The Secret History (Classics) [Paperback]

A review by Luciano Lupini. This is a good translation of Procopius most controversial opus, by G.A.Williamson, Senior Master of Classics at Norwich School (from 1922 to 1960). Whilst The Histories and Buildings are recognized as Procopius politically correct works, The Secret History tells a stunning tale of greed, corruption and destruction under Justinian and Theodora's empire.
Undoubtedly Procopius (A.D. 500?-565) was a qualified witness (having been private secretary to the greatest of Byzantium generals, Belisarius), although modern historians are at odds with the contradictions between what he wrote before and after this History, and still wonder what true motivations lie at the bottom of this work. But in my opinion, for anyone interested in a different , more private, assessment of Justinian and Theodora's deeds and character, this is a book that requires to be read. With caution, but with interest.
The architect of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the Codex Constructionum and the Digest, normally viewed as a "great conqueror, a great lawgiver, a great diplomat, and a great builder" (J.B. Bury) is screened in its defects by the author. The History mainly revolves around Justinian, Theodora, Belisarius and Antonina, their deeds, defects and personal motivations.
Justinian is portraited as a man of infinite greed and vicious cruelty. Theodora is exposed as a harlot, with a mind perpetually fixed upon inhumanity, constantly meddling in the affairs of the state.........
But let's not spoil the juicy tidbits. Let me just say that after one sorts out the mess created by this book, a more clear picture of the causes of the demise of the Roman Empire, the workings of the Imperial Court under Justinian and corruption of the mores will remain.

In which an apparently loyal aide gets a mountain of bile off his chest and proves that no man is a hero to his private secretary ...

Procopius was the Byzantine equivalent of a civil servant. Among other things he was secretary to the great general Belisarius. Throughout his life, and in the books which he published in his lifetime, he appeared to be totally loyal to Belisarius, and even more so to Emperor Justinian.

Procopius wrote an eight-volume history of Belisarius's campaigns, usually referred to as "The Histories" or "The Discourses about the Wars" (or sometimes "The history of the wars") which is one of the definitive historial sources for the life of Belisarius. Later he wrote an an account of the great works of architecture construced under Justinian's regime. That book, known as "The Buildings," is so nauseatingly sycophantic to Emperor Justinian that it makes the average New Labour MP look like a severe critic of Tony Blair by comparison.

But in "The secret history" which he wrote to be published after his death, Procopius got off his chest all the negative comments about Belisarius, Justinian, and their wives which he ruthlessly suppressed himself from making anywhere where they might get to hear about them. The book is pure undiluted poison, in a horribly fascinating way.

This book accuses Belisarius of being a trusting fool, but he gets off lightly. His wife Antonina is accused of fornication (including with her adopted son) and murder. Justinian is accused of being quite literally a demon in human form, and his Empress Theodora of being a Messalina: both Justinian and Theodora are represented as mass murderers.

God only knows how much truth there is in this account. It seems unlikely that the people Procopius worked for could have been either as perfect as he presented them in the books he published openly or as demonic as he presents them in this book written behind their backs.

Personally I suspect the real Belisarius was much closer to the man presented in Graves' novel "Count Belisarius" than to the figure in this book. Nevertheless "The Secret History" will continue to be read for two reasons.

First, it is the most devastating exercise in character assassination ever written. And secondly if anyone wants a critical account of anything in the reign or life of Justinian, you are guaranteed to find it here.

Penguin Classics has published an English translation of the text we know as "The Secret History" written by Procopius - a Roman historian who wrote in Greek - ca. AD 550. The first version of the translation by G. A. Williamson was published in 1966 and re-printed several times. The second version (which is under review here) was published in 2007. Peter Sarris has revised Williamson's translation from the 1960s. In addition, he has written a new introduction to the text. At the end of the book there is a useful reference section where we find the following:

* Further reading
* Chronology
* Genealogy
* Maps
* Index of places
* Index of persons
* Index of subjects

Here is some background information about the first translator G. A. Williamson, the second translator Peter Sarris, and the author Procopius:

G. A. Williamson (1895-1982) was Senior Classics Master at Norwich School from 1922 to 1960. He also translated "The Jewish War" by Titus Flavius Josephus and "The History of the Church" by Eusebius for the Penguin Classics.

Peter Sarris was born in 1971 and educated at St. Albans School and Balliol College, Oxford. He is now University Lecturer in Medieval History and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Procopius was born at Caesarea, on the coast of Palestine, ca. AD 500. In 527 he was appointed private secretary and legal advisor to the famous military commander Belisarius, whom he accompanied on his first three campaigns, in Persia, Africa, and Italy. In 542 he was in Constantinople where he witnessed the terrible plague which visited that city. We do not know when he died. He may have outlived Justinian, who was emperor 527-565.

From Procopius three works have been preserved until our time: "The History of the Wars," 8 books, written between 545 and 554; "The Buildings," written ca. 562-563; and "The Secret History," written ca. 550 (but probably published posthumously).

Let us now turn to "The Secret History." The text is 124 pages long. By tradition, it is divided into 30 chapters, so the average chapter is about four pages long. Peter Sarris has divided the text into three parts. Here are the headlines:

PART I: The Tyranny of Women (chapters 1-5)

PART II: Justinian and Theodora (chapters 6-18)

PART III: Anatomy of a Regime (chapters 19-30)

This account is a long line of accusations against Justinian and his wife Theodora and against Belisarius and his wife Antonina, who are all accused of killing many Romans and stealing their assets - not once or twice, but continuously and systematically.

[In the index Belisarius' wife is incorrectly listed as "Antonia."]

One important element of the text is exaggeration. On page 73 we are told that "Libya, for instance, in spite of its enormous size, has been laid so utterly waste that however far one went it would be a difficult and remarkable achievement to find a single person there."

On the next page we are told that "Italy, which is at least three times as large as Libya, has been far more completely depopulated than the latter..."

If Libya is so depopulated that it is difficult to find a single person there, how can Italy be even more depopulated?

I assume the author makes these exaggerations in order to support his argument, but in my opinion it has the opposite effect: it undermines his credibility.

Some claims are clearly false. Here are three examples:

# 1: On pages 33-34 he claims that all portraits and statues of Vespasian's son Domitian (who was emperor 81-96) were destroyed after his death - except for a single bronze statue.

Several portraits of Domitian survive until today.

# 2: On page 46 he claims that "the Romans [at the beginning of Justinian's reign] were at peace with all mankind..."

The Roman Empire was never at peace with all mankind.

# 3: On page 47 he mentions some of the Christian denominations which existed at the time of Justinian and claims that some of them were very rich, because they had never before been persecuted.

Several Roman emperors persecuted the Christians. Even Constantine, who recognised Christianity in a famous decree of 313, persecuted the Christian groups he considered heretics.

[I am surprised to see that these obvious falsehoods are not pointed out by Peter Sarris.]

One explanation offered for the large number of crimes is patently absurd: the author claims that Justinian and Theodora are not human beings, "but rather a pair of blood-thirsty demons of some sort."

The demon theme begins on page 51 and takes up the following two pages. It seems to be important. He cannot let it go. It appears again on pages 73 and 91.

Having reported stories about Justinian's head leaving his body or changing shape, the author does add the following words of caution:

"I did not myself witness the events that I am describing, but I heard about them from men who insist they saw them at the time."

If "The Secret History" was written by a modern scholar, we would have to dismiss it completely, because it does not live up to the rules of modern scholarship. However, this is an ancient text; this is an eye witness report from the time of Justinian, written by an author who met and knew many of the persons described here.

This does not mean we have to believe everything he says, but it does mean that this is a valuable document. It is interesting because it shows what a member of the elite was thinking; perhaps what some members of the elite were talking about with their most intimate and trusted friends.

The exaggerations do not sit well with a modern reader, and the obvious falsehoods are unfortunate. But in spite of these reservations I think that this is an important text which is still relevant and still worth reading today.