Fantastic Metropolis

But unlike our own age, where such books would probably sell a lot of copies and open up expensive lawsuits (and would those be some wild depositions or what?), the penalty for writing such a book was probably death. The imperial power was total, or as close to it as could be imagined at that time, and Procopius knew it. The books he wrote for publication during his lifetime were either obliquely critical of the imperial policy or downright lickspittle with their praise of the Emperor, of Belisarius, and of the Empire itself. It’s possible that anger over a period of stagnation in his career combined with jealousy over the beauty and intelligence of the Empress Theodora and Belisarius’ wife Antonina. (Byzantine women, while not truly liberated, could achieve a lot of power and success… several ruled as sole Empress, and Theodora was certainly skilled and every bit Justinian’s equal.) However, that leaves Procopius merely a jealous, pedantic twit, and the sheer brilliance of his vitriol suggests another possibility. What if Justinian, Theodora and Antonina were involved in black magic and devil worship… and Procopius knew this because he was their spy in Belisarius’ ranks and a member of the cabal? The Anekdota transforms from a mere libel filled with impossible charges to a safeguard against betrayal, the ultimate letter left in case of death. For in a theocratic state like Byzantium, there was no way in hell even a strong ruler could survive a libel this heinous.

One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne, and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian’s head vanished, while the rest of his body began to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder stood white and trembling, wondering that his eyes were liars. But presently he saw the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely as it had left it.

—Procopius, Anekdota

I quote this book in part just because it’s so damn weird that I don’t think I can do it justice, but also because while such lines may seem more like tidbits from the Weekly World News to us, the Byzantines would have taken them seriously. This was an elaborate culture of faith, betrayal, intrigue and superstition. Anything that could be used as a weapon would be. So Justinian would be unlikely to betray a man who could unleash all the barely constrained forces of the Empire, especially while planning to re-conquer all the lost territory of the west from the Vandals, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Alemani and the like. And in point of fact, if not for the constant tension between his own subjects, the defense of the east from Persians and Huns, and his distrust of Belisarius (after all, in an Empire ruled by one man, relying too much on a charismatic and able General was asking to be assassinated, especially in the pressure cooker of Byzantine politics) he may have done more than achieve a temporary resurgence. However, let us assume for a moment that Procopius was in on a conspiracy. Could it have been unmasked? What would Belisarius have done, had he found out that he was being used by a cabal of Satanists?

When the army of Narses drove the Goths out of Rome for the last time, Pope Vigilius was not present to preside over the services of thanksgiving. He was still in Constantinople, ever more inextricably enmeshed in the dispute over the Three Chapters. The hostility aroused by his Judicatum had compelled him to revoke the offending document in 550; and though in August of that year he had secretly sworn to Justinian a written oath that he would continue to use all of his influence on his behalf, his efforts to regain the control—and more difficult still, the respect—of the Western Churches had inevitably led him further and further away from the Emperor’s own position.

—John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries

Perhaps Vigilius’ real problem was that he was beginning to see that he was not dealing with a Christian Emperor at all, but rather a bloodthirsty black magician who had the Patriarch thoroughly cowed and who was looting the Churches and estates of the East. Now, being the pragmatic sort, Vigilius would have sought allies to oppose the man, as he did in 550 by summoning all the Bishops he could get his hands on to refute one of Justinian’s edicts, following that up with a round of excommunications. However, perhaps because he saw Belisarius as a member of Justinian’s group (or perhaps because he knew damn well that Procopius was a member) he did not seek the general’s aid.

What if he had? By 550 Theodora was dead, but her jealousy of Belisarius’ ability and suspicions of his motives had made the man’s life extremely difficult, despite his destruction of the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa and the conquest of Carthage which settled upon him the same sort of heroic halo that had once been held by Scipio Africanus during the Punic Wars. It has been said that her efforts against Belisarius may well have cut the Eastern Empire’s chances of taking and holding all the territory of the former Empire very, very short: an unfettered by scandal Belisarius, with funding for his expeditions and a free hand in running them, could well have crushed the Huns and Persians and completed the conquests in the West. It was not until he lost the backing of the imperial coffers that he lost battles. After 550, when Justinian resumed his relations with the general, his streak had been broken, his faith blunted, and if we are to believe Procopius, his spirit nearly killed by black magic and his wife’s infidelities.