The Secret History by Procopius5/21/2023 Title page of Sir Thomas Ryves’s defense of Justinian (Folger STC 21477). The Latin edition was certainly known in England shortly after its publication, as Sir Thomas Ryves wrote a defense of Justinian that was published in London a mere three years later. 1 The scholar, Nicoló Alamanni, then translated the work into Latin (heavily edited, as some of the accounts were too scandalous for even 17th century audiences) and published it Lyon in 1623. It was, it turned out, Procopius’s literal secret work. This third work remained a mystery until the early 1620s, when a scholar working in the library of the Vatican came across a Greek manuscript, copied sometime in the 14th century. A work so scandalous that Procopius did not dare officially publish it in his lifetime. However, for centuries there were a few scattered references to another work by Procopius. He was long known to have written both The Wars of Justinian, a chronicle, and The Buildings of Justinian, a (probably commissioned) panegyric to the Emperor’s construction projects. Procopius of Cesarea was a legal advisor (and chronicler) associated with the Roman Emperor Justinian’s court in the middle of the 6th century. The history behind the Secret History is a tale in and of itself. Title page of the first English translation of Procopius’s Secret History
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