ABSTRACT
Procopius' moments of participation within his narrative offer much more than simple autobiographical revelation. This chapter suggests that these moments of ostensible self-revelation are also among Procopius' most literary and that they allow Procopius consciously to create a narratorial persona as much as they may incidentally uncover the man behind the work. Procopius was by no means the first historian to face the challenge of combining his roles as actor and auctor rerum. It serves to align him with the traditions of ancient historiographical writing. The chapter focuses predominantly on Wars, where the majority of Procopius' appearances as a character occur. He observes a clear distinction between the types of action the participant performs and the linguistic form used to describe them. Procopius' use of the first-person plural is confined to a single episode in his narrative – the Roman army's march towards Carthage from Caput Vada, where they landed on the African coas.
