Malalas and Procopius 181
to these books in Wars VIII.49 Whether (marginally) different versions of the Wars
actually circulated cannot be demonstrated conclusively; there are certainly not the di-
vergences that there are for Malalas, e.g. in the passages quoted by the Constantinian
Excerpta, although Marek Jankowiak has recently drawn attention to a curiously fuller
version in Theophanes of one episode in the Vandal war.50
If Procopius’ works did thus undergo changes as they were prepared, for which
there is also internal evidence, then it becomes all the harder to work out what he
thought about (e.g.) Justinian’s reconquests or peace treaties with foreign peoples: like
any historian, ancient or modern, he was apt to change his mind.51 Indeed, as emerged
from the Procopius conference in Oxford in January, it may be wondered whether it
is worth asking such a question in the first place. As we have seen, the problem with
Malalas is even greater, since we are faced with attempting to reconstruct a sixth-
century text chiefly on the basis of a twelfth-century epitome; nor can we be certain
that the author who continued the work after 532, if this was when the first edition
was published, was the same as that of the earlier part. We are thus left, perhaps, with
more problems than solutions.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Agathias, Historiae, CFHB, ed. R. Keydell. Berlin, 1967; tr. J.D. Frendo, Berlin/New York 1975.
Chronicon Paschale, ed. L. Dindorf, Bonn 1832. Partial tr. by Μ. and Μ. Whitby, Chronicon Paschale
284-628 AD, Liverpool 1989.
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De thematibus, ed. A. Pertusi, Studi e Testi 160, Vatican City 1952.
Excerpta deInsidiis, in Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Excerpta historica, vol.3, ed. C. de Boor, Berlin
!9θ5·
John Nikiu, Chronicle of John, bishop ofNikiu, tr. R.H. Charles London 1916.
Malalas, Chronographia, ed. J. Thurn, CFHB, Berlin 2000; tr. E. and Μ. Jeffreys and R. Scott.
Melbourne 1986, tr. J. Thurn and Μ. Meier, Stuttgart 2009.
Procopius, De Aedificiis, ed. J. Haury, rev. G. Wirth, Leipzig 1964; ed. and tr. Η. B. Dewing,
Cambridge, Mass. 1940.
Procopius, Anecdota, ed. J. Haury, rev. G. Wirth, Leipzig, 1963; ed. and tr. Η. B. Dewing, Cambridge,
Mass., 1935.
Procopius, De Bellis Libri ed. J. Haury, rev. G. Wirth, 2 vols., Leipzig 1963; ed. and tr. Η. B. Dewing,
5 vols., Cambridge, Mass., 1914-28.
Suidae Lexicon, ed. A. Adler, 5 vols., Stuttgart 1928-38.
Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig 1883, tr. C. Mango and R. Scott, Oxford 1997.
49 Discussed in Greatrex, “Reflexions”.
50 Jankowiak, “Procopius of Caesarea”, comparing Theophanes, Chronographia 208.13-21 with Procopius,
De Bellis Libri IV 21.15-17. Note also that there are sometimes discrepancies between the Suda and the
Anecdota, e.g. between Anecdota 26.2 and Suda, ed. Adler, vol.2, p.116. On inconsistencies in Procopius’
work see further Greatrex, “Perceptions of Procopius”, pp.93-6.
51 Cf. Greatrex, “Reflexions”.