Procopius

Procopius, the most eminent of the Byzantine historians, was born at Cæsarea, in Palestine, towards the close of the 5th century, and, having studied law, was taken by Belisarius in his train when he led the Roman armies against the Persians (526 B.C.), the Vandals in Africa (533), and the Ostrogoths in Italy (536). He appears to have displayed remarkable practical as well as literary talent, for he was on two occasions placed at the head of the commissariat. Returning to Constantinople shortly before 542, he was highly honoured by Justinian, and appointed prefect (if it was this Procopius) of the metropolis in 562. His death occurred, it is thought, about three years later. Procopius's principal works are his Historiæ in eight books (two on the Persian war, from 408 to 550; two on the war with the Vandals, from 532 to 546; and four on the Gothic war, going down to 552); De Aedificis, or six books on the buildings executed or restored by Justinian; and Anekdota, or Historia Arcana, a sort of chronique scandaleuse of the court of Justinian, in which the emperor, his wife Theodora, Belisarius, his wife Antonina, and other distinguished persons, are depicted in the darkest colours. The most valuable of these productions is undoubtedly the first, in which Procopius writes with the clearness and fullness of knowledge that might be expected of a man who had been an eye-witness of much of what he narrates, and who had occupied a position that fitted him to thoroughly understand what he had seen. He is the principal authority for the reign of Justinian. The best edition of his complete works is that by Dindorf (1833-38). See Dahn, Prokopios von Cäsarea (1866); a work by Renan, Essais de Morale (3d ed. 1867); Haury, Procopiana (1891).