On Buildings

Hardly anyone would doubt that Theophanes, Nicephorus Callistus, and John of Antioch used the same source. However, I do not believe that this source was Procopius. For Nicephorus narrates much more than Procopius. Thus, what he says at the beginning, that Valentinian never departed from the sacred dogmas of the church, is not written in Procopius. He adds that Valentinian lost Africa in the fifteenth year of his reign, which is also not found in the histories of Procopius. Furthermore, we learn from Nicephorus that Bonifatius and Aetius were sent to Rome by Theodosius; Procopius never mentions this. Nicephorus says that the Goths were Arians, which he asserts he had already mentioned in the history of Valens; he points to book XI, chapter 48, the part of which you could conclude flowed from Priscus, because it agrees with Procopius II 504 and Jordanes' Getica History of the Goths 123 ff. (cf. Mommsen ad loc. cit. Jord.). You would look in vain in the works of Procopius for the fact that the Avars and Lombards originated from the Gepids, just as you would for the Goths crossing the Ister in the nineteenth year of the reign of Theodosius the Younger, or their spending fifty-eight years in Thrace, all of which are read in the ecclesiastical history of Nicephorus. From this, we understand that Nicephorus narrates so much more than Procopius that you would hardly believe he followed Procopius. Added to this is the fact that in very many places where Procopius and Nicephorus disagree, the latter is more informative than the former. For example, Procopius I 319, 12 narrates that John held the empire for five years; Nicephorus XIV 7 correctly says: he was beheaded after ruling for one and a half years. Furthermore, Nicephorus XV 11 writes about the death of Valentinian, the capture of Rome by Gizericus, the slaughter of Maximus, and the emperors who succeeded Maximus, who were: Avitus, Majorian, Severus, Anthemius, Olybrius, Glycerius, Nepos. These things are narrated by Procopius: that Valentinian was killed by Maximus (I 330, 14), that Gizericus was invited by Eudoxia and captured Rome (I 331, 1), that Maximus was slain (I 331, 15), that Anthemius was sent to Rome to rule there (I 336, 8), that Olybrius assumed the empire (I 340, 9), and that Majorian had already held the empire of the west...