The words in the epigraph are the testimony of hostile witnesses, attributed by Procopius of Caesarea to envoys of the Ostrogothic king of Italy who have arrived at the court of Sasanid Persia in order to enlist support against Justinian’s efforts to reconquer Italy. Procopius himself qualifies these words in an aside: “[The Gothic envoys[ were bringing as indictments against Justinian such things as would seemingly be encomiums for a worthy emperor, since he was striving to make his realm greater and much more splendid” (Wars, 2.2.14). While the historian discounts the motives of the speakers bringing the charges, his judgment as to the substance of the charges themselves is carefully nuanced. The very accomplishments that in the hands of Justinian’s enemies supply material for invective, he states, might serve as the stuff of panegyric if viewed in a sympathetic light.

Justinian was a controversial and contradictory figure, whose policies and methods of self-presentation both attracted and repulsed contemporary observers. Two charges laid at Justinian’s feet by the Gothic envoys are particularly relevant for the discussion that follows. The emperor is both an inveterate “innovator” and hostile to “what is established” – essentially two sides of the same coin.