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.

12. PROVING THAT JUSTINIAN AND THEODORA WERE ACTUALLY FIENDS IN HUMAN FORM

Now the wealth of those in Constantinople and each other city who were considered
second in prosperity only to members of the Senate, was brutally confiscated, in
the ways I have described, by Justinian and Theodora. But how they were able to
rob even the Senate of all its property I shall now reveal.

There was in Constantinople a man by the name of Zeno, grandson of that Anthamius
who had formerly been Emperor of the West. This man they appointed, with malice
aforethought, Governor of Egypt, and commanded his immediate departure. But he delayed
his voyage long enough to load his ship with his most valuable effects; for he had
a countless amount of silver and gold plate inlaid with pearls, emeralds and other
such precious stones. Whereupon they bribed some of his most trusted servants to
remove these valuables from the ship as fast as they could carry them, set fire
to the interior of the vessel, and inform Zeno that his ship had burst into flames
of spontaneous combustion, with the loss of all his property. Later, when Zeno died
suddenly, they took possession of his estate immediately as his legal heirs; for
they produced a will which, it is whispered, he did not really make.

In the same manner they made themselves heirs of Tatian, Demosthenes, and Hilara,
who were foremost in the Roman Senate. And others’ estates they obtained by counterfeited
letters instead of wills. Thus they became heirs of Dionysius, who lived in Libanus,
and of John the son of Basil, who was the most notable of the citizens of Edessa,
and had been given as hostage, against his will, by Belisarius to the Persians:
as I have recounted elsewhere. For Chosroes refused to let this John go, charging
that the Romans had disregarded the terms of the truce, as a pledge of which John
had been given him by Belisarius; and he said he would only give him up as a prisoner
of war. So his father’s mother, who was still living, got together a ransom not
less than two thousand pounds of silver, and was ready to purchase her grandson’s
liberty. But when this money came to Dara, the Emperor heard of the bargain and
forbade it: saying that Roman wealth must not be given to the barbarians. Not long
after this, John fell ill and departed from this world, whereupon the Governor of
the city forged a letter which, he said, John had written him as a friend not long
before, to the effect that he wished his estate to go to the Emperor.

I could hardly catalogue all the other people whose estates these two chose to
inherit. However, up to the time when the insurrection named Nika took place, they
seized rich men’s properties one at a time; but when that happened, as I have told
elsewhere, they sequestrated at one swoop the estates of nearly all the members
of the Senate. On everything movable and on the fairest of the lands they laid their
hands and kept what they wanted; but whatever was unproductive of more than the
bitter and heavy taxes, they gave back to the previous owners with a philanthropic
gesture. Consequently these unfortunates, oppressed by the tax collectors and eaten
up by the never-ceasing interest on their debts, found life a burden compared to
which death were preferable.

Wherefore to me,- and many others of us, these two seemed not to be human beings,
but veritable demons, and what the poets call vampires: who laid their heads together
to see how they could most easily and quickly destroy the race and deeds of men;
and assuming human bodies, became man-demons, and so convulsed the world. And one
could find evidence of this in many things, but especially in the superhuman power
with which they worked their will.

For when one examines closely, there is a clear difference between what is human
and what is supernatural. There have been many enough men, during the whole course
of history, who by chance or by nature have inspired great fear, ruining cities
or countries or whatever else fell into their power; but to destroy all men and
bring calamity on the whole inhabited earth remained for these two to accomplish,
whom Fate aided in their schemes of corrupting all mankind. For by earthquakes,
pestilences, and floods of river waters at this time came further ruin, as I shall
presently show. Thus not by human, but by some other kind of power they accomplished
their dreadful designs.

And they say his mother said to some of her intimates once that not of Sabbatius
her husband, nor of any man was Justinian a son. For when she was about to conceive,
there visited a demon, invisible but giving evidence of his presence perceptibly
where man consorts with woman, after which he vanished utterly as in a dream.

And some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at night, men
who were pure of spirit, have thought they saw a strange demoniac form taking his
place. One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne and walked about,
and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian’s
head vanished, while the rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder
stood aghast and fearful, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But presently
he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely
as it had left it.

Another said he stood beside the Emperor as he sat, and of a sudden the face
changed into a shapeless mass of flesh, with neither eyebrows nor eyes in their
proper places, nor any other distinguishing feature; and after a time the natural
appearance of his countenance returned. I write these instances not as one who saw
them myself, but heard them from men who were positive they had seen these strange
occurrences at the time.

They also say that a certain monk, very dear to God, at the instance of those
who dwelt with him in the desert went to Constantinople to beg for mercy to his
neighbors who had been outraged beyond endurance. And when he arrived there, he
forthwith secured an audience with the Emperor; but just as he was about to enter
his apartment, he stopped short as his feet were on the threshold, and suddenly
stepped backward. Whereupon the eunuch escorting him, and others who were present,
importuned him to go ahead. But he answered not a word; and like a man who has had
a stroke staggered back to his lodging. And when some followed to ask why he acted
thus, they say he distinctly declared he saw the King of the Devils sitting on the
throne in the palace, and he did not care to meet or ask any favor of him.

Indeed, how was this man likely to be anything but an evil spirit, who never
knew honest satiety of drink or food or sleep, but only tasting at random from the
meals that were set before him, roamed the palace at unseemly hours of the night,
and was possessed by the quenchless lust of a demon?

Furthermore some of Theodora’s lovers, while she was on the stage, say that at
night a demon would sometimes descend upon them and drive them from the room, so
that it might spend the night with her. And there was a certain dancer named Macedonia,
who belonged to the Blue party in Antioch, who came to possess much influence. For
she used to write letters to Justinian while Justin was still Emperor, and so made
away with whatever notable men in the East she had a grudge against, and had their
property confiscated.

This Macedonia, they say, greeted Theodora at the time of her arrival from Egypt
and Libya; and when she saw her badly worried and cast down at the ill treatment
she had received from Hecebolus and at the loss of her money during this adventure,
she tried to encourage Theodora by reminding her of the laws of chance, by which
she was likely again to be the leader of a chorus of coins. Then, they say, Theodora
used to relate how on that very night a dream came to her, bidding her take no thought
of money, for when she should come to Constantinople, she should share the couch
of the King of the Devils, and that she should contrive to become his wedded wife
and thereafter be the mistress of all the money in the world. And that this is what
happened is the opinion of most people.