The Secret History - Procopius.epub

PROCOPIUS was born at Caesarea, the great city built by Herod on the coast of Palestine. We do not know the date: it was probably ad 500 or a little before. In 527 he was appointed private secretary and legal adviser to Belisarius, whom he accompanied on his first three campaigns, in Persia, Africa and Italy. When Belisarius, after capturing Ravenna, was recalled to Byzantium, Procopius went with him, and it is probable that when in the next year Belisarius was again sent to the eastern front his secretary once more accompanied him. But twelve months later, in 542, he was certainly back in the capital, where he witnessed the terrible plague which visited that city. We do not know whether he was with the general during the years of his second campaign in and around Italy, or what he did with his time, apart from literary work, during the remaining years of his life. The date of his death is not known, but he may have outlived Justinian. From Procopius’ pen three works have come down to us, commonly known as the History of the Wars, the Buildings and The Secret History.