ABSTRACT
This chapter emphasizes instead the manner in which the Wars presents both the Goths and the imperial forces under Belisarius, on one hand, as foreign invaders and occupiers and yet, on the other hand, as instruments for the establishment of legitimate rule in Italy. Procopius examines these issues by crafting carefully focused parallels between key moments in the opening phase of the Gothic War and associated episodes in Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War. Evaluated in the light of Procopius' explicit statements about the character of Gothic rule in Italy, his choice of Thucydides' Pericles as a classical exemplar—upon which to pattern not only Belisarius' conduct of the Gothic War down to 540, but also the initial establishment of Gothic rule in Italy under Theoderic—affords Procopius the opportunity, with the benefit of hindsight, to reinvent Theoderic as a proto-Belisarius and to explore the alternatives available to Belisarius upon the success of Justinian's efforts at destabilizing the Gothic regime.
