Procopius of Caesarea, Secret History 30.17-30.19
created: This entry is taken from Secret History 30.17-30.19 written by Procopius of Caes
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/201

Καισαρείᾳ

, and

Caesarea

are directly attested at Procopius of Caesarea, Secret History 30.17-30.19. This passage was written ca. 550-560 C.E. possibly in Constantinople. Procopius, a native of Caesarea Maritima who excelled in his classical education and legal training, was the preeminent historian of the reign of Justinian. As a field advisor to the general Belisarius and a ranking member of the governing class in Constantinople, he could write with firsthand knowledge and personal authority on policy and society in the late Empire. Among his influential writings was the unusual “secret” or “unpublished history” (ἀπόκρυφη/ἀνεκδοτή ἱστορία), a collection of vignettes often with a polemical or satirical flavor that portrayed the vices and failures of the emperor, the empress, and their entourage. In this passage Procopius records the fortunes of Evangelos, a professional orator at Caesarea whom Procopius may have known.

(17) Τὰ μὲν οὖν σπουδαιότατα τῇ πολιτείᾳ ἐ[πε]φέρετο τῇδε. οὐδὲν δὲ χεῖρον καί τινος αὐτοῦ τῶν γελοίων ἐπιμνησθῆναι. (18) τῶν ἐν Καισαρείᾳ ῥητόρων Εὐάγγελός τις ἦν οὐκ ἄσημος ἀνὴρ, ὅσπερ ἐπιφόρου οἱ τοῦ τῆς τύχης πνεύματος γενομένου χρημάτων τε ἄλλων καὶ χώρας πολλῆς κύριος γέγονεν. (19) ὕστερον δὲ καὶ κώμην ἐπιθαλασσίαν τινὰ, Πορφυρεῶνα ὄνομα, τριῶν χρυσίου κεντηναρίων ἐπρίατο. ταῦτα μαθὼν Ἰουστινιανος βασιλεὺς ἀφείλετο [αὐτῷ] τὸ χωρίον εὐθὺς ὀλίγην αὐτῷ τινα τοῦ τιμήματος προέμενος μοῖραν, καὶ τοῦτο ἀποφθεγξάμενος, ὡς Εὐαγγέλῳ ῥήτορι ὄντι οὐ μήποτε εὐπρεπὲς εἴη κώμης τοιαύτης κυρίῳ εἶναι. (20) ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων, ἀμηγέπη αὐτῶν ἐπιμνησθέντες, παυσόμεθα λέγειν.

[Ed. Wirth 1963 [cited by chapter-section]]

(17) So this is how the most important affairs of the state were going. There is no harm in mentioning one of (Justinian’s) ridiculous acts. (18) Among the orators at Caesarea was one Evangelos, a man not without distinction, who, when the winds of Fortune blew profitably in his direction, became owner of diverse assets, including much land. (19) Later he even purchased a town on the sea named Porphyreon for 300 pounds of gold. When he learned of this, the emperor Justinian immediately took away the village, giving the man only a small fraction of its value, and declaring that it would never be appropriate for an orator like Evangelos to be the owner of such a town. (20) But now that I have mentioned these matters in a summary fashion, I will stop discussing them.

[Adapted from Dewing 1935 and Williamson 1966]

Works Cited

[...] 30 17-20
[...] 352-355

Additional Bibliography

[...] 190-191

[Porphyreon]

[Evangelos

Justinian I, emperor]

[Byzantine History

Economy

Geography

Government and Law

Society and Culture]