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 548 APPENDIX both Herodotus and Thucydides. How largely he used these ancient historians has been shown in two special monographs by H. Braun. 13 In geographical and ethno- graphical digressions, descriptions of strange incidents, dreams, &c, the iufluence of Herodotus is apparent ; and the Herodotean conception of the supernatural, the power of fortune or fate, the envy of the gods, is adopted by Procopius. In the prefaces to his works, in speeches and letters, in descriptions of sieges, naval battles, plagues, Procopius takes Thucydides as his model. 14 It is curious to find not only John, the son of Vitalian, but Moors and other barbarians, 6pouting Thucydidean phrases. When we find incidents at the siege of Amida reproduced from the siege of Plataea, we have reason to doubt whether Procopius confined himself to adapting merely the words of his models. It is moreover important to notice that he adopts the Thucydidean plan of dividing the year into summer and winter (Haury, Pro- copiana, i. p. 6). It may be observed that he dates the years of Justinian from April 1, a.d. 527 (cp. Leuthold, Untersuchungen zur Ostgotischen Geschichte, 11 sqq.). It was recognized by Gibbon, and has been confirmed by later investigations, that in the history of events previous to his own time Procopius is untrustworthy ; he was quite careless in selecting and using sources, and has been convicted of numerous errors. 15 It is hardly too strong to say, as has been said by Bruckner, that he shows want both of historical sense and of conscientiousness. The politics of Procopius are marked by four prominent features : (1) Patriotism, based on the idea of the Roman world embodying a civilisation inaccessible to the barbarians ; (2) Constitutionalism, a worship of law and order ; and, closely con- nected with this, (3) Conservatism, devotion to the old traditional customs of the Empire, and dislike of innovation as such ; (4) Class sympathies with the aristocracy (aristocracy, of course, of wealth, not birth). This analysis of the political view of Procopius, which can be clearly traced in his Public History, is due to Panchenko ; 16 the two last features had been well developed by Dahn. As to religion, the historian generally uses the language of a sceptic and fatalist, regarding Christianity as an outsider with tolerant indifference, but never commit- ting himself to any utterance against it. He wrote in fact (as Alemanni observed) as a politicus. But he was intensely superstitious ; as diligent a seeker after oracles and dreams as Herodotus himself. I cannot resist the suspicion that the indiffer- ence of Procopius was to some extent an affectation, due to his admiration for the old olassical writers and the pre-Christian Empire. Certainly in judging his fatal- istic utterances we must take into account his imitation of Herodotus. The much disputed question as to the genuineness of the Secret History has been set at rest by the researches of Dahn and Haury. Dahn's investigation {op. cit.) into the diction of this work, as compared with the undoubted writings of Procopius, has received greater significance in the light of the elaborate study of B. Panchenko (0 tainoi istorii Prokopiia), 17 which contains an exhaustive analysis of the work. The matter was clinched by J. Haury's determination of the chronology of the Pro- oopian writings. In regard to the distinct question as to the credibility of the Secret History, it is important to observe that there is no fundamental opposition between it and the Public History. The political attitude of the writer (as described above) is the same in both documents. The result of that political attitude was bitter hostility to the reigning dynasty as (1) barbarian ; (2) tyrannical, trampling on the constitu- tion ; (3) innovating; (4) oppressing the aristocracy. In the Public History criti- cisms on the Government had necessarily to be confined within certain limits, but they are often expressed freely enough. Procopius often puts his criticisms dexterously into the mouth of enemies ; thus Totila censures the administration 13 Procopius Caes. quatenus imitatus sit Thucydidem, 1885 (Erlangen) ; Die Nachah- mung Herodots durch Prokop, 1894 (Nurnberg). 14 Bruckner, op. cit. , p. 8 sqq. , gives a good summary. 15 See the very full criticism of Bruckner, op. cit., p. 19 sqq. Cp. Ranke, Weltgeschichte, iv. 279. Also see above, vol. iii., Appendix 24. 18 Viz. Vrem. 2, 355-366. There are some good remarks here on the use of 'Pu/xaTos and tv paw civ. 17 Vizant. Vrem. ii. p. 24 sqq., 340 sqq. ; iii. 96 sqq., 300 sqq., 461 sqq.