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Procopius of Caesarea:
The Secret History
BY THE HISTORIAN
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.
1. HOW THE GREAT GENERAL BELISARIUS WAS HOODWINKED BY HIS
WIFE
The father of Belisarius's wife, a lady whom I have mentioned
in my former books, was (and so was her grandfather) a charioteer,
exhibiting that trade in Constantinople and Thessalonica. Her
mother was one of the wenches of the theater; and she herself
from the first led an utterly wanton life. Acquainted with magic
drugs used by her parents before her, she learned how to use those
of compelling qualities and became the wedded wife of Belisarius,
after having already borne many children.
Now she was unfaithful as a wife from the start, but was careful
to conceal her indiscretions by the usual precautions; not from
any awe of her spouse (for she never felt any shame at anything)
and fooled him easily with her deceptions), but because she feared
the punishment of the Empress. For Theodora hated her, and had
already shown her teeth. But when that Queen became involved in
difficulties, she won her friendship by helping her, first to
destroy Silverius, as shall be related presently, and later to
ruin John of Cappadocia, as I have told elsewhere. After that,
she became more and more fearless, and casting all concealment
aside, abandoned herself to the winds of desire.
There was a youth from Thrace in the house of Belisarius: Theodosius
by name, and of the Eunomian heresy by descent. On the eve of
his expedition to Libya, Belisarius baptized this boy in holy
water and received him in his arms as a member henceforth of the
family, welcoming him with his wife as their son, according to
the Christian rite of adoption. And Antonina not only embraced
Theodosius with reasonable fondness as her son by holy word, and
thus cared for him, but soon, while her husband was away on his
campaign, became wildly in love with him; and, out of her senses
with this malady, shook off all fear and shame of God and man.
She began by enjoying him surreptitiously, and ended by dallying
with him in the presence of the men servants and waiting maids.
For she was now possessed by passion and, openly overwhelmed with
love, could see no hindrance to its consummation.
Once, in Carthage, Belisarius caught her in the very act, but
allowed himself to be deceived by his wife. Finding the two in
an underground room, he was very angry; but she said, showing
no fear or attempt to keep anything hidden, "I came here
with the boy to bury the most precious part of our plunder, where
the Emperor will not discover it." So she said by way of
excuse, and he dismissed the matter as if he believed her, even
as he saw Theodosius's trousers belt somewhat unmodestly unfastened.
For so bound by love for the woman was he, that he preferred to
distrust the evidence of his own eyes.
As her folly progressed to an indescribable extent, those who
saw what was going on kept silent, except one slave, Macedonia
by name. When Belisarius was in Syracuse as the conqueror of Sicily,
she made her master swear solemnly never to betray her to her
mistress, and then told him the whole story, presenting s witnesses
two slave boys attending the bed-chamber.
When he heard this, Belisarius ordered one of his guards to put
Theodosius away; but the latter learned of this in time to flee
to Ephesus. For most of the servants, inspired by the weakness
of the husband's character, were more anxious to please his wife
than to show loyalty to him, and so betrayed the order he had
given. But Constantine, when he saw Belisarius's grief at what
had befallen him, sympathized entirely except to comment, "I
would have tried to kill the woman rather than the young man."
Antonina heard of this, and hated him in secret. How malicious
was her spite against him shall be shown; for she was a scorpion
who could hide her sting.
But not long after this, by the enchantment either of philtres
or of her caresses, she persuaded her husband that the charges
against her were untrue. Without more ado he sent word to Theodosius
to return, and promised to turn Macedonia and the two slave boys
over to his wife. She first cruelly cut out their tongues, it
is said, and then cut their bodies into little bits which were
put into sacks and thrown into the sea. One of her slaves, Eugenius,
who had already wrought the outrage on Silverius, helped her in
this crime.
And it was not long after this that Belisarius was persuaded by
his wife to kill Constantine. What happened at that time concerning
Presidius and the daggers I have narrated in my previous books.
For while Belisarius would have preferred to let Constantine alone,
Antonina gave him no peace until his remark, which I have just
repeated, was avenged. And as a result of this murder, much enmity
was aroused against Belisarius in the hearts of the Emperor and
all the most important of the Romans.
So matters progressed. But Theodosius said he was unable to return
to Italy, where Belisarius and Antonina were now staying, unless
Photius were put out of the way. For this Photius was the sort
who would bite if anyone got the better of him in anything, and
he had reason to be choked with indignation at Theodosius. Though
he was the rightful son, he was utterly disregarded while the
other grew in power and riches: they say that from the two palaces
at Carthage and Ravenna Theodosius had taken plunder amounting
to a hundred centenaries, as he alone had been given the management
of these conquered properties.
But Antonina, when she learned of Theodosius's fear, never ceased
laying snares for her son and planning deadly plots against his
welfare, until he saw he would have to escape to Constantinople
if he wished to live. Then Theodosius came to Italy and her. There
they stayed in the satisfaction of their love, unhindered by the
complaisant husband; and later she took them both to Constantinople.
There Theodosius became so worried lest the affair became generally
known, that he was at his wit's end. He saw it would be impossible
to fool everybody, as the woman was no longer able to conceal
her passion and indulge it secretly, but thought nothing of being
in fact and in reputation an avowed adulteress.
Therefore he went back to Ephesus, and having his head shaved
after the religious custom, became a monk. Whereupon Antonina,
insane over her loss, exhibited her grief by donning mourning;
and went around the house shrieking and wailing, lamenting even
in the presence of her husband what a good friend she had lost,
how faithful, how tender, how loving, how energetic! In the end,
even her spouse was won over to join in her sorrow. And so the
poor wretch wept too, calling for his beloved Theodosius. Later
he even went to the Emperor and implored both him and the Empress,
till they consented to summon Theodosius to return, as one who
was and would always be a necessity in the house of Belisarius.
But Theodosius refused to leave his monastery, saying he was completely
resolved to give himself forever to the cloistered life. This
noble pronouncement, however, was not entirely sincere, for he
was aware that as soon as Belisarius left Constantinople, it would
be possible for him to come secretly to Antonina. Which, indeed,
he did.
2. HOW BELATED JEALOUSY AFFECTED BELISARIUS'S MILITARY JUDGMENT
For soon Belisarius went off to war on Chosroes, and he took Photius
with him; but Antonina remained behind, though this was contrary
to her usual habit. She had always preferred to voyage wherever
her husband went, lest he, being alone, come to his senses and,
forgetting her enchantments, think of her for once as she deserved.
But now, so that Theodosius might have free access to her, she
planned once more how to rid herself permanently of Photius. She
bribed some of Belisarius's guards to slander and insult her son
at all times; while she, writing letters almost every day, denounced
him, and thus set everything in motion against him. Compelled
by all of this to counterplot against his mother, Photius got
a witness to come from Constantinople with evidence of Theodosius's
commerce with Antonina, took him to Belisarius, and commanded
him to tell the whole story.
When Belisarius heard it, he became passionately angry, fell at
Photius's feet, kissed them, and begged him to revenge one who
had been so wronged by those who should least have treated him
thus. "My dearest boy," he said, "your father,
whoever he was, you have never known, for he left you at your
mother's breast when the sands of his life were measured. Nor
have you even benefited from his estate, since he was not overblessed
with wealth. But brought up by me, though I was only your stepfather,
you have arrived at an age where it becomes you to avenge my wrongs.
I, who have raised you to consular rank, and given you the opportunity
of acquiring such riches, might call myself your father and mother
and entire kindred, and I would be right, my son. For it is not
by their kinship of blood, but by their friendly deeds that men
are wont to measure their bonds to one another.
"Now the hour has come, when you must not only look on me
in the ruin of my household and the loss of my greatest treasure,
but as one sharing the shame of your mother in the reproach of
all mankind. And consider too, that the sins of women injure not
only their husbands, but touch even more bitterly their children,
whose reputation suffers the greater from this reason, that they
are expected to inherit the disposition of those who bore them.
"Yet remember this of me, that I still love my wife exceedingly
well; and if it is in my power to punish the ruiner of my house,
to her I shall do no hurt. But while Theodosius is present, I
cannot condone this charge against her."
When he had heard this, Photius agreed to serve him in everything;
but at the same time he was afraid lest some trouble might come
to himself from it, for he had little confidence in Belisarius's
strength of will, where his wife was concerned. And among other
unhappy possibilities, he remembered with distaste what had happened
to Macedonia. So he had Belisarius exchange with him all the oaths
that are held most sacred and binding among Christians, and each
swore never to betray the other, even in the most mortal peril.
Now for the present they decided the time had not yet come to
take action. But as soon as Antonina should arrive from Constantinople
and Theodosius return to Ephesus, Photius was to go to Ephesus
and dispose without difficulty of Theodosius and his property.
It was at this time that they had invaded the Persian country
with the entire army, and there occurred to John of Cappadocia
what is reported in my previous works. There I had to hush up
one matter out of prudence, namely, that it was not without malice
aforethought that Antonina deceived John and his daughter, but
by many oaths, than which none is more reverenced by the Christians,
she induced them to trust her as one who would never use them
ill. After she had done this, feeling more confident than before
of the friendship of the Empress, she sent Theodosius to Ephesus,
and herself, with no suspicion of opposition, set out for the
East.
Belisarius had just taken the fort of Sisauranum when the news
of her coming was brought to him; and he, setting everything else
as nothing in comparison, ordered the army to retire. It so happened,
as I have shown elsewhere, that other things had occurred to the
expedition which fitted in with his order to withdraw, however,
as I said in the foreword to this book, it was not safe for me
at that time to tell all the underlying motives of these events.
Accusation was consequently made against Belisarius by all the
Romans that he had put the most urgent affairs of state below
the lesser interests of his personal household. For the fact was
that, possessed with jealous passion for his wife, he was unwilling
to go far away from Roman territory, so that as soon as he should
learn his wife was coming from Constantinople, he could immediately
seize her and avenge himself on Theodosius.
For this reason he ordered the forces under Arethas to cross the
Tigris River; and they returned home, having accomplished nothing
worthy of mention. And he himself was careful not to leave the
Roman frontier for much more than a one hour's ride. Indeed, the
fort of Sisauranum, going by way of the city of Nisibis, is not
more than a day's journey for a well-mounted man from the Roman
border; and by another route is only half that distance. Yet if
he had been willing in the beginning to cross the Tigris with
his entire army, I believe he could have taken all the plunder
in the land of Assyria, and marched as far as the city of Ctesiphon,
with none to hinder him. And he could have rescued the captured
Antiochans and whatever other Romans misfortune had brought there,
and restored them to their native lands.
Furthermore, he was culpable for Chosroes's unhindered return
home from Colchis. How this happened I shall now reveal. When
Chosroes, Cabades's son, invading the land of Colchis, accomplished
not only what I have elsewhere narrated, but captured Petra, a
great part of the army of the Medes was destroyed, either in battle
or because of the difficulty of the country. For Lazica, as I
have explained, is almost roadless and very mountainous. Also
pestilence, falling upon them, had destroyed most of -the army,
and many had died from lack of necessary food and treatment. It
was at this time that messengers came from Persia with news that
Belisarius, having conquered Nabedes in battle before the city
of Nisibis, was approaching; that he had taken the fort of Sisauranum
by siege, captured at the point of the spear Bleschames and eight
hundred Persian cavalry; and that he had sent a second army of
Romans under Arethas, ruler of the Saracens, to cross the Tigris
and ravage all the land there that heretofore had not known fear.
It happened also that the army of Huns which Chosroes had sent
into Roman Armenia, to create a diversion there so that the Romans
would not notice his expedition into Lazica, had fallen into the
hands of Valerian and his Romans, as other messengers now reported;
and that these barbarians had been badly beaten in battle, and
most of them killed. When the Persians heard this, already in
low spirits over their ill fortune among the Lazi, they now feared
if they should meet a hostile army in their present difficulties,
among precipices and wilderness, they would all perish in disorder.
And they feared, too, for their children and their wives and their
country; indeed, the noblest men in the army of the Medes reviled
Chosroes, calling him one who had broken his plighted word and
the common law of man, by invading in time of peace the land of
the Romans. He had wronged, they cried, the oldest and greatest
of all nations, which he could not possibly surpass in war. A
mutiny was imminent.
Aroused at this, Chosroes found the following remedy for the trouble.
He read them a letter which the Empress had recently written to
Zaberganes. This was the letter:
"How highly I esteem you, Zaberganes, and that I believe
you friendly to our State, you, who were ambassador to us not
so long ago, are well aware. Would you not be acting suitably
to this high opinion which I have for you, if you could persuade
King Chosroes to choose peace with our government? If you do this,
I can promise you will be rewarded by my husband, who does nothing
without my advice."
Chosroes read this aloud, and asked the Persian leaders if they
thought this was an Empire which a woman managed. Thus he calmed
their nervousness. But even so, he withdrew from the place with
considerable anxiety, thinking that at any moment Belisarius's
forces would confront him. And when none of the enemy appeared
to bar his retreat, with great relief he marched back to his native
land.
3. SHOWING THE DANGER OF INTERFERING WITH A WOMAN'S INTRIGUES
On his return to Roman territory, Belisarius found his wife just
arriving from Constantinople. He put her under guard in disgrace,
and often was on the point of putting her to death; but each time
he weakened, overcome, I suppose, by the rekindling of his love
for her. But they say he was also driven from his senses by philtres
she gave. him.
Meanwhile the outraged Photius had gone to Ephesus, taking the
eunuch Calligonus, pander for his mistress, with him, in chains;
and under the whip, during the course of his journey Calligonus
confessed all his lady's secrets. But Theodosius again learned
of his peril, and fled to the Church of St. John the Apostle,
which is the holiest and most revered sanctuary thereabouts. However
Andrew, Bishop of Ephesus, was bribed by Photius to give the man
up into his hands.
Theodora was now in some fear for Antonina, for she had heard
what had happened to her; so she sent word to Belisarius to bring
his wife to Constantinople. Photius, hearing of this, sent Theodosius
to Cilicia, where his own lancers and shield-bearers happened
to be wintering; enjoining upon those who took him thither to
do so as secretly as possible, and on arriving in Cilicia to hide
him privately in the garrison, letting no one know where in the
world he was. Then, with Calligonus and Theodosius's considerable
moneys, Photius went to Constantinople.
Now the Empress gave evidence to all mankind that for every murder
to which she was indebted, she could pay in greater and even more
savage requital. For Antonina had betrayed for her one enemy,
when she had lately ensnared the Cappadocian; but she ruined,
for Antonina's sake, a number of blameless men. Some of Belisarius's
and Photius's acquaintances she put to the torture, when the only
charge against them was that they were friends of the two (and
to this day we do not know what was their ultimate fate), and
others she banished into exile on the same accusation.
One man who had accompanied Photius to Ephesus, a Senator who
was also named Theodosius, not only lost his property but was
thrown into a dungeon, where he was, fastened to a manger by a
rope around his neck so short that the noose was always tight
and could not be slackened. Consequently the poor man had to stand
at the manger all the time, whether he ate or sought sleep or
performed the other needs of the body. The only difference between
him and an ass, was that . he could not bray. The time the man
passed in this condition was not less than four months; after
which, overcome by melancholy, he went mad, and as such they set
him free to die.
The reluctant Belisarius she forced to become reconciled with
his wife; while Photius, after she had him tortured like a slave
and scourged on the back and shoulders, was ordered to tell where
Theodosius and the pander were. But in spite of his anguish at
the torture he kept silent as he had sworn to do; though he had
always been delicate and sickly, had had to be very careful of
his health, and was hitherto inexperienced in such outrage and
ill treatment. Yet none of Belisarius's secrets did he divulge.
Later, however, everything that up to this time had been concealed
came to light. Discovering Calligonus in the neighborhood, Theodora
handed him over to Antonina, and then had Theodosius brought back
to Constantinople, where she hid him in her palace. On the day
after his arrival she sent for Antonina. "My dearest lady,"
she said, "a pearl fell into my hands yesterday, such a one
as no mortal has ever seen. If you wish, I will not grudge you
a sight of this jewel, but will show it to you." Not knowing
what had happened, her friend begged Theodora to show her the
pearl; and the Empress, leading Theodosius from the rooms of one
of the eunuchs, revealed him.
For a moment Antonina, speechless with joy, remained dumb. Then
she broke into an ecstasy of gratitude, and called Theodora her
saviour, her benefactress, and her true mistress. Thereafter,
the Empress kept Theodosius in the palace, wrapping him in every
luxury, and declared she would even make him general of all the
Roman forces before long. justice, however, intervened. Carried
off by a dysentery, he disappeared from the world of men.
Now in Theodora's palace were certain secret dungeon rooms: dark,
unknown, and remote, wherein there was no difference between day
and night. In one of these Photius languished for a long time.
He had the good fortune, however, to escape, not once, but twice.
The first time he took refuge in the Church of the Virgin Mother,
which is the most holy and famous of the churches in Constantinople,
and there took his place at the sacred table as a suppliant. But
she captured him even here, and had him removed by force. The
second time he fled to the Church of St. Sophia and sought sanctuary
at the holy font, which of all places the Christians most reverence.
Yet even from here the woman was able to drag him: for to her
no spot was too awful or venerable to transgress, and she thought
nothing of violating all the sanctuaries put together. Like all
the rest of the people, the Christian priests were struck dumb
with horror, but stood to one side and suffered her to do as she
willed.
Now for three years Photius remained thus in his cell; and then
the prophet Zechariah came to him in a dream, and ordered him
in the name of the Lord to escape, promising to aid him in this.
Trusting in the vision, he broke loose again, and unnoticed by
anyone made his way to Jerusalem. Though he passed through countless
thousands of men on his flight, not one of them saw the youth.
There he shaved his head, assumed the garb of the monks, and was
free at last from the punishment of Theodora.
But Belisarius, disregarding his word of honor, took no measures
to avenge his accomplice's suffering of such impious treatment
as has been told. And all of his military expeditions from this
time on- failed, presumably by the will of God- For his next campaign
against Chosroes and the Medes, who were for the third time invading
Roman territory, was severely criticized; though one good thing
was said of him, that he had driven the foe back. But when Chosroes
crossed the Euphrates River, took the great city of Callinicus
without a battle, and enslaved myriads of Roman citizens, while
Belisarius was careful not even to pursue the enemy when he retired,
he won the reputation of being one of two things-either a traitor
or a coward.
4. HOW THEODORA HUMILIATED THE CONQUEROR OF AFRICA AND ITALY
Soon after this, a further disaster befell him. The plague, which
I have described elsewhere, became epidemic at Constantinople,
and the Emperor Justinian was taken grievously ill; it was even
said he had died of it. Rumor spread this report till it reached
the Roman army camp. There some of the officers said that if the
Romans tried to establish anyone else at Constantinople as Emperor,
they would never recognize him. Presently, the Emperor's health
bettered, and the officers of the army brought charges against
each other, the generals Peter and John the Glutton alleging they
had heard Belisarius and Buzes making the above declaration.
This hypothetical mutiny the indignant Queen took as intended
by the two men to refer to herself. So she recalled all the officers
to Constantinople to investigate the matter; and she summoned
Buzes impromptu to her private quarters, on the pretext she wished
to discuss with him matters of sudden urgency.
Now underneath the palace was an underground cellar, secure and
labyrinthian, comparable to the infernal regions, in which most
of those who gave offense to her were eventually entombed. And
so Buzes was thrown into this oubliette, and there the man, though
of consular rank, remained with no one cognizant of his fate.
Neither, as he sat there in darkness, could he ever know whether
it was day or night, nor could he learn from anyone else; for
the man who each day threw him his food was dumb, and the scene
was that of one wild beast confronting another. Everybody soon
thought him dead, but no one dared to mention even his memory.
But after two years and four months, Theodora took pity on the
man and released him. Ever after he was half blind and sick in
body. This is what she did to Buzes.
Belisarius, although none of the charges against him were proved,
was at the insistence of the Empress relieved of his command by
the Emperor; who appointed Martinus in his place as General of
the armies of the East. Belisarius's lancers and shield-bearers,
and such of his servants as were of military use, he ordered to
be divided between the other generals and certain of the palace
eunuchs. Drawing lots for these men and their arms, they portioned
them as the chances fell. And his friends, and all who formerly
had served him, were forbidden ever to visit Belisarius. It was
a bitter sight, and one no one would ever have thought credible,
to see Belisarius a private citizen in Constantinople, almost
deserted, melancholy and miserable of countenance, and ever expectant
of a further conspiracy to accomplish his death.
Then the Empress learned he had acquired great wealth in the East,
and sent one of the eunuchs of the palace to confiscate it. Antonina,
as I have told, was now quite out of temper with her husband,
but on the most friendly and intimate terms with the Queen, since
she had got rid of John of Cappadocia. So, to please Antonina,
Theodora arranged everything so that the wife would appear to
have asked mercy for her husband, and from such peril to have
saved his life; and the poor wretch not only became quite reconciled
to her, but let her make him her humblest slave for having saved
him from the Queen. And this is how that happened.
One morning, Belisarius went to the palace as usual with his few
and pitiful followers. Finding the Emperor and Empress hostile,
he was further insulted in their presence by baseborn and common
men. Late in the evening he went home, often turning around as
he withdrew and looking in every direction for those who might
be advancing to put him to death. Accompanied by this dread, he
entered his home and sat down alone upon his couch. His spirit
broken, he failed even to remember the time when he was a man;
sweating, dizzy and trembling, he counted himself lost; devoured
by slavish fears and mortal worry, he was completely emasculated.
Antonina, who neither knew just what arrangement of his fate had
been made nor much cared what would become of him, was walking
up and down nearby pretending a heartburn; for they were not exactly
on friendly terms. Meanwhile, an officer of the palace, Quadratus
by name, had come as the sun went down, and passing through the
outer hall, suddenly stood at the door of the men's apartments
to say he had been sent here by the Empress. And when Belisarius
heard that, he drew up his arms and legs onto the couch and lay
down on his back, ready for the end. So far had all manhood left
him.
Quadratus, however, approached only to hand him a letter from
the Queen. And thus the letter read: "You know, Sir, your
offense against us. But because I am greatly indebted to your
wife, I have decided to dismiss all charges against you and give
her your life. So for the future you may be of good cheer as to
your personal safety and that of your property; but we shall know
by what happens to you how you conduct yourself toward her."
When Belisarius read this intoxicated with joy and yearning to
give evidence of his gratitude, he leapt from his couch and prostrated
himself at the feet of his wife. With each hand fondling one of
her legs, licking with his tongue the sole of first one of her
feet and then the other, he cried that she was the cause of his
life and of his safety: henceforth he would be her faithful slave,
instead of her lord and master.
The Empress then gave thirty gold centenaries of his property
to the Emperor, and returned what was left to Belisarius. This
is what happened to the great general to whom destiny had not
long before given both Gelimer and Vitiges to be captives of his
spear! But the wealth that this subject of theirs had acquired
had long ago gnawed jealous wounds in the hearts of Justinian
and Theodora, who deemed it grown too big for any but the imperial
coffers. And they said he had concealed most of Gelimer's and
Vitiges's moneys, which by conquest belonged to the State and
had handed over only a small fraction, hardly worth accepting
by an Emperor. Yet, when they counted the labors the man had accomplished,
and the cries of reproach they might arouse among the people,
since they had no credible pretext for punishing him, they kept
their peace: until now, when the Empress, discovering him out
of his senses with terror, at one fell stroke managed to become
mistress of all his fortune.
To tie him further to her, she betrothed Joannina, Belisarius's
only daughter, to Anastasius her nephew.
Belisarius now asked to be given back his old command, and as
General of the East lead the Roman armies once more against Chosroes
and the Medes; but Antonina would not hear of it. It was there
she had been insulted by him before, she said, and she never wanted
to see the place again. Accordingly, Belisarius was instead made
Count of the imperial remounts, and fared forth a second time
to Italy; agreeing with the Emperor, they say, not to ask him
at any time for money toward this war, but to prepare all the
military equipment from his private purse.
Now everybody took it for granted that Belisarius had arranged
this with his wife and made the agreement about the expedition
with the Emperor, merely so as to get away from his humiliating
position in Constantinople; and that as soon as he had gotten
outside the city, he intended to take up arms and retaliate, nobly
and as becomes a man, against his wife and those who had done
him wrong. Instead, he made light of all he had experienced, forgot
or discounted his word of honor to Photius and his other friends,
and followed his wife about in a perfect ecstasy of love: and
that when she had now arrived at the age of sixty years.
However, as soon as he arrived in Italy, some new and different
trouble happened with each fresh day, for even Providence had
turned against him. For the plans this General had laid in the
former campaign against Theodatus and Vitiges, though they did
not seem to be fitting to the event, usually turned out to his
advantage; while now, though he was credited with laying better
plans, as was to be expected after his previous experience in
warfare, they all turned out badly: so that the final judgment
was that he had no sense of strategy.
Indeed, it is not by the plans of men, but by the hand of God
that the affairs of men are directed; and this men call Fate,
not knowing the reason for what things they see occur; and what
seems to be without cause is easy to call the accident of chance.
Still, this is a matter every mortal will decide for himself according
to his taste.
5. HOW THEODORA TRICKED THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER
From his second expedition to Italy Belisarius brought back nothing
but disgrace: for in the entire five years of the campaign he
was unable to set foot on that land, as I have related in my former
books, because there was no tenable position there; but all this
time sailed up and down along the coast.
Totila, indeed, was willing enough to meet him before his city
walls, but could not catch him there, since like the rest of the
Roman army he was afraid to fight. Wherefore Belisarius recovered
nothing of what had been lost, but even lost Rome in addition;
and everything else, if there were anything left to lose. His
mind was filled with avarice during this time, and he thought
of nothing but base gain. Since he had been given no funds by
the Emperor, he plundered nearly all the Italians living in Ravenna
and Sicily, and wherever else he found opportunity: collecting
a bill, as it were, for which those who dwelt there were in no
way responsible. Thus, he even went to Herodian and asked him
for money, and his threats so enraged Herodian that he rebelled
against the Roman army and gave his services, with those of his
followers and the city of Spoletum, to Totila and the Goths.
And now I shall show how it came about that Belisarius and John,
the nephew of Vitalian, became estranged: a division that brought
great disaster to Roman affairs.
Now so thoroughly did the Empress hate Germanus, and so conspicuously,
that no one dared to become a relative of his, though he was the
nephew of the Emperor. His sons remained unmarried while she lived,
and his daughter Justina, though in the flower of eighteen summers,
was still unwedded. Consequently, when John, sent by Belisarius,
arrived in Constantinople, Germanus was forced to approach him
as a possible son-in-law, though John was not at all worthy in
station of such an alliance. But when they had come to an agreement,
they bound each other by most solemn oaths to complete the alliance
by all means in their power; and this was necessary because neither
had any confidence in the good faith of the other. For John knew
he was seeking a marriage far above his rank, and Germanus feared
that even this man might try to slip out of the contract.
The Empress, of course, was unable to contain herself at this:
and in every way, by every possible device, however unworthy,
tried to hinder the event. When, for all her menaces, she was
unable to deter either of them, she publicly threatened to put
John to death. After this, on john's return to Italy, fearing
Antonina might join the plot against him, he did not dare to meet
Belisarius until she left for Constantinople. That Antonina had
been charged by the Queen to help murder him, no one could have
thought unlikely; and when he considered Antonina's habits and
Belisarius's enslavement by his wife, John was as greatly as he
was reasonably alarmed.
The Roman expedition, already on its last legs, now collapsed
entirely. And this is how Belisarius concluded the Gothic war.
In despair he begged the Emperor to let him come home as fast
as he could sail. And when he received the monarch's permission
to do this, he left straightway in high spirits, bidding a long
farewell to the Roman army and to Italy. He left almost everything
in the power of the enemy; and while he was on his way home, Perusia,
hard pressed by a most bitter siege, was captured and submitted
to every possible misery, as I have elsewhere related.
As if this were not enough, he suffered a further personal misfortune
in the following manner. The Empress Theodora, desiring to marry
the daughter of Belisarius to her nephew, worried the girl's parents
with frequent letters. To avoid this alliance, they delayed the
ceremony until they could both be present at it," and then,
when the Empress summoned them to Constantinople, pretended they
were unable at the time to leave Italy. But the Queen was still
determined her nephew should be master of Belisarius's wealth,
for she knew his daughter would inherit it, as Belisarius had
no other child. Yet she had no confidence in Antonina; and fearing
that after her own life was ended, Antonina would not be loyal
to her house, for all that she had been so helpful in the Empress's
emergencies, and that she would break the agreement, Theodora
did an unholy thing.
She made the boy and girl live together without any ceremony.
And they say she forced the girl against her will to submit to
his clandestine embrace, so that, being thus deflowered, the girl
would agree to the marriage, and the Emperor could not forbid
the event. However, after the first ravishing, Anastasius and
the girl fell warmly in love with each other, and for not less
than eight months continued their unmarital relations.
But when, after Theodora's death, Antonina came to Constantinople,
she was unwilling to forget the outrage the Queen had committed
against her. Not bothering about the fact that if she united her
daughter to any other man, she would be making an ex-prostitute
out of her, she refused to accept Theodora's nephew as a son-in-law,
and by force tore the girl, ignoring her fondest pleadings, from
the man she loved.
For this act of senseless obstinacy she was universally censured.
Yet when her husband came home, she easily persuaded him to approve
her course: which should have openly disclosed the character of
the man. Still, though he had pledged himself to Photius and others
of his friends, and then broken his word, there were plenty who
sympathized with him. For they thought the reason for his perjury
was not uxoriousness, but his fear of the Empress. But after Theodora
died, as I have told, he still took no thought of Photius or any
of his friends; and it was clear he called Antonina his mistress,
and Calligonus the pander, his master. And then all men saw his
shame, made him a public laughing stock, and reviled him to his
face as a nitwit. Now was the folly of Belisarius completely revealed.
As for Sergius, son of Bacchus, and his misdeeds in Libya, I have
described that affair sufficiently in my chapter elsewhere on
the subject: how he was most guilty for the disaster there to
Roman power, and how he disregarded the gospel oath he had sworn
to the Levathae, and criminally put to death their eighty ambassadors.
So there remains for me to add now only this, that neither did
these men come to Sergius with any intention of treachery, nor
did Sergius have any suspicion that they did; but nevertheless,
after inviting them to a banquet under pledge of safety, he put
them shamefully to death. This resulted in the loss of Solomon,
the Roman Army, and all the Libyans. For consequent to this affair,
especially after Solomon's death, as I have told, neither officer
nor soldier was willing to venture the dangers of battle. Most
notably John son of Sisinnolus, kept entirely from the filed of
war because of his hatred of Sergius, until Areobinus came to
Libya.
This Sergius was a luxurious person and no soldier; juvenile in
nature and years; a jealous and swaggering bully; a wanton liver
and a blowhard. But after became the accepted suitor of her niece
and was this related to Antonina, Belasarius's wife, the Empress
would not allow him to be punished or removed from his command,
even when she saw Libya sure to be lost. And with the Emperor's
consent she even let Solomon, Sergius brother, go scot-free after
the murder of Pegasius. How this happened, I shall now relate.
After Pegasius had ransomed Solomon from the Levathae, and the
barbarians had gone home, Solomon with Pegasius his ransomer and
a few soldiers, set out for Carthage. And on the way Pegasius
reminded Solomon of the wrong he had done, and said he should
thank God for his rescue from the enemy. Solomon vexed at being
reproached for having been taken captive, straightway slew Pegasius;
and this was his requital to the man who saved him. But when Solomon
arrived in Constantinople, the Emperor pardoned him on the ground
that the man he killed was a traitor to the Roman state. So Solomon
this escaping justice, left gladly for the East to visit his native
country and his family. Yet God's vengeance overtook him on the
very journey, and removed him from the world of men.
This is the explanation of the affair between Solomon and Pegasius.
6. IGNORANCE OF THE EMPEROR JUSTIN, AND HOW HIS NEPHEW JUSTINIAN
WAS THE VIRTUAL RULER
I now come to the tale of what sort of beings Justinian and Theodora
were, and how they brought confusion on the Roman State.
During the rule of the Emperor Leo in Constantinople, three young
farmers of Illyrian birth, named Zimarchus, Ditybistus, and Justin
of Bederiana, after a desperate struggle with poverty, left their
homes to try their fortune in the army. They made their way to
Constantinople on foot, carrying on their shoulders their blankets
in which were wrapped no other equipment except the biscuits they
had baked at home. When the arrived and were admitted into military
service, the Emperor chose them for the palace guard; for they
were all three fine-looking men.
Later, when Anastasius succeeded to the throne, war broke out
with the Isaurians when that nation rebelled; and against them
Anastasius sent a considerable army under John the Hunchback.
This John for some offense threw Justin into the guardhouse, and
on the following day would have sentenced him to death, had he
not been stopped by a vision appearing to him in a dream. For
in this dream, the general said, he beheld a being, gigantic in
size and in every way mightier than mortals: and this being commanded
him to release the man whom he had arrested that day. Waking from
his sleep, John said, he decided the dream was not worth considering.
But the next night the vision returned, and again he heard the
same words he had heard before; yet even so he was not persuaded
to obey its command. But for the third time the vision appeared
in his dreams, and threatened him with fearful consequences if
he did not do as the angel ordered: warning that he would be in
sore need of this man and his family thereafter, when the day
of wrath should overtake him. And this time Justin was released.
As time went on, this Justin came to great power. For the Emperor
Anastasius appointed him Count of the palace guard; and when the
Emperor departed from this world, by the force of his military
power Justin seized the throne. By this time he was an old man
on the verge of the grave, and so illiterate that he could neither
read nor write: which never before could have been said of a Roman
ruler. It was the custom for an Emperor to sign his edicts with
his own hand, but he neither made decrees nor was able to understand
the business of state at all.
The man on whom it befell to assist him as Quaestor was named
Proclus; and he managed everything to suit himself. But so that
he might have some evidence of the Emperor's hand, he invented
the following device for his clerks to construct. Cutting out
of a block of wood the shapes of the four letters required to
make the Latin word, they dipped a pen into the ink used by emperors
for their signatures, and put it in the Emperor's fingers. Laying
the block of wood I have described on the paper to be signed,
they guided the Emperor's hand so that his pen outlined the four
letters, following all the curves of the stencil: and thus they
withdrew with the FIAT Of the Emperor. This is how the Romans
were ruled under Justin.
His wife was named Lupicina: a slave and a barbarian, she was
bought to be his concubine. With Justin, as the sun of his life
was about to set, she ascended the throne.
Now Justin was able to do his subjects neither harm nor good.
For he was simple, unable to carry on a conversation or make a
speech, and utterly bucolic. His nephew Justinian, while still
a youth, was the virtual ruler-, and the of more and worse calamities
to the Romans than any one man in all their previous history that
has come down to us.- For he had no scruples; against murder or
the seizing of other persons property; and it was nothing to him
to make away with myriads of men, even when they gave him no cause.
He had no care for preserving established customs, but was always
eager for new experiments, and, in short, was the greatest corrupter
of all noble traditions.
Though the plague, described in my former books, attacked the
whole world, no fewer men escaped than perished of it; for some
never were taken by the disease, and others recovered after it
had smitten them. But this man, not one of all the Romans could
escape; but as if he were a second pestilence sent from heaven,
he fell on the nation and left no man quite untouched. For some
he slew without reason, and some he released to struggle with
penury, and their fate was worse than that of those who had perished,
so that they prayed for death to free them from their misery;
and others he robbed of their property and their lives together.
When there was nothing left to ruin in the Roman state, he determined
the conquest of Libya and Italy, for no other reason than to destroy
the people there, as he had those who were already his subjects.
Indeed, his power was not ten days old, before he slew Amantius,
chief of the palace eunuchs, and several others, on no graver
charge than that Amantius had made some rash remark about John,
Archbishop of the city. After this, he was the most feared of
men.
Immediately after this he sent for the rebel Vitalian, to whom
he had first given pledges of safety, and partaken with him of
the Christian communion. But soon after he became suspicious and
jealous, and murdered Vitalian and his companions at a banquet
in the palace: thus showing he considered himself in no way bound
by the most sacred of pledges.
7. OUTRAGES OF THE BLUES
The people had since long previous time been divided, as I have
explained elsewhere, into two factions, the Blues and the Greens.
Justinian, by joining the former party, which had already shown
favor to him, was able to bring everything into confusion and
turmoil, and by its power to sink the Roman state to its knees
before him. Not all the Blues were willing to follow his leadership,
but there were plenty who were eager for civil war. Yet even these,
as the trouble spread, seemed the most prudent of men, for their
crimes were less awful than was in their power to commit. Nor
did the Green partisans remain quiet, but showed their resentment
as violently as they could, though one by one they were continually
punished; which, indeed, urged them each time to further recklessness.
For men who are wronged are likely to become desperate.
Then it was that Justinian, fanning the flame and openly inciting
the Blues to fight, made the whole Roman Empire shake on its foundation,
as if an earthquake or a cataclysm had stricken it, or every city
within its confines had been taken by the foe. Everything everywhere
was uprooted: nothing was left undisturbed by him. Law and order,
throughout the State, overwhelmed by distraction, were turned
upside down.
First the rebels revolutionized the style of wearing their hair.
For they had it cut differently from the rest of the Romans: not
molesting the mustache or beard, which they allowed to keep on
growing as long as it would, as the Persians do, but clipping
the hair short on the front of the head down to the temples, and
letting it hang down in great length and disorder in the back,
as the Massageti do. This weird combination they called the Hun
haircut.
Next they decided to wear the purple stripe on their togas, and
swaggered about in a dress indicating a rank above their station:
for it was only by ill-gotten money they were able to buy this
finery. And the sleeves of their tunics were cut tight about the
wrists, while from there to the shoulders they were of an ineffable
fullness; thus, whenever they moved their hands, as when applauding
at the theater or encouraging a driver in the hippodrome, these
immense sleeves fluttered conspicuously, displaying to the simple
public what beautiful and well-developed physiques were these
that required such large garments to cover them. They did not
consider that by the exaggeration of this dress the meagerness
of their stunted bodies appeared all the more noticeable. Their
cloaks, trousers, and boots were also different: and these too
were called the Hun style, which they imitated.
Almost all of them carried steel openly from the first, while
by day they concealed their two-edged daggers along the thigh
under their cloaks. Collecting in gangs as soon as dusk fell,
they robbed their betters in the open Forum and in the narrow
alleys, snatching from passersby their mantles, belts, gold brooches,
and whatever they had in their hands. Some they killed after robbing
them, so they could not inform anyone of the assault.
These outrages brought the enmity of everybody on them, especially
that of the Blue partisans who had not taken active part in the
discord. When even the latter were molested, they began to wear
brass belts and brooches and cheaper cloaks than most of them
were privileged to display, lest their elegance should lead to
their deaths; and even before the sun went down they went home
to hide. But the evil progressed; and as no punishment came to
the criminals from those in charge of the public peace, their
boldness increased more and more. For when crime finds itself
licensed, there are no limits to its abuses; since even when it
is punished, it is never quite suppressed, most men being by nature
easily turned to error. Such, then, was the conduct of the Blues.
Some of the opposite party joined this faction so as to get even
with the people of their original side who had ill-treated them;
others fled in secret to other lands, but many were captured before
they could get away, and perished either at the hands of their
foes or by sentence of the State. And many other young men offered
themselves to this society who had never before taken any interest
in the quarrel, but were now induced by the power and possibility
of insolence they could thus acquire. For there is no villainy
to which men give a name that was not committed during this time,
and remained unpunished.
Now at first they killed only their opponents. But as matters
progressed, they also murdered men who had done nothing against
them. And there were many who bribed them with money, pointing
out personal enemies, whom the Blues straightway dispatched, declaring
these victims were Greens, when as a matter of fact they were
utter strangers. And all this went on not any longer at dark and
by stealth, but in every hour of the day, everywhere in the city:
before the eyes of the most notable men of the government, if
they happened to be bystanders. For they did not need to conceal
their crimes, having no fear of punishment, but considered it
rather to the advantage of their reputation, as proving their
strength and manhood, to kill with one stroke of the dagger any
unarmed man who happened to be passing by.
No one could hope to live very long under this state of affairs,
for everybody suspected he would be the next to be killed. No
place was safe, no time of day offered any pledge of security,
since these murders went on in the holiest of sanctuaries even
during divine services. No confidence was left in one's friends
or relatives, for many died by conspiracy of members of their
own households. Nor was there any investigation after these deeds,
but the blow would fall unexpectedly, and none avenged the victim.
No longer was there left any force in law or contract, because,of
this disorder, but everything was settled by violence. The State
might as well have been a tyranny: not one, however, that had
been established, but one that was being overturned daily and
ever recommencing.
The magistrates seemed to have been driven from their senses,
and their wits enslaved by the fear of one man. The judges, when
deciding cases that came up before them, cast their votes not
according to what they thought right or lawful, but according
as either of the disputants was an enemy or friend of the faction
in power. For a judge who disregarded its instruction was sentencing
himself to death. And many creditors were forced to receipt the
bills they had sent to their debtors without being paid what was
due them; and many thus against their will had to free their slaves.
And they say that certain ladies were forced by their own slaves
to do what they did not want to do; and the sons of notable men,
getting mixed up with these young bandits, compelled their fathers,
among other acts against their will, to hand over their properties
to them. Many boys were constrained, with their fathers' knowledge,
to serve the unnatural desires of the Blues; and happily married
women met the same misfortune.
It is told that a woman of no undue beauty was ferrying with her
husband to the suburb opposite the mainland; when some men of
this party met them on the water, and jumping into her boat, dragged
her abusively from her husband and made her enter their vessel.
She had whispered to her spouse to trust her and have no fear
of any reproach, for she would not allow herself to be dishonored.
Then, as he looked at her in great grief, she threw her body into
the Bosphorus and forthwith vanished from the world of men. Such
were the deeds this party dared to commit at that time in Constantinople.
Yet all of this disturbed people less than Justinian's offenses
against the State. For those who suffer the most grievously from
evildoers are relieved of the greater part of their anguish by
the expectation they will sometime be avenged by law and authority.
Men who are confident of the future can bear more easily and less
painfully their present troubles; but when they are outraged even
by the government what befalls them is naturally all the more
grievous, and by the failing of all hope of redress they are turned
to utter despair. And Justinian's crime was that he was not only
unwilling to protect the injured, but saw no reason why he should
not be the open head of the guilty faction; he gave great sums
of money to these young men, and surrounded himself with them:
and some he even went so far as to appoint to high office and
other posts of honor.
8. CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE OF JUSTINIAN
Now this went on not only in Constantinople, but in every city:
for like any other disease, the evil, starting there, spread throughout
the entire Roman Empire. But the Emperor was undisturbed by the
trouble, even when it went on continually under his own eyes at
the hippodrome. For he was very complacent and resembled most
the silly ass, which follows, only shaking its ears, when one
drags it by the bridle. As such Justinian acted, and threw everything
into confusion.
As soon as he took over the rule from his uncle, his measure was
to spend the public money without restraint, now that he had control
of it. He gave much of it to the Huns who, from time to time,
entered the state; and in consequence the Roman provinces were
subject to constant incursions, for these barbarians, having once
tasted Roman wealth, never forgot the road that led to it. And
he threw much money into the sea in the form of moles, as if to
master the eternal roaring of the breakers. For he jealously hurled
stone breakwaters far out from the mainland against the onset
of the sea, as if by the power of wealth he could outmatch the
might of ocean.
He gathered to himself the private estates of Roman citizens from
all over the Empire: some by accusing their possessors of crimes
of which they were innocent, others by juggling their owners'
words into the semblance of a gift to him of their property. And
many, caught in the act of murder and other crimes, turned their
possessions over to him and thus escaped the penalty for their
sins.
Others, fraudulently disputing title to lands happening to adjoin
their own, when they saw they had no chance of getting the best
of the argument, with the law against them, gave him their equity
in the claim so as to be released from court. Thus, by a gesture
that cost him nothing, they gained his favor and were able illegally
to get the better of their opponents.
I think this is as good a time as any to describe the personal
appearance of the man. Now in physique he was neither tall nor
short, but of average height; not thin, but moderately plump;
his face was round, and not bad looking, for he had good color,
even when he fasted for two days. To make a long description short,
he much resembled Domitian, Vespasian's son. He was the one whom
the Romans so hated that even tearing him into pieces did not
satisfy their wrath against him, but a decree was passed by the
Senate that the name of this Emperor should never be written,
and that no statue of him should be preserved. And so this name
was erased in all the inscriptions at Rome and wherever else it
had been written, except only where it occurs in the list of emperors;
and nowhere may be seen any statue of him in all the Roman Empire,
save one in brass, which was made for the following reason.
Domitian's wife was of free birth and otherwise noble; and neither
had she herself ever done wrong to anybody, nor had she assented
in her husband's acts. Wherefore she was dearly loved; and the
Senate sent for her, when Domitian died, and commanded her to
ask whatever boon she wished. But she asked only this: to set
up in his memory one brass image, wherever she might desire. To
this the Senate agreed. Now the lady, wishing to leave a memorial
to future time of the savagery of those who had butchered her
husband, conceived this plan: collecting the pieces of Domitian's
body, she joined them accurately together and sewed the body up
again into its original semblance. Taking this to the statue makers,
she ordered them to produce the miserable form in brass. So the
artisans forthwith made the image, and the wife took it, and set
it up in the street which leads to the Capitol, on the right hand
side as one goes there from the Forum: a monument to Domitian
and a revelation of the manner of his death until this day.
Justinian's entire person, his manner of expression and all of
his features might be clearly pointed out in this statue.
Now such was Justinian in appearance; but his character was something
I could not fully describe. For he was at once villainous and
amenable; as people say colloquially, a moron. He was never truthful
with anyone, but always guileful in what he said and did, yet
easily hoodwinked by any who wanted to deceive him. His nature
was an unnatural mixture of folly and wickedness. What in olden
times a peripatetic philosopher said was also true of him, that
opposite qualities combine in a man as in the mixing of colors.
I will try to portray him, however, insofar as I can fathom his
complexity.
This Emperor, then, was deceitful, devious, false, hypocritical,
two-faced, cruel, skilled in dissembling his thought, never moved
to tears by either joy or pain, though he could summon them artfully
at will when the occasion demanded, a liar always, not only offhand,
but in writing, and when he swore sacred oaths to his subjects
in their very hearing. Then he would immediately break his agreements
and pledges, like the vilest of slaves, whom indeed only the fear
of torture drives to confess their perjury. A faithless friend,
he was a treacherous enemy, insane for murder and plunder, quarrelsome
and revolutionary, easily led to anything evil, but never willing
to listen to good counsel, quick to plan mischief and carry it
out, but finding even the hearing of anything good distasteful
to his ears.
How could anyone put Justinian's ways into words? These and many
even worse vices were disclosed in him as in no other mortal nature
seemed to have taken the wickedness of all other men combined
and planted it in this man's soul. And besides this, he was too
prone to listen to accusations; and too quick to punish. For he
decided such cases without full examination, naming the punishment
when he had heard only the accuser s side of the matter. Without
hesitation he wrote decrees for the plundering of countries, sacking
of cities, and slavery of whole nations, for no cause whatever.
So that if one wished to take all the calamities which had befallen
the Romans before this time and weigh them against his crimes,
I think it would be found that more men had been murdered by this
single man than in all previous history.
He had no scruples about appropriating other people's property,
and did not even think any excuse necessary, legal or illegal,
for confiscating what did not belong to him. And when it was his,
he was more than ready to squander it in insane display, or give
it as an unnecessary bribe to the barbarians. In short, he neither
held on to any money himself nor let anyone else keep any: as
if his reason were not avarice, but jealousy of those who had
riches. Driving all wealth from the country of the Romans in this
manner, he became the cause Of universal poverty.
Now this was the character of Justinian, so far as I can portray
it.
9. HOW THEODORA, MOST DEPRAVED OF ALL COURTESANS, WON HIS
LOVE
He took a wife: and in what manner she was born and bred, and,
wedded to this man, tore up the Roman Empire by the very roots,
I shall now relate.
Acacius was the keeper of wild beasts used in the amphitheater
in Constantinople; he belonged to the Green faction and was nicknamed
the Bearkeeper. This man, during the rule of Anastasius, fell
sick and died, leaving three daughters named Comito, Theodora
and Anastasia: of whom the eldest was not yet seven years old.
His widow took a second husband, who with her undertook to keep
up Acacius's family and profession. But Asterius, the dancing
master of the Greens, on being bribed by another ' removed this
office from them and assigned it to the man who gave him the money.
For the dancing masters had the power of distributing such positions
as they wished.
When this woman saw the populace assembled in the amphitheater,
she placed laurel wreaths on her daughters' heads and in their
hands, and sent them out to sit on the ground in the attitude
of suppliants. The Greens eyed this mute appeal with indifference;
but the Blues were moved to bestow on the children an equal office,
since their own animal-keeper had just died.
When these children reached the age of girlhood, their mother
put them on the local stage, for they were fair to look upon;
she sent them forth, however, not all at the same time, but as
each one seemed to her to have reached a suitable age. Comito,
indeed, had already become one of the leading hetaerae [high
class prostitutes] of the day.
Theodora, the second sister, dressed in a little tunic with sleeves,
like a slave girl, waited on Comito and used to follow her about
carrying on her shoulders the bench on which her favored sister
was wont to sit at public gatherings. Now Theodora was still too
young to know the normal relation of man with maid, but consented
to the unnatural violence of villainous slaves who, following
their masters to the theater, employed their leisure in this infamous
manner. And for some time in a brothel she suffered such misuse.
But as soon as she arrived at the age of youth, and was now ready
for the world, her mother put her on the stage. Forthwith, she
became a courtesan, and such as the ancient Greeks used to call
a common one, at that: for she was not a flute or harp player,
nor was she even trained to dance, but only gave her youth to
anyone she met, in utter abandonment. Her general favors included,
of course, the actors in the theater; and in their productions
she took part in the low comedy scenes. For she was very funny
and a good mimic, and immediately became popular in this art.
There was no shame in the girl, and no one ever saw her dismayed:
no role was too scandalous for her to, accept without a blush.
She was the kind of comedienne who delights the audience by letting
herself be cuffed and slapped on the cheeks, and makes them guffaw
by raising her skirts to reveal to the spectators those feminine
secrets here and there which custom veils from the eyes of the
opposite sex. With pretended laziness she mocked her lovers, and
coquettishly adopting ever new ways of embracing, was able to
keep in a constant turmoil the hearts of the sophisticated. And
she did not wait to be asked by anyone she met, but on the contrary,
with inviting jests and a comic flaunting of her skirts herself
tempted all men who passed by, especially those who were adolescent.
On the field of pleasure she was never defeated. Often she would
go picnicking with ten young men or more, in the flower of their
strength and virility, and dallied with them all, the whole night
through. When they wearied of the sport, she would approach their
servants, perhaps thirty in number, and fight a duel with each
of these; and even thus found no allayment of her craving. Once,
visiting the house of an illustrious gentleman, they say she mounted
the projecting corner of her dining couch, pulled up the front
of her dress, without a blush, and thus carelessly showed her
wantonness. And though she flung wide three gates to the ambassadors
of Cupid, she lamented that nature had not similarly unlocked
the straits of her bosom, that she might there have contrived
a further welcome to his emissaries.
Frequently, she conceived but as she employed every artifice immediately,
a miscarriage was straightway effected. Often, even in the theater,
in the sight of all the people, she removed her costume and stood
nude in their midst, except for a girdle about the groin: not
that she was abashed at revealing that, too, to the audience,
but because there was a law against appearing altogether naked
on the stage, without at least this much of a fig-leaf. Covered
thus with a ribbon, she would sink down to the stage floor and
recline on her back. Slaves to whom the duty was entrusted would
then scatter grains of barley from above into the calyx of this
passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose, would next
pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat. When she
rose, it was not with a blush, but she seemed rather to glory
in the performance. For she was not only impudent herself, but
endeavored to make everybody else as audacious. Often when she
was alone with other actors she would undress in their midst and
arch her back provocatively, advertising like a peacock both to
those who had experience of her and to those who had not yet had
that privilege her trained suppleness.
So perverse was her wantonness that she should have hid not only
the customary part of her person, as other women do, but her face
as well. Thus those who were intimate with her were straightway
recognized from that very fact to be perverts, and any more respectable
man who chanced upon her in the Forum avoided her and withdrew
in haste, lest the hem of his mantle, touching such a creature,
might be thought to share in her pollution. For to those who saw
her, especially at dawn, she was a bird of ill omen. And toward
her fellow actresses she was as savage as a scorpion: for she
was very malicious.
Later, she followed Hecebolus, a Tyrian who had been made governor
of Pentapolis, serving him in the basest of ways; but finally
she quarreled with him and was sent summarily away. Consequently,
she found herself destitute of the means of life, which she proceeded
to earn by prostitution, as she had done before this adventure.
She came thus to Alexandria, and then traversing all the East,
worked her way to Constantinople; in every city plying a trade
(which it is safer, I fancy, in the sight of God not to name too
clearly) as if the Devil were determined there be no land on earth
that should not know the sins of Theodora.
Thus was this woman born and bred, and her name was a byword beyond
that of other common wenches on the tongues of all men.
But when she came back to Constantinople, Justinian fell violently
in love with her. At first he kept her only as a mistress, though
he raised her to patrician rank. Through him Theodora was able
immediately to acquire an unholy power and exceedingly great riches.
she seemed to him the sweetest thing in the world, and like all
lovers, he desired to please his charmer with every possible favor
and requite her with all his wealth. The extravagance added fuel
to the flames of passion. With her now to help spend his money
he plundered the people more than ever, not only in the capital,
but throughout the Roman Empire. As both of them had for a long
time been of the Blue party, they gave this faction almost complete
control of the affairs of state. It was long afterward that the
worst of this evil was checked in the following manner.
Justinian had been ill for several days, and during this illness
was in such peril of his life that it was even said he had died;
and the Blues, who had been committing such crimes as I have mentioned,
went so far as to kill Hypatius, a gentleman of no mean importance,
in broad daylight in the Church of St. Sophia. The cry of horror
at this crime came to the Emperor's ears, and everyone about him
seized the opportunity of pointing out the enormity of what was
going on in Justinian's absence from public affairs; and they
enumerated from the beginning how many crimes had been committed.
The Emperor then ordered the Prefect of the city to punish these
offenses. This man was one Theodotus, nicknamed the Pumpkin. He
made a thorough investigation and was able to apprehend many of
the guilty and sentence them to death, though many others were
not found out, and escaped. They were destined to perish later,
together with the Roman Empire.
Justinian, unexpectedly restored to health, straightway undertook
to put Theodotus to death as a poisoner and a magician. But since
he had no proof on which to condemn the man, he tortured friends
of his until they were compelled to say the words that would wrongfully
ruin him. When everyone else stood to one side and only in silence
lamented the plot against Theodotus, one man, Proclus the Quaestor,
dared to say openly that the man was innocent of the charge against
him, and in no way merited death. Thanks to him, Theodotus was
permitted by the Emperor to be exiled to Jerusalem. But learning
there that men were being sent to do away with him, he hid himself
in the church for the rest of his life until he died. And this
was the fate of Theodotus.
But after this, the Blues became the most prudent of men. For
they ventured no longer to continue their offenses, even though
they might have transgressed more fearlessly than before. And
the proof of this is, that when a few of them later showed such
courage, no punishment at all befell them. For those who had the
power to punish, always gave these gangsters time to escape, tacitly
encouraging the rest to trample upon the laws.
10.. HOW JUSTINIAN CREATED A NEW LAW PERMITTING HIM TO MARRY
A COURTESAN
Now as long as the former Empress was alive, Justinian was unable
to find a way to make Theodora his wedded wife. In this one matter
she opposed him as in nothing else: for the lady abhorred vice,
being a rustic and of barbarian descent, as I have shown. She
was never able to do any real good, because of her continued ignorance
of the affairs of state. She dropped her original name, for fear
people would think it ridiculous, and adopted the name of Euphemia
when she came to the palace. But finally her death removed this
obstacle to Justinian's desire.
Justin, doting and utterly senile, was now the laughing stock
of his subjects; he was disregarded by everyone because of his
inability to oversee state affairs; but Justinian they all served
with considerable awe. His hand was in everything, and his passion
for turmoil created universal consternation.
It was then that he undertook to complete his marriage with Theodora.
But as it was impossible for a man of senatorial rank to make
a courtesan his wife, this being forbidden by ancient law, he
made the Emperor nullify this ordinance by creating a new one,
permitting him to wed Theodora, and consequently making it possible
for anyone else to marry a courtesan. Immediately after this he
seized the power of the Emperor, veiling his usurpation with a
transparent pretext: for he was proclaimed colleague of his uncle
as Emperor of the Romans by the questionable legality of an election
inspired by terror.
So Justinian and Theodora ascended the imperial throne three days
before Easter, a time, indeed, when even making visits or greeting
one's friends is forbidden. And not many days later Justin died
of an illness, after a reign of nine years. Justinian was now
sole .monarch, together, of course, with Theodora.
Thus it was that Theodora, though born and brought up as I have
related, rose to royal dignity over all obstacles. For no thought
of shame came to Justinian in marrying her, though he might have
taken his pick of the noblest born, most highly educated, most
modest, carefully nurtured, virtuous and beautiful virgins of
all the ladies in the whole Roman Empire: a maiden, as they say,
with upstanding breasts. Instead, he preferred to make his own
:what, had been common to all men, alike, careless of all her
revealed history, took in wedlock a woman who was not only guilty
of every other contamination but boasted of her many abortions.
I need hardly mention any other proof of the character of this
man: for all the perversity of his soul was completely displayed
in this union; which alone was ample interpreter, witness, and
historian of his shamelessness. For when a man once disregards
the disgrace of his actions and is willing to brave the contempt
of society, no path of lawlessness is thereafter taboo to him;
but with unflinching countenance he advances, easily and without
a scruple, to acts of the deepest infamy.
However, not a single member of even the Senate, seeing this disgrace
befalling the State, dared to complain or forbid the event; but
all of them bowed down before her as if she were a goddess. Nor
was there a priest who showed any resentment, but all hastened
to greet her as Highness. And the populace who had seen her before
on the stage, directly raised its hands to proclaim itself her
slave in fact and in name. Nor did any soldier grumble at being
ordered to risk the perils of war for the benefit of Theodora:
nor was there any man on earth who ventured to oppose her.
Confronted with this disgrace, they all yielded, I suppose, to
necessity, for it was as if Fate were giving proof of its power
to control mortal affairs as malignantly as it pleases: showing
that its decrees need not always be according to reason or human
propriety. Thus does Destiny sometimes raise mortals suddenly
to lofty heights in defiance of reason, in challenge to all out
cries of injustice; but admits no obstacle, urging on his favorites
to the appointed goal without let or hindrance. But as this is
the will of God, so let it befall and be
written.
Now Theodora was fair of face and of a very graceful, though small,
person; her complexion was moderately colorful, if somewhat pale;
and her eyes were dazzling and vivacious. All eternity would not
be long enough to allow one to tell her escapades while she was
on the stage, but the few details I have mentioned above should
be sufficient to demonstrate the woman's character to future generations.
What she and her husband did together must now be briefly described:
for neither did anything without the consent of the other. For
some time it was generally supposed they were totally different
in mind and action; but later it was revealed that their apparent
disagreement had been arranged so that their subjects might not
unanimously revolt against them, but instead be divided in opinion.
Thus they split the Christians into two parties, each pretending
to take the part of one side, thus confusing both, as I shall
soon show; and then they ruined both political factions. Theodora
feigned to support the Blues with all her power, encouraging them
to take the offensive against the opposing party and perform the
most outrageous deeds of violence; while Justinian, affecting
to be vexed and secretly jealous of her, also pretended he could
not openly oppose her orders. And thus they gave the impression
often that they were acting in opposition. Then he would rule
that the Blues must be punished for their crimes, and she would
angrily complain that against her will she was defeated by her
husband. However, the Blue partisans, as I have said, seemed cautious,
for they did not violate their neighbors as much as they might
have done.
And in legal disputes each of the two would pretend to favor one
of the litigants, and compel the man with the worse case to win:
and so they robbed both disputants of most of the property at
issue.
In the same way, the Emperor, taking many persons into his intimacy,
gave them offices by power of which they could defraud the State
to the limits of their ambition. And as soon as they had collected
enough plunder, they would fall out of favor with Theodora, and
straightway be ruined. At first he would affect great sympathy
in their behalf, but soon he would somehow lose his confidence
in them, and an air of doubt would darken his zeal in their behalf.
Then Theodora would use them shamefully, while he, unconscious
as it were of what was being done to them, confiscated their properties
and boldly enjoyed their wealth. By such well-planned hypocrisies
they confused the public and, pretending to be at variance with
each other, were able to establish a firm and mutual tyranny.
Introduction
Part One - Historian-10
Part Two - Chap 11-20
Part Three - Chap 21-30
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