Procopius of Caesarea, in his Wars, records that *African confessors whose tongues were cut out by the Vandals (S01481) during the reign of Huneric (477-484), were miraculously still able to speak, and that some of them had been living in Constantinople up to his own time. Written in Greek in Constantinople, 545/551.
E08252
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Procopius
Procopius, Wars 3.8.4
γέγονε δὲ Ὁνώριχος ἐς τοὺς ἐν Λιβύῃ Χριστιανοὺς ὠμότατός τε καὶ ἀδικώτατος ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων. βιαζόμενος γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐς τὴν Ἀρειανῶν μετατίθεσθαι δόξαν, ὅσους ἂν λάβοι οὐχ ἑτοίμως αὐτῷ εἴκοντας, ἔκαιέ τε καὶ ἄλλαις θανάτου ἰδέαις διέφθειρε, πολλῶν δὲ καὶ τὰς γλώσσας ἀπέτεμεν ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς φάρυγγος, οἳ ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ περιόντες ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ἐχρῶντο ἀκραιφνεῖ τῇ φωνῇ, οὐδ᾿ ὁπωστιοῦν ταύτης δὴ τῆς τιμωρίας ἐπαισθανόμενοι· ὧν δὴ δύο, ἐπειδὴ γυναιξὶν ἑταίραις πλησιάζειν ἔγνωσαν, οὐκέτι φθέγγεσθαι τὸ λοιπὸν ἴσχυσαν.
'And Huneric showed himself the most cruel and unjust of all men toward the Christians in Libya. For he forced them to change over to the Arian faith, and as many as he found not readily yielding to him he burned, or destroyed by other forms of death; and he also cut off the tongues of many from the very throat, who even up to my time were going about in Byzantium having their speech uninjured, and perceiving not the least effect from this punishment; but two of these, since they saw fit to go to harlots, were thenceforth no longer able to speak.'
Text and translation: Dewing 1916, 72-75 (translation lightly modified).
Miracle during lifetime
Miracles experienced by the saint
Healing diseases and disabilities
Punishing miracle
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesHeretics
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
Source
Procopius of Caesarea, (c. 500 – c. 560/561 AD) was a soldier and historian from the Roman province of Palaestina Prima. He accompanied the Roman general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian (527-565). He wrote the Secret History, the Wars (or Histories), and On Buildings.The History of the Wars was written in the early 540s, updated around 550. With its focus on military affairs, it contains only occasional references to the cult of saints.
Discussion
The story of the African confessors whose tongues were cut out during Huneric's persecution in 484, but who were afterwards miraculously still able to speak, is attested in multiple sources from the late 5th and 6th centuries.Procopius mentions the confessors during the opening chapters of the Vandal War, in which he gives an overview of the fall of the western empire and the history of the Vandal kingdom up to the reconquest (Wars 3.2-9). A common feature of the story across different sources (though there are numerous variations) is that one or more of the confessors travelled to Constantinople, where their miraculous ability to speak was widely observed. Procopius, writing about sixty years after the event, refers to the confessors as having been present in Constantinople 'even up to my time', without quite going so far as to claim that he had seen them himself.
Procopius adds a new element to the story by claiming that two of the confessors lost their miraculous ability to speak after visiting prostitutes. A similar claim is made several decades later, almost certainly independently of Procopius, by Gregory the Great (E07832), suggesting that both authors are passing on a story that was circulating in Constantinople.
Bibliography
Edition and translation:Dewing, H.B., Procopius, vol. 2 (Loeb Classical Library; New York and London, 1916).
David Lambert
13/11/2021
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01481 | African confessors whose tongues were cut out by the Vandals | Certain |
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