Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  [17] Consequently, since she met with no success, she gave up trying and was compelled to bear the child. And when the father of the new-born child saw that she was distressed and displeased because after becoming a mother she would no longer be able to go on using her body as she had done, since he rightly suspected that she would destroy the child, he acknowledged the infant by lifting it up in his arms, and, naming it John, since it was a male, he went his way to Arabia, whither he was bound.

  [18] ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτὸς μὲν τελευτᾶν ἔμελλεν, Ἰωάννης δὲ ἤδη μειράκιον ἦν, τὸν πάντα λόγον αὐτῷ ἀμφὶ τῇ μητρὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἔφρασε.

  [18] And when he himself was about to die, and John was now a young lad, his father told him the whole story of the mother.

  [19] καὶ ὃς ἅπαντα ἐπὶ τῷ πατρὶ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανισθέντι τὰ νόμιμα ποιήσας, χρόνῳ τινὶ ὕστερον ἐς Βυζάντιον ἦλθε καὶ τοῖς παρὰ τὴν μητέρα τὰς εἰσόδους ἀεὶ ποιουμένοις τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀγγέλλει.

  [19] And he, after performing all the customary rites over his father after his death, a little later came to Byzantium and announced the fact to those who had constant access to his mother.

  [20] οἱ δὲ οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου τρόπου αὐτὴν λογιεῖσθαι ὑποτοπήσαντες ἐπαγγέλλουσι τῇ μητρὶ ὅτι δὴ αὐτῆς Ἰωάννης ὁ υἱὸς ἥκοι.

  [20] And they, supposing that she would not reason otherwise than as a human being, reported to the mother that her son John had come.

  [21] δείσασα δὲ ἡ γυνὴ μὴ ἐς τὸν ἄνδρα ἔκπυστος ὁ λόγος γένηται, τὸν παῖδά οἱ ἐς ὄψιν ἐκέλευεν ἥκειν.

  [21] But the woman, fearing that the matter would become known to her husband, gave orders that the boy should come into her presence.

  [22] ἐπεί τε εἶδε παραγενόμενον, τῶν οἰκείων τινὶ ἐνεχείρισεν,

  [22] And when he came and she had seen him, she entrusted him to one of her domestics to whom she was always wont to delegate such matters.

  [23] ᾧπερ ἀεὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπέχειν εἰώθει. καὶ τρόπῳ μὲν ὅτῳ ὁ ταλαίπωρος ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἠφάνισται οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν, οὐδεὶς δὲ αὐτὸν ἄχρι δεῦρο ἰδεῖν οὐδὲ ἀπογενομένης τῆς βασιλίδος ἔσχε.

  [23] And by what method the poor wretch was spirited out of the world I cannot say, but no man to this day has been able to see him, even since the death of the Empress.

  [24] Τότε καὶ ταῖς γυναιξὶ σχεδόν τι ἁπάσαις τὸν τρόπον διεφθάρθαι ξυνέβη. ἐξήμαρτον γὰρ ἐς τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐξουσίᾳ τῇ πάσῃ, οὐ φέροντος αὐταῖς κίνδυνόν τινα ἢ βλάβην τοῦ ἔργου, ἐπεὶ καὶ ὅσαι μοιχείας ἁλοῖεν, αὗται κακῶν ἀπαθεῖς ἔμενον, παρὰ δὲ τὴν βασιλίδα αὐτίκα ἰοῦσαι ἀντίστροφοί τε γενόμεναι καὶ δίκην οὐ γεγονότων ἐγκλημάτων ἀντιλαχοῦσαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ὑπῆγον.

  [24] At that time it came to pass that practically all the women had become corrupt in character. For they sinned against their husbands with complete licence, since such acts brought them no danger or harm, because even those who were found guilty of adultery remained unscathed; for they straightway went to the Empress and turning the tables brought counter-suit against their husbands and haled them before the court though no charges had been made against them.

  [25] περιῆν τε αὐτοῖς ἀνεξελέγκτοις οὖσι τὴν μὲν προῖκα ἐν διπλασίῳ ἀποτιννύναι, μεμαστιγωμένοις δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐς τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἀπαχθῆναι, καὶ αὖ πάλιν τὰς μοιχευτρίας ἐπιδεῖν κεκομψευμένας τε καὶ πρὸς τῶν μοιχῶν ἀδεέστερον λαγνευομένας. τῶν δὲ μοιχῶν πολλοὶ ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἔργου καὶ τιμῆς ἔτυχον.

  [25] And all the good the husbands got of it was to pay a fine double the wife’s dowry, although no charge had been proved against them, and then to be scourged and, usually, led off to prison, and afterwards to look on while the adulteresses preened themselves and more boldly than ever accepted their seducers’ embraces. And many of the adulterers actually attained honour from this conduct.

  [26] διόπερ οἱ πλεῖστοι τὸ λοιπὸν πάσχοντες πρὸς τῶν γυναικῶν ἀνόσια ἔργα ἀσμενέστατα ἀμαστίγωτοι σιωπῇ ἔμενον, τὴν παρρησίαν αὐταῖς τῷ μὴ πεφωρᾶσθαι δοκεῖν ἐνδιδόντες.

  [26] Consequently most men thereafter, though outrageously treated by their wives, were very glad to remain silent and escape the scourge, granting their wives complete freedom by allowing them to think that they had not been detected.

  [27] Αὕτη ἅπαντα πρυτανεύειν αὐτογνωμονοῦσα τὰ ἐν τῇ πολιτείᾳ ἠξίου. τάς τε γὰρ ἀρχὰς καὶ ἱερωσύνας ἐχειροτόνει, ἐκεῖνο μόνον διερευνωμένη καὶ φυλασσομένη ἐνδελεχέστατα, μὴ καλὸς ἢ ἀγαθός τις ὁ τὸ ἀξίωμα μετιὼν εἴη, καὶ οὐχ οἷός τέ οἱ ἐσόμενος ἐς τὰ ἐπαγγελλόμενα ὑπουργήσειν.

  [27] This woman claimed the right to administer everything in the State by her own arbitrary judgment. For she controlled the election of the occupants of both the magistracies and the priesthoods, investigating and guarding very persistently against just one thing, namely, that the candidate for the dignity should not be an honourable or good man or one who would be likely to be incompetent to carry out her instructions.

  [28] καὶ τοὺς γάμους ἅπαντας τῇ θείᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ τινὶ διῳκεῖτο, τοῦ τε γαμεῖν πρότερον οὐδεμίαν ἄνθρωποι ἐγγύην ἑκουσίαν πεποίηνται.

  [28] And she regulated all marriages with an authority that may be described as grandmotherly.

  [29] γυνὴ γὰρ ἑκάστῳ ἐξαπιναίως ἐγίνετο, οὐχ ὅτι δὴ ἐς αὐτὸν ἤρεσκεν, ὅπερ κἀν τοῖς βαρβάροις εἰώθει, ἀλλ̓ ὅτι βουλομένῃ τῇ Θεοδώρᾳ εἴη.

  [29] It was then for the first time that men and women gave up entering into a voluntary betrothal looking to marriage; for each man would all of a sudden find that he had a wife — not because she pleased him, as is customary even among the barbarians, but because this was the will of Theodora.

  [30] ὅπερ αὖ καὶ ταῖς γαμουμέναις ἀνάπαλιν ξυνέβαινε πάσχειν. ἀνδράσι γὰρ ξυνιέναι οὐδαμῆ ἐθελούσιαι ἠναγκάζοντο.

  [30] Thus women who were being married had precisely the same experience in their turn; for they were compelled to be united with husbands quite against their will.

  [31] πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τὴν νύμφην ἐκ τῆς παστάδος ἀποβιβάσασα λόγῳ οὐδενὶ ἀνυμέναιον τὸν νυμφίον ἀφῆκε, τοῦτο μόνον ξὺν ἀκροχολίᾳ εἰποῦσα, ὅτι δὴ αὐτὴν ἀπαρέσκοι.

  [31] And many a time Theodora even took the bride away from the bridal chamber for no reason at all and left the bridegroom unmarried, merely remarking in a burst of passion that the woman displeased her.

 
[32] ὅπερ ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς ἔδρασε καὶ Λέοντα, ὅσπερ ῥεφερενδάριος ἦν τὴν τιμὴν, καὶ Σατορνῖνον, τὸν Ἑρμογένους τοῦ μαγίστρου γεγονότος ἐπὶ μνηστῇ. τούτῳ γὰρ τῷ Σατορνίνῳ ἦν τις ἀνεψιαδῆ παρθένος μνηστὴ, ἐλευθέριος καὶ κοσμία, ἥνπερ οἱ Κύριλλος ὁ πατὴρ κατηγγύησεν Ἑρμογένους τοῦ βίου ἤδη ἀπολυθέντος.

  [32] And she did this to many men, including Leon, who held the office of Referendarius, and to Saturninus the son of Hermogenes, who had been Magister, in the case of women to whom they were betrothed. For this Saturninus had an unwedded second cousin to whom he was betrothed, a free-born woman of seemly deportment whom her father Cyrillus had pledged to him, Hermogenes having already departed this life.

  [33] πεπηγυίας τε αὐτοῖς τῆς παστάδος τὸν νυμφίον καθεῖρξεν, ἔς τε τὴν ἑτέραν παστάδα ἤχθη, ἔγημέ τε κωκύων καὶ οἰμώζων ὅσον τὴν Χρυσομαλλοῦς παῖδα.

  [33] And after their bridal chamber had already been closed fast upon them, she took the bridegroom into custody and he was led to a second chamber, where, with great wailing and lament, he married the daughter of Chrysomallo.

  [34] Χρυσομαλλὼ δὲ αὕτη πάλαι μὲν ὀρχηστρὶς ἐγεγόνει καὶ αὖθις ἑταίρα, τότε δὲ ξὺν ἑτέρᾳ Χρυσομαλλοῖ καὶ Ἰνδαροῖ ἐν Παλατίῳ τὴν δίαιταν εἶχεν.

  [34] Now this Chrysomallo had long before been a dancer and again a courtesan, but at that time she was living in the Palace with another Chrysomallo and Indaro.

  [35] ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ φαλλοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐν θεάτρῳ διατριβῆς τῇδε διῳκοῦντο τὰ πράγματα.

  [35] For instead of the phallus and the life in the theatre, they were managing their affairs here.

  [36] ξυγκαταδαρθὼν δὲ ὁ Σατορνῖνος τῇ νύμφῃ καὶ διαπεπαρθενευμένην εὑρὼν ἔς τινα τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐξήνεγκεν ὅτι δὴ οὐκ ἄτρητον γήμαι.

  [36] And when Saturninus had slept with the girl and found that she had lost her maidenhood, he reported to one of his intimates that he had married a girl who had been “tampered with.”

  [37] ὅπερ ἐπεὶ ἐς Θεοδώραν ἦλθε, τοὺς ὑπηρέτας ἐκέλευεν ἅτε ἀποσεμνυνόμενόν τε καὶ ὀγκωθέντα οὐδὲν αὐτῷ προσῆκον, μετέωρον αἴρειν, οἷα τὰ ἐς γραμματιστοῦ φοιτῶντα παιδία, ξαίνουσά τε κατὰ τῶν νώτων πολλὰς ἀπεῖπεν αὐτῷ μὴ φλυάρῳ εἷναι.

  [37] And when this remark was brought to Theodora, she commanded the servants to hoist the man aloft, as one does children who go to school, because he was putting on airs and assuming a lofty dignity to which he had no right, and she gave him a drubbing on the back with many blows and told him not to be a foolish babbler.

  [38] Οἷα μέντοι καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν Καππαδόκην εἰργάσατο ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις ἐρρήθη. ἅπερ αὐτῇ διαπέπρακται τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ χαλεπαινούσῃ, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐς τὴν πολιτείαν ἡμάρτανε ῾τεκμήριον δέ: τῶν γὰρ ὕστερον δεινότερα ἐς τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἐργασαμένων οὐδένα τοῦτο πεποίηταἰ, ἀλλ̓ ὅτι τά τε ἄλλα τῇ γυναικὶ καταντικρὺ ἐτόλμα ἰέναι καὶ αὐτὴν ἐς τὸν βασιλέα διέβαλλεν, ὥστε αὐτῇ καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα ἐκπεπολεμῶσθαι παῤ ὀλίγον ἐλθεῖν.

  [38] Now the things which she did to John the Cappadocian have been told in the earlier narrative. These things were done by her to the man in anger, not on account of his offences against the State (and the proof is that later, when men did still worse things to her subjects, she treated no one of them in such a way), but because he was making bold to oppose the woman outright in other matters and especially because he kept slandering her to the Emperor, so that she came very near getting into a state of hostility with her husband.

  [39] τῶν γὰρ αἰτιῶν, ὅπερ ὑπεῖπον, ἐνταῦθά μοι μάλιστα τὰς ἀληθεστάτας ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν.

  [39] But here, as I have said, I must by all means tell the reasons for her conduct which are absolutely true.

  [40] ἡνίκα τε αὐτὸν ἐπ̓ Αἰγύπτου καθεῖρξε πεπονθότα ὅσα μοι ἀμφ̓ αὐτῷ προδεδήλωται, οὐδ̓ ὥς τινα ἔλαβε τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κολάσεως κόρον, ἀλλὰ ψευδομάρτυρας ἐπ̓ ἐκείνῳ διερευνωμένη οὐδέποτε ἀνίει.

  [40] And even when she had got him imprisoned in Egypt after he had endured all the sufferings which I have previously described, even thus she did not reach any satiety of punishing the man, but she never ceased searching out false witnesses against him.

  [41] τέτρασι δὲ ἐνιαυτοῖς ὕστερον Πρασίνους εὑρέσθαι δύο τῶν ἐν Κυζίκῳ στασιωτῶν ἴσχυσεν, οἵπερ τῶν τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ ἐπαναστάντων ἐλέγοντο εἶναι.

  [41] And four years later she succeeded in finding two members of the Green Faction in Cyzicus who were said to be of those who had risen against the Bishop.

  [42] καὶ αὐτοὺς θωπείαις τε καὶ λόγοις καὶ ἀπειλαῖς περιῆλθεν, ὥστε ἅτερος μὲν κατορρωδήσας καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐπαρθεὶς τὸ μίασμα τοῦ φόνου ἐς τὸν Ἰωάννην ἀνήνεγκεν.

  [42] And she won over these men with flattering speeches and with threats, with the result that one of them, in terror and at the same time uplifted by hopes, laid the sacrilege of the Bishop’s murder at John’s door.

  [43] ὁ δὲ δὴ ἕτερος τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπ̓ ἐναντίας ἐλθεῖν οὐδαμῆ ἔγνω, καίπερ οὕτως ἐκ τῆς βασάνου καταταθεὶς, ὥστε ὅτι δὴ καὶ τεθνήξεται αὐτίκα μάλα ἐπίδοξος ἦν.

  [43] As for the other man, he refused absolutely to contradict the truth, though he was so racked by the torture that he was even expected to die immediately.

  [44] διὸ δὴ τὸν μὲν Ἰωάννην τούτῳ δὴ τῷ παραπετάσματι διαχρήσασθαι οὐδεμιᾷ μηχανῇ ἔσχε, τοῖν δὲ νεανίαιν τούτοιν χεῖρας τὰς δεξιὰς ἔτεμε, τοῦ μὲν ὅτι ψευδομαρτυρεῖν οὐδαμῆ ἤθελε, τοῦ δὲ ὅπως μὴ ἐπιφανὴς ἡ ἐπιβουλὴ ἐς τὸ πᾶν γένηται.

  [44] Therefore,a although she was unable, no matter what means she employed, to destroy John through this subterfuge, she cut off the right hands of these two young men, of the one because he had refused to bear false witness, and of the other in order to prevent her plot from becoming altogether manifest.

  [45] τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐν τῷ δημοσίῳ πρασσομένων τῆς ἀγορᾶς, Ἰουστινιανὸς ἐποιεῖτο τῶν πρασσομένων μηδενὸς τὸ παράπαν ξυνεῖναι.

  [45] And though these intrigues were being carried on in the publicity of the market-place, Justinian pretended to know absolutely nothing of what was going on.

  XVIII

  Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ δαίμων τις, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἀνθρωπόμορφος ἦν,
τεκμηριώσαιτο ἄν τις τῷ μεγέθει σταθμώμενος ὧν εἰς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κακῶν ἔδρασεν.

  And that he was no human being, but, as has been suggested, 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.

  [2] ἐν γὰρ τῷ ὑπερβάλλοντι τῶν πεπραγμένων καὶ ἡ τοῦ δεδρακότος δύναμις ἔνδηλος γίνεται.

  [2] For it is in the degree by which a man’s deeds are surpassingly great that the power of the doer becomes evident.

  [3] τὸ μὲν οὖν μέτρον ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς φράσαι τῶν ὑπ̓ αὐτοῦ ἀνῃρημένων οὐκ ἄν ποτε, μοὶ δοκεῖ, τῶν πάντων τινὶ ἢ τῷ θεῷ δυνατὰ εἴη.

  [3] 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.

  [4] θᾶσσον γὰρ ἄν τις, οἶμαι, τὴν πᾶσαν ψάμμον ἐξαριθμήσειεν ἢ ὅσους ὁ βασιλεὺς οὗτος ἀνῄρηκε. τὴν δὲ χώραν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον διαριθμούμενος, ἥνπερ ἔρημον τῶν ἐνοικούντων ξυμπέπτωκεν εἶναι, μυριάδας μυριάδων μυρίας φημὶ ἀπολωλέναι.

  [4] For one might more quickly, I think, count all grains of sand than the vast number whom this Emperor destroyed. But making an approximate estimate of the extent of territory which has become to be destitute of inhabitants, I should say that a myriad myriad of myriads perished.