Editing Heruli (section)

==The negative excursus of Procopius==
Scholars remark that the historian Procopius had a notable fascination with the Herules, which colors his descriptions of them. As Steinacher remarks, "Procopius's Herul excursus [...] is full of stereotypes and negative attitudes towards this primitive people and its archaic conventions".{{sfn|Steinacher|2017|p=349}} This means that caution is required when using his descriptions as evidence. In the words of [[Walter Goffart]]:
{{blockquote|Though appreciative of their military qualities, he goes out of his way to blacken their character - "they are the basest of all men and utterly abandoned rascals," "no men in the world are less bound by convention or more unstable." His low opinion may result from the "special relationship" the Herules appear to have had with Justinian's eunuch general, [[Narses]], who Procopius disliked.<ref>{{harvtxt|Goffart|2006|pp=206–207}}</ref>}}
Although Procopius praised the Herule named Pharas who brought about the surrender of the north African Vandal king [[Gelimer]], he noted that ''despite'' being born a Herule, he did not drink excessively and was not unreliable.{{sfn|Steinacher|2017|p=168}}
{{blockquote|Procopius was not mollified. The Herules were part of the panorama of an entire "West" that, owing to Justinian's neglect, had come into the possession of the barbarians by the late 540s. [...] The crowning irony, in the historian's view, was that, because some Herules served as Roman ''foederati'', they both plundered Roman subjects and collected pay from the Roman emperor.<ref>{{harvtxt|Goffart|2006|p=208}}</ref>}}