APPENDIX 547 Gothic War, was written in a.d. 553-4. The last work, the Edifices, was not published before a.d. 560 ; for it mentions the construction of the bridge over the Sangarius (vol. iii. p. 315, ed. Bonn), the date of which we know from Theophane6 to have been a.d. 559-60 (under the circumstances, a.d. 560). 9 It is gratuitous to suppose that this is an interpolation. There is, however, another passage in the Edifices on which Dahu confidently based his view that the Secret History was com- posed after the Edifices. In mentioning the inundation of Edessa by the river Skirtos, Procopius (Secret Hist. p. 118, ed. Haury) refers to his description in his earlier works. Now there is no such description in the Military Histoiy, but there is in the Edifices. Haury, however, has pointed to a passage in the Bell. Pers. (ii. 12, vol. i. p. 208) where there is clearly a considerable gap in our text, 10 and plausibly argues that the description referred to in the Secret History occupied this gap. In any case, Dahn's argument from the Skirtos is met by the counter-argu- ment from the Sangarios. 11 It was probably after the publication of Bk. viii. of the Military History (a.d. 554) that Justinian became conscious of the existence of the great historian, and engaged him to write the work on the Edifices. There can be no doubt that Pro- copius wrote it ironically, " with his tongue in his cheek " ; the smiles of the court had not altered his political hostility to the government. The very hyperbole of his praise was a mockery. As he invariably in the Edifices cites his Military History as oi inrio ra>v iroefxaii> yoi, it is reasonable to assume that, when he says in the Proceviium that he has related Justinian's other doings eV ertpois yois, he is secretly alluding to the unpublished work, whose publication would have cost him his head. It is probable that Procopius was rewarded for his memorial of Justinian's Buildings by the office of Prefecture of the City. At all events two years after its publication, in a.d. 562, a Procopius was made Prefect of Constantinople. 12 The chronology of the career of Procopius, so far as can be determined, would be as follows : — a.d. 527 attached to Belisarius in the East as private secretary. a.d. 531 returns with Belisarius to Constantinople. a.d. 532 in Constantinople at time of the Nika riot. a.d. 533 accompanies Belisarius to Africa as assessor. His mission to Syracuse. a.d. 534 remains behind Belisarius in Africa (as assessor to Solomon (?)). a.d. 536 (end) joins Belisarius in Italy. a.d. 539 returns with Belisarius to Constantinople. a.d. 539-546 at Constantinople. a.d. 545-6 engaged on the composition of his Military History in seven Books. a.d. 546 probably proceeds to Italy, to follow the course of the war (cp. Haury, Procopiana, i. p. 9). a.d. 548 back in Constantinople. a.d. 550 completes and publishes his Military History, Bks. i.-vii. ; writes his Secret History. a.d. 553-4 writes and publishes the EighthlBook of the Military History. a.d. 560 publishes his work on Edifices. a.d. 562-3 Prefect of the City (?). This is not the place to speak of the literary character of the works of Procopius except so far as it concerns their historical criticism. Procopius is an imitator of 9 Haury, Procopiana, i. p. 28. 10 There is actually external evidence for the gap in Mss. cited by Haury iu his second program (Procopiana, ii. p. 1). 11 The other argument that the Edifices cannot have been written after May 7, 559, on which day the dome of St. Sophia fell in (Theoph. a.m. 6051), because Procopius could not have omitted to mention this incident, can be met by the reasonable assumption that Bk. i. (in which St. Sophia is described) was written earlier, and that Procopius did not feel himself obliged to insert before publication a disaster which did not redound to the greater glory of Justinian. 12 Theophanes, a.m. 6054. See Dahn, Prokopius, p. 452 ; Haury, Procopiana, i. p. 34. Suidas describes Procopius as an illustris.
