Peste, carestia e cause secondo Procopio di Cesarea
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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63277/2385-1341/3245Abstract
Nei Bella Procopio riferisce di peste e di carestie come eventi singoli o correlati; in particolare egli descrive, da testimone oculare e sulla scorta del modello di Tucidide, oltre alla carestia nel Piceno, la peste pandemica dell’età di Giustiniano. In relazione a quest’ultima, distaccandosi dal modello, egli presenta un’interessante dichiarazione polemica contro chi, con dolo ed inutilmente, inventa teorie su un fenomeno in realtà inspiegabile e riconducibile solo al disegno divino. D’altro canto, negli Anecdota peste ed altre tragedie umanitarie sono apertamente motivate nel contesto della feroce recriminazione di Giustiniano e della sua disastrosa gestione dell’impero. Al di là di tali opposte posizioni, la lettura incrociata dei Bella e degli Anecdota con il modello storiografico tucidideo fornisce indizi su una deliberata reticenza di Procopio nell’opera ufficiale in materia di cause.
Plague and famine are mentioned in Procopius’ Wars as single or correlated events; in particular he describes, as an eyewitness and on the basis of the Thucydidean model, the famine in Picenum and the Justinianic plague. As far as the latter is concerned, he detaches himself from the above stated model and introduces an interesting argumentative statement against those who, maliciously and uselessly, make up theories on a phenomenon that is in itself inexplicable and attributable only to the divine will. On the other hand, in the Anecdota, either the plague and other calamities are openly motivated in the context of the Justinian’s fierce recrimination and his disastrous management of the empire. Beyond these opposing positions, the cross-reading of the Bella and the Anecdota, under the Thucydidean historiographical model, provides some hints about Procopius’ deliberate reticence when causes are concerned in his official work.
