The Secret History · Question
How does The Secret History develop the theme of Injustice and Lawlessness?
Answer
The Secret History by Procopius develops Injustice and Lawlessness across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The book highlights the systematic dismantling of legal protections, where trials are rigged, laws are retroactively changed for profit, and the innocent are punished while the guilty go free.
Chosroes is accused by his own nobles of breaking his plighted word by invading in peacetime, and the Roman army suffers from Belisarius's neglect of duty.
Innocent men are tortured and exiled for their association with Photius and Belisarius.
Belisarius is condemned without proof, his property seized on false pretexts, and his life spared only through his wife's intervention.
Evidence in the book
- II: How Belated Jealousy Affected Belisarius’s Military Judgment, to the Joy of the Enemy
Chosroes is accused by his own nobles of breaking his plighted word by invading in peacetime, and the Roman army suffers from Belisarius's neglect of duty.
- III: Showing the Danger of Interfering with a Woman’s Intrigues, Especially When the Woman Is the Friend of an Empress
Innocent men are tortured and exiled for their association with Photius and Belisarius.
- How Theodora, Revenging Her Dear Antonina, Humiliated the Conqueror of Africa and Italy
Belisarius is condemned without proof, his property seized on false pretexts, and his life spared only through his wife's intervention.
- How Theodora Tricked the General’s Daughter Into a Liaison with the Empress’s Nephew, and Belisarius Became a Public Laughing Stock
Sergius murders ambassadors under safe conduct, and Solomon kills his rescuer Pegasius, yet both escape justice through imperial favor.
- Ignorance of the Emperor Justin, and His Stencilled Signature, and How His Nephew Justinian Was the Virtual Ruler
Justinian murdered Amantius on a flimsy charge and killed Vitalian despite sacred pledges, showing complete disregard for justice.
- VII: Outrages of the Blues
Murders and robberies go unpunished, judges rule out of fear, and the legal system collapses under the weight of factional violence.
- IX: And How Theodora, Most Depraved of All Courtesans, Won His Love
The Blues commit crimes with impunity, and Theodotus is falsely accused and tortured despite his innocence.
- XI: How the Defender of the Faith Ruined His Subjects
Retroactive laws against pederasty and persecution of astrologers without proper evidence or accusers.
