Here, every detail of what happened at every point in the Roman Empire will be recorded. The reason is that it was impossible to chronicle the actions in a proper manner while their perpetrators were still alive, because if they discovered me, I would not be able to escape the most wretched death, and I could not even be sure of the safety of my closest relatives.

The Secret History of Procopius [c. 500 - 565 AD] is a strange supplement to his Histories and On Buildings. The account of the three wars - against the Persians, the Vandals, and the Goths - was nearly complete when the author, visibly disgusted, decided to safely grant to some distant future generations the gossip of the backroom dealings that were in vogue while Justinian and Theodora played their imperial roles and Belisarius led the Roman arms from triumph to triumph.

According to his own admission, the purpose of writing the book, which he presumably titled Anecdota, was to candidly tell the entire truth that he did not deem prudent to record in the seven books of the Histories; these had already been published and spread from end to end of the empire.

The author concentrates all his efforts in trying to prove the complete corruption of Justinian and Theodora, the insignificance of Belisarius, and the shamelessness of Antonina. In addition to political corruption and sexual scandals and the general indifference to religion and morality, the reader will find in Procopius many things that will remind him of today's life.

He will read about social services with doctors and teachers paid by the state and subsidized recreational events; about perfectly organized postal services; about espionage and counter-espionage; about duties and taxes, customs, import burdens, and import bans; about inadequate street lighting and insufficient water supply; about monopolies, price stabilization, illegal dividends, counterfeit sales, and black markets; about rising inflation rates and currency depreciation; about smaller loaves and adulterated flours; about market regulation; about the intense passion of fans and the fierce and bitter disputes among supporters of different teams.

The translation, complete and unabridged, was made from the medieval Greek original of The Loeb Classical Library edition, 1935. It was translated from the above edition and the introduction by H.B. Dewing. Material for the appendix (bibliography, maps, and chronology) was used from both the Loeb edition and the Penguin edition, 19813. The edition also contains a table of persons and a table of place names.