Contrast the picture of Justinian found in each excerpt from Procopius. How do you explain these two different views?

The first impression - The Buildings - is political and governmental exposure, written during Justinian's lifetime. This kind of text was produced to promote the emperor's deeds, as a way to show to the further readings who was the Emperor. It's a public story wrote by a historian.

However, the second impression is personal. Procopius was seeing the emperor's private life, his behavior, his way to deal with the problems, and his temper. Procopius analyze Justinian's moral and conclude that he was a good person, but with some problems to control the anger and the ego.

I think that the main difference between these two excerpts is not only their nature - private and public - but also when they were written. The first is a public promotion during the emperor's lifetime, as a way to show his importance and glory. And the second was published after Justinian's death, and Procopius was not worried about reprisal. It's a personal point of view about private life.

Explanation:

Look at these excerpts, and see how Procopius describe the emperor:

#01: "In our own age there has been born the Emperor Justinian,  who, taking over the State when it was harassed by disorder, has  not only made it greater in extent but also much more illustrious,  by expelling from it those barbarians who had from old pressed  hard upon it. . . .Justinian created countless cities which did not  exist before. And finding that the belief in God was, before his  time, straying into errors and being forced to go in many  directions, he completely destroyed all the paths leading to such  errors, and brought it about that it stood on the firm foundation of  a single faith."

On the other hand in the second text we have:

#02: "Justinian was dissembling, crafty, hypocritical, secretive by temperament, two-faced; a clever fellow  with a marvelous ability to conceal his real opinion, and able to shed tears, not from any joy or sorrow, but  employing them artfully when required in accordance with the immediate need, lying all the time; not  carelessly, however, but confirming his undertakings both with his signature and with the most fearsome  oaths, even when dealing with his own subjects."

explanati“there were many such dangers, in which the odds were all against them. their children were not as well as they had been at home; but how could they know that there was no sewer to their house, and that the drainage of fifteen years was in a cesspool under it? how could they know that the pale-blue milk that they bought around the corner was watered, and doctored with formaldehyde besides? when the children were not well at home, teta elzbieta would gather herbs and cure them; now she was obliged to go to the drugstore and buy extracts–and how was she to know that they were all adulterated? how could they find out that their tea and coffee, their sugar and flour, had been doctored; that their canned peas had been colored with copper salts, and their fruit jams with aniline dyes? and even if they had known it, what good would it have done them, since there was no place within miles of them where any other sort was to be had? the bitter winter was coming, and they had to save money to get more clothing and bedding; but it would not matter in the least how much they saved, they could not get anything to keep them warm. all the clothing that was to be had in the stores was made of cotton and shoddy, which is made by tearing old clothes to pieces and weaving the fiber again. if they paid higher prices, they might get frills and fanciness, or be cheated; but genuine quality they could not obtain for love nor moneyon: