The Secret History by Procopius

Author:Procopius
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Medieval, Literary Criticism, Ancient, Rome
Publisher: Penguin UK
Published: 2007-10-04T05:09:16+00:00

Such was his statement. And the woman replied by intoning, ‘Patrician So-and-So’, and the chorus of eunuchs chanted their response: ‘That’s a mighty big hernia you’ve got there!’ When the suppliant renewed his appeal and spoke in very much the same terms as before, the woman repeated her former reply and the chorus their former response, until the poor fellow gave up in despair, prostrated himself in the regulation way, and departing from there returned home.

For most of the year, the Empress spent her time in the suburbs overlooking the sea, chiefly in the place called Herion.68 This meant a great deal of discomfort for her huge retinue of attendants, for provisions were in short supply, and they were exposed to dangers from the sea, especially if a storm happened to break, or the whale made a sudden attack somewhere in the area.69 But they70 were indifferent to the sufferings of all men alive, so long as they themselves could live in luxurious comfort. Theodora’s method of dealing with those who had offended her shall be my next subject. Of course I shall mention only a few cases, that I may not seem to be toiling at an interminable task.

[16] When Amalasuntha,71 in her anxiety to part company with the Goths, made up her mind to change her whole way of life and was thinking of migrating to Byzantium, as has been stated in the previous account,72 Theodora reflected that the woman was of proud descent and a Queen, besides being extremely attractive in appearance and swift as lightning to find means to her ends, and became suspicious of her splendid and extraordinarily virile bearing, the fickle spirit of her own husband giving her further cause for alarm. She made her jealousy apparent in a far from inconsequential fashion; rather, she schemed to ensnare the woman and bring her to her death. Forthwith she induced her husband to send Peter to Italy by himself to act as an ambassador. At his departure the Emperor gave him the instructions detailed in the appropriate section of my work,73 where through fear of the Empress it was quite impossible for me to tell the true story of what happened. She herself gave him this single command – to remove the woman from this world at the earliest possible moment; and she saw to it that the man was swept off his feet by the hope of ample rewards if he carried out her commands. When he arrived in Italy – for man is incapable by nature of proceeding with hesitation to a brutal murder when he has hopes of some office, perhaps, or a big monetary reward – he approached Theodahad with an offer of some sort and persuaded him to do away with Amalasuntha.74 As recompense he was awarded the rank of Magister75 and became immensely powerful and hated more than any man alive.

So ended the story of Amalasuntha. In Justinian’s employment was a letter-writer named Priscus, utterly villainous and as blustering

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