PROCOPIUS CAESARIENSIS V.I. ANEKDOTA ARCANA HISTORIA, QUI EST LIBER NONUS HISTORIARUM. EX BIBLIOTHECA VATICANA ; THE SECRET HISTORY

Lyon, France: Andreae Brugiotti, 1623. First Edition (Editio Princeps). Vellum-Bound. Good. IN LATIN AND GREEK. Tall 4to. a6, e4, i4, o4, A-R4, a-u4. [12], xxiv, 136, 142, [20]. Full old vellum, remains of more recent leather label with title in gilt lettering, peeling from spine, revealing older title in manuscript. Vellum boards cocked. Gorgeous printer's device on title page, 8 woodcut text illustrations. Engraved head and tail pieces. Light to moderate browning and foxing,with occasional dampstain. Remains of bookplate and old name in manuscript to front pastedown. Titlepage in black and red inks. Small notch to bottom margin of O4,lower right corner of e4 and m2 missing,and rough bottom edges on m1, n2, and n3, all without affecting text. Worming in bottom margins of a2-E1 and o1-u4, not affecting text. Diglot, double-column format, in Greek and Latin. A nice copy. Procopius, a Byzantine scholar known for his works on "The Wars of Justinian" and "The Buildings of Justinian", was the secretary of the general Belisarius during the reign of the emperor Justinian.

"However, for centuries there were a few scattered references to another work by Procopius -- a work so scandalous that Procopius did not dare officially publish it in his lifetime. This third work remained a mystery until the early 1620s, when a scholar working in the library of the Vatican came across a Greek manuscript, copied sometime in the 14th century. It was, it turned out, Procopius's literal secret work. The scholar, Nicoló Alamanni, then translated the work into Latin (heavily edited, as some of the accounts were too scandalous for even 17th century audiences) and published it Lyon in 1623. An English translation wasn't published until fifty years later.

The famous descriptions of Justinian's wife Theodora's stage "act" has made it a text of considerable interest to the salacious. ...The work claims to expose the lives of the emperor and his entourage. Justinian is portrayed as cruel, venal, prodigal, and incompetent....The Theodora of the Secret History is a garish portrait of vulgarity and insatiable lust juxtaposed with cold-blooded self-interest, shrewishness, and envious and fearful mean-spiritedness. (Wikipedia)

Among the more titillating (and dubious) revelations in the Secret History is Procopius's account of Theodora's on-stage jperformances: ...she removed her costume and stood all but nude in their midst, ... she would sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back. Slaves to whom the duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into the calyx of this passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose, would next pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat..." Wikipedia

Graesse V, 455. Brunet 10, 897. Hoffmann III. 298.