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.

24. UNJUST TREATMENT OF THE SOLDIERS

I must not pass over his treatment of the soldiers, over whom he appointed paymasters
with instructions to hold out as much of their money as they found possible, on
the understanding that one twelfth of what they thus collected was theirs. Their
method each year was as follows. It was the regulation that different ranks in the
army receive different pay: the young and newly enlisted received less, those who
had seen hard service and had advanced half way up the list received more, and the
veterans who should soon retire from service had a still higher rating, so that
they could live on their savings as private citizens, and when their span of life
was complete, might be able to leave some consolation to their families. In this
way, the soldiers step by step arose in rank as their older comrades died or retired,
and each man’s pay fitted his degree of seniority.

But the paymasters forbade the erasing from the lists of the names of soldiers
who died, even when many perished together, as frequently happened in the constant
wars. Nor did they fill the vacancies in the lists, even after considerable time.

The result of this was that the number of soldiers grew continually less, and
those who survived their dead comrades were deprived of their proper advancement
in rank and pay; while the paymasters handed over to Justinian the money that should
have gone to these soldiers all this time.

Furthermore, they fined the soldiers for other personal and unjust reasons, as
a reward for the perils they underwent in the battlefield: on the charge that they
were Greeks, as if none of that nation could be brave; or that they were not commissioned
by the Emperor to serve, even when they showed his signature to that effect, which
the paymasters did not hesitate to question; or that they had been absent from duty
for a few days.

Later, some of the palace guards were sent throughout the whole Roman Empire
to investigate how many on the military lists were unfit for service; and some were
relieved of their uniform for being old and use less, so that for the rest of their
lives they had to beg their meals of the charitable in the public Forum, exhibiting
their tears and lamentations to passersby; and the rest, lest they might suffer
a similar fate, handed over their savings as a bribe, with the result that all the
soldiers lost heart for their profession, were reduced to poverty, and had no further
enthusiasm for campaigning.

This was ruinous to the Romans and their authority in Italy; and the paymaster
Alexander, sent thither, had the audacity to reproach the soldiers for their poor
morale; while he exacted further money from the Italians, on the pretext of punishing
them for their negotiations with Theodoric and the Goths. The common soldiers, indeed,
were not the only ones to be reduced to poverty and helplessness by these commissioners;
for all the staff officers, under the generals, who had formerly been in high esteem,
were utterly impoverished and in danger of famine, as they had no money left with
which to buy their customary provisions.

Speaking of the soldiers reminds me to add further details. The Roman emperors
hitherto had stationed large armies on all frontiers of the State to protect its
boundaries; and particularly in the East, to repel incursions of the Persians and
Saracens. These border troops Justinian used so ill and meanly from the start that
their pay became four or five years overdue; and when peace was declared between
the Romans and Persians, these poor men, instead of sharing in the fruits of peace,
were forced to contribute to the public treasury whatever was owed them; after which
they were summarily discharged from the army. Thereafter the boundaries of the Roman
Empire were unguarded, and the soldiers were left suddenly on the hands of charity.

Another corps of not less than three thousand, five hundred other soldiers, originally
mustered for the palace guard, and called the Scholars, had always received higher
pay from the public treasury than the rest of the army. Originally they were chosen
to this preferred company by special merit, from the Armenians; but from the time
when Zeno became Emperor, it was possible for anyone, no matter how poor or cowardly
a soldier, to wear this uniform. Now when Justin came to the throne, this Justinian
distributed the honor among a large number upon their paying him a considerable
price for it. And when he saw there was no further possible vacancy, he enrolled
two thousand more, whom he called Supernumeraries. When he himself took over the
throne, he immediately disbanded the Supernumeraries, without giving them back any
of the money they had paid him.

This, however, is what he schemed with reference to the Student Corps. Whenever
an army was about to be sent against Libya, Italy, or the Persians, he ordered them
to pack for service with the regulars, though he knew well they were utterly unfit
for the campaign. And they, trembling at the possibility of active service, surrendered
their pay for the period of the war. The Students had this unpleasant experience
more than once. Also Peter, during all the time he was Master of Offices, worried
them daily with unheard-of thefts.

For he was a gentle seeming and unassuming man, but the biggest thief alive,
and simply bursting with sordid meanness. It was this Peter whom I mentioned before
as responsible for the murder of Amasalontha, Theodoric’s daughter.

There were also others in the palace guard of much higher rank; and the more
they paid into the treasury for their commissions, the higher was their military
rating. These were called Domestics and Protectors, and had always been exempt from
active service. Only as a matter of form they were listed in the palace guard. Some
of them were regularly stationed in Constantinople, others had always been assigned
to Galatia or other provinces. Justinian scared these, too, in the same way, into
forfeiting their pay to him.

Finally, it was the law that every five years the Emperor should give each soldier
a bonus of a fixed sum in gold. And every five years commissioners had been sent
over all the Roman Empire to give each soldier five gold staters. Not to comply
with this custom was simply unthinkable. Yet from the time that this man managed
the State, he never once did this, nor had any idea of doing it, though he reigned
for thirty-two years: so that the very custom was finally forgotten by everyone.