The Secret History

Summary

The Secret History, in Greek the Anekdota or unpublished things, is a short work in thirty chapters in which Procopius sets out to tell what he says he could not safely write in his Wars while its subjects were alive: the hidden causes of events and the private conduct of the emperor Justinian, the empress Theodora, the general Belisarius and his wife Antonina. It is usually dated to about 550, though some scholars place it later in the 550s, and it was not circulated in Procopius's lifetime. The library does not store a text or quote from it: public-domain English translations exist, but the work contains sexually explicit invective, especially about Theodora's early life, and is recommended only for older students at a teacher's discretion. The opening chapters turn on Belisarius's household. Antonina is portrayed as dominating her husband and carrying on an affair with their adopted son Theodosius, and Belisarius, the conqueror of Africa and Italy in the Wars, appears weak and compliant; his disgrace after the plague of 542, when generals discussed the succession during Justinian's illness, is told as Theodora's revenge. The central chapters turn to the imperial couple. Procopius describes the rise of Justin, Justinian's uncle, from an Illyrian peasant to emperor, and Theodora's earlier life as a performer in the Constantinople theatre, in deliberately degrading terms. He presents Justinian and Theodora as destroyers of the Roman state and even as demons in human form, reporting stories of the emperor's face dissolving or his head vanishing at night. The final chapters list grievances in detail: confiscations and new taxes, the sale of offices, the work of the ministers John the Cappadocian and Peter Barsymes, the favour shown to the circus faction of the Blues, the cutting of the public post and the soldiers' pay, the neglect of the frontier, the persecution of religious dissenters, and changes to law and to the consulship. Procopius ends promising further revelations. The book survived in a few manuscripts, was known in the tenth century to the Byzantine lexicon called the Suda, and was first printed in 1623 from a Vatican manuscript by Niccolo Alemanni. Its contrast with the measured Wars and the admiring Buildings has made it one of the classic problems of ancient historiography.

Plot or Argument

• Preface (ch. 1)

  Procopius explains that fear of discovery kept him from telling the true causes of events in his Wars, and that he will now set down what he withheld, aware that later readers may find it incredible.

• Belisarius and Antonina (ch. 1-5)

  The general's wife is accused of adultery and intrigue, of ruining Belisarius's enemies, and of keeping him under her control; his recall and disgrace after Justinian's illness during the plague are traced to Theodora and Antonina.

• Justin, Justinian and Theodora (ch. 6-10)

  Procopius narrates Justin's rise, Justinian's control of affairs under his uncle, and Theodora's earlier life, told with explicit and hostile detail, and their marriage after the law forbidding senators to marry actresses was changed.

• The emperor as destroyer (ch. 11-18)

  Justinian is charged with innovation for its own sake, with ruining the provinces through wars and religious persecution, and with numberless deaths; Procopius reports tales of his demonic nature and argues that he was the cause of the age's disasters.

• Administration and finance (ch. 19-30)

  A catalogue of complaints: the squandering of Anastasius's treasury, payments to foreign peoples, confiscation of estates, the sale of offices, the decline of the post and the army, the closing of the theatres and of the consulship, and the harsh rule of the empress over officials.

Characters

• Justinian I, emperor, 527-565

  Portrayed as tireless, cunning, avaricious and destructive, the opposite of the builder praised in the Buildings.

• Theodora, empress

  Former actress and Justinian's wife, depicted with intense hostility as vindictive and all-powerful.

• Belisarius, general

  Conqueror of the Vandals and Goths, shown here as dominated by his wife and the empress.

• Antonina, Belisarius's wife

  Theodora's ally, accused of adultery and intrigue.

• Theodosius, adopted son of Belisarius and Antonina

  Young man named as Antonina's lover.

• Justin I, emperor, 518-527

  Justinian's uncle, a soldier of peasant origin from the Balkans.

• John the Cappadocian, praetorian prefect

  Justinian's tax minister, brought down by Antonina and Theodora.

• Photius, Antonina's son

  Belisarius's stepson, who suffers for siding with Belisarius against his mother.

Lessons

• One historian, three portraits

  Procopius praised Justinian in the Buildings, judged him with restraint in the Wars, and attacked him in the Secret History. Reading the three together shows that a historian's genre, audience and fear shape what he says, and that no single book can be taken as the whole of his view.

  • Why does Procopius say he could not write these things in the Wars?
  • Which picture of Justinian is closest to the truth, and how could a historian decide?
  • What would make a writer praise a ruler publicly and condemn him privately?

• Invective is evidence of a kind

  Ancient invective followed rhetorical conventions: attacks on low birth, sexual conduct, greed and cruelty were standard weapons. The Secret History can tell historians about real policies and about how a section of the governing class felt, but its personal charges must be tested against other sources.

  • Which of Procopius's complaints concern policies that other sources can confirm?
  • Why might charges about Theodora's early life be the hardest to verify?
  • How does the claim that Justinian was a demon change the way we read the rest?

• The cost of grand ambition

  Justinian's reconquest of Africa and Italy, his law code and his buildings, including Hagia Sophia, required enormous revenue. Procopius gives the taxpayers' and officials' side of that story, recording the strain of taxes, confiscations and war on the provinces.

  • What financial measures does Procopius blame for the ruin of the provinces?
  • How might Justinian's ministers have answered his complaints?
  • When is a ruler's ambition a service to the state, and when is it a burden on it?

Context

Justinian ruled the eastern Roman Empire from 527 to 565, governing from Constantinople with Theodora as empress until her death in 548. His reign saw the Nika riot of 532, the rebuilding of Hagia Sophia, the codification of Roman law, wars with Persia, the reconquest of North Africa and Italy, and the great plague of 541-542. It was also a period of fierce religious controversy and heavy taxation.

Composition

The Secret History refers to events of about 550 and to the first seven books of the Wars as already written, so it is usually dated to 550-551, though some scholars argue for 558-559. It was apparently kept private. Its attribution to Procopius was disputed in earlier centuries but is now generally accepted on grounds of style and content. The Suda lexicon cited it in the tenth century, and Niccolo Alemanni published the Greek text with a Latin translation in 1623 from a Vatican manuscript, causing controversy among defenders of Justinian's memory.

Reception

The work has been read as gossip, as political pamphlet, as an expression of senatorial and propertied resentment, and, in recent scholarship, as a deliberate piece of classical invective by an author who disapproved of autocracy. Gibbon used it with caution but drew on it. Modern historians, including Averil Cameron and Anthony Kaldellis, have debated how to reconcile it with the Wars and the Buildings; most treat its account of policies as useful evidence and its personal charges with reserve.

Comparisons

• procopius-history-of-the-wars-persian-war

  The Wars narrates the same reign, including Belisarius's campaigns and the plague, with measured judgment; the Secret History claims to supply the causes Procopius left out there.

• justinian-institutes

  Justinian's own legal textbook presents the emperor as the restorer of Roman law, the side of his reign that the Secret History calls reckless innovation.

• the-twelve-caesars

  Suetonius's lives also mix public record with private scandal about emperors, a Roman tradition of biographical invective that Procopius continues.

• psellos-chronographia

  Michael Psellos, five centuries later, offers another insider's frank and personal portraits of Byzantine emperors and empresses, written with more open sympathy.

• kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire

  Anthony Kaldellis, a leading modern interpreter of Procopius, places Justinian's reign in a full narrative of the eastern empire.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• Teacher note: the Secret History contains sexually explicit passages and invective, especially chapter 9 on Theodora's early life; it is suited to grades 11-12 only, at teacher discretion, and excerpts should be chosen in advance.
• The preface, where Procopius explains why he kept these things out of the Wars; compare it with the preface of the Wars itself.
• The shift from the household of Belisarius (chapters 1-5) to the imperial couple (chapters 6-18) and then to administration (chapters 19-30).
• Stock charges of ancient invective: low birth, sexual misconduct, greed, cruelty and the claim that a ruler is not truly human.
• Complaints about specific policies, such as taxation, confiscation and the post, that can be checked against laws and other histories.

Key terms and names

Anekdota

Greek for unpublished things, the work's original title, signalling that it was written for private circulation or posthumous release.

Invective (psogos)

The rhetorical genre of blame, the opposite of the encomium or praise speech; Procopius uses its conventions throughout.

Blues and Greens

The circus factions of Constantinople; Procopius accuses Justinian of favouring the Blues and tolerating their violence.

Praetorian prefect

The highest civil and financial official of the empire; John the Cappadocian held the post and is one of Procopius's chief targets.

Buildings (De aedificiis)

Procopius's panegyric on Justinian's construction works, beginning with Hagia Sophia, whose praise contrasts sharply with the Secret History.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What reason does Procopius give in his preface for writing a separate, secret account?
2. Comprehension How does the Secret History explain Belisarius's disgrace after Justinian's illness during the plague?
3. Comprehension What financial and administrative policies does Procopius blame for the suffering of the provinces?
4. Interpretation Why might Procopius present Justinian as a demon rather than simply as a bad ruler?
5. Interpretation How does Belisarius in the Secret History differ from Belisarius in the Wars, and what might explain the difference?
6. Interpretation Which of Procopius's charges seem to follow the conventions of invective, and which seem to rest on information an official would know?
7. Big Question If a writer praises a ruler in public out of fear and condemns him in private, which account is more honest, and is either fully truthful?
8. Big Question How should a Christian reader handle a source that may contain truth mixed with slander about real people?

Faith Connections

• Proverbs 18:17 (Scripture)

  The first to plead his case seems right until another comes and examines him; the Secret History is a case for the prosecution that historians must examine against the Wars, the Buildings and Justinian's laws.

• Exodus 20:16 and James 3:5-10 (Scripture)

  The command against false witness and James's warning about the tongue frame the moral weight of writing about real people, a question the Secret History raises sharply.

• Plutarch, On the Malice of Herodotus (Great Conversation)

  Plutarch lists signs of a malicious historian, such as choosing the harshest word, adding discreditable motives and preferring the worse of two reports; students can test the Secret History against his criteria.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: The disasters of Justinian's reign, wars, plague, ruined provinces and lost wealth, were not accidents but were caused by the emperor and empress; since their private character was depraved and even inhuman, their public acts must be understood as deliberate destruction; therefore the official history in the Wars, which hid these causes, must be supplemented by this secret one.

Rhetorical device: Psogos (invective by stock charges). Chapters 6-12 move through the standard topics of blame, origins, upbringing, sexual conduct, appearance and character, ending in the claim that Justinian and Theodora were demons in human form.

Debate: Resolved: The Secret History is more valuable to historians as evidence of how Justinian's critics thought than as evidence of what Justinian did.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Write an essay explaining how a historian could use the Secret History responsibly, distinguishing the claims that can be tested from those that cannot.

Comparison with History of the Wars, Books I-II (The Persian War): Compare the portrayal of Belisarius and of Justinian in the Persian War books of the Wars with the Secret History. What does each work leave out that the other includes?

Medical Lens

The Secret History is political invective, but it touches the plague of 541-542: Procopius says that when Justinian fell ill with it, officers' talk about the succession gave Theodora a pretext to punish Belisarius and the general Buzes. His fuller description of the plague's symptoms and death toll is in Wars II.22-23, not here. The portrayal of Justinian as sleepless, restless and demonic belongs to the rhetoric of invective and the period's belief in demons rather than to any medical observation, and should not be read as a description of illness.

• Chapter 4

  During Justinian's illness from the plague, talk among the generals about a successor leads to the disgrace of Belisarius and the imprisonment of Buzes.

  Plague Epidemic
• Chapter 12

  Procopius reports stories from courtiers that Justinian was a demon in human form, whose head seemed to vanish as he paced at night.

  Madness Psychosis

Creative Prompts

• Dialogue

  Write a conversation between Procopius and a younger scholar who has read the Buildings and cannot believe the same man wrote the Secret History.

• Essay

  Choose one policy Procopius attacks, such as the sale of offices or the cutting of the public post, and compare his account with what Justinian's laws or other sources say about it.

• Classroom

  Make a three-column chart comparing how the Wars, the Buildings and the Secret History treat Justinian, Theodora and Belisarius.

Further Reading

• Procopius and the Sixth Century, Averil Cameron

• Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity, Anthony Kaldellis

• History of the Wars, Procopius

• The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon

  Chapters 40-43 on Justinian weigh Procopius's works against one another.