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Philippe Blaudeau

sources as Theophanes52 and Nicephorus Xanthopoulos,53 but also, as he confesses, by
Baronius’ and Pagi’s explanations.54 Indeed, we know that appeasement was achieved
between mid-February and June 552 after penance shown by archbishop Menas and
the emperor’s special counselor, Theodore Askidas, bishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia.55
So the tale of Fragmenta Tusculana seems quite clear for its purpose: unbearable
violence was committed in a place which had much in common (an altar in a marty-
rium) with a bloody and frightening episode of Scythopolis (529), which had already
been narrated in the first edition of the Chronographia (or Breviarium). Here is the im-
plicit tie. But the end is completely different and unveils the hidden political meaning.
Surely, Justinian had shown great irritation with the pope, the first archbishop to be
named,56 which led to wrongdoings, culminating in the deeds of a zealous praetor,
known from official notices to have judged in the murder of bishop of Cyzicus,57 or for
having found the lost imperial diadem and its major pearl and jewels.58 Only after a
certain period did the,pious emperor4 come to feel better, as did Cyrus toward Daniel.
And from Malalas, nothing more can be extracted about the next episodes of the Three
Chapter’s controversy and renewed tribulations of Vigilius.59
To conclude: Two texts somewhat longer than their abbreviated counterparts in
Baroccianus’ manuscript, help to understand Malalas’ evaluation of Justinian’s reign
better. At a moment (ca. 565) in which questions arose about the way this very special
emperor was to be recorded, Malalas (or at least a loyal continuator) did not develop
a long justification, but suggested an image coherent with the previous edition. The
tale does not deny that Justinian was at times an excessively hard persecutor.60 But it
Chalcedon ...pope Vigilius ... by(?) our most pious lord” {Chronicle of Malalas, transl. E. Jeffreys et alii,
p. 291).
52 Theophanes, Chronographia AM 6039, p. 225.
53 Xanthopuhis, Z/zVorz«ecclesiasticaXNIL 26, PG 147,col 284A (μεταμέΛω χρησάμενος Ιουστινιανός).
54 “Oblitterato hie codice, haec suppleo ex historia, de qua consule Baronium ad an. DLI et DLII, cum
Pagio, quorum uterque ordinationi nostrae favet”. We can effectively read in Baronius Annales ecclesias-
tici, X (Baronius’ ist edition 1596; here is used the Mansi’s Luca edition, 1741), AD DLII, p. 75 “eumdem
(Justinianum) reddat (Vigilius) humilem et obsequentem... (Justinianus) facti poenitens” ... or p. 76
“Caeterum ex his quae dicentur, constat cessisse tandem Vigilio imperatorem, atque appensa amoveri
jussisse a se prolata de tribus capitulis edicta et ex sententia ipsius Vigilii nihil de illis voluisse ante sy-
nodum generalem, quam ex ejusdem pontificis desiderio et voluntate convocare fecit, ut suo loco se-
quent! anno dicemus”.
55 According to the declaration which pope Vigilius included in his first constitutum, in Collect™ Avellana,
ed. Günther, § 3-9, pp. 231-32. Price, Acts of the council of Constantinople. II, p. 145 note 10, places the date
of this document between mid-February and mid-June 552. He also notes that the emphasis on the
action of the Roman See and its officials suggests that the piece was prepared by an agent of Vigil.
56 Malalas, Chronographia XVIII107 completed by Fragmentum Tusculanum, see Thurn (ed), pp. 411,61-63.
57 Malalas, Chronographia XVIII101.
58 Malalas, Chronographia XVIII103 and Fragmentum Tusculanum, reprint. Thurn, pp. 410+3-+5.
59 On those episodes, see our forthcoming contribution “ Sanctionner le pape sans rompre avec le Siege
apostolique ? Retour sur la condamnation de Vigile prononcee lors du concile de Constantinople II
(553)”, in G. Cuchet and Ch. Meriaux (eds), La dramatique conciliaire. Coups de theatre, tactique et sincerite
des convictions dans les debats conciliaires de TAntiquite a Vatican II, Lille (15-17 mai 2015).
60 Meier, “Nero, Traian und die Christen”, p. 260.