Malalas, The Secret History, and Justinian's Propaganda Author(s): Roger D. Scott Source: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 39 (1985), pp. 99-109 Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1291517 Accessed: 15/10/2008 11:41

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http://www.jstor.org MALALAS, THE SECRET HISTORY, AND JUSTINIAN'S PROPAGANDA

ROGER D. SCOTT

he hostile description of the Emperor Justin- sorts of things that any decent emperor should be ian I in ' SecretHistory is well known.l doing. The bland but generally favorable account of the The object of this paper is to suggest first that same Emperor in the eighteenth and final book of much of Malalas' information about Justinian is Malalas' Chronographiahas received rather less at- derived from the Emperor's own propaganda tention.2 There Malalas gives us a jumbled mass of (though the chronicle itself is not propaganda) and information with no apparent attempt at imposing that Procopius' abuse represents the opposing ver- any kind of order, other than chronological, on the sion, though we cannot tell which side initiated the material. We are told of the Emperor acting as propaganda and which responded to it. The start- sponsor at the baptism of barbarian kings, provid- ing point for this discussion is the frequency with ing largesse for cities struck by earthquake, and which Malalas and the Secret History refer to the conducting occasional persecutions of pagans, her- same or similar events for which they give oppos- etics, homosexuals, and astrologers, not to men- ing interpretations. That is, Malalas' odd jumble of tion citizens who rioted at the horse races. Malalas information corresponds with the very topics which also gives us rather brief and generally uninfor- Procopius uses in his attempt to demonstrate Jus- mative accounts of the Emperor's campaigns against tinian's wickedness,4 for it is on these matters that Persians, Saracens, Huns, Vandals, and others.3 In the Emperor's reputation will have rested, a matter short, it is a jumbled but favorable account of the which is itself noteworthy. The correspondence in subject matter is not in 'For convenience, references are given by chapter and sen- itself enough to demonstrate that there was inter- tence, the system used in both the main edition, Procopii Caesar- between the two writers their iensis Omnia eds. play (or sources), Opera III, J. Haury-G. Wirth (Teubner, Leipzig, it is 1963), HistoriaArcana, and in the translations which I have taken though enough to allow the suggestion. The from H. B. Dewing, Procopius, VI (Loeb, London and Cam- suggestion, however, can be strengthened by look- bridge, Mass., 1935), The Secret History. On the nature of Pro- ing at other in Malalas' chronicle and the B. "Zur Kaiserkritik Ostroms," Studi Bi- passages copius' criticism, Rubin, elsewhere in the tradition zantini e Neoellenici (Atti del VIII congressointernazionale di Studi operation Byzantine Bizantini, Palermo, 1951), 7 (1953), 453-62; idem, "Der Fiirst of similar imperial propaganda and counter-prop- der Damonen," BZ, 44 (1951), 469-81; idem, Prokopiosvon Kai- I here to do this and then to ex- sareia in 23.1 cols. aganda. attempt (Stuttgart, 1954), rpr. RE, (1957), 527-72; amine some idem,Das Zeitalterlustinians (Berlin, 1960), 197-226, 440-73; F. H. aspects of this propaganda, the social Tinnefeld, Kategoriender Kaiserkritikin der byzantinischenHistorio- conflict behind it, and the implications of this for graphie (Munich, 1971), 29-36. the of and for the 2Malalas, ed. L. Dindorf The literary history Justinian's reign Chronographia, (Bonn ed., 1831). later social as has been translations are drafts from the Australian Malalas project. Book fusion, which, recently sug- 18 occupies 72 of the 496 pages of the Bonn edition. gested, took place under Justinian's successor, Jus- 3Sponsor at baptism, Malalas, op. cit., 427, 431, cf. 434; lar- tin II.5 gesse, 428, 431, 436, 440-41, 443, 448, 450, 452, 456, 458, 467, 478; pagans, 449; heretics, 428, 468, 471; homosexuals, 436; cf. note astrologers, 22 infra; chariot race riots, 473-77, 483- 4SecretHistory, xix, 11-12, has a brief summary of these top- 84, 488, 490-91. Persians, 427, 441-42, 453, 460-72, 480; Sar- ics. acens, 434, 445; Huns, 431-32, 437-38, 450, 472; Vandals, 459- 5A. M. Cameron, "Images of Authority: Elites and Icons in 60; Goths, 480, 483, 485; Avars, 490; Slavs, 490; Moors, 496; Late Sixth-Century Byzantium," Past and Present, 84 (1980), 3- 447. Samaritans, 35, rpr. in her Continuity and Change in Sixth-CenturyByzantium 100 ROGER D. SCOTT

Procopius' attack falls easily into the tradition of The devastating effect of a subtle change can be emperor-criticism. That Malalas' bland statements, illustrated by the story of the Emperor Michael III on the other hand, could be based on imperial and the poor woman, published under Michael's propaganda is less obvious. I have argued else- successor, Basil I. Here we can detect precisely how where6 that much of Malalas' source material for Michael's own propaganda was perverted into em- contemporary events consisted of official imperial peror-criticism without any alteration of fact. Since notices, and thus he reveals not so much the com- this ninth-century example provides a specific il- mon man's view of the Emperor, as is generally as- lustration of a process which we can only argue must sumed,7 but rather the official interpretation of also have taken place in the sixth century, it is worth events presented by the court. It can be shown that quoting in full. various emperors of the fifth to seventh centuries The chronicler tells the story to show Michael's did indeed publish brief official versions of some abysmal depravity. Having begun with Michael and events; that their official notices were distributed the hippodrome, he goes on: "But I will relate widely among the cities of the Empire and some- something even worse. It is not enough to call it times on placed church and city notice boards; and improper, it is completely contrary to imperial dig- that chroniclers did indeed use these official no- nity. One day Michael met a woman, whose son was tices for their accounts of contemporary events, at his godchild, coming away from the baths with her least on some I occasions.8 have also argued else- jug in hand. Leaping off his horse and dismissing where that it is a characteristic of Byzantine histor- all but a few intimates in his suite, he went with her ical writing to give an appearance of bland, on foot. 'Don't be alarmed,' said he. 'Won't you in- straightforward reporting while in fact being highly vite me in? I would enjoy some bread and white or apologetic partisan.9 Alexander Kazhdan, though cheese.' The poor woman was so overwhelmed by discussing a later period, has recently shown how the presence of the Emperor under her roof that Byzantine emperor-criticism takes a particular piece she was quite helpless. So it was Michael who had of information and subtly distorts it. "The Byzan- to lay the table (or rather the stool as she did not tines were of capable understanding the political own a table), and for a cloth he used the damp of implications [imperial] propaganda, although towel. Next he asked her for the key of the cup- concealed usually between very vague expressions board, and so the Emperor was all at once the one and images. They were capable as well of counter- to lay the table, to be cook and host. And when he of the propaganda, re-interpretation of imperial had eaten with her he returned to the palace on symbols and words, of imposing over them a per- foot." 1 verse meaning."10 Such is the chronicler's story, and there can be no doubt that there was a of which (London, 1981), XVIII, and in M. E. Mullett and R. D. Scott, body opinion eds., Byzantiumand the Classical Tradition,University of Birming- agreed with him that the story was shocking. But, ham Thirteenth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, 1979 as Mrs. Karlin-Hayter shows, as a 205-34. public opinion (Birmingham, 1981), whole did not react this One of the variants 6R. D. Scott, "Malalas and Justinian's Codification," Byzantine way. Papers, ed. Elizabeth and Michael Jeffreys and Ann Moffatt reveals, unwittingly, that the story was originally told, (Canberra, 1981), 12-31. There I argued (pp. 14-17) that the as it would be today, to Michael's credit. This var- very bland language used in the legal passages was, because of after its formulaic character, derived from official notices. The most iant, recounting his preparing food and then obvious case comes from the ChroniconPaschale, I, ed. L. Din- partaking of it with the poor woman, continues that dorf (Bonn, 1832), 630-34, where the bland formulaic preface this was "in imitation of Christ."'2 This introduces the text of which original CI, 1.1.6, is based on a more reli- version was doubtless of able copy of the text than the one made available to Tribonian part Michael's own prop- and his fellow law commissioners. aganda, especially when one remembers that iuEcit;S 7K. Krumbacher, Geschichteder byzantinischerLitteratur (2nd ed., Munich, 1897), 319; G. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica,I (2nd ed., Berlin, 1958), 330; H. Hunger, Die hochsprachlicheprofane Literaturder I Handbuch Byzantiner, (Byzantinisches Handbuch, ries," in G. Makdisi, D. Sourdel, and Janine Sourdel-Thomine, der Altertumswissenschaft, XII.5.1 321-24. [Munich, 1978]), eds., Predication et Propagande au Moyen Age: Islam, Oc- 8Scott, art. cit., 17-20. include Byzance, Examples Heraclius' victory cident, Penn. Paris, DumbartonOaks ColloquiaIII, Session de 20-25 letter, confession of the text of Justinian's faith, CI, 1.1.6 (all in Octobre1980 (Paris, 1983), 27. Paschal 's of Chronicle); proclamation Leontius (Mala- Annales, 17, 660-61 cols. the Nika riot "Pseudo-Symeon, (PG, 109), 721C- las); (). 724A. I owe both the reference and the translation to Patricia 9Scott, "The Classical Tradition in Byzantine Historiogra- Karlin-Hayter, to whom I am also indebted for much helpful phy," M. E. Mullett and R. D. Scott, eds., op. cit., 61-74. discussion. '0A. P. Kazhdan, "Certain Traits of Imperial Propaganda in the '2Theophanes Continuatus, Chronographia,IV, 37, 200 (PG, Byzantine Empire from the Eighth to the Fifteenth Centu- 109), col. 213D. MALALAS, THE SECRET HISTORY, AND JUSTINIAN'S PROPAGANDA 101

OEoD, "imitation of God," was required of the em- homosexuals,19 heretics,20 pagans,21 and probably peror. The version put out by his successor Basil astrologers22 and refer to the confiscation of their simply used the same story to try to discredit Mi- property. I shall return to this shortly. chael by that he lacked showing imperial dignity. Next, there are the instances where Malalas and Bearing in mind that the official notices of early the SecretHistory refer to the same kind of material, Byzantine emperors were certainly used as source but disagree about the facts. In Malalas we find an material by early chroniclers, and taking into ac- example of a prisoner of war having his ransom count the technique of subtle distortion among later paid by the imperial authorities.23 In a Secret His- Byzantines to produce we can counter-propaganda, refuses to the ransom now note where the chronicler Malalas refers to tory example Justinian pay and, indeed, appropriates the ransom offered by the same or similar events as does the imperial critic relatives for his own use.24 Malalas stresses Justini- Procopius. an's aid to cities affected First there are the instances where Malalas and by earthquake,25 includ- ing "an act of divine generosity to the of the Secret History agree on the facts, while offering people , Laodicea, and Seleucia, that opposing interpretations of them. They agree on providing their liability to taxes be remitted for three Justinian's gifts of money to barbarian leaders and years."26 The SecretHistory, which records as his use of such people as allies.13 Here Malalas earthquakes part of the catastrophe of makes no stresses their conversion to Christianity, whereas Justinian's reign, mention of imperial assistance, but states that Procopius protests the waste of money on such du- Jus- tinian allowed no remission for those affected bious friends. They agree on Justinian's great by the plague27 and in fact reduced from seven building activity, though Procopius stresses its ex- years to one Anastasius' remission for cities that had suf- travagance and denies that Justinian repaired es- sential structures such as fered invasion.28 The Secret History refers to the aqueducts.14 They agree which on his confiscation of senatorial but Mal- property governors acquired by dubious property, means in alas limits this to the Nika riots and to the their provinces,29 whereas Malalas men- example tions a law from of Priskos (also used in the Secret History) before prohibiting magistrates acquiring such property.30 The Secret tells of going on to refer to the restoration of property History Justini- an's debasement of the nomisma; during Justinian's consulship of 533 (a suitable year coinage, gold claimed by Bury as the only instance in the Secret for exploiting a royal pardon to the full).15 They History where can be convicted of mak- both record the Emperor's compassion toward his Procopius ing a statement which has no basis in fact.31 Yet, critics, though in the Secret History this is consid- even in this we learn from Malalas that the ered evidence of Justinian's unstable character.16 regard, was debased in 553, but that the They both report that citizens of low rank could coinage Emperor, because of ordered it restored to its for- now be compelled to give evidence even against their rioting, will.'7 To Malalas this represents Justinian's deter- mination to establish the truth; in the SecretHistory Secret it means, not the removal of civil liberties, but the '9Malalas, 436, 3-16; History, xi, 34; xix, 11. 20Malalas, 428, 5-7; 468, 1-9; 478, 12-15. Secret History, xi, willingness of the Emperor to rely upon dubious, 15, 24; xix, 11. low-class evidence. The attempt to save prostitutes 21Malalas, 449, 3-11; 491, 18-20. Secret History, xi, 31; xix, from sin is as a successful measure 11. reported by aotQovo[Cav for the doubtful at as a dismal failure in 22Reading v6a[tta Malalas, Malalas, the Secret History.'8 451.18, in line with an unedited chronicle in the Vatican (Codex They have similar accounts of the punishment of Vaticanus Graecus 163, fol. 26v, lines 25-27); cf. Scott, art. cit., 22. SecretHistory, xii, 6-11. 23Malalas, 438, 14-16. 24Secret xii, 6-11. 3 History, Malalas, 428, 1-4; 431, 2-5, 16-21. Secret History, viii, 5- 25Malalas, 436, 21-437, 2; 443, 13-15; 444, 1-4; 448, 3-5, 6; xi, 5-10; xix, 6-10, 13-17. 17-19; 485, 8-23. 14Malalas, 426, 1-5; 427, 14-17; 430, 18-19; 435, 18-436, 26Idem,444, 1-4. 2; 445, 8-9; 477, 1-3; 479, 21-22; 486, 1-9; 489, 19-490, 5; 27Secret History, xxiii, 20-21. 492, 3-6; 495, 9-14. SecretHistory, xxvi, 23-25. 28Ibid.,xxiii, 6-7. '5Malalas, 449, 12-14 (Priskos); 478, 18-21 (recall of exiles). 29Ibid.,xxi, 9-14. Secret History, viii, 9-11; xi, 40-xii, 12; xvi, 10; xvii, 4-5; xix, 30Malalas, 437, 5-9. 11-12; xx, 17; xxi, 5; xxvi, 16; xxvii, 25. 3 SecretHistory, xxii, 38; xxv, 11-12. J. B. Bury, History of the '6Malalas, 438, 21-439, 7. Secret 13-19. History, xiii, 1-3, Later Roman Empirefrom the death of TheodosiusI to the Death of '7Malalas, 437, 15-16. Secret 35. History, xi, Justinian, II (London, 1923), 427 note 1. Even here Bury admits '8Malalas, 440, 14-441, 7. Secret History, xvii, 5-6, contrast "it may be doubted whether Procopius had not some actual tem- Procopius, Buildings, 1.9.3. porary or local fact in mind." 102 ROGER D. SCOTT mer value.32 The SecretHistory records several sto- As I suggested above, this kind of story must be ries about Justinian forging wills.33 Malalas relates oral in origin. Again, I cannot prove it, but the nar- a lovely story of the Emperor piously accepting a rative style is quite different from the dull, bland will, against the advice of his accountant, who catalogue of the Emperor's other activities. It is lively, pointed out that it would involve him in consider- with a nice human touch in dialogue, and the story able expense.34 But I shall discuss this in more de- line is sustained-if only for a page. If it does go tail later. back to an official document, then certainly Mala- las has it It is These are sufficient to show that for a jazzed up pretty thoroughly. compa- examples rable to that other in Book 18 of the number of criticisms of Justinian there great story Procopius' which, other marvelous tricks, could existed an alternative view. We cannot of course dog, among out women, brothel that the versions Malalas back accurately point pregnant prove accepted by go adulterers, misers, and this to the office. But, the existence of keepers, braggarts;36 imperial given is based on the oral tradition. One can also notices and their use chroniclers as surely imperial by to Malalas' account of the Nika riots which source material, this must be the most point likely origin. reveals similar skills in and which is Whether is then story telling Procopius distorting imperial assumed to be based on oral sources.37 or vice-versa cannot be established. generally propaganda Eulalios' was There must also be a that much else in story obviously very good publicity possibility for That the of inheritance was Malalas' account of and Justinian. question Justinian contemporary an and issue in events is derived from an official source. I wish now important lively Justinian's reign can also be demonstrated. For of the 168 Justini- to look at two issues, inheritance and the treat- just anic novels from and so with ment of social deviants. published 535, dealing issues that had not (much to Unlike the material taken from official notices, Justinian's chagrin) been settled by the Code, some twenty-two deal di- the story of Eulalios would seem to be oral in origin: rectly with questions of inheritance, another eight In the same period a certain Eulalios,a count of the indirectly, and another deal with trans- went from eighteen household, riches to poverty in the follow- fers of citizens.38 This is manner. After a fire had burned down his house, property among private ing far the most issue. We should also note he fled naked with his three daughters. Since he was by frequent in great debt, and on the point of death, he made out the frequency of Novels on the transfer of church his will to the emperor. The will read: "Let the most property,39 even though this is the period of Justin- for a al- pious Justinian provide my daughters daily ian's great provincial reorganization which also lowance of 15 folles. When they are of a proper age its of and have come to let them each have ten produces crop legislation.40 Inheritance, too, marriage, is an issue on which criticizes pounds of gold as a dowry. Let my debts be dis- Procopius Justinian charged from my inheritance."Thereupon Eulalios frequently. Indeed, it seems to be his most fre- died. The will was brought to the emperor by the cu- quent criticism. Procopius accuses Justinian of rator. commanded him to take care of the Justinian forging wills,41 of trumping up charges so that he will, but the curator went to the house where Eulalios had lived and made a catalogue of his property which was found to amount to 564 nomismata.So the cura- ular St. Nicholas of the tor went away and told the emperor his valuation of story three daughters.Justinian did build the and the to him. Still and dedicate a church to St. Nicholas which was much fre- property legacy bequeathed 1.6.4, cit., This is the the emperor commanded Macedonius the curator to quented (Procopius,Buildings, op. III.2.29). earliest known St. Nicholas church and probably the earliest discharge the will. And when the curatorobjected that reference to St. Nicholas. the value of the legacy was insufficient to discharge 36Malalas,453, 15-454, 4. the will, the emperor retorted, are 37J.B. "The Nika 17 94. "Why you prevent- 3 Bury, Riots,"JHS, (1897), ing me from discharging the will when I piously wish I cannot claim to have done much more than to have pe- to do so? Go away and pay all his debts and the lega- rused the Novels, many of which treat a variety of topics. My cies that he willed. I command that the three assignationand count is thus somewhatarbitrary. Nevertheless, daugh- I find direct ters be brought to the empress Theodora to be cared references to inheritance in the following novels: 1, 2, 18, 39, 48, 53, 66, 68, 84, 89, 117- for in her private household and that each be given 92, 97-98, 101, 107-8, of as a 18, 127, 158-59, 164; indirect references in the following: 17 twenty pounds gold dowry and the full amount and that their father them."35 (section 12), 22, 38, 74, 119, 150, 155; privatetransfers of bequeathed property in: 4, 32-34, 61, 91, 100, 112, 115, 121, 135-36, 138, 156, 162, 166-68. 32Malalas, 486, 19-22. 39Transferof church property: Novels 7, 40, 46, 54-55, 65, 33Secret History, xii, 1-11. 67, 120, 131. 34Malalas,439, 8-440, 13. 40Provincialreorganization: Novels 3, 8, 15, 21, 23-31, 36, 35Malalas,439, 8-440, 13. Prof. Fairy Von Lilienthal has 50, 69, 102-4, 145. pointed out to me the similaritybetween this story and the pop- 41 SecretHistory, xii, 1-11. MALALAS, THE SECRET HISTORY, AND JUSTINIAN'S PROPAGANDA 103

can grab people's property,42 of changing the laws trived another massacre of his subjects on a large of inheritance in a way that amounts to the impo- scale" (XI,13). Procopius says of heretics that "no sition of a hefty death duty;43 and of doing all this previous emperor had ever disturbed them" while hypocritically claiming he was acting piously,44 (XI,18); that following Justinian's measures "the which of course ties in nicely with Malalas' story of whole Roman empire was filled with murder and Eulalios. Procopius also links this criticism to Jus- with exiled men" (XI,23); that "indiscriminate con- tinian's alleged meanness, his attacks on the family, fusion swept through Palestine" (XI,24), where "one and so on.45 Clearly, inheritance was a big issue and hundred thousand perished in the struggle and the one on which Justinian must have faced wide- land became in consequence destitute of farmers" and spread frequent censure. Hence, the impor- (XI,29); that prosecutions against sodomy were tance to Justinian that such stories as Eulalios' be- carried out recklessly (XI,35); that attacks on as- come as widespread as possible. It is certainly trologers involved even old men and others who that the Eulalios is possible story simply a folk im- were respectable (XI,37); and so, in a concluding of but its value to him age Justinian, given and the passage, "a great throng of persons were fleeing importance of the issue, there can be little doubt constantly, not only to the barbarians, but also to whatever that, Malalas' immediate source, the story those Romans who lived at a great distance, and it in the office. The originated imperial Emperor un- was possible to see both in the country and every made doubtedly use of oral stories, for which I city great numbers of strangers. For in order to below one suggest (p. 107) possible method of dis- escape detection they readily exchanged their re- semination. spective native lands for foreign soil, just as if their home had been an There is another group of stories for which country captured by enemy" (XI,38-39). comparison between the Malalas and Procopius Malalas' account of these same measures versions is worth considering. These are the ac- agrees with Procopius in substance, but is written in that counts of Justinian's varied measures against her- bland, matter-of-fact which I associate etics, pagans, Jews, homosexuals, and astrolo- style with official notices. Be that as it what interests me gers.46 Malalas and Procopius basically agree that may, is that Malalas even with that the Justinian did his best to stamp out all these evils. agrees Procopius result was fear. But the difference is that Procopius, however, interprets the measures partly important Malalas quite sees a of terror as as evidence of Justinian's cruelty and partly as a obviously reign proper and For the clearest indication of this means to enrich himself through large-scale con- right. we need to make use of fiscations from those found guilty of wrongdoing. Theophanes' chronicle, which, though of the ninth in some The connecting thread in this part of Procopius' century, places a more detailed version account (Chapter XI) is the terror and disturbance preserves of the original Malalas than survives in our one abbreviated man- brought by Justinian upon peaceful and settled At the end communities. He describes as "the uscript. of the Nika riots, for instance, Justinian having with its one thought in mind that the earth should 35,000 casualties, Theophanes states that by many there was much a device be filled with human blood"; so "he con- fear and the city was quiet ((p6p3og YtoXtigxaci q(ix(Jaov t6Xi15t).47Likewise, following Justinian's punishment of pederasts, there was both 42Ibid., xxi, 15; cf. 3 and 5. in xi, xxi, Note, contrast, Novel fear and security (cp6(3og jroiug xaci aocpdkea).48 134.13.2 (556 A.D.) which states that the of property anyone That is, fear exists along with such as executed cannot be confiscated but must pass to the normal heir. blessings peace Given and we meet the that this novel contradicts ancient laws accepted in Justin- security; same formula in what ian's codification in 534 (CI, IX.49.1-10, especially 10 of 426 for us is the more natural context of vic- as well as common Justinian's A.D.), practice through the history of the Ro- tories over the and who out of man Empire, one must wonder whether the novel was Huns, fear intro- the duced to combat popular criticism. Presumably where the death kept peace, leaving the Empire secure.49 So, sentence included confiscation of property this novel did not when Malalas tells us that much fear followed the apply. of and 43Secret xxix, 19-21. punishment homosexuals,50 appeared again History, after 44Ibid., xxix, 25. the Palestinian riots had been ferociously 45Ibid.,xii, passim. 46Secret on on History heretics, xi, 15, 24; pagans, xi, 31; on 47Theophanes, AM ed. C. de Boor xxviii, on Chronographia, 6024, Jews, 16-17; homosexuals, xi, 34; on astrologers, xi, (Leipzig, 1883), 186.1. 37. For Malalas, see note 3 supra. Malalas, Book 18, contains no 48Idem,AM 6021, cit., 177, 17. reference to measures op. specific against Jews, but the normal hos- 49Idem, AM 6032, cit., 12-14. tile attitude can be op. 219, Malalas, 451, 13-15. discerned. 50Malalas, 436, 15. 104 ROGER D. SCOTT quashed,5' he views this fear favorably. It implies liberal and less punitive society, one that even tol- that the emperor, as God's representative on earth, erated Judaism.60 But his was an old-fashioned view is doing his job properly, making his Christian world no longer acceptable, at least at court. He can in- a better place for all of us. Similarly, Justinian's vio- clude it only in this warped and fanciful attack on lent and summary punishment of wrongdoers, be Justinian (which is what the Secret History is), but they private citizens52or magistrates,53must be seen the range and detail of his material suggest that as having Malalas' full approval. there must have been others also who held similar Fear was, then, acceptable in Byzantine society views. of the sixth century. The meaning of (p6pog is ad- All these counter-interpretations of parallel sit- mittedly complex, especially in the "the fear phrase uations in Malalas and the Secret that of God."54 Clement of Alexandria contrasts the Historysuggest each author has access to one or the other side of Christian version (where (p6(3ogmeans aib6(g, "re- the for or the court. The spect" or "reverence") to the Hebrew version where, propaganda against range of issues covered is considerable, from the he claims, fear is more akin to ltWoog,"hatred."55 varying trivial to matters of but Malalas, however, seems to lean more toward the relatively great importance, their treatment is limited and as is to Old Testament version, stressing rather the fear of superficial, be expected for the kind of material that avoids punishment, which was contrasted likewise by any examination of what lies beneath a of Maximus Confessor to the proper Christian fear of piece or an abuse. The concern over God.56 That is, we have here in Malalas the propaganda inher- sugges- itance at least tion of a return to Old Testament values. In later perhaps helps identify a level of so- ciety, since it is to have been an issue also there are sporadic indi- likely only among the affluent owners. cations of the acceptance of fear as a good quality relatively property Procopius' concern over Justinian's in society. On the other hand, this phenomenon persecutions may reflect, too, the old fear of a may be most notable in Justinian's reign (though aristocracy's changing But these issues does not other Old Testament attitudes continued), for society. just mentioning disclose their context. Theophanes contrasts the terror instilled by Chos- general roes to Heraclius' gentle care for his subjects,57while It is worth noting here an oddity about the lit- has drawn attention to the humil- erary history of Justinian's reign. Most of our sources of II's abdication ity Justin speech as something were published either late in his reign or early in unthinkable under Justinian.58 the following reign of Justin II, but they deal mostly In the matter of Justinian's reign of terror, with the early period of Justinian's reign, or reveal the Secret and therefore, History Malalas do agree odd gaps in their authors' careers. Thus, John Ly- on the basic their facts; differences simply reflect dus' De Magistratibus,Book III, is specifically about their different attitudes toward it. It is Malalas who his own time. We can date its publication to be- the orthodox view of gives plain, sixth-century tween 554 and 565, yet it breaks off in 532.61 Aga- man-the view that can be published. Procopius, thias, whose subject matter officially begins where on the other hand (who, we must remember, is Procopius left off and covers 552 to 558, still man- generally accused of revealing in his Secret History ages to include a good deal of earlier material in the prejudices of the wealthy, conservative, land- digressions, for the length and irrelevance of which in owning class),59 may, fact, support a much more he finds it necessary to apologize.62 Further, the Camerons have demonstrated that 51Idem, 488, 2. ' Cycle 52Idem,451, 19-21; 9-12. 468, 8-9; 488, 60At any rate the Secret History does object to Justinian's un- 531dem,447,13-19. fair treatment of Jews (xxviii, 16-19). Toleration of Judaism, 54Cf. G. W H. ed., A Patristic GreekLexicon Lampe, (Oxford, with sporadic exceptions, as a religion vouchsafed by its an- s.v. whence the are 1961-68), cp6pog, following examples taken. tiquity, was a characteristic of Roman paganism, which in 55Clement of theory, Alexandria, Paedagogus, 1.9.87.1, ed. O. Stahlin though not in practice, survived even Constantine's establish- (GCS, 1936), 140.29-141.6. ment of Christianity. See E. M. Smallwood, The Jews under Ro- 56Maximus Confessor, de caritate Capitum quattuorcenturiae, 1.81, man Rule (Leiden, 1976), 544. The Christian Byzantine attitude PG, 90, col. 960. toward Judaism was consistently intolerant. For Justinian's 57 most at AM po- Theophanes, notably 6114, op. cit., 306-8, where sition, see Novel 146 together with the codification of even the previous phrase "the fear of God" (op. cit., 307, 3) again means emperors' decrees at CI, 1.9-10. for God" rather than "terror "respect caused by God." 61R. Wiinsch (ed.), loannis Lydi de Populi Romani 58A. M. "An Magistratibus Cameron, Emperor's Abdication," Byzantinoslav- (Leipzig, 1903), Praefatio, vi-vii. ica, 37 161-67. (1976), 62Agathias, Historiae. Preface 21; I, 2-7; II, 25-32; III, 1; IV, 59Rubin, "Zur Kaiserkritik Ostroms," 454; idem, Prokopiosvon 24-30, ed. R. Keydell, CFHB (Berlin, 1967), 7; 11-19; 73-83; Kaisareia, 301-4; Tinnefeld, op. cit., 21-22. 84-85; 153-63. MALALAS, THE SECRET HISTORY, AND JUSTINIAN'S PROPAGANDA 105

was published under Justin II, though many of its attention to this reduction in coverage, but concen- poems, by various poets, had been written during trate rather on a supposed shift of interest from Justinian's reign.63 Corippus' Johannid deals nomi- Antioch to and from monophysi- nally with the period 546-48, but refers also to the tism to orthodoxy. Even granted this likely change 530s.64 It was written very soon after 548, but then of author, Malalas' brevity on the middle and later there is a gap of nearly twenty years till his In Lau- part of Justinian's reign is very odd, given that most dem Justini, written in 566 or 567.65 Dioscorus of chroniclers become much more loquacious as they Aphrodito, a lawyer by training who was born about reach their own time. The abruptness of the change 520, admittedly wrote at least four poems under also rules out an explanation based on the onset of Justinian, but, again, it was not until the reign of old age (if Malalas is indeed the author of the last Justin II, when he was presumably at least in his section), unless we assume a long break between forties, that his literary career prospered.66 Peter the writing of the earlier and later sections. That the Patrician, fragments of whose History demon- we are dealing with an abbreviated text will not do strate his competence in the approved literary lan- as an explanation, since later chroniclers such as guage, wrote his report on his diplomatic mission Theophanes, who would have had access to the full to Persia so colloquially that text, are similarly succinct about the period from found it necessary in the late sixth century to 535 to 560.69 Admittedly, our main source for Jus- translate it into something more Attic. That Peter tinian's reign, Procopius' Wars,cannot easily be fit- never refined his account of his mission may have ted into this pattern, for his first seven books, cov- been because he died before he could undertake it ering the period to 550, were published in 550- rather than because of a reluctance to publish, but 51. But even here the eighth and last book, pub- we cannot be sure.67 As to Malalas, the break in his lished in 553 or 557, is rather more general in scope, method of work is so extreme that scholars have covering Italy, , and the East for 550-52.70 generally proposed two authors.68 In our one man- Nor can I be precise about the dating of the bulk uscript Malalas takes fifty-four pages to cover the of the material in the SecretHistory. Although I have first six years of Justinian's rule (527-33) and only the impression that there is more datable material eighteen to deal with the next thirty years, i.e., he referring to the early period, the SecretHistory cer- cuts down from about nine pages to a little over tainly deals quite specifically, also, with the middle half a page per year (a threefold break should per- and later years of Justinian's reign. haps be suggested, since Malalas devotes six pages Still, Procopius apart, we do have an odd clash to the last two years, leaving only twelve pages for between the dates of publication of our sources and the middle twenty-eight). Oddly enough, the ar- the material they cover. There is no guments for a change of authorship do not draw probably simple explanation. But the upheaval within Byzantine society has been discussed Averil 63A. D. E. and A. M. Cameron, "The Cycle of Agathias,"JHS, brilliantly by 86 (1966), 6-25. B. Baldwin's counter-argument, "Four Prob- Cameron. I cannot here even try to do justice to lems in Agathias," BZ, 70 (1977), 295-305, is not convincing. Professor Cameron's detailed ar- See Averil yet wide-ranging Cameron, "The Career of Corippus Again," CQ, n.s. on how as the center of 30 (1980), 537. gument Constantinople, 64J. Diggle and F. R. D. Goodyear, IohannidosLibri VIII (Cam- government, pulled through the crisis of the sev- bridge, 1970). enth For the late sixth 65 century.71 her, century was Averil Cameron, ed., Corippus,In Laudemlustini Augusti mi- crucial: noris Libri IV (London, 1976), 1-2. 66For detail we must await Dr. L. S. B. MacCoull's forthcom- It was a time when the in the ing of Dioscorus. Dr. MacCoull me with Byzantine emperors study kindly supplied capital over a of cultural her most recent estimate of the number of Justinianic poems. presided process integration See her important survey "The Coptic Archive of Dioscorus of III Aphrodito," Chroniqued'Egypte, 56, (1981), 185-93. 69Theophanes devotes a little over 12 pages to the period 67Menander Protector, frag. 12, ed. C. Muller, FHG, 4 (Paris, 527/28 to 533/34, i.e., almost two pages per annum. Then he has de ed. U. P. 1851), 217; Excerpta Sententiis, Boissevain (Berlin, a long excursus on the Vandal war under the year 534/35 (30 19. Cf. H. "The 1906), Hunger, Classical Tradition in Byzantine pages) and another 25 pages for the period 535/36 to 564/65 Literature: The Importance of Rhetoric," in M. E. Mullett and (i.e., under one page per annum), a further, ex- R. despite longish D. Scott, eds., Byzantium and the Classical Tradition,op cit. (su- cursus drawn from Procopiusand an use of an eccle- note increasing pra, 5), 46. siasticalsource for materialnot supplied by Malalas.It is clear 68The clearest of the summary Malalas question is still J. B. that Theophanes found it necessary to supplement Malalas as Bury's review of Krumbacher in CR, 11 (1897), 207-13. See also his chief source for the latter of N. part Justinian'sreign. Pigulevskaja, "Theophanes' Chronographia and the Syrian 70J. A. S. Evans, Procopius (New York, 1972), 41-43; Rubin, Chronicles," JOBG, 16 (1967), 58-59. H. Hunger, Die hoch- Prokopiosvon Kaisareia, 80-81. sprachlicheprofane Literatur, I, 320. 71A.M. Cameron,art. cit. (supra,note 5). 106 ROGER D. SCOTT

by which the elite and its rulers came to be fully iden- Justinian and the early years of Justin II reflects tified. In this society such integration could only be the of once the fusion re- in terms. So it that liberalizing society expressed religious happened clas- marked Cameron had sical culture for a time took a back seat. Still by been achieved-not that quietly it practised by the elite of Justinian'sday, it had even can be dated precisely, but rather that there was then been dangerouslyassociated with paganism.Such a gradual regaining of confidence among the writ- a luxury could no longer be permitted. Imperial his- ers. What was being published was largely material torians and who had poets previously striven to keep which, written earlier, in the of "classical" of now their though years up styles writing presented no one had felt confident to subjects unblushingly within the terms of Old Testa- repression, publish. ment typology; when classicalculture came back into This reluctance to publish might explain the atten- fashion, after the years of struggle, it was less a real tion to early material in Malalas and Lydus espe- alternativethan a scholarlyrevival. The sixth-century cially, the unpolished state of 's lent their active emperors patronage to religious de- work, the break in the in under were to Corippus' career, delay velopments already way; they quick ally and Dioscorus of icons with imperial ceremony, and to foster the emer- publishing Agathias' Cycle, gence of the Virgin as the protectress of Constanti- Aphrodito's late flowering. I am not suggesting that nople by making her their own protectresstoo. Their there had been actual censorship of material. The own ceremonial increased in impact and complexity, subject matter of these writers was not and set the in a scenario ever politically imperial players more sensitive, and in the case of Malalas well be religious in tone.72 might considered pro-imperial. Rather, the problem was The great importance of Cameron's article for that to be a writer at all, especially in a classical my purpose is that she dates this cultural and social genre, was to run the risk of being labeled a Hel- fusion to the time of Justin II, and that she empha- lene. sizes the initiative taken by the Emperor and his My second suggestion is that Book 18 of Malalas' advisers (of whom we might note in passing the Chronographia,with its odd farrago on the activities two most important are Anastasius, who commis- of the Emperor, reflects Justinian's desperate ef- sioned Corippus' propaganda poem In Praise of forts to advertise his new style of government and Justin, and PatriarchJohn Scholasticus, who has been so to help implement it. This, I suggest, was done the leading contender in attempts at identifying by means of numerous public notices about his Malalas, albeit on somewhat implausible grounds).73 measures and achievements, which Malalas some- It is Cameron's dating of this cultural fusion that is how collected and included as a strange hotch- important, plus the initiative taken by the Emperor. potch of undigested material. (I am not, of course, Here Cameron points out that this is the outcome suggesting that the chronicle itself is propaganda; of a long struggle, a struggle which took place under rather, that it is based on propaganda). Many of Justinian, and mentions some of Justinian's at- Justinian's activities were of course perfectly tradi- tempts to christianize ceremonial and to remove its tional-but both these and the changes in style met secular, classical aspects.74 We must think of this in with opposition, and stories reflecting this opposi- terms of a struggle between the Emperor and his tion apparently circulated widely. The Secret His- the new court, aristocracy, against the old-fashioned, tory, then, reflects opposition; in particular the op- cultured, classically trained though Christian elite position to Justinian's new style of government. of society, a clash between two groups both of which Though it is difficult to pin this down precisely, the knew the value of propaganda and had the neces- most general theme of criticism in the SecretHistory skills to sary create and distribute it. is that Justinian is innovative, meddling with what was old and established, new laws, new I want to make three suggestions here. First, that introducing customs, and thus the of life of the the resurgence of publication in the late years of challenging way Byzantine establishment.75 It is the victory of this new style of government that Averil Cameron shows 72Eadem(Past and Present), 4; (Mullett and Scott), 206. to have taken place with the accession of Justin II 73J. Haury, "Johannes Malalas identisch mit dem Patriarchen in 565. But the battle took under 9 337-56. H. place Justinian, Johannes Scholastikos?", BZ, (1900), Hunger, Die and Malalas hochsprachlicheprofane Literatur, I, 321. Malalas' lack of interest and the SecretHistory at least describe in theology makes the identification improbable, while his pre- the weapons for us, even if they evade the real is- cise knowledge of the business of the Comes Orientis in Antioch sues. suggests a position on his staff, as B. Croke has pointed out to me. My third suggestion concerns the oral sources, 74A. M. Cameron, art. cit. (Past and Present), 6-18; (Mullett and 208-16. Scott), 75Secret History, e.g., viii, 26; xi,l; xxx, 21-24. MALALAS, THE SECRET HISTORY, AND JUSTINIAN'S PROPAGANDA 107

which I raised with the story of Eulalios. If an em- It is this last sentence which is the key. The Byz- peror wanted to spread a rumor by word of mouth, antines, we must recall, believed that the world was one group stands out as an obvious medium for created exactly 5,500 years before Christ.79 They that purpose-the circus factions-they have ac- also had their fundamentalist streak. If, as Malalas cess to both the emperor and the court on the one himself reminds us, a thousand years is but a day hand and to the crowds on the other. And they in the eyes of the Lord, then Christ was born half- play an important role in the new cultural integra- way through the sixth day.80Did that give mankind tion. To quote Averil Cameron again: "It is the most a divine half-day (500 years in human terms) to natural thing of all that precisely during these years repent before the Lord rested at the end of the [i.e., the reign of Justin II] that most agonistic fea- sixth day? Or would that be the Day of Judgment ture of Justinianic society-the circus factions-was or the Second Coming which Malalas appears to drawn securely into imperial ceremonial, even im- have expected.8' I am not sure whether it is with a perial ceremonial at its most fully religious."76 It is certain sense of relief or of disappointment that of course virtually impossible to trace the source of Malalas can assure his audience that the sixth mil- a rumor with precision, but two passages at least lennium had definitely passed. Eschatological lit- certainly have some connection with the hippo- erature allows for various interpretations, notably drome: the action of Narses, during the Nika Riots, in to the Blue faction to hundreds column, left a gap. In the second case, it is unclear distributing money per- whether the upsilon (400) is originalor not as it has at leastbeen suade them to chant pro-imperial slogans, and the touched up by a second hand and may have been createdout of quarrel and reconciliation between Justin II and the original scribe'sflourish on the end of the digamma (6000). That is, the second hand, noticed the in the first his son-in-law, a (set in the im- having gap story significantly figure, may have filled it from the simplestpaleographic change perial stables) obviously intended for wide circu- to the second figure, in which case the 400 carriesno authority lation.77 other than of paleographic neatness. The omission of the 400 has the support of the Slavonicversion, M. Spinkaand G. Dow- There remains one last comparison between ney, The Chronicleof John Malalas, Books 8-18, Translatedfromthe Malalas and the Secret Near the ChurchSlavonic (Chicago, 1940), 135-36. Inclusion of the 400 History. beginning not makes nonsense of Malalas'interest in whether or not of Book 18 only Malalas includes one of those odd cal- the sixth millennium had been completed, but conflicts with culations of dates in which chronographers some- standardByzantine calculations of the years since Creation,in- those of the three survivorsof Malalas'named sources times indulge: cluding here, Theophilus,Ad Autolycum, III.28, ed. and trans.R. M. Grant The total period from the rule of the Oc- (Oxford, 1970), 142-44; Clement, Stromateis,1.147, PG, 8, col. Augustus 880 tavian Imperator until the of the second B-C; ,Chronicon, Preface, ed. R. Helm (GCS,Ber- completion lin, neither Clement nor Eusebius consulship of the Emperor Justinian in the seventh 1956), 14-18, though pro- indictionwas 559 vide sufficientinformation for us to be certain about their con- years;i.e., the totalperiod from Adam clusions. The inclusion of the 400 would also seem to conflict to the same indiction to amounts 6097 years, which with Malalas'own calculationsin Book 10. Cf. Malalas,227-29, tallies with the number of years found in the compu- especially227.10-228.8. Unfortunately,the text of Malalas'cal- tations of Clement, Theophilus, and Timotheus, whose culations in Book 10 is in dispute. H. Gelzer,Sextus Julius Afri- chronographies are in accord. In the years of Euse- canus und die byzantinischeChronographie, II (Leipzig, 1885), 130- bius, the pupil of Pamphilus, I found the number of 32, drawingon arguments first made by Hody in 1691, argued years from Adam till Justinian'sconsulship of the sev- that Malalasdated the birth of Christ to annomundi 5970 (and enth indiction to work out as 6032. Those who follow the Crucifixion to 6000), not 5500. Gelzer'ssuggestions were A. Schenk von Theophilus and Timotheus have set out their chron- adopted by Stauffenberg,Die romischeKaiserge- schichtebei Malalas 1931), 11. A full discussionis out ographies much more accurately.Yet, there is com- (Stuttgart, of place here. It is clear that two distinctsystems of chronology plete agreement that the sixth millenniumof the world survivein the Baroccianus but whether the confu- has manuscript, passed.78 sion goes back to Malalasor was introduced later in the tradi- tion (for instance, by the epitomator)is unclear.Gelzer's argu- 76A. M. Cameron, art. cit. (Past and Present), 5; (Mullett and ments, though persuasive, require too many changes to be Scott), 206. convincing and also place Malalasat odds with both his own 77Malalas, 476, 3-7 (Narses bribing the Blues); Theophanes, sources and with the general Byzantine tradition. But even if AM 6065, op. cit., 246, 11-26 (Badouarios, wrongly described Gelzer'semendations for the numeralsin Book 10 are accepted, by Theophanes as Justin's brother; cf. A. M. Cameron, "The they still will not tally with Dindorf's figures in Book 18. The Empress ," Byzantion, 45 [1975], 10). P. Karlin-Hayter in problem is slippery,but for the present it seems safer to her work accept on Michael III also suggests the hippodrome as the the manuscriptfigures in Book 10 and the first scribe'sfigures place where the Emperor's agentsprovocateurs deliberately spread in Book 18. their gossip and propaganda. 79Cf.C. Mango,Byzantium, the New Rome (London, 1980), 191- 8-19. The text here is in some doubt. Din- 78Malalas, 428, 92; 0. P. Nicholson, Lactantius in Prophecyand Politics in the Age dorf gives the figures 6497 and 6432. In the first case, the ad- of Constantinethe Great(unpub. D.Phil. thesis [Oxford, 1981]), ditional 400 is certainly in a second hand, as J. B. Bury pointed 147-68. out, "The Text of the Codex Baroccianus," BZ, 6 (1897), 221. 80Malalas,228, 15-17. Cf. Psalm 90:4; II Peter 3:8 Here the original scribe, presumably expecting a figure in the 8'Malalas, 228, 21-229, 12. 108 ROGER D. SCOTT

a period of troubles, usually of three and a half Such, then, were the calamitieswhich fell upon all years, but sometimes longer, caused by the An- mankind during the reign of the demon who had be- come incarnate tichrist, followed a thousand of and inJustinian, while he himself, as having by years peace become the causes of them. And I the of this Emperor,provided happiness. However, given prevalence shall show further how many evils he did to men by kind of thinking (and it was widespread),82 what an means of a hidden power and of a demoniacal nature. opportunity it provided for Justinian to promote For while this man was administering the nation's af- his reign (possibly entirely sincerely), if not quite fairs, many other calamities chanced to befall, which some insisted came about the aforemen- as the Second Coming, then at least as the moment through tioned presence of this evil demonand his con- of rebirth and renewal. And that, as we know, is through triving, while others said that the Deity, detesting his exactly what the Emperor did with enormous en- works, turned away from the Roman Empire and gave ergy and vigor in the early part of his reign, whether place to the abominabledemons for the bringing of these in regaining the lost western part of the Empire, things to pass in this fashion.84 in the laws, in the cities, or, recodifying rebuilding Procopius, for all his sophisticated classical ve- above all, in his to live a reeducating people proper neer, was as superstitious as any Christian life. sixth-century Christian (there is evidence enough of that even in Or so would have us at least Justinian believe, up his respectable works);85 so if he had it on the in- to the mid 530s, and we a of this in the get glimpse controvertible evidence of a Holy Man that Justi- of Malalas. But there was another of pages way nian was the Prince of Demons, then as a reputable at the and at the end of the sixth looking period historian (which indeed Procopius was) he must take millennium, from the of especially vantage point notice.86 He had also heard, admittedly indirectly, the latter of his In the course of the part reign. that at meetings of the council Justinian's head be- reign the old were abandoned, the es- good ways came separated from his body, which wandered tablished laws the administrative changed, system headless round the room.87 This was the report of upset, the cities of Great important Syria, including Justinian's own counselors, grave men whose ob- Antioch-Theoupolis, the God, as it had City of just servations were not to be taken lightly, and there been renamed invaded and by Justinian-were were many more such reports, if not based the and there were always captured by Persians, long, ex- on sources which a historian likes to use without pensive wars in Africa and Italy, which left both corroborative evidence. Procopius, however, may those countries desolate; riots and the killed plague well have felt that the evidence was clear enough. tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of innocent His SecretHistory is a serious work by a serious his- citizens, and earthquakes, sent by God, destroyed torian. When asked to write The Buildings-a pa- many a fine city. God works in mysterious ways. negyric for the Emperor-he could hardly refuse, Perhaps the millennium marked not the moment but, with the advantage of hindsight, was it not all of rebirth, but the arrival for us sinners of the An- tichrist, the Demon King.83 when his early successesturned sour. Agathias,Historiae, 5.5.2, ed. R. Keydell, CFHB (Berlin, 1967), 169, records that some 82C. Mango, op. cit., 201-5; 0. P. Nicholson, op. cit., 220-21, believed that the end of the world was at hand in December 339-70. G. Podskalsky, ByzantinischeReichseschatologie (Munich, 557. 1972), passim(but his treatmentof Malalasis weak, op. cit., 72). 84SecretHistory, xviii, 36-37. Cf. xii, 14, 27; xviii, 1-4; xxx, "Historiens P.J. Alexander, byzantins et croyances eschatolo- 34, which is Procopius'final paragraph.Rubin has pointed out giques," Actes du xiie Congres International d' Etudes Byzantines, the SecretHistory's identification of Justinianas the Antichriston Ochride10-16 Septembre1961 (Belgrade, 1964), vol. 2, 1-8; A. A. severaloccasions, but did not associatethis with the millennium, Vasiliev, "MedievalIdeas of the End of the World: West and although that is an integral part of Antichristliterature. Rubin, East,"Byzantion, 16 (1942-43), 462-502; W Bousset, TheAnti- "Der Fiirst der Damonen," 469-81; idem,Das Zeitalter christ Iustinians, Legend(London, 1896).Both von Stauffenberg,op. cit., 215- 441-54; idem,"Der Antichrist und die Apokalypsedes Proko- 16, and Rubin, Das ZeitalterIustinians, 452, express surprise at pios von Kaisareia,"ZDMG, 110 (1961), 55-63. the absence of any reference to the Antichrist or the millen- 85Cf.Procopius, Persian Wars, 1.7.5-11; 11.11.14-23;II.13.13- nium in Malalas. 83 15; 20-22; op. cit., I. 31-32, 200-201, 210-11, 238. For a full For a contemporarydescription of the Antichristappear- treatmentwe awaitAveril Cameron's book on Pro- in the of a forthcoming ing guise tyrant (or emperor?)who will deceitfully copius. In the meantime note her "The 'Scepticism'of Proco- pretend to be Christ, build a church, perform false miracles, pius,"Historia, 15 (1966), 466-82; eadem,"The and the and then cause Sceptic spread terror, earthquakes,death, affliction,ex- Shroud," Inaugural Lecture at Kings College, London, April, 1980 ile, etc., see Romanos, Kontakion "On the Second 34, Coming," (London, 1980), both reprinted in eadem, Continuityand Change ed. P. Maas and C. A. Trypanis, Sancti Romani Melodi Cantica, in Cantica Sixth-CenturyByzantium (London, 1981). Genuina(Oxford, 1963), 266-75. This makesit easier to 86SecretHistory, xii, 24. understand how any suggestion that Justinian was preparing 87Ibid., xii, 20-23; cf. K. Gantar,"Kaisar als for the Justinian kop- Second Coming could easilybe turned againsthim later, floser Dimon," BZ, 54 (1961), 1-3. MALALAS, THE SECRET HISTORY, AND JUSTINIAN'S PROPAGANDA 109 the more incumbent on him to write a reassess- ther, is it not just possible that the arrival of the ment of his interpretation of the millennium? I have millennium had its effect too on an equally super- shown above that many of the topics raised by Mal- stitious Justinian and, in consequence, really did alas and the SecretHistory correspond to each other. affect the course of history? I ask now whether the two differ mainly on the question of whether Justinian was God's represent- R. D. Scott ative, preparing the way for the Second Coming, University of Melbourne or the Prince of Demons sent to chastise us? Fur-