We have previously discussed Procopius at various junctures. For example, here or here or here. Nevertheless, we have never had a full description of the mentions of the Slavs and Antae in the works of Procopius. So here it goes. We include complete passages for context. Given the length of these passages, we are creating a separate Byzantine source section that makes them easily accessible. Maps of the Gothic War operations in Italy are shown here:
and here:
These selections are based on the H.B. Dewing edition and include portion from:
- History of the Wars
- Secret History (or Anecdota or Secret History of the Court of Justinian)
- Buildings (of Justinian)
Procopius, History of Wars Book 5, 27
“This exploit, then, was accomplished by the Goths on the third day after they were repulsed in the assault on the wall. But twenty days after the city and harbour of Portus were captured, Martinus and Valerian arrived, bringing with them sixteen hundred horsemen, the most of whom were Huns and Sclaveni and Antae, who are settled above the Ister River not far from its banks. And Belisarius was pleased by their coining and thought that thenceforth his army ought to carry the war against the enemy. On the following day, accordingly, he commanded one of his own bodyguards, Trajan by name, an impetuous and active fighter, to take two hundred horsemen of the guards and go straight towards the enemy, and as soon as they came near the camps to go up on a high hill (which he pointed out to him) and remain quietly there. And if the enemy should come against them, he was not to allow the battle to come to close quarters, nor to touch sword or spear in any case, but to use bows only, and as soon as he should find that his quiver had no more arrows in it, he was to flee as hard as he could with no thought of shame and retire to the fortifications on the run. Having given these instructions, he held in readiness both the engines for shooting arrows and the men skilled in their use. Then Trajan with the two hundred men went out from the Salarian Gate against the camp of the enemy. And they, being filled with amazement at the suddenness of the thing, rushed out from the camps, each man equipping himself as well as he could. But the men under Trajan galloped to the top of the hill which Belisarius had shewn them, and from there began to ward off the barbarians with missiles. And since their shafts fell among a dense throng, they were for the most part successful in hitting a man or a horse. But when all their missiles had at last failed them, they rode off to the rear with all speed, and the Goths kept pressing upon them in pursuit. But when they came near the fortifications, the operators of the engines began to shoot arrows from them, and the barbarians became terrified and abandoned the pursuit. And it is said that not less than one thousand Goths perished in this action. A few days later Belisarius sent Mundilas, another of his own bodyguard, and Diogenes, both exceptionally capable warriors, with three hundred guardsmen, commanding them to do the same thing as the others had done before. And they acted according to his instructions. Then, when the enemy confronted them, the result of the encounter was that no fewer than in the former action, perhaps even more, perished in the same way. And sending even a third time the guardsman Oilas with three hundred horsemen, with instructions to handle the enemy in the same way, he accomplished the same result. So in making these three sallies, in the manner told by me, Belisarius destroyed about four thousand of his antagonists. But Vittigis, failing to take into account the difference between the two armies in point of equipment of arms and of practice in warlike deeds, thought that he too would most easily inflict grave losses upon the enemy, if only he should make his attack upon them with a small force. He therefore sent five hundred horsemen, commanding them to go close to the fortifications, and to make a demonstration against the whole army of the enemy of the very same tactics as had time and again been used against them, to their sorrow, by small bands of the foe. And so, when they came to a high place not far from the city, but just beyond the range of missiles, they took their stand there. But Belisarius selected a thousand men, putting Bessas in command, and ordered them to engage with the enemy. And this force, by forming a circle around the enemy and always shooting at them from behind, killed a large number, and by pressing hard upon the rest compelled them to descend into the plain. There a hand-to-hand battle took place between forces not evenly matched in strength, and most of the Goths were destroyed, though some few with difficulty made their escape and returned to their own camp. And Vittigis reviled these men, insisting that cowardice had been the cause of their defeat, and undertaking to find another set of men to retrieve the loss after no long time, he remained quiet for the present; but three days later he selected men from all the camps, five hundred in number, and bade them make a display of valorous deeds against the enemy. Now as soon as Belisarius saw that these men had come rather near, he sent out against them fifteen hundred men under the commanders Martinus and Valerian. And a cavalry battle taking place immediately, the Romans, being greatly superior to the enemy in numbers, routed them without any trouble and destroyed practically all of them. And to the enemy it seemed in every way a dreadful thing and a proof that fortune stood against them, if, when they were many and the enemy who came against them were few, they were defeated, and when, on the other hand, they in turn went in small numbers against their enemy, they were likewise destroyed. Belisarius, however, received a public vote of praise from the Romans for his wisdom, at which they not unnaturally marvelled greatly, but in private his friends asked him on what he had based his judgment on that day when he had escaped from the enemy after being so completely defeated, and why he had been confident that he would overcome them decisively in the war. And he said that in engaging with them at the first with only a few men he had noticed just what the difference was between the two armies, so that if he should fight his battles with them with a force which was in strength proportionate to theirs, the multitudes of the enemy could inflict no injury upon the Romans by reason of the smallness of their numbers. And the difference was this, that practically all the Romans and their allies, the Huns, are good mounted bowmen, but not a man among the Goths has had practice in this branch, for their horsemen are accustomed to use only spears and swords, while their bowmen enter battle on foot and under cover of the heavy-armed men. So the horsemen, unless the engagement is at close quarters, have no means of defending themselves against opponents who use the bow, and therefore can easily be reached by the arrows and destroyed; and as for the footsoldiers, they can never be strong enough to make sallies against men on horseback. It was for these reasons, Belisarius declared, that the barbarians had been defeated by the Romans in these last engagements. And the Goths, remembering the unexpected outcome of their own experiences, desisted thereafter from assaulting the fortifications of Rome in small numbers and also from pursuing the enemy when harassed by them, except only so far as to drive them back from their own camps.”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 6, 15
[circa 512 AD]
“When the Eruli, being defeated by the Lombards in the above-mentioned battle, migrated from their ancestral homes, some of them, as has been told by me above,* made their home in the country of Illyricum, but the rest were averse to crossing the Ister River, but settled at the very extremity of the world; at any rate, these men, led by many of the royal blood, traversed all the nations of the Sclaveni one after the other, and after next crossing a large tract of barren country, they came to the Varni [or Varini], as they are called. After these they passed by the nations of the Dani, without suffering violence at the hands of the barbarians there. Coming thence to the ocean, they took to the sea, and putting in at Thule, remained there on the island.”
* No, he did not.
Procopius, History of Wars Book 6, 26
[539 AD]
“Thus did Theudibert, after marching into Italy, take his departure. And the troops of Martinus and John returned in spite of the changed situation, in order that the enemy might not make any attack upon the Romans engaged in the siege. Now the Goths in Auximus [Osimo], who had learned nothing concerning the coming of the Franks, had begun to despair of their hope from Ravenna which was so long deferred, and were purposing once more to address an appeal to Vittigis; but seeing that they were unable to elude the guards of the enemy, they were filled with grief. But later on their attention was drawn to one of the Romans — he was of the race of the Besi and named Burcentius, and had been assigned to the command of Narses, the Armenian — for they noted that he was keeping guard alone at midday, that no one should come out from the city to take the grass; and they went nearer and hailed him, and giving pledges that they would do him no harm, they urged him to come to meet them, promising that he would receive from them a large sum of money. And when they had come together, the barbarians besought the man to carry a certain letter to Ravenna, naming a fixed sum of gold to be paid to him immediately, and promising to give more when he should return bringing them a letter from Vittigis. And the soldier, won over by the money, agreed to perform this service, and he carried out his promise. For he received a sealed letter and carried it with all speed to Ravenna; and coming before Vittigis he delivered it to him. Now the message conveyed was as follows: ‘The situation in which we now find ourselves will be clearly revealed to you when you inquire who the bringer of this letter is. For not a Goth can find a way to get outside the fortifications. And as for food, the most available supply we have is the grass which grows by the wall, and even this at the present time we cannot so much as touch, except by losing many men in the struggle for it. And it becomes both thee and the Goths in Ravenna to consider what the end of all this will be for us.'”
“When Vittigis had read this, he replied as follows: ‘Let no one think that we have ceased our efforts, dearest of all men, nor that we have come to be guilty of such a degree of baseness as to abandon utterly the cause of the Goths through sheer indifference. For, on my part, it was only recently that the preparations for departure had been made with all possible thoroughness, and Uraias with his whole army had come under summons from Milan. But the inroad of the Franks, coming upon us unexpectedly as it did, has made havoc of all our preparations, a result for which I, at least, could not justly bear the blame. For things which are beyond human power confer even upon those who fail the boon of being free from blame, since fortune draws upon herself whatever charge springs from what has befallen. Now, however, since we hear that Theudibert has got out of our way, we shall at no distant time, if God wills, come to you with the whole Gothic army. And it is needful for you to bear whatever falls to your lot manfully and as befits the necessity which is upon you, calling to mind, first, your own valour, on account of which I chose you out from the whole army and established you in Auximus, and respecting also the reputation which you hold among all the Goths, and which prompted them to put you forward as a bulwark for Ravenna and for their own safety.’ After writing this letter and rewarding the man with a large sum of money, Vittigis sent him away. And when he reached Auximus, he rejoined his comrades, giving as his excuse that some sickness or other had fallen upon him, and that for this reason he had been passing the time in a certain sanctuary not far away; and so he was appointed once more to guard-duty, to the very watch to which he had been accustomed, and unbeknown to all the Romans he gave the letter to the enemy; and when this was read to the people, it gave them all additional encouragement, although they were hard pressed by the famine. Wherefore they were quite unwilling to yield to Belisarius, although he offered many enticements. But when no army had been reported as having left Ravenna, and they were already in extreme distress because of the lack of provisions, they once more sent Burcentius with a message stating only this, that after five days they would no longer be able to fight with the famine. And he returned to them a second time with a letter from Vittigis tantalizing them with similar hopes.”
“Now the Romans were distressed no less than the Goths, because they had been carrying on such a long siege in a deserted land, and they were completely baffled at seeing the barbarians refusing to give in to them although involved in so much suffering. In view of this situation Belisarius was eager to capture alive one of the men of note among the enemy, in order that he might learn what the reason might be why the barbarians were holding out in their desperate situation. And Valerian promised readily to perform such a service for him. For there were some men in his command, he said, from the nation of the Sclaveni, who are accustomed to conceal themselves behind a small rock or any bush which may happen to be near and pounce upon an enemy. In fact, they are constantly practising this in their native haunts along the river Ister, both on the Romans and on the barbarians as well. Belisarius was pleased by this suggestion and bade him see that the thing was done with all speed. So Valerian chose out one of the Sclaveni who was well suited as to size of body and especially active, and commanded him to bring a man of the enemy, assuring him that he would receive a generous reward from Belisarius. And he added that he could do this easily in the place where the grass was, because for a long time past the Goths had been feeding upon this grass, since their provisions were exhausted. So this barbarian at early dawn went close to the fortifications, and hiding himself in a bush and drawing his body into small compass, he remained in concealment near the grass. And at daybreak a Goth came there and began hastily to gather the blades of grass, suspecting no harm from the bush, but looking about frequently toward the enemy’s camp, lest anyone should attack him from there. Then the barbarian, falling unexpectedly upon the Goth from behind, made him captive, holding him tightly about the waist with both hands, and thus carried him to the camp and handed him over to Valerian. And when he questioned the prisoner, asking what basis of confidence and what assurance the Goths could possibly have that they were absolutely unwilling to yield to the Romans, but were voluntarily enduring the most dreadful suffering, the Goth told Valerian the whole truth concerning Burcentius, and when he was brought before him he proved his guilt. As for Burcentius, when he perceived that he had been already found out, he concealed nothing of what he had done. Wherefore Belisarius handed him over to his comrades to do with him as they wished, and they not long afterwards burned him alive, the enemy looking on as they did so. Thus did Burcentius profit by his love for money.”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 7, 13
[after 531 AD]
“…Belisarius then appointed Justinus to command the garrison of Ravenna, and himself, with only a few men, journeyed thence through Dalmatia and the neighbouring lands to Epidamnus, where he remained quiet expecting an army from Byzantium. And writing a letter to the emperor, he reported the present situation. The emperor, therefore, not long afterward, sent him John the nephew of Vitalian and Isaac the Armenian, brother of Aratius and Narses, together with an army of barbarian and Roman soldiers. These troops reached Epidamnus and joined Belisarius there.”
“The emperor also sent Narses the eunuch to the rulers of the Eruli, in order to persuade the most of them to march to Italy. And many of the Eruli followed him, commanded by Philemuth and certain others, and they came with him into the land of Thrace. For the intention was that, after passing the winter there, they should be despatched to Belisarius at the opening of spring. And they were accompanied also by John whom they called the Glutton. And it so fell out that during this journey they unexpectedly rendered a great service to the Romans. For a great throng of the barbarians, Sclaveni, had, as it happened, recently crossed the river Ister, plundered the adjoining country and enslaved a very great number of Romans. Now the Eruli suddenly came upon these barbarians and joined battle with them, and, although far outnumbered, they unexpectedly defeated them, and some they slew, and the captives they released one and all to go to their homes. At that time also Narses found a certain man who was pretending to the name of Chilbudius, a man of note who had once been a general of the Romans, and he easily succeeded in unmasking the plot. Here I shall give the facts of this story.”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 7, 14
[after 531 AD]
“There was a certain Chilbudius of the household of the Emperor Justinian, who was exceedingly efficient in war, and, at the same time, so far superior to the lure of money that instead of a great property in his own right he had no possessions at all. This Chilbudius was appointed by the emperor, in the fourth year of his reign, to be General of Thrace, [AD 531] and was assigned to guard the river Ister, being ordered to keep watch so that the barbarians of that region could no longer cross the river, since the Huns and Antae and Sclaveni had already made the crossing many times and done irreparable harm to the Romans. And Chilbudius became such an object of terror to the barbarians that for the space of three years, during which time he remained there holding this office, not only did no one succeed in crossing the Ister against the Romans, but the Romans actually crossed over to the opposite side many times with Chilbudius and killed and enslaved the barbarians there. But three years later, when Chilbudius crossed the river, as was his custom, with a small force, the Sclaveni came against him with their entire strength; and a fierce battle taking place, many of the Romans fell and among them the general Chilbudius. Thereafter the river became free for the barbarians to cross at all times just as they wished, and the possessions of the Romans were rendered easily accessible; and the entire Roman empire found itself utterly incapable of matching the valour of one single man in the performance of this task.”
“But later on the Antae and Sclaveni became hostile to one another and engaged in a battle, in which it so fell out that the Antae were defeated by their opponents. Now in this battle one of the Sclaveni took captive a certain young man of the enemy named Chilbudius, who was just wearing his first beard, and took him off to his home. This Chilbudius, as time went on, became devoted to his master to an extraordinary degree and proved himself a vigorous warrior in dealing with the enemy. Indeed he exposed himself to danger many times to save his master, distinguishing himself by his deeds of valour, through which he succeeded in winning great renown. At about this time the Antae descended upon the land of Thrace and plundered and enslaved many of the Roman inhabitants; and they led these captives with them as they returned to their native abode.”
“Now chance brought one of these captives into the hands of a kind and gentle master. This man was a great rascal and one capable of circumventing and deceiving those who fell in his way. And since he was unable by any device to effect his return to the land of the Romans, much as he wished it, he conceived the following plan. Coming before his master, he praised him for his kindness and declared that God on account of this would bestow upon him blessings in abundance, and that he for his part would shew himself by no means ungrateful to a most kindly master; but, if only he was willing to give ear to the excellent suggestion which he had to offer, he would shortly put him in possession of a great sum of money. For there was, he said, among the nation of the Sclaveni one Chilbudius, the former general of the Romans, in the condition of a slave, while all the barbarians were ignorant as to who in the world he was. If, therefore, he was willing to pay out the price set upon Chilbudius and convey the man to the land of the Romans, it was not unlikely that he would acquire for himself from the emperor not only a fair reputation but also an enormous amount of money. By these words the Roman speedily persuaded his master, and he went with him into the midst of the Sclaveni; for these barbarians were already on peaceful terms and were mingling with one another without fear. Consequently they were able, by paying out a large sum of money to the master of Chilbudius, to purchase the man, and they departed with him immediately. And when they had come into their own country, the purchaser enquired of the man whether he was Chilbudius himself, the general of the Romans. And he did not hesitate to state truly all the facts in order, saying that he too was by birth of the Antae, and that while fighting with his compatriots against the Sclaveni, who were then at war with them, he had been captured by one of the enemy, but now, upon arriving in his native country, he too according to the law would be free from that time forth.”
“Thereupon the man who had paid out gold for him became speechless with vexation, seeing that he had failed of a hope of no moderate sort. But the Roman, wishing to reassure the man and to controvert the truth, so that no difficulty might arise to prevent his return to his home, still insisted that this man actually was that Chilbudius, but that he was afraid, clearly because he was in the midst of the barbarians, and so was quite unwilling to reveal the whole truth; if, however, he should get into the land of the Romans, he would not only not conceal the truth, but in all probability would actually take pride in that very name. Now at first these things were done without the knowledge of the other barbarians.”
“But when the report was carried about and reached the entire nation, practically all the Antae assembled to discuss the situation, and they demanded that the matter be made a public one, thinking that great benefit would come to them from the fact that they had now become masters of the Roman general Chilbudius. For these nations, the Sclaveni and the Antae, are not ruled by one man, but they have lived from of old under a democracy, and consequently everything which involves their welfare, whether for good or ill, is referred to the people. It is also true that in all other matters, practically speaking, these two barbarian peoples have had from ancient times the same institutions and customs. For they believe that one god, the maker of the lightning, is alone lord of all things, and they sacrifice to him cattle and all other victims; but as for fate, they neither know it nor do they in any wise [i.e., ways] admit that it has any power among men, but whenever death stands close before them, either stricken with sickness or beginning a war, the make a promise that, if they escape they will straightway make a sacrifice to the god in return for their life; and if they escape, they sacrifice just what they have promised, and consider that their safety has been bought with the same sacrifice. They reverence, however, both rivers and nymphs and some other spirits, and they sacrifice to all these also, and they make their divinations in connection with these sacrifices. They live in pitiful hovels which they set up far apart from one another, but, as a general thing, every man is constantly changing his place of above. When they enter battle, the majority of them go against their enemy on foot carrying little shields and javelins in their hands, but they never wear corselets. Indeed, some of them do not wear even a shirt or a cloak, but gathering their trews up as far as to their private parts they enter into battle with their opponents. And both the two peoples [i.e., Antes & Slavs] have also the same language, an utterly barbarous tongue. Nay further, they do not differ at all from one another in appearance. For they are all exceptionally tall and stalwart men, while their bodies and hair are neither very fair or blonde, nor indeed do they incline entirely to the dark type, but they are all slightly ruddy in color. And they live a hard life, giving no heed to bodily comforts, just as the Massagetae do, and like them, they are continually and at all times covered with filth; however, they are in no respect base or evil doers, but they preserve the Hunnic character in all its simplicity. In fact, the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a single name in the remote past; for they were both called Spori in olden times, because, I suppose, living apart one man from another, they inhabit their country in a sporadic fashion. And in consequence of this very fact they hold a great amount of land; for they alone inhabit the greatest part of the northern bank of the Ister. So much then may be said regarding these peoples.“
“So on the present occasion the Antae gathered together, as has been said, and tried to compel this man to agree with them in the assertion that he was Chilbudius, the Roman general himself. And they threatened, if he denied it, to punish him. But while this affair was progressing in the manner described, meantime the Emperor Justinian had sent some envoys to these very barbarians, through whom he expressed the desire that they should all settle in an ancient city, Turris by name, situated to the north of the river Ister. This city had been built by the Roman emperor Trajan in earlier times, but for a long time now it had remained unoccupied, after it had been plundered by the barbarians of that region. It was this city and the lands about it that the Emperor Justinian agreed to give them, asserting that it had belonged to the Romans originally; and he further agreed to give them all the assistance within his power while they were establishing themselves, and to pay them great sums of money, on condition that they should remain at peace with him thereafter and constantly block the way against the Huns, when these wished to overrun the Roman domain.”
“When the barbarians heard this, they expressed approval and promised to carry out all the conditions, provided that he restore Chilbudius to the office of General of the Romans and assign him to assist them in the establishment of their city, stoutly maintaining, what they wished was so, that the man there among them was Chilbudius. Thereupon the man himself, being lifted up by these hopes, began now to claim and to assert, as well as the others, that he was Chilbudius the Roman general. Indeed he was setting out for Byzantium on this mission when Narses, in the course of his journey, came upon him. And when he met the man and found him to be playing the part of an imposter, although he spoke in the Latin tongue and had already learned many of the personal peculiarities of Chilbudius and had been very successful in assuming them, he confined him in prison and compelled him to confess the whole truth, and thereafter brought him in his own train to Byzantium. But I shall return to the point from which I have strayed.”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 7, 29
[548 AD]
“At about this time an army of Sclaveni crossed the river Ister and spread desolation throughout the whole of Illyricum as far as Epidamnus, killing or enslaving all who came in their way, young and old alike, and plundering their property. And they had already succeeded in capturing numerous strongholds of that region, which were then quite undefended, but which previously had been reputed to be strong places, and they continued to roam about searching out everything at their own pleasure. And the commanders of the Illyrians kept following them with an army of fifteen thousand men, without, however, having the courage to get close to the enemy…”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 7, 35
[549 AD]
“Such was the situation in Byzantium. Meanwhile one of the Lombards had fled to the Gepaedes for the following reason. When Vaces was ruler of the Lombards, he had a nephew named Risiulfus, who, according to the law, would be called to the royal power whenever Vaces should die. So Vaces, seeking to make provision that the kingdom should be conferred upon his own son, brought an unjustified accusation against Risiulfus and penalized the man with banishment. He then departed from his home with a few friends and fled immediately to the Varni, leaving behind him two children. But Vaces bribed these barbarians to kill Risiulfus. As for the children of Risiulfus, one of them died of disease, while the other, Ildiges by name, fled to the Sclaveni.”
“Now not long after this Vaces fell sick and passed from the world, and the rule of the Lombards fell to Valdarus, the son of Vaces. But since he was very young, Audouin was appointed regent over him and administered the government. And since he possessed great power as a result of this, he himself seized the rule after no long time, the child having immediately passed from the world by a natural death. Now when the war arose between the Gepaedes and the Lombards, as already told, Ildiges went straight to the Gepaedes taking with him not only those of the Lombards who had followed him, but also many of the Sclaveni, and the Gepaedes were in hopes of restoring him to the kingdom. But on account of the treaty which had now been made with the Lombards, Audouin straightway requested the Gepaedes, as friends, to surrender Ildiges; they, however, refused absolutely to give up the man, but they did order him to depart from their country and save himself wherever he wished. He, then, without delay, took with him his followers and some volunteers of the Gepaedes and came back to the Sclaveni. And departing from there, he went to join Totila and the Goths, having with him an army of not less than six thousand men. Upon his arrival in Venetia, he encountered some Romans commanded by Lazarus, and engaging with them he routed the force and killed many. He did not, however, unite with the Goths, but recrossed the Ister River and withdrew once more to the Sclaveni.”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 7, 38
“At about this time an army of Sclaveni amounting to not more than three thousand crossed the Ister River without encountering any opposition, advanced immediately to the Hebrus River, which they crossed with no difficulty, and then split into two parts. Now the one section of them contained eighteen hundred men, while the other comprised the remainder. And although the two sections were thus separated from each other, the commanders of the Roman arm}’, upon engaging with them, both in Illyricum and in Thrace, were defeated unexpectedly, and some of them were killed on the field of battle, while others saved themselves by a disorderly flight. Now after all the generals had fared thus at the hands of the two barbarian armies, though they were far inferior to the Roman forces in number, one section of the enemy engaged with Asbadus. This man was a guard of the Emperor Justinian, since he served among the candidati [bodyguards distinguished by a white tunic], as they are called, and he was also commander of the cavalry cohorts which from ancient times have been stationed at Tzurullum, the fortress in Thrace, a numerous body of the best troops. These too the Sclaveni routed with no trouble, and they slew the most of them in a most disgraceful flight; they also captured Asbadus and for the moment made him a prisoner, but afterwards they burned him by casting him into a fire, having first flayed strips from the man’s back. Having accomplished these things, they turned to plunder all the towns, both of Thrace and of Illyricum, in comparative security; and both armies captured many fortresses by siege, though they neither had any previous experience in attacking city walls, nor had they dared to come down to the open plain, since these barbarians had never, in fact, even attempted to overrun the land of the Romans. Indeed it appears that they have never in all time crossed the Ister River with an army before the occasion which I have mentioned above.”
“Then those who had defeated Asbadus plundered everything in order as far as the sea and captured by storm a city on the coast named Topirus, though it had a garrison of soldiers; this is the first of the coast towns of Thrace and is twelve days’ journey distant from Byzantium. And they captured it in the following manner. The most of them concealed themselves in the rough ground which lay before the fortifications, while some few went near the gate which is toward the cast and began to harass the Romans at the battlements. Then the soldiers keeping guard there, supposing that they were no more than those who were seen, immediately seized their arms and one and all sallied forth against them. Where- upon the barbarians began to withdraw to the rear, making it appear to their assailants that they were moving off in retreat because they were thoroughly frightened by them; and the Romans, being drawn into the pursuit, found themselves at a considerable distance from the fortifications. Then the men in ambush rose from their hiding places and, placing themselves behind the pursuers, made it no longer possible for them to enter the city. Furthermore, those who had seemed to be in flight turned about, and thus the Romans now came to be exposed to attack on two sides. Then the barbarians, after destroying these to the last man, assaulted the fortifications. But the inhabitants of the city, deprived as they were of the support of the soldiers, found themselves in a very difficult situation, yet even so they warded off the assailants as well as the circumstances permitted. And at first they resisted successfully by heating oil and pitch till it was very hot and pouring it down on those who were attacking the wall, and the whole population joined in hurling stones upon them and thus came not very far from repelling the danger. But finally the barbarians overwhelmed them by the multitude of their missiles and forced them to abandon the battlements, whereupon they placed ladders against the fortifications and so captured the city by storm. Then they slew all the men immediately, to the number of fifteen thousand, took all the valuables as plunder, and reduced the children and women to slavery. Before this, however, they had spared no age, but both these and the other group, since the time when they fell upon the land of the Romans, had been killing all who fell in their way, young and old alike, so that the whole land inhabited by the Illyrians and Thracians came to be everywhere filled with unburied corpses.”
“Now they killed their victims, not with sword nor spear, nor in any other accustomed manner, but by planting very firmly in the earth stakes which they had made exceedingly sharp, and seating the poor wretches upon these with great violence, driving the point of the stake between the buttocks and forcing it up into the intestines; thus did they see fit to destroy them. These barbarians also had a way of planting four thick stakes very deep in the ground, and after binding the feet and hands of the captives to these they would then assiduously beat them over the head with clubs, killing them like dogs or snakes or any other animal. Others again they would imprison in their huts together with their cattle and sheep — those, of course, which they were utterly unable to take with them to their native haunts — and then they would set fire to the huts without mercy. Thus did the Sclaveni consistently destroy those who fell in their way. But from this time onward both these and those of the other group, being as it were drunk with the great quantity of blood they had shed, saw fit to make prisoners of some who fell into their hands, and consequently they were taking with them countless thousands of prisoners when they all departed on the homeward way.”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 7, 40
“But while Germanus was collecting and organizing his army in Sardice, the city of Illyricum, and making all the necessary preparations for war with the greatest thoroughness, a throng of Sclaveni such as never before was known arrived on Roman soil, having crossed the Ister River and come to the vicinity of Naissus. Now some few of these had scattered from their army and, wandering about the country there alone, were captured by certain of the Romans and made prisoners; and the Romans questioned them as to why this particular army of the Sclaveni had crossed the Ister and what they had in mind to accomplish. And they stoutly declared that they had come with the intention of capturing by siege both Thessalonice itself and the cities around it. When the emperor heard this, he was greatly agitated and straightway wrote to Germanus directing him to postpone for the moment his expedition to Italy and defend Thessalonice and the other cities, and to repel the invasion of the Sclaveni with all his power. So Germanus, for his part, was devoting himself to this problem.”
“But the Sclaveni, upon learning definitely from their captives that Germanus was in Sardice, began to be afraid; for Germanus had a great reputation among these particular barbarians for the following reason. During the reign of Justinian, the uncle of Germanus, the Antae, who dwell close to the Sclaveni, had crossed the Ister River with a great army and invaded the Roman domain. Now the emperor had not long before this, as it happened, appointed Germanus General of all Thrace. He accordingly engaged with the hostile army, defeated them decisively in battle, and killed practically all of them; and Germanus, as a result of this achievement, had covered himself with great glory in the estimation of all men, including these same barbarians. Consequently, on account of their dread of him, as I have said, and also because they supposed that he was conducting a very formidable force, seeing that he was being sent by the emperor against Totila and the Goths, the Sclaveni immediately turned aside from their march on Thessaloanice and no longer dared to descend to the plain, but they crossed over all the mountain ranges of Illyricum and so came into Dalmatia. Germanus, accordingly, paid no further attention to them and issued orders to the entire army to prepare for marching, intending to commence the journey thence to Italy two days later.”
“But by some chance it so befell that he was taken sick and abruptly reached the term of life. Thus did Germanus suddenly pass away, a man endowed with the finest qualities and remarkable for his activity; for in war, on the one hand, he was not only a most able general, but was also resourceful and independent in action, while in peace and prosperity, on the other hand, he well understood how to uphold with all firmness both the laws and the institutions of the state. As a judge he was conspicuously upright, while in private life he made loans of large sums of money to all who requested it, never so much as speaking of taking interest from them. Both in the palace and in the market-place he was a man of very impressive personality and exceedingly serious demeanour, while in his daily home life he was a pleasant, open-hearted, and charming host. He would not permit, as far as his strength allowed, any offence in the palace against established laws, nor did he ever share either in the purpose or in the conversations of the conspirators in Byzantium, though many even of those in power went so far in their unnatural conduct. Such then was the course of these events.”
“The emperor was deeply moved by this misfortune, and commanded John, the nephew of Vitalian and son-in-law of Germanus, in company with Justinian, one of the two sons of Germanus, to lead this army into Italy. So they set out on the way to Dalmatia, intending to pass the winter in Salones, since it seemed to them impossible at that season to make the circuit of the gulf, as they would be obliged to do in travelling into Italy; for it was impossible for them to ferry across since they had no ships. Meanwhile Liberius, not having as yet learned anything of the emperor’s change of purpose regarding the fleet he commanded, put in at Syracuse while it was under siege by the enemy. And he forced his way through the barbarian lines, sailed into the harbour, and so got inside the fortifications with the whole fleet. Now Artabanes not long after this reached Cephallenia, and finding that Liberius and his army had already put out to sea and departed thence on the way to Sicily, he immediately set out from there and crossed the so-called Adriatic Sea. But when he came near Calabria, he was assailed by a terrific storm and a head wind of extraordinary violence, and it so fell out that all the ships were scattered so completely that it appeared that the most of them had been driven on the shore of Calabria and fallen into the hands of the enemy. This, however, was not the case, but they had first been driven apart by the great violence of the wind, then had turned about, heavily buffeted meanwhile by the sea, and had reached the Peloponnesus again. As for the other ships, some were lost and some were saved, according to where chance carried them. But one ship, that in which Artabanes himself was sailing, had its mast broken off in this heavy sea, and yet, alter coming to such a degree of danger, was carried by the surge and followed the swell until it came to land at the island of Melita. Thus did it come about contrary to expectation that Artabanes was saved.”
“Liberius now found himself unable to make sallies against the besiegers or to fight a decisive battle against them, while at the same time their provisions could not possibly suffice for any considerable time, seeing they were a large force, and so he set sail from there with his troops, and, eluding the enemy, withdrew to Panormus.”
“Totila and the Goths, meanwhile, had plundered practically the whole land of Sicily; they had collected as booty a vast number of horses and other animals, and had stripped the island of grain and all its other crops; these, together with all the treasure, which amounted to a great sum indeed, they loaded on their ships, and then suddenly abandoned the island and returned to Italy, being impelled to do so for the following reason. Not long before this, as it happened, Totila had appointed one of the Romans, Spinus by name, a native of Spolitium, to be his personal adviser. This man was staying in Catana, which was an unwalled town. And, by some chance, it came about that he fell into the hands of the enemy there. Now Totila, being eager to rescue this man, wished tit release to the Romans in his stead a notable’s wife who was his prisoner. But the Romans would not consent to accept a woman in exchange for a man holding the position of quaestor, as it is called. The man consequently became fearful that he would be destroyed while in hostile hands, and so promised the Romans that he would persuade Totila to depart immediately from Sicily and cross over to Italy with the whole Gothic army. So they first bound him over by oaths to carry out this promise and then gave him up to the Goths, receiving the woman in return. He then went before Totila and asserted that the Goths were not consulting their own interests, now that they had plundered practically the whole of Sicily, in remaining there for a few insignificant fortresses. For he declared that he had recently heard, while he was among the enemy, that Germanus, the emperor’s nephew, had passed from the world, and that John, his son-in-law, and Justinian, his son, with the whole army collected by Germanus were already in Dalmatia and would move on from there, after completing their preparations in the briefest time, straight for Liguria, in order, obviously, to descend suddenly upon the Goths and make slaves of their women and children and to plunder all their valuables; and it woidd be better for the Goths, he said, to be there to meet them, passing the winter meanwhile in safety in company with their families. ‘For,’ he went on, ‘if we overcome that army, it will be possible for us at the opening of spring to renew our operations against Sicily free from anxiety and with no thought of an enemy in our minds.’ Totila was convinced by this suggestion, and so, leaving guards in four strongholds, he himself, taking with him the entire booty, crossed over with all the rest, of the army to Italy. Such was the course of these events.”
“Now John and the emperor’s army, upon reaching Dalmatia, decided to pass the winter in Salones, purposing to inarch from there straight for Ravenna alter the winter season. But the Sclaveni now reappeared, both those who had previously come into the emperor’s land, as I have recounted ahove, and others who had crossed the Ister not long afterwards and joined the first, and they hegan to overrun the Roman domain with complete freedom. And some indeed entertained the suspicion that Totila had bribed these very barbarians with large gifts of money and so set them upon the Romans there, with the definite purpose of making it impossible for the emperor to manage the war against the Goths well because of his preoccupation with these barbarians. But as to whether the Sclaveni were conferring a favour upon Totila, or whether they came there without invitation, I am unable to say. These barbarians did, in any case, divide themselves into three groups and wrought irreparable damage in all Europe, not merely plundering that country by sudden raids, but actually spending the winter as if in their own land and hav ing no fear of the enemy. Afterwards, however, the Emperor Justinian sent a very considerable army against them, which was led by a number of commanders, including Constantianus, Aratius, Nazares, Justinus the son of Germanus and John who bore the epithet of the Glutton. But he placed in supreme command over them all Scholasticus, one of the eunuchs of the palace.”
“This army came upon a part of the barbarians near Adrianopolis, which is situated in the interior of Thrace, five days’ journey distant from Byzantium. And the barbarians were unable to proceed further; for they were taking with them a booty which surpassed all reckoning, consisting of men and animals and valuables of every description. So they remained there, eager to come to an engagement with the enemy, but without letting this be known to them in any way. Now the Sclaveni were encamped on the hill which rises there, while the Romans were in the plain not far away. And since a long time was consumed in thus blocking the enemy, the soldiers began to be resentful and made a great to-do, laying against the generals the charge that while they themselves, as commanders of the Roman army, had all provisions in abundance, they were paying no heed to the soldiers, to whom the want ot absolute necessities was causing hardship and who were unwilling to engage with the enemy. By these remonstrances the generals were compelled to join battle with the enemy. And the battle which followed was a fierce one, but the Romans were decisively vanquished. In that battle many of the best soldiers perished, and the generals came within a little of falling into the hands of the enemy, succeeding only with difficulty in making their escape with the remnant of the army and thus saving themselves, each as best he could. The standard of Constantianus was also captured by the barbarians, who now moved forward heedless of the Roman army. And they plundered the land of Astica, as it is called, without let or hindrance, a place which had not been ravaged since ancient times, and for this reason it turned out that they found there an enormous booty. Thus they devastated a wide expanse of country and came as far as the long walls, which are a little more than one day’s journey distant from Byzantium. But not long afterwards the Roman army, in following up these barbarians, came upon a portion of their force, engaged with them suddenly, and turned them to flight. And they not only slew many of the enemy, but also rescued a vast number of Roman captives, and they also found and recovered the standard of Constantianus. But the rest of the barbarians departed on the homeward way with the other booty.”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 8, 4
“…Above the Saginae are settled numerous Hunnic tribes. And from there onward the country has received the name of Eulysia, and barbarian peoples hold both the coast and the interior of this land, as far as the so-called Maeotic Lake [Sea of Azov] and the Tanais River [Don] which empties into the lake. And this lake has its outlet at the coast of the Euxine Sea. Now the people who are settled there were named in ancient times Cimmerians, but now they are called Utigurs. And above them to the north the countless tribes of the Antae are settled. But beside the exact point where the outlet of the lake commences dwell the Goths who are called Tetraxitae, a people who are not very numerous, but they reverence and observe the rites of the Christians as carefully as any people do. (The inhabitants indeed give the name Tanais also to this outlet which starts from the Maeotic Lake and extends to the Euxine Sea, a distance, they say, of twenty days’ journey. And they also call the wind which blows from there the “Tanaitis.”) Now as to whether these Goths were once of the Arian belief, as the other Gothic nations are, or whether the faith as practised by them has shewn some other peculiarity, I am unable to say, for they themselves are entirely ignorant on this subject, but at the present time they honour the faith in a spirit of complete simplicity and with no vain questionings.”
Procopius, History of Wars Book 8, 25
[551-552 AD]
“A great throng of Sclaveni now descended upon Illyricum and inflicted sufferings there not easily described. And the Emperor Justinian sent an army against them commanded by the sons of Germanus with others. But since this army was far outnumbered by the enemy, it was quite unable to engage with them, but remained always in the rear and cut down the stragglers left by the barbarians. And they slew many of them but took some few prisoners, whom they sent to the emperor. But nevertheless these barbarians continued their work of devastation. And spending as they did a long time in this plundering expedition, they filled all the roads with corpses, and enslaved countless multitudes and pillaged everything without meeting any opposition; then finally they departed on the homeward journey with all their plunder. Nor could the Romans ambuscade them while crossing the Ister River or harm them in any other way, since the Gepaedes, having engaged their services, took them under their protection and ferried them across, receiving large payment for their labour. For the payment was at the rate of one gold stater per head. At this the emperor was grievously vexed, seeing that for the future he had no possible means of checking the barbarians when crossing the Ister River in order to plunder the Roman domain, or when taking their departure from such expeditions with the booty they gained, and he wished for these reasons to enter into some sort of treaty with the nation of the Gepaedes.”
“Meanwhile the Gepaedes and the Lombards were once more moving against each other determined to make war. But the Gepaedes, fearing the power of the Romans (for they had by no means failed to hear that the Emperor Justinian had made a sworn alliance for offence and defence with the Lombards), were eager to become friends and allies of the Romans. They accordingly straightway sent envoys to Byzantium inviting the emperor to accept an offensive and defensive alliance with them also. So he without any hesitation gave them the pledges of alliance. And at the request of the same envoys twelve members of the senate also furnished them with a sworn statement confirming this treaty. But not long after this, when the Lombards according to the terms of their alliance requested an army to fight with them against the Gepaedes, the Emperor Justinian sent it, laying the charge against the Gepaedes that after the treaty they had transported certain of the Sclaveni across the Ister River to the detriment of the Romans.”
“Now the leaders of this army were, first, Justinus and Justinian, the sons of Germanus; second, Aratius; third, Suartuas, who had previously been appointed by Justinian ruler over the Eruli (but when those who had come from the island of Thule rose against him, as told by me in the previous narrative, he had returned in flight to the emperor, and immediately became general of the Roman forces in Byzantium); and, lastly, Amalafridas, a Goth, grandson of Amalafrida the sister of Theoderic king of the Goths, and son of Hermenefridus the former ruler of the Thuringians. This man had been brought by Belisarius to Byzantium with Vittigis, and the emperor had appointed him a Roman commander and betrothed his sister to Auduin the ruler of the Lombards. But not a man of that army reached the Lombards except this Amalafridas with his command. For the others, by direction of the emperor, stopped at the city of Ulpiana in Illyricum, since a civil war had arisen among the inhabitants of that place concerning those matters over which the Christians fight among themselves, as will be told by me in the treatise on this subject.”
“So the Lombards in full force and accompanied by Amalafridas came into the lands of the Gepaedes, and when the Gepaedes encountered them a fierce battle ensued in which the Gepaedes were defeated, and they say that a vast number of them perished in this engagement. Whereupon Auduin, the king of the Lombards, sent some of his followers to Byzantium, first to announce the good news to the Emperor Justinian, since the enemy had been vanquished, and, secondly, to reproach him because the emperor’s army had not been present in accordance with the terms of their alliance, although such a host of Lombards had recently been sent to march with Narses against Totila and the Goths. Such was the course of these events… In Italy the following took place. The people of Croton and the soldiers who constituted the garrison there, commanded by Palladius, were being very closely besieged by the Goths; and hard pressed as they were by scarcity of provisions, they had many times sent to Sicily without being detected by the enemy, calling to witness the commanders of the Roman army there, especially Artabanes, and saying that, if they did not relieve them at the earliest possible moment, they would, little as they wished it, surrender themselves and the city to the enemy not long thereafter. But no one came from there to assist them. And the winter drew to a close, and the seventeenth year ended in this war, the history of which Procopius has written.”
Procopius, The Secret History, Book 11
“Accordingly, when Justinian took over the Empire he immediately succeeded in bringing con- fusion upon everything. For things which previously had been forbidden by law he kept introducing into the constitution, and tearing down all existing Institutions and those made ftimiliar by custom, as if he had put on the imperial garb on the condition that he should change all things also into another garb. For instance, he would depose the existing officials and appoint new ones in control of the State’s business; and he treated the laws and the divisions of the army in the same way, not yielding to demands of justice nor influenced to this course by any public advantage, but simply that everything might be new and might bear the impress of liis name. And if there was anything which he was quite unable to transform at the instant, still he would at least put his own name upon it.”
“As for seizing property and murdering men, he never got his fill of them, but after plundering numerous homes of affluent men he kept seeking new ones, straightway pouring out the proceeds of his earlier robbery in making presents to sundiy barbarians or in erecting senseless buildings. And after he had slain perhaps myriads for no good reason, he straightway embarked on plans for the ruin of many more. So then, the Romans being at peace with the whole world, and he by reason of his lust for blood not knowing what to do with himself, Justinian kept bringing: all the barbarians into collision with one another, and summoning the leaders of the Huns for no good reason, he handed over to them with amazing prodigality huge donatives, pretending that he was doing this as a pledge of friendship; indeed it was said that he had done this even during the period of Justinus’ reign. And they, even after having received money, would send some of their fellow leaders together with their followers, bidding them overrun and ravage the Emperor’s land, so that they too might be able to sell peace to the man who for no good reason wished to purchase it. And these then began straightway to enslave the Roman Empire, and they nevertheless were receiving pay in the meantime from the Emperor; and after these, others promptly took over the business of plundering the hapless Romans, and after the pillage they would receive, as rewards for the attack, the Emperor’s generous gifts. Thus all the barbarians, one may almost say, omitting no season of the year, made raids in rotation, plundering and harrying absolutely everything wlthout a moment’s pause. For these barbarians have many groups of leaders and war went the rounds – war that originated in an unreasoning generosity, and could never reach an end, but kept for ever revolving about its own centre. Conse- quently, during this period no settlement, no moun- tain, no cave – nothing, in fact, in the Roman domain – remained unplundered, and many places had the misfortune to be captured more than five times. Yet all these things and all that was done by Medes, Saracens, [the Sclavonians] and Antae and the other barbarians have been set forth by me in previous Books; but, as I said at the beginning of this present Book, it was necessary for me to state in this place the causes of what happened.”
“And though he paid out to Chosroes huge sums of gold in return for peace, still, acting on his own judgment in a senseless way, he became the chief cause of the breaking of the truce by his intense eagerness to gain the alliance of Alamundarus and the Huns who are allied to the Persians, a matter which I believe to have been mentioned without concealment in the narrative referring to them…”
Procopius, The Secret History, Book 18
“And that he was no human being, but, as has been suggested [John the Cappadocian, who had been accused of murdering Eusebius, the Bishop of Cyzicus, but the case had not been proved], some manner of demon in human form, one might infer by making an estimate of the magnitude of the ills which he inflicted upon mankind. For it is in the degree by which a man’s deeds are surpassingly great that the power of the doer becomes evident. Now to state exactly the number of those who were destroyed by him would never be possible, I think, for anyone soever, or for God. For one might more quickly, I think, count all the grains of sand than the vast number whom this Emperor destroyed. But making an approximate estimate of the extent of territory which has come to be destitute of inhabitants, I should say that a myriad myriads of myriads perished. For in the first place, Libya, which attains to so large dimensions, has been so thoroughly ruined that for the traveller who makes a long journey it is no easy matter, as well as being a noteworthy fact, to meet a human being. And yet the Vandals who recently took up arms there numbered eight myriads, and as for their women and children and slaves, who could guess their number? And as for the Libyans, those who formerly lived in the cities, those who tilled tlie soil, and those who toiled at the labours of the – all of which I had the fortune to witness with my own eyes – how could any man estimate the multitude of them? And still more numerous than these were the Moors there, all of whom were in the end destroyed together with their wives and offspring. Many too of the Roman soldiers and of those who had followed them there from Byzantium the earth has covered. So that if one maintains that five hundred myriads of human beings perished in Libya, he would not by any means, I think, be doing justice to the facts. And the reason for this was that immediately after the defeat of the Vandals, Justinian not only did not concern himself with strengthening his dominion over the country, and not only did he not make provision that the safeguarding of its wealth should rest securely in the good-will of its inhabitants, but straightway he summoned Belisarius to return home without the least delay, laying against him an utterly unjustified accusation of tyranny, to the end that thereafter, administering Libya with full licence, he might swallow it up and thus make plunder of the whole of it.’
“At any rate he immediately sent out assessors of the land and imposed certain most cruel taxes which had not existed before. And he laid hold of the estates, whichever were best. And he excluded the Arians from the sacraments which they observed. Also he was tardy in the payment of his military forces, and in other ways became a grievance to the soldiers. From these causes arose the insurrections which resulted in great destruction. For he never was able to adhere to settled conditions, but lie was naturally inclined to make confusion and turmoil everywhere.”
“And as to Italy, which has not less than three times the area of Libya, it has become everywhere even more destitute of men than Libya. Consequently the estimate of persons likewise destroyed here will be fairly easy. For the cause of what happened in Italy has already been explained by me in an earlier passage. Indeed all the errors which he made in Libya were repeated by him here also. And by adding to the administrative staff the Logothetes, as they are called, he upset and ruined everything immediately. Now the sway of the Goths extended, before this war, from the land of Gaul as far as the boundaries of Dacia, where the city of Sirmium is situated. As for Gaul and Venetia, the Germans held the greater part of them at the time when the Roman army came into Italy. But the Gepaides control Sirmium and the country thereabout, which is all, roughly speaking, completely destitute of human habitation. For some were destroyed by the war, some by disease and famine, the natural concomitants of war. And lllyricum and Thrace in its entirety, comprising the whole expanse of country from the Ionian Gulf to the outskirts of Byzantium, including Greece and the Thracian Chersonnese, was overrun practically every year by Huns, Sclaveni and Antae, from the time when Justinian took over the Roman Empire, and they wrought frightful havoc among the inhabitants of that region. For in each invasion more than twenty myriads of Romans, I think, were destroyed or enslaved there, so that a veritable ‘Scythian wilderness’ came to exist everywhere in this land. Such are the disasters wrought by the wars in Libya and in Europe. The Saracens meantime were overrunning the Romans of the East, from Egypt to the frontiers of Persia, throughout this whole period wdthout interruption, and they accomplished such thorough-going destruction that this entire region came to be very sparsely populated, and it will never be possible, I think, for any human being to discover by enquiry the numbers of those who perished in this way. The Persians under Chosroes four times made inroads into the rest of the Roman domain and dismantled the cities, and as for the people whom they found in the captured cities and in each country district, they slew a part and led some away with them, leaving the land bare of inhabitants wherever they chanced to descend. And ever since the Persian invasion of the land of Colchis, tlie Colchians and the Lazi and the Romans have continued to be steadily destroyed up to the present day.”
“Moreover, neither the Persians on their part nor the Saracens nor the Huns nor the race of the Sclaveni nor any other of the barbarians have had the fortune to retire unscathed from Roman soil. For in the course of their inroads, and particularly during the sieges and battles, they fell foul of many obstacles and were destroyed equally with their enemies. For not alone Romans but practically the whole barbarian world as well felt the influence of Justinian’s lust for bloodshed. For not only was Chosroes himself likewise vicious in character, but he was also provided by Justinian, as has been stated by me in the appropriate place, with all tlie motives for waging war. For he did not think it worth while to adapt his activities to the opportune occasions, but he kept doing everything out of season, in times of peace and in periods of truce ever devising, with crafty purpose, occasions of war against his neighbours, and in times of war, on the other hand, growing lax for no good reason and carrying on the preparations for military operations too deliberately, all because of his parsimony, and instead of devoting himself to such things, scanning the heavens and developing a curious interest concerning the nature of God, and neither giving over the war, because of his bloodthirsty and abominable character, nor being, on the other hand, able to get the better of his enemy, because he was prevented by his niggardliness from busying himself with the necessary things. Thus during his reign the whole earth was constantly drenched with human blood shed by both the Romans and practically all the barbarians.”
“This, then, to state the case in a word, is what came to pass during this period of wars throughout the whole Roman Empire. And when I reckon over the events which took place during the insurrections both in Byzantium and in each several city, I believe that no less slaughter of men came about in this way than in actual warfare. For since justice and impartial chastisement for wrongdoing scarcely existed at all, but of the two Factions one was actually supported by the Emperor, assuredly the other party did not remain quiet either; on the contrary, because one group was being worsted and the other was full of confidence, they constantly had in view desperation and mad recklessness; and sometimes attacking each other in crowds and sometimes fighting in small groups, or even, if it so happened, setting ambuscades one against one, for two-and-thirty years without a pause they kept wreaking fearful vengeance upon one another, and at the same time they were being put to death by the magistrate, as a rule, who was charged with the control of the populace. But the punishment for their crimes was, for the most part, levelled against the Greens. Furthermore, the punishment of the Samaritans and of those called heretics filled the Roman Empire with slaughter. These things, however, are here mentioned by me merely in siunmary, inasmuch as they have been sufficiently recorded by me somewhat earlier.”
“Such, then, were the calamities which fell upon all mankind during the reign of the demon who had become incarnate in Justinian, while he himself, as having become Emperor, provided the causes of them. And I shall whew [show], further, how many evils he did to men by means of a hidden power and of a demoniacal nature. For while this man was administering the nation’s affairs, many other calamities chanced to befall, which some insisted came about through the aforementioned presence of this evil demon and through his contriving, while others said that the Deity, detesting his works, turned away from the Roman Empire and gave place to the abominable demons for the bringing of these things to pass in this fashion… Such was the destruction of life which took place, first when Justinian was administering the Roman State as Regent, and later when he held the imperial office.”
Procopius, The Secret History, Book 23
“First of all, though it had been customary from ancient times that each successive Emperor should make, not once, but many times, a donation to all their subjects of the arrears of their debts to the Treasury, in order, on the one hand, to prevent the destitute and those who had no means of paying these arrears from being strangled regularly, and, on the other hand, to avoid providing the tax-gatherers with pretexts in case they should try to blackmail those who, though subject to the tax, owed nothing in arrears, this man, for a period of thirty- two years, has done nothing of the kind for his subjects. And for this reason it was necessary for the destitute to go away and in no case to return again. And the blackmailers kept harassing the more respectable farmers by holding over them the threat of an accusation, alleging that they had for a long time been paying their tax at a lower rate than that imposed upon their district. For the poor wretches had to fear not only the new payment of the tax, but also the possibility that they might be weighed down by the burden of taxes for so great a number of years for which they owed nothing. In any case, many men actually handed over their property either to the blackmailers or to the Treasury and went their ways. Furthermore, though the Medes and Saracens had plundered the greater part of the land of Asia, and the Huns and Sclaveni and Antae the whole of Europe, and some of the cities had been levelled to the ground, and others had been stripped of their wealth in very thorough fashion through levied contributions, and though they had enslaved the population wth all their property, making each region destitute of inhabitants by their daily inroads, yet he remitted the tax to no man, with the single exception that captured cities had one year’s exemption only. And yet if he had seen fit, as did the Emperor Anastasius, to remit to captured cities all their taxes for seven years, I think that even thus he would not have been doing all he should have done in view of the fact that, although Cabades had gone his way without doing the least damage to the buildings, yet Chosroes had not only fired every structure and razed it to the ground, but had also inflicted greater sufferings upon his victims. And now to these men to whom he remitted this ridiculously small portion of the tribute, as to all the others likewise – men who had often supported the attacks of the Median army, and though Huns and Saracens had continuously ravaged the lands of the East, and though not less terribly the barbarians in Europe were also wreaking such destruction every day and unceasingly – to these men, I say, this Emperor shewed [showed] himself from the first more savage than all the barbarians together. For through ‘buying on requisition’ and what are called ‘imposts’ and ‘pro-rated assessments,’ the owners of the land were immediately, once the enemy had withdrawn, reduced to ruin. Now what these terms are and what they mean I shall proceed to explain…”
Procopius On Buildings, Book 4, 1
H. B. Dewing, as printed in Vol. VII of the Loeb Classical Library edition of Procopius, published in 1940
“To cross a great sea in an ill-appointed ship is a miserable task, I think, beset with the greatest dangers. And it is the same thing to recount the buildings of the Emperor Justinian with impotent words. For through the greatness of his mind this Emperor has accomplished things which surpass description, in buildings no less than in practically all other matters. And in Europe, being consumed by the desire to make his services fit the magnitude of the need which existed for them, he has carried out works which are not easy to enumerate or simple to describe in writing. For these works have been executed with due regard for the nearness of the Ister River and for the consequent necessity imposed by the barbarians who threaten the land. For it has as neighbours nations of Huns and of Goths, and the regions of Taurus and of Scythia rise up again it, as well as the haunts of the Sclaveni and of sundry other tribes — whether they are called by the writers of the most ancient history Hamaxibian or Metanastic Sauromatae, and whatever other wild race of men really either roams about or leads a settled life in that region. And in his determination to resist these barbarians who were endlessly making war, the Emperor Justinian, who did not take the matter lightly, was obliged to throw innumerable fortresses about the country, to assign to them untold garrisons of troops, and to set up all other possible obstacles to an enemy who attacked without warning and who permitted no intercourse. Indeed it was the custom of these peoples to rise and make war upon their enemies for no particular cause, and to open hostilities without sending an embassy, and they did not bring their struggles to an end through any treaty or cease operations for any specified period, but they made their attacks without provocation and reached a decision by the sword alone. But still we must proceed owing to the remainder of our story. For when we have begun a task it will be better to go through to the end in any fashion whatever than to depart leaving it unfinished. Certainly my action would not be free from blame, if, after our Emperor has performed the work, I for my part, should shrink from telling of what he has done. But now that we are on the point of enumerating the buildings of this Emperor in Europe, it is proper first to make a few observations regarding this land.”
Procopius On Buildings, Book 4, 7
“Such, then, are the strongholds of Illyricum along the Ister River. But we must now go on to the fortified towns of Thrace, those namely which were built by the Emperor Justinian along the river-bank there. For it has seemed to me not improper, after first describing the coast of that region, then to take up also the record of what he did in the interior. First, then, let us proceed to Mysia, the home of men whom the poets call hand-to‑hand fighters, for their country borders upon Illyricum. So beyond that place which they call Lucernariaburgou the Emperor Justinian built the fortress Securisca, a new work of his own. Beyond this he restored the parts of Cyntodemus which had suffered. And still further on he built a city which had not existed previously, and this he named Theodoropolis, after the Empress. Furthermore, he preserved the fortresses called Iatrôn and Tigas by building anew the parts which had suffered, and to the fort of Maxentius he added a tower, which he thought it needed. And he built the fort of Cyntôn which had not existed before. Beyond this is the stronghold Trasmariscas. Just opposite this, on the other bank of the river, Constantine, Emperor of the Romans, once built with no small care a fort, Daphnê by name, thinking it not inexpedient that the river should be guarded on both sides at this point. As time went on, the barbarians destroyed this entirely; but the Emperor Justinian rebuilt it, beginning at the foundations. And beyond Trasmariscas is the stronghold Altenôn and one which they call Candidiana, destroyed long before by the same enemy, which he repaired with all the care that they deserved. And there are three forts, Saltupyrgus, Dorostolus and Sycidaba, one after the other along the bank of the Ister, which the Emperor put in order by carefully repairing such parts of each one as had suffered. He displayed a similar care in the case of Questris, which lies back from the river. And Palmatis, which was cramped for space, he enlarged and made very much broader, though it is not on the bank of the river. Close to this he built also a new fort named Adina, because the barbarian Sclaveni were constantly laying concealed ambuscades there against travelers, thus making the whole district impassable. He likewise built the fortress of Tiliciôn and a stronghold which lies to its left.”
“Such was the condition of the fortresses of Mysia on the bank of the Ister River, as well as those near it. Next I shall proceed to Scythia; there the first fortress is the one named for St. Cyril, of which the Emperor Justinian rebuilt with care those portions which had suffered with time. Beyond this from ancient times there was a stronghold, Ulmitôn by name, but since the barbarian Sclaveni had been making their ambuscades there for a great length of time and had been tarrying there very long, it had come to be wholly deserted and nothing of it was left except the name. So he built it all up from the foundations and thus freed that region from the menace and the attacks of the Sclaveni. Beyond this is the city of Ibida, whose circuit-wall had suffered in many places; these he renewed without delay and made the city very strong. And beyond it he built a new fortress, a work of his own, which they call Aegissus. At the extremity of Scythia lies another fortress, Halmyris by name, a great part of which had become manifestly insecure, and this he saved by rebuilding it. All the other strongholds also within the bounds of Europe are worthy of mention.”
Procopius On Buildings, Book 4, 11
“Beyond the Chersonese stands the city of Aenus, which bears the name of its founder; for he was Aeneas, as they say, son of Anchises. The circuit-wall of this place was easy to capture not only because of its lowness, since it did not rise even to the necessary height, but because it offered an exposed approach on the side toward the sea, whose waters actually touched it in places. But the Emperor Justinian raised it to such a height that it could not even be assailed, much less be captured. And by extending the wall and closing the gaps on every side he rendered Aenus altogether impregnable. Thus the city was made safe; and yet the district remained easy for the barbarians to overrun, since Rhodopê from ancient times had been lacking in fortifications. And there was a certain village in the interior, Vellurus by name, which in wealth and population ranked as a city, but because it had no walls at all it constantly lay open to the plundering barbarians, a fate which was shared by the many fields lying about it. Our Emperor made this a city and provided it with a wall and made it worthy of himself. He also took great pains to put in order all such parts of the other cities in Rhodopê as had come to be defective or had suffered with time. Among these were Trajanopolis and Maximianopolis, where he restored the parts of the bastions which had become weak. Thus were these things done.”
“The city of Anastasiopolis in this region was indeed walled even before this, but it lay along the shore and the beach was unprotected. Consequently the boats putting in there often fell suddenly into the hands of the barbarian Huns, who by means of them also harassed the islands lying off the coast there. But the Emperor Justinian walled in the whole sea-front by means of a connecting wall and thus restored safety both for the ships and for the islanders. Furthermore, he raised the aqueduct to an imposing height all the way from the mountains which rise here as far as the city. And there is a certain ancient town in Rhodopê, Toperus by name, which is surrounded for the most part by the stream of a river, but had a steep hill rising above it. As a result of this it had been captured by the barbarian Sclaveni not long before. But the Emperor Justinian added a great deal to the height of the wall, so that it now overtops the hill by as much as it previously fell below its crest. And he set a colonnaded portico with a vaulted roof on its wall, and from this the defenders of the city fight in safety against those attacking the wall; and he equipped each one of the towers so as to be a strong fort. He also secured the interval between the circuit-wall and the river by shutting it off with a cross-wall. These things, then, were done by the Emperor Justinian as I have said. And I shall describe all the fortresses which were made by him through the rest of Thrace…”
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