofitable. For the miserable find comfort in the philosophy that not on them alone has evil fallen.

Accordingly, I begin the tale. First I shall reveal the folly of Belisarius, and then the depravity of Justinian and Theodora.

The Secret History

by

Procopius of Caesarea

translated by Richard Atwater

(Chicago: P. Covici, 1927 New York Covici Friede 1927)

Richard Atwater, the translator of this text, is better known as co-author, with his wife Florence Atwater, of the children's classic, MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS (Boston: Little Brown, 1938, and a continuing best-seller).

A limited edition of THE SECRET HISTORY (760 copies) was published by Pascal Covici in 1927. Design by Douglas McMurtrie, with a specially created Procopius type on vellum.

[Information supplied by Mr. Atwater's daughter]

Reprinted, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1961, with indication that copyright had expired on the text of the translation.

INTRODUCTION

Procopius of Caesarea (in Palestine) [born c.490/507- died c.560s] is the most important source for information about the reign of the emperor Justinian [born 482/3, ruled. 527-565] and his wife Theodora [d. 547/8]. From 527 to 531 Procopius was a counsel the great general of the time, Belisarius [505-565]. He was on Belisarius's first Persian campaign [527-531], and later took part in an expedition against the Vandals [533-534]. He was in Italy on the Gothic campaign until 540, after which he lived in Constantinople, since he describes the great plague of 542 in the capital. His life after that is largely unknown, although he was given the title illustris in 560 and in may have been prefect of Constantinople in 562-3.

He wrote a number of official histories, including On the Wars in eight books [Polemon or De bellis], published 552, with an addition in 554, and On the Buildings in six books [Peri Ktismaton or De aedificiis], published 561. He also left a "Secret History" [Anecdota, i.e. "unpublished things", not "anecdotes"], probably written c. 550 and published after his death, which was a massive attack on the character of Justinian and his wife Theodora. Parts are so vitriolic, not to say pornographic [esp. Chapter 9], that for some time translations from Greek were only available into Latin [Gibbon - in Ch. 40 of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire wrote about Theodora that "her arts must be veiled in the obscurity of a learned language ", and then went on to quote the passage in Greek with Latin comments!]

The Secret History claims to provide explanations and additions that the author could not insert into his work on the Wars for fear of retribution from Justinian and Theodora. Since both before and afterward, Procopius wrote approvingly of the emperor, it was suggested in the past that he was not the author of the work, but it is now generally accepted that Procopius wrote it. Analysis of text, which show no contradictions in point of fact between the Secret History and the other works, as well a linguistic and grammatical analysis makes this a conclusive opinion.

Paul Halsall

The Secret History

by

Procopius of Caesarea

translated by Richard Atwater

(Chicago: P. Covici, 1927 New York Covici Friede 1927)

Reprinted, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1961, with indication that copyright had expired on the text of the translation.

CONTENTS

1. How the Great General Belisarius Was Hoodwinked by His Wife
2. How Belated Jealousy Affected Belisarius's Military Judgment
3. Showing the Danger of Interfering with a Woman's Intrigues
4. How Theodora Humiliated the Conqueror of Africa and Italy
5. How Theodora Tricked the General's Daughter
6. Ignorance of the Emperor Justin, and How His Nephew Justinian Was the Virtual Ruler
7. Outrages of the Blues
8. Character and Appearance of Justinian
9. How Theodora, Most Depraved of All Courtesans, Won His Love
10. How Justinian Created a New Law Permitting Him to Marry a Courtesan
11. How the Defender of the Faith Ruined His Subjects
12. Proving That Justinian and Theodora Were Actually Fiends in Human Form
13. Perceptive Affability and Piety of a Tyrant
14. Justice for Sale
15. How All Roman Citizens Became Slaves
16. What Happened to Those Who Fell Out of Favor with Theodora
17. How She Saved Five Hundred Harlots from a Life of Sin
18. How Justinian Killed a Trillion People
19. How He Seized All the Wealth of the Romans and Threw It Away
20. Debasing of the Quaestorship
21. The Sky Tax, and How Border Armies Were Forbidden to Punish Invading Barbarians
22. Further Corruption in High Places
23. How Landowners Were Ruined
24. Unjust Treatment of the Soldiers
25. How He Robbed His Own Officials
26. How He Spoiled the Beauty of the Cities and Plundered the Poor
27. How the Defender of the Faith Protected the Interests of the Christians
28. His Violation of the Laws of the Romans and How Jews Were Fined for Eating Lamb
29. Other Incidents Revealing Him as a Liar and a Hypocrite
30. Further Innovations of Justinian and Theodora, and a Conclusion

The Secret History

by

Procopius of Caesarea

translated by Richard Atwater

(Chicago: P. Covici, 1927 New York Covici Friede 1927)

Reprinted, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1961, with indication that copyright had expired on the text of the translation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editions

• Alemannus, editio princeps, (Lyons: 1623) [with omission of one section thought to be indecent.]
• Maltretus, (Paris: 1663) [with omissions].
• Comparetti, (Rome: 1898)
• Procopius, Opera Omnia, 3. Vols., (Leipzig: 1905-13), ed. J. Haury, rev. G. Wirth, 4 Vols., (Teubner Series), (Leipzig, 1962-64). Now the standard edition. Vol 3 of the Haury-Wirth version contains the Secret History
• Procopius: The Anecdota of Secret History, translated by H.B. Dewing, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1935), Vol VI of the seven volume Loeb translation, which includes the Buildings and the Wars in parallel Greek and English texts. Greek text based on Haury.

Translations

• Procopius: Secret History, translated by Richard Atwater, (New York: Covici Friede; Chicago: P. Covicii, 1927), reprinted, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1961, - the version available here.
• Procopius: The Anecdota of Secret History, translated by H.B. Dewing, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1935), Vol VI of the seven volume Loeb translation, which includes the Buildings and the Wars.
• Cameron, Averil, Procopius: History of the Wars, Secret History, and Buildings, translated, edited and abridged, (New York: 1967)
• Procopius: Secret History, translated by G.A. Williamson, (New York: Penguin, 1966) - this is the most easily available print version.

Secondary Literature: Procopius

• Beck, Hans Georg, Kaiserin Theodora und Prokop : der Historiker und sein Opfer, (Munich: Piper, c1986)
• Evans, James A.S., Procopius, (New York: Twayne, 1972)
• Cameron, Averil, "The `Scepticism' of Procopius", Historia 15 (1966)
• Cameron, Averil, Procopius and the Sixth Century, (Berkeley : University of California Press, c1985) - probably the best place to start.
• Downey, Granville, "Paganism and Christianity in Procopius", Church History 18 (1949)
• Gordon, C.D., "Procopius and Justinian's Financial Policies", Phoenix 13 (1959)
• Rubin, Berthold., Prokopio von Kaisareia, (Stuttgart, Druckenmuller 1954)
• Rubin, Berthold, "Prokopios" in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopaedie 23.1, (Stuttgart:, 1957), cols. 273-599

Secondary Literature: Theodora

• Browning, Robert, Justinian and Theodora, 2nd ed., (London: 1971, 198?)
• Diehl, Charles, Thdora, impatrice de Byzance, 3rd. ed (Paris: 1904, repr. 1937)
• Diehl, Charles, Byzantine Empresses, trans. Harold Bell and Theresa de Kepely, (New York: Alfred A, Knopf, 1963)
• Grimbert, E., Theodora: Die Tanzerin auf dem Kaiserthron, (Munich: 1928)
• Holmes, W.G., The Age of Justinian and Theodora, 2 vols. (London: 1912)
• Kraus, R. Theodora. The Circus Empress, (New York: 1938)
• McCabe, Joseph. Empresses of Constantinople, (London: Methuen, 1913; Boston: n.d.)
• Schubart, W., Justinian und Theodora, (Munich: 1943)
• Stadelmann, H., Theodora von Byzanz, 2 vols., (Dresden: 1926)
• Vandercook, John W., Empress of the Dusk: A Life of Theodora of Byzantium, (New York: 1940)

Fictional Literature

• Bradshaw, Gillian, The Bearkeeper's Daughter, (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987). Justinian and Theodora in the later years of her life from the perspective of Theodora's illegitimate son who is passed off as her nephew.
• Dixon, Pierson, Sir, The glittering horn: secret memoirs of the Court of Justinian, (London, J. Cape, 1958)
• Fischer-Pap, Lucia, Eva, Theodora : Evita Peron, Empress Theodora reincarnated, (Rockford, Ill. : LFP Publications, c1982)
• Gerson, Noel Bertram, 1914-, Theodora, a novel, (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1969)
• Graves, Robert, Count Belasarius, (New York : Literary Guild, 1938; London: Cassell, 1938) Graves narrates the life of perhaps the most glamorous Byzantine general. Given Graves gripping view of the early Empire in I, Claudius and Claudius the God, the availability of Procopius as a source, and the dramatic events and personalities of Belasarius's career, it is hard to see how Graves could have failed. Most readers though seem to find the novel pedestrian and, frankly, boring.
• Hubbard, Elbert, and Alice Hubbard, Justinian and Theodora, a drama; being a chapter of history and the one gleam of light during the dark ages, (East Aurora, N.Y.: The Roycrofters, c1906)
• Kraus, Rene, 1902-1947, Theodora, the Circus Empress, translated from the German by June Head. 1st ed. Garden City : Doubleday, Doran, 1938)
• Lamb, Harold, 1892-1962, Theodora and the Emperor; the drama of Justinian, 1st ed., (Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday 1952)
• Letraz, Jean de, 1897-, Moumou ; L'extravagante Theodora ; Une nuit chez vous ; Madame!, (Paris : Nagel, c1949)
• Masefield, John, 1878-1967, Basilissa, a tale of the Empress Theodora, (London, Heinemann 1940; New York, Macmillan, 1940)
• Phillips, Watts, 1825-1874, Theodora, actress and empress : an original historical drama, in five acts, (London : T.H.Lacy, 1850?)
• Rachet, Guy, Theodora : Roman (Paris : Olivier Orban, c1984)
• Sardou, Victorien, 1831-1908, Theodora. Drama in funf aufzugen und acht bildern, Deutsch von Hermann von Lohner ... (Leipzig, P. Reclam jun. [n.d.])
• Sardou, Victorien, 1831-1908., Theodora, drame en cinq actes et sept tableaux ..., (Paris, Impr. de l'Illustration, c1907)
• Underhill, Clara., Theodora, the courtesan of Constantinople, (New York, Sears, c1932)
• White, Eliza Orne, 1856-1947, The Coming of Theodora [a novel], (Boston, New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895)