Procopius employs the motif of “grieving in silence” to describe the deliberations preceding Justinian’s invasion of Vandal North Africa in 533 (Wars 3.10.7-8) and his vendetta against the urban prefect of Constantinople in 523 (HA 9.41). The particularity of Procopius’ language in these passages makes their collocation especially pronounced. The distance between the Wars and the Secret History, which represents itself breaking the silence between what the Wars can state publicly and the unvarnished truth (HA 1.1-10), may be measured by two “wise advisers” who speak when others are silent: the quaestor Proclus, warmly remembered for his probity, and the praetorian prefect John the Cappadocian, a figure universally reviled. Discontinuities between the presentation of John in the Wars and the merits of the policies he endorses problematize readers’ impressions of not only John but also the relationship between the Wars and the historical reality the work claims to represent.

中文翻译：

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凯撒利亚Procopius史学打破沉默

普罗科匹乌斯以“沉默而悲痛”为主题，描述了贾斯汀尼安在533年入侵瓦尔达尔北非（战争3.10.7-8）和他在523年反对君士坦丁堡市政长官的仇杀之前的审议情况。这些段落中Procopius语言的特殊性使其搭配特别明显。战争与秘密历史之间的距离，代表着自己打破了战争可以公开陈述的内容与朴实的真理之间的沉默（HA 1.1-10），可以由两个“明智的顾问”来衡量，他们在其他人沉默时讲话：普罗克洛斯（Proclus）的亲戚，因他的纯真而深深地被人们记住，普雷托里亚（Praetorian）知府约翰（John Cappadocian）则广受人们的谴责。