I have thus described the fortunes of the Romans in their wars up to
the present day, as far as possible assigning the description of events
to their proper times and places. What follows will not be arranged
with the same exactness, but everything shall be written down as it
took place throughout the whole extent of the Roman empire. My reason
for this is, that it would not have been expedient for me to describe
these events fully while those who were their authors were still alive;
for, had I done so, I could neither have escaped the notice of the
multitude of spies, nor, had I been detected, could I have avoided a
most horrible death; for I could not even have relied upon my nearest
relatives with confidence. Indeed, I have been forced to conceal the
real causes of many of the events recounted in my former books. It will
now be my duty, in this part of my history, to tell what has hitherto
remained untold, and to state the real motives and origin of the
actions which I have already recounted. But, when undertaking this new
task, how painful and hard will it be, to be obliged to falter and
contradict myself as to what I have said about the lives of Justinian
and Theodora: and particularly so, when I reflect that what I am about
to write will not appear to future generations either credible or
probable, especially when a long lapse of years shall have made them
old stories; for which reason I fear that I may be looked upon as a
romancer, and reckoned among playwrights. However, I shall have the
courage not to shrink from this important work, because my story will
not lack witnesses; for the men of to-day, who are the best informed
witnesses of these facts, will hand on trustworthy testimony of their
truth to posterity. Yet, when I was about to undertake this work,
another objection often presented itself to my mind, and for a long
time held me in suspense.
I doubted whether it would be right to hand down these events to
posterity; for the wickedest actions had better remain unknown to
future times than come to the ears of tyrants, and be imitated by them.
For most rulers are easily led by lack of knowledge into imitating the
evil deeds of their predecessors, and find it their easiest plan to
walk in the evil ways of their forefathers.
Later, however, I was urged to record these matters, by the
reflection that those who hereafter may wish to play the tyrant will
clearly see, in the first place, that it is probable that retribution
will fall upon them for the evil that they may do, seeing that this was
what befell these people; and, secondly, that their actions and habits
of life will be published abroad for all time, and therefore they will
perhaps be less ready to transgress. Who, among posterity, would have
known of the licentious life of Semiramis, or of the madness of
Sardanapalus or Nero, if no memorials of them had been left to us by
contemporary writers? The description of such things, too, will not be
entirely without value to such as hereafter may be so treated by
tyrants; for unhappy people are wont to console themselves by the
thought that they are not the only persons who have so suffered. For
these reasons, I shall first give a description of the evil wrought by
Belisarius, and afterwards I shall describe the misdeeds of Justinian
and Theodora.