Hypocrisy and Deception

Where it surfaces

• Foreword by the Historian

  Procopius admits he had to hide the truth in his earlier works due to fear, highlighting the deception required to survive under a tyrannical regime.

• The Secret History

  The gap between public piety and private depravity, as seen in the court's moral hypocrisy and secret machinations.

• How the Great General Belisarius Was Hoodwinked by His Wife, Whose Lover Became a Monk

  Antonina's elaborate lies and Belisarius's willful blindness exemplify the theme of deception, as the general prefers to distrust his own eyes rather than confront his wife's infidelity.

• II: How Belated Jealousy Affected Belisarius’s Military Judgment, to the Joy of the Enemy

  Antonina deceives John the Cappadocian with oaths, and Belisarius swears sacred oaths to Photius while still loving his wife, planning revenge but not harm to her.

• Character and Appearance of Justinian

  Justinian is portrayed as deceitful, false, hypocritical, and two-faced, never truthful and skilled in dissembling his thoughts.

• X: How Justinian Created a New Law Permitting Him to Marry a Courtesan on Her Promise to Repent Her Past; and the Truth About the Apparent Quarrels of a Happy Pair

  Justinian and Theodora feign opposition to each other to manipulate public opinion and consolidate power.

• XI: How the Defender of the Faith Ruined His Subjects

  Justinian claims to secure peace by bribing barbarians, but this only encourages further invasions.

• XII: Proving That Justinian and Theodora Were Actually Fiends in Human Form

  The emperor and empress use deceptive methods such as forged letters and false claims of inheritance to rob the Senate and wealthy citizens.

• XIII: Deceptive Affability and Piety of a Tyrant

  Justinian's outward affability and piety mask his true nature as a ruthless tyrant who murders and steals under the guise of religion.

• XIV: Justice for Sale

  The Senate is maintained as a hollow formality while the emperor and his consort make all decisions, and officials deceive litigants.

• XV: How an Roman Citizens Became Slaves, and a Complaining Patrician Was Ribaldly Mocked by Theodora’s Eunuchs

  Justinian's false geniality and Theodora's harshness are both forms of deceit; they are described as 'liars of the first water.'

• XVI: What Happened to Those Who Fell Out of Favor with Theodora

  Justinian pretends ignorance of Priscus's fate while benefiting from his property, and Theodora uses false charges of pederasty to destroy her enemies.

• XVII: How She Saved Five Hundred Harlots from a Life of Sin, Made Away with Her Own Natural Son, and Other Curious Incidents of Her Passion for Match Making

  Theodora forces harlots into a monastery to 'reform' them while herself engaging in murder and adultery, and she uses false witnesses against John the Cappadocian.

• XXVII: How the Defender of the Faith Protected the Interests of the Christians

  Justinian feigns horror at the murder he himself ordered, and accepts bribes to reinstate a convicted bishop, revealing his duplicity.

• XXIX: Other Incidents Revealing Him as a Liar and a Hypocrite

  Justinian's contradictory letters and false promises reveal his systematic deceit.

• XXX: Further Innovations of Justinian and Theodora, and a Conclusion Which Imagines the Death of an Emperor

  The chapter contrasts the former efficient state systems with Justinian's destructive 'innovations' that serve only his own greed and control.

• Endnotes

  Theodora's plot to lure John of Cappadocia under the guise of discussing a rebellion, and the marriage law ostensibly for 'glorious repentance' but enabling senatorial-courtesan unions, highlight hypocrisy.