Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

@delong: .@The_New_Rome U cannot hide! Procopius of Caesarea worked closely with you and your staff for many years! cc: @tomtomorrow

@charlesjkenny: @delong @The_New_Rome @tomtomorrow in the official history he said I was yuuuge! Stuff afterward just bad words of a failed reporter. Sad.

@The_New_Rome: Yes! #Procopius was a "failed reporter," in unholy alliance with the devilish Persians, no doubt! @charlesjkenny @delong @tomtomorrow

@The_New_Rome: "Examining the countries that he made desolate of inhabitants, I would say he slew a trillion people." @charlesjkenny @delong @tomtomorrow

@The_New_Rome: PT--"Justinian was not a man, but a demon...in human form...considering the enormity of the evils"

@The_New_Rome: PT--Clearly the slurred murmurings of a sharp mind gone mad. As a #Christian, I must forgive #Procopius @charlesjkenny @delong @tomtomorrow

@The_New_Rome: PT--As a wise Roman Emperor & a man of faith, I must merely have #Procopius' blinded and banished. @charlesjkenny @delong @tomtomorrow

@The_New_Rome: PT--Oh, & FYI: "#Libya...he so devastated that you would have to go a long way to find a single man" = #Hillary's policy. Not mine. @delong

@delong: .@The_New_Rome you would let Procopius keep his thumbs?! @charlesjkenny @tomtomorrow

@The_New_Rome: PT--#Procopius, if you're reading this, turn yourself in man! I promise not to cut out your tongue. ~J @charlesjkenny @delong @tomtomorrow

@DeepakJishnu: @The_New_Rome thats an awesome reply!!! :))) but @delong is a laser beam. no distractions gets his target @tomtomorrow

@ObsoleteDogma: Biased lamestream media won’t even ask Hillary if she’s a demon. Sad!

@delong: .@ObsoleteDogma (1) I will have you know that Justinian--confidently declared a demon by his own architectural historian, Senator and Vir

@delong: .@ObsoleteDogma (2) Spectabilis Procopius of Caesarea--not only defended Rome's eastern border against the Persians, but reconquered North

@delong: .@ObsoleteDogma (3) Africa, Italy, and Southern Spain for the Roman Empire from the barbarians. #NotAllDemonicRulersAreBad

@pashulman: @delong @ObsoleteDogma Procopius bravely suppressed these claims until after his own death!

@delong: .@pashulman @ObsoleteDogma what do we know of the circulation and publication of the Anecdota, anyway?

@pashulman: @delong @ObsoleteDogma The consensus is... we don't know. Maybe it circulated privately; maybe not.

@pashulman: @delong @ObsoleteDogma It was referenced long before being rediscovered in the 17th cen. No evidence it was publicly known in his lifetime.

@delong: .@pashulman @ObsoleteDogma thx...

@infinite_me: @pashulman @delong @ObsoleteDogma I hear Procopius was under a hell of a Non Disclosure Agreement w Justinian

@delong: .@noonanjo @GoAngelo There is precedent: Procopius of Caesarea:

Some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at night, men who were pure of spirit, have thought they saw a strange demoniac form taking his place. One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne and walked about, and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian's head vanished, while the rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder stood aghast and fearful, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But presently he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely as it had left it....

They also say that a certain monk, very dear to God, at the instance of those who dwelt with him in the desert went to Constantinople... stopped short as his feet were on the threshold, and suddenly stepped backward. Whereupon the eunuch escorting him, and others who were present, importuned him to go ahead. But he answered not a word; and like a man who has had a stroke staggered back to his lodging. And when some followed to ask why he acted thus, they say he distinctly declared he saw the King of the Devils sitting on the throne in the palace, and he did not care to meet or ask any favor of him.

Indeed, how was this man likely to be anything but an evil spirit, who never knew honest satiety ofdrink or food or sleep, but only tasting at random from the meals that were set before him, roamed the palace at unseemly hours of the night, and was possessed by the quenchless lust of a demon?...

Theodora's lovers... say that at night a demon would sometimes descend upon them and drive them from the room, so that it might spend the night with her.... Theodora used to relate how on... a dream... bidding her take no thought of money, for when she should come to Constantinople, she should share the couch of the King of the Devils, and that she should contrive to become his wedded wife and thereafter be the mistress of all the money in the world. And that this is what happened is the opinion of most people...

@epitygxanwn: @delong @noonanjo @GoAngelo Some 'precedent'. Procopius hated the Emperor & filled his "Secret History" with many vile slanders.

@delong: @epitygxanwn well, yes, that's my point... :-) cc: @noonanjo @GoAngelo

@thucydiplease: @delong @epitygxanwn @noonanjo @GoAngelo The Secret History is so much goddamn fun

@delong: @thucydiplease @epitygxanwn @noonanjo @GoAngelo indeed it is...

@epitygxanwn: @delong @thucydiplease @noonanjo @GoAngelo Don't forget that Emperor is a saint to millions of Greeks. They don't take kindly to mocking him

@KateElliottSFF: @delong A timely historical reference! thank you. @noonanjo @GoAngelo

@epitygxanwn: @delong @noonanjo @GoAngelo Some 'precedent'. Procopius hated the Emperor & filled his "Secret History" with many vile slanders.