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{{Short description|Early 1st century AD Roman professional rhetorician, historian and author}}
{{Onesource|article|date=June 2008}}
[[File:Inkunabel.ValMax.001.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Page from an [[incunable]] of Valerius Maximus, ''Facta et dicta memorabilia'', printed in red and black by [[Peter Schöffer]] ([[Mainz]], 1471)]]
[[File:Inkunabel.ValMax.001.jpg|thumb|right|Page from an [[incunable]] of Valerius Maximus, ''Facta et dicta memorabilia'', printed in red and black by [[Peter Schöffer]] ([[Mainz]], 1471)]]
'''Valerius Maximus''' ({{IPAc-en|v|ə|ˈ|l|ɪər|i|ə|s|_|ˈ|m|æ|k|s|ɪ|m|ə|s}}) was a [[Latin]] writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes. He worked during the reign of [[Tiberius]] (14 AD to 37 AD).
'''Valerius Maximus''' ({{IPAc-en|v|ə|ˈ|l|ɪər|i|ə|s|_|ˈ|m|æ|k|s|ɪ|m|ə|s}}) was a 1st-century [[Latin]] writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ''{{ill|Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri IX|it}}'' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' or ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''). He worked during the reign of [[Tiberius]] (14 AD to 37 AD).

During the [[Middle Ages]], Valerius Maximus was one of the most copied Latin prose authors, second only to [[Priscian]]. More than 600 medieval manuscripts of his books have survived as a result.<ref name=":0">Briscoe, ''Valerius Maximus'', p. 15.</ref>


==Biography==
==Biography==
Nothing is known of his life except that his family was poor and undistinguished, and that he owed everything to [[Sextus Pompeius (consul 14)|Sextus Pompeius]] ([[consul]] AD 14), proconsul of Asia, whom he accompanied to the East in 27. Pompeius was the center of a literary circle to which [[Ovid]] belonged; he was also an intimate friend of the most literary prince of the imperial family, [[Germanicus]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
Nothing is known of his life except that his family was poor and undistinguished, and that he owed everything to [[Sextus Pompeius (consul 14)|Sextus Pompeius]] ([[consul]] AD 14),<ref>H J Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'' (London 1966) p. 356</ref> proconsul of Asia, whom he accompanied to the East in 27. Pompeius was the center of a literary circle to which [[Ovid]] belonged; he was also an intimate friend of the most literary prince of the imperial family, [[Germanicus]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Although he shared the same name as a prestigious family of the [[Roman Republic|Republic]], John Briscoe says "it is unlikely in the extreme" that Valerius Maximus belonged to the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] [[Valeria gens|Valerii]] Maximi. He suggests instead that he was either a descendant of the plebeian Valerii Tappones or Triarii, or earned the Roman citizenship thanks to the patronage of a Valerius of the Republic.<ref>Briscoe, ''Valerius Maximus'', p. 1.</ref>


His attitude towards the imperial household has often been misunderstood, and he has been represented as a mean flatterer of the same type as [[Martial]]. But, if the references to the imperial administration are carefully scanned, they will be seen to be extravagant neither in kind nor in number. Few will now grudge Tiberius, when his whole action as a ruler is taken into account, such a title as ''salutaris princeps'', which seemed to a former generation a specimen of shameless adulation. The few allusions to [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]'s murderers and to [[Augustus]] hardly pass beyond the conventional style of the writer's day. The only passage which can fairly be called fulsome is the violently rhetorical tirade against [[Sejanus]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
His attitude towards the imperial household is controversial: he has been represented as a mean flatterer of Tiberius,<ref>H Nettleship, ''A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'' (London 1891) p. 664</ref> of the same type as [[Martial]]. Chisholm in 1911 argued however that, if the references to the imperial administration are carefully scanned, they will be seen to be extravagant neither in kind nor in number: few will now grudge Tiberius, when his whole action as a ruler is taken into account, such a title as ''salutaris princeps'', which seemed to a former generation a specimen of shameless adulation. A quarter of a century later still, however, [[H J Rose]] claimed that Valerius "cares nothing for historical truth if by neglecting it he can flatter Tiberius, which he does most fulsomely".<ref>H J Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'' (London 1966) p. 356</ref>


Chisholm also maintained that the few allusions to [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]'s murderers and to [[Augustus]] hardly pass beyond the conventional style of the writer's day; and that the only passage which can fairly be called fulsome is the violently rhetorical tirade against [[Sejanus]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
⚫
==Style==
⚫
The style of Valerius's writings seems to indicate that he was a professional [[rhetoric]]ian. In his preface he intimates that his work is intended as a commonplace book of historical anecdotes for use in the schools of rhetoric, where the pupils were trained in the art of embellishing speeches by references to history. According to the manuscripts, its title is ''[[Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX]]'' (shorter title ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''), "Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings." The stories are loosely and irregularly arranged, each book being divided into sections, and each section bearing as its title the topic, most commonly some virtue or vice, or some merit or demerit, which the stories in the section are intended to illustrate.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}


⚫
==Work==
⚫
Most of the tales are from Roman history, but each section has an appendix consisting of extracts from the annals of other peoples, principally the Greeks. The exposition exhibits strongly the two currents of feeling which are intermingled by almost every Roman writer of the Empire—the feeling that the Romans of the writer's own day are degenerate creatures when confronted with their own republican predecessors, and the feeling that, however degenerate, the latter-day Romans still tower above the other peoples of the world, and in particular are morally superior to the Greeks.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
⚫
The style of Valerius's writing seems to indicate that he was a professional [[rhetoric]]ian; and his writing represents much of the worst rhetorical tendencies of the [[Silver Latin]] age. Direct and simple statement is avoided and novelty pursued at any price, producing a clumsy obscurity.<ref>H J Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'' (London 1966) p. 356</ref> The diction is like that of poetry; the uses of words are strained; metaphors are invented; there are startling contrasts, innuendoes and epithets; variations are played upon grammatical and rhetorical figures of speech.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}


⚫
In his preface, Valerius intimates that his work is intended as a commonplace book of historical anecdotes for use in the schools of rhetoric, where the pupils were trained in the art of embellishing speeches by references to history. According to the manuscripts, its title is ''Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX'' (shorter title ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''), "Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings." The stories are loosely and irregularly arranged, each book being divided into sections, and each section bearing as its title the topic, most commonly some virtue or vice, or some merit or demerit, which the stories in the section are intended to illustrate.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
⚫
The author's chief sources are [[Cicero]], [[Livy]], [[Sallust]] and [[Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus|Pompeius Trogus]], especially the first two. Valerius's treatment of his material is careless and unintelligent in the extreme; but in spite of his contusions, contradictions and anachronisms, the excerpts are apt illustrations, from the rhetorician's point of view, of the circumstance or quality they were intended to illustrate. And even on the historical side we owe something to Valerius. He often used sources now lost, and where he touches on his own time he affords us some glimpses of the much debated and very imperfectly recorded reign of Tiberius.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}


⚫
Most of the tales are from Roman history, but each section has an appendix consisting of extracts from the annals of other peoples, principally the Greeks. The exposition exhibits strongly the two currents of feeling which are intermingled by almost every Roman writer of the Empire—the feeling that the Romans of the writer's own day are degenerate creatures when confronted with their own republican predecessors, and the feeling that, however degenerate, the latter-day Romans still tower above the other peoples of the world, and in particular are morally superior to the Greeks.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
He is also a typical example of [[Silver Latin]], a literary period often criticised for poor writers.

⚫
The author's chief sources are [[Cicero]], [[Livy]], [[Sallust]] and [[Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus|Pompeius Trogus]], especially the first two.<ref>H Nettleship, ''A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'' (London 1891) p. 664</ref> Valerius's treatment of his material is careless and inaccurate in the extreme;<ref>H J Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'' (London 1966) p. 356</ref> but in spite of his confusions, contradictions and anachronisms, the excerpts are apt illustrations, from the rhetorician's point of view, of the circumstance or quality they were intended to illustrate.<ref>[https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/9182 Reading for the moral in Valerius Maximus]</ref> Valerius has also used sources that are now lost, preserving some glimpses into the much debated and very imperfectly recorded reign of Tiberius;{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} as well as some fragmentary information on Hellenistic art;<ref>J Boardman ed, ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'' (1986) p. 495</ref> and a revealing glimpse into the early imperial consensus on the need for the orderly logic and stability of the ancient Roman religion, in a politically unsettled world.<ref>H-F Mueller, ''Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus'' (2002) p. 2 and p. 118</ref>


==Legacy==
==Legacy==
[[File:Simon de Hesdin presents his translation of Valerius Maximus' 'Facta et dicta memorabilia' to Charles V, king of France.jpg|thumb|Simon de Hesdin presents his translation of Valerius Maximus' 'Facta et dicta memorabilia' to Charles V, king of France]]
[[File:Simon de Hesdin presents his translation of Valerius Maximus' 'Facta et dicta memorabilia' to Charles V, king of France.jpg|thumb|Simon de Hesdin presents his translation of Valerius Maximus' 'Facta et dicta memorabilia' to Charles V, King of France]]
⚫
In Valerius are all the rhetorical tendencies of the age. Direct and simple statement is avoided and novelty pursued at any price. The diction is like that of poetry; the uses of words are strained; metaphors are invented; there are startling contrasts, innuendoes and epithets; variations are played upon grammatical and rhetorical figures of speech.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}


In the manuscripts of Valerius a tenth book is given, which consists of the so-called ''Liber de Praenominibus'', the work of some grammarian of a much later date. The collection of Valerius was much used for school purposes, and its popularity in the [[Middle Ages]] is attested by the large number of manuscripts in which it has been preserved. Like other schoolbooks it was epitomated. One complete epitome, probably of the 4th or 5th century, bearing the name of [[Julius Paris]], has come down to us; also a portion of another by {{Interlanguage link multi|Januarius Nepotianus|fr}}. Editions by C. Halm (1865), C. Kempf (1888), contain the epitomes of Paris and Nepotianus. New editions have been produced by R. Combès (1995-) with a French translation, J. Briscoe (1998), and D.R. Shackleton Baily (2000) with an English translation. Recent discussions of Valerius' work include W. Martin Bloomer, ''Valerius Maximus and the Rhetoric of the New Nobility'' (Chapel Hill, 1992), Clive Skidmore, ''Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen: the Work of Valerius Maximus'' (Exeter, 1996), and Hans-Friedrich Mueller, ''Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus'' (London, 2002).
The collection of Valerius was much used for school purposes, and its popularity throughout the [[Middle Ages]] is attested by the large number of manuscripts in which it has been preserved: indeed, [[B. G. Niebuhr]] went so far as to claim that it was then "the most important book next to the Bible".<ref>Quoted in M Crab, ''Exemplary Reading'' (2015) p. 1</ref> Like other schoolbooks it was epitomised: one complete epitome, probably of the 4th or 5th century, bearing the name of [[Julius Paris]], has come down to us; also a portion of another by {{Interlanguage link multi|Januarius Nepotianus|fr}}.<ref>H J Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'' (London 1966) p. 356</ref> Only in the [[Renaissance]], however, did it enter the central Latin curriculum in unabridged form, and it is then that its influence was arguably at its peak.<ref>M Crab, ''Exemplary Reading'' (2015) p. 2-3</ref> [[Dante]] for example used Valerius for details in his account of the generosity and modesty of [[Pisistratus]].<ref>Dante, Purgatory, Canto XV (Penguin 1971; p. 187)</ref>


Although in the manuscripts of Valerius a tenth book is given, which consists of the so-called ''Liber de Praenominibus'', this is the work of some grammarian of a much later date.<ref>H J Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'' (London 1966) p. 357</ref>
⚫
A translation into Dutch was published in 1614, <ref>''Valerii Maximi Des alder-vermaertsten ende welsprekensten Histori-schryvers Negen Boecken, Van ghedenck-Weerdighe / loflicke woorden / daden ende gheschiedenissen der Romeynen en de uytlansche volcken.'' Overgheset uyt de Latijnsche in onse Nederduytsche tale door Conradum Mirkinium. Tot Rotterdam, By Jan Leendertsz. Berewout / Boeckverkooper op de Hoogh-straet int Schrijfboeck. 1614. Available at https://books.google.nl/books/about/Des_alder_vermaertsten_ende_wel_sprekens.html?id=sfKtoECJbq8C&redir_esc=y </ref> and was read by [[Rembrandt]] and other artists (and their patrons), stimulating interest in some new subjects such as [[Artemisia II of Caria|Artemisia]] drinking her husband's ashes.<ref>Golahny, Amy, ''Rembrandt's Reading: The Artist's Bookshelf of Ancient Poetry and History'', pp. 129-133, 2003, Amsterdam University Press, {{ISBN|9053566090}}, 9789053566091</ref>

==Editions and translations==
Editions by C. Halm (1865), C. Kempf (1888), contain the epitomes of Paris and Nepotianus.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} New editions have been produced by R. Combès (1995-) with a French translation, J. Briscoe (1998), and D.R. Shackleton Baily (2000) with an English translation. Recent discussions of Valerius' work include W. Martin Bloomer, ''Valerius Maximus and the Rhetoric of the New Nobility'' (Chapel Hill, 1992), Clive Skidmore, ''Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen: the Work of Valerius Maximus'' (Exeter, 1996), and Hans-Friedrich Mueller, ''Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus'' (London, 2002).

⚫
A translation into [[Dutch language|Dutch]] was published in 1614,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maximus |first=Valerius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfKtoECJbq8C |title=Des alder-vermaertsten ende wel-sprekensten Histori-schrijvers Valerii Maximi, negen boecken, van ghedenck-weerdighe, loflicke woorden, daaden ende gheschiedenissen der Romeynen en de uytlantsche volcken |date=1614 |language=nl}}</ref> and was read by [[Rembrandt]] and other artists (and their patrons), stimulating interest in some new subjects such as [[Artemisia II of Caria|Artemisia]] drinking her husband's ashes.<ref>Golahny, Amy, ''Rembrandt's Reading: The Artist's Bookshelf of Ancient Poetry and History'', pp. 129-133, 2003, Amsterdam University Press, {{ISBN|9053566090}}, 9789053566091</ref>

600 manuscripts of Valerius have survived, 800 when counting [[epitomes]], more than any other Latin prose writer after the grammarian [[Priscian]]. Most manuscripts date from the [[late Middle Ages]], but 30 predates the 12th century.<ref name=":0" /> The three oldest manuscripts are the authoritative sources for the text:

* [[Burgerbibliothek of Berne|Burgerbibliothek]], [[Bern]], Switzerland, n°366 (manuscript A).
* [[Laurentian Library]], [[Florence]], Italy, Ashburnham 1899 (manuscript L). Both A and L were written in northern France in the 9th century and share a common source.
* [[Royal Library of Belgium|Royal Library]], [[Brussels]], Belgium, n°5336 (manuscript G). It was probably written at [[Gembloux Abbey]] (south of Brussels) in the 11th century. Briscoe says that G has a different parent from A and L, as several mistakes shared by A and L are not found in G.<ref>Briscoe, ''Valerius Maximus'', pp. 15–21.</ref>


==References==
==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist|30em}}
;Attribution

⚫
*{{EB1911|wstitle = Valerius Maximus|volume=27}}
===Bibliography===
⚫
*{{EB1911|wstitle = Valerius Maximus|volume=27|page=860}}


* Bloomer, W. Martin. ''Valerius Maximus and the Rhetoric of the New Nobility.'' University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, 1992.
==Further reading==
* Briscoe, John. "Some Notes on Valerius Maximus." ''Sileno'' 19: 398–402, 1993.
⚫
*{{la icon}} [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/valmax.html VALERI MAXIMI FACTORVM ET DICTORVM MEMORABILIVM LIBRI NOVEM] at [[The Latin Library]], his most famous work, often quoted by orators of the time.
*Bloomer, W. Martin. ''Valerius Maximus and the Rhetoric of the New Nobility.'' University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, 1992.
* ——, ''Valerius Maximus, Facta Et Dicta Memorabilia, Book 8: Text, Introduction, and Commentary'', Berlin/Boston, de Gruyter, 2019.
* Farrell, Joseph. "The Poverty of Our Ancestral Speech." ''Latin Language and Latin Culture from Ancient to Modern Times.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
⚫
*Mueller, Hans-Friedrich. ''Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus.'' Routledge: London, 2002.
* Guerrini, Roberto. ''Studi su Valerio Massimo.'' Pisa, Italy: Giardini, 1981.
⚫
*Skidmore, Clive. ''Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen: the Work of Valerius Maximus.'' University of Exeter Press: Exeter, 1996.
* Holford-Strevens, Leofranc. "Getting Away with Murder: The Literary and Forensic Fortune of Two Roman 'Exempla.'" International Journal of the Classical Tradition, vol. 7, no. 4, 2001, pp. 489–514.
⚫
*Vorobyova, Nataliya. "Valerius Maximus: Moral ''Exempla'' in Kierkegaard’s Writings" in ''Kierkegaard and the Roman World'' edited by Jon Bartley Stewart. Ashgate: Farnham, 2009.
* Ker, James. "Roman Repraesentatio." ''The American Journal of Philology'', vol. 128, no. 3, 2007, pp.&nbsp;341–365.
⚫
*Wardle, D. ''Valerius Maximus' Memorable Deeds and Sayings: Book 1.'' Oxford University Press (Clarendon Ancient History Series): Oxford and New York, 1998.
* Koster, Isabel K. "How to Kill a Roman Villain: The Deaths of Quintus Pleminus." ''The Classical Journal'', vol. 109, no. 3, 2014, pp.&nbsp;309–332.
* Lennon, Jack. "Dining and Obligation in Valerius Maximus: The Case of the Sacra Mensae." ''The Classical Quarterly'', vol. 65, no. 2, 2015, pp.&nbsp;719–731.
* Lobur, John Alexander. Consensus, Concordia and the Formation of Roman Imperial Ideology, Routledge, 2008 (chapter six).
⚫
* Mueller, Hans-Friedrich. ''Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus.'' Routledge: London, 2002.
* Murray, J. and Wardle, D. (eds). ''Reading by Example: Valerius Maximus and the Historiography of Exempla.'' Brill: Leiden/Boston, 2022.
* Nguyen, V. Henry T. ''Christian Identity in Corinth: A Comparative Study of 2 Corinthians, Epictetus and Valerius Maximus.'' Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe 243. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008.
⚫
* Skidmore, Clive. ''Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen: The Work of Valerius Maximus.'' University of Exeter Press: Exeter, 1996.
⚫
* Vorobyova, Nataliya. "Valerius Maximus: Moral ''Exempla'' in Kierkegaard's Writings" in ''Kierkegaard and the Roman World'' edited by Jon Bartley Stewart. Ashgate: Farnham, 2009.
* Wardle, David. "Valerius Maximus and the End of the First Punic War." ''Latomus'', vol. 64, no. 2, 2005, pp.&nbsp;377–384.
* Wardle, David. The Sainted Julius: Valerius Maximus and the Dictator. ''Classical Philology'' 92:323–345, 1997.
⚫
* Wardle, David. ''Valerius Maximus' Memorable Deeds and Sayings: Book 1.'' Oxford University Press (Clarendon Ancient History Series): Oxford and New York, 1998.
* Welch, Tara S. "Was Valerius Maximus a Hack?" ''American Journal of Philology'' 134:67–82, 2013.


==External links==
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisource author}}
⚫
* {{cite web | last = Sheridan | first = Paul | title = Selected Anecdotes by Valerius Maximus | publisher = Anecdotes from Antiquity | date = 2015-09-19 | url = http://www.anecdotesfromantiquity.net/selected-anecdotes-by-valerius-maximus/ | accessdate = 2015-09-19 }}
{{Wikisource|Translation:Liber de Praenominibus}}
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Valerius Maximus
|viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus%3Acorpus%3Aperseus%2Cauthor%2CValerius%20Maximus Works by Valerius Maximus at Perseus Digital Library]
⚫
* {{in lang|la}} [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/valmax.html VALERI MAXIMI FACTORVM ET DICTORVM MEMORABILIVM LIBRI NOVEM] at [[The Latin Library]], his most famous work, often quoted by orators of the time.
⚫
* {{cite web | last = Sheridan | first = Paul | title = Selected Anecdotes by Valerius Maximus | publisher = Anecdotes from Antiquity | date = 2015-09-19 | url = http://www.anecdotesfromantiquity.net/selected-anecdotes-by-valerius-maximus/ | access-date = 2015-09-19 }}
* [http://attalus.org/info/valerius.html Valerius Maximus, ''Memorable Deeds and Sayings''] - English translation at ''attalus.org''


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Maximus, Valerius}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valerius Maximus}}
[[Category:Latin historians]]
[[Category:Latin historians]]
[[Category:Silver Age Latin writers]]
[[Category:Silver Age Latin writers]]
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]
[[Category:1st-century historians]]
[[Category:1st-century historians]]
[[Category:1st-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:Valerii]]
[[Category:Valerii]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Memoirists]]

Latest revision as of 20:41, 13 December 2024

Page from an incunable of Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memorabilia, printed in red and black by Peter Schöffer (Mainz, 1471)

Valerius Maximus (/vəˈlɪəriəs ˈmæksɪməs/) was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri IX [it] ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as De factis dictisque memorabilibus or Facta et dicta memorabilia). He worked during the reign of Tiberius (14 AD to 37 AD).

During the Middle Ages, Valerius Maximus was one of the most copied Latin prose authors, second only to Priscian. More than 600 medieval manuscripts of his books have survived as a result.[1]

Biography

[edit]

Nothing is known of his life except that his family was poor and undistinguished, and that he owed everything to Sextus Pompeius (consul AD 14),[2] proconsul of Asia, whom he accompanied to the East in 27. Pompeius was the center of a literary circle to which Ovid belonged; he was also an intimate friend of the most literary prince of the imperial family, Germanicus.[3] Although he shared the same name as a prestigious family of the Republic, John Briscoe says "it is unlikely in the extreme" that Valerius Maximus belonged to the patrician Valerii Maximi. He suggests instead that he was either a descendant of the plebeian Valerii Tappones or Triarii, or earned the Roman citizenship thanks to the patronage of a Valerius of the Republic.[4]

His attitude towards the imperial household is controversial: he has been represented as a mean flatterer of Tiberius,[5] of the same type as Martial. Chisholm in 1911 argued however that, if the references to the imperial administration are carefully scanned, they will be seen to be extravagant neither in kind nor in number: few will now grudge Tiberius, when his whole action as a ruler is taken into account, such a title as salutaris princeps, which seemed to a former generation a specimen of shameless adulation. A quarter of a century later still, however, H J Rose claimed that Valerius "cares nothing for historical truth if by neglecting it he can flatter Tiberius, which he does most fulsomely".[6]

Chisholm also maintained that the few allusions to Caesar's murderers and to Augustus hardly pass beyond the conventional style of the writer's day; and that the only passage which can fairly be called fulsome is the violently rhetorical tirade against Sejanus.[3]

Work

[edit]

The style of Valerius's writing seems to indicate that he was a professional rhetorician; and his writing represents much of the worst rhetorical tendencies of the Silver Latin age. Direct and simple statement is avoided and novelty pursued at any price, producing a clumsy obscurity.[7] The diction is like that of poetry; the uses of words are strained; metaphors are invented; there are startling contrasts, innuendoes and epithets; variations are played upon grammatical and rhetorical figures of speech.[3]

In his preface, Valerius intimates that his work is intended as a commonplace book of historical anecdotes for use in the schools of rhetoric, where the pupils were trained in the art of embellishing speeches by references to history. According to the manuscripts, its title is Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX (shorter title Facta et dicta memorabilia), "Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings." The stories are loosely and irregularly arranged, each book being divided into sections, and each section bearing as its title the topic, most commonly some virtue or vice, or some merit or demerit, which the stories in the section are intended to illustrate.[3]

Most of the tales are from Roman history, but each section has an appendix consisting of extracts from the annals of other peoples, principally the Greeks. The exposition exhibits strongly the two currents of feeling which are intermingled by almost every Roman writer of the Empire—the feeling that the Romans of the writer's own day are degenerate creatures when confronted with their own republican predecessors, and the feeling that, however degenerate, the latter-day Romans still tower above the other peoples of the world, and in particular are morally superior to the Greeks.[3]

The author's chief sources are Cicero, Livy, Sallust and Pompeius Trogus, especially the first two.[8] Valerius's treatment of his material is careless and inaccurate in the extreme;[9] but in spite of his confusions, contradictions and anachronisms, the excerpts are apt illustrations, from the rhetorician's point of view, of the circumstance or quality they were intended to illustrate.[10] Valerius has also used sources that are now lost, preserving some glimpses into the much debated and very imperfectly recorded reign of Tiberius;[3] as well as some fragmentary information on Hellenistic art;[11] and a revealing glimpse into the early imperial consensus on the need for the orderly logic and stability of the ancient Roman religion, in a politically unsettled world.[12]

Legacy

[edit]
Simon de Hesdin presents his translation of Valerius Maximus' 'Facta et dicta memorabilia' to Charles V, King of France

The collection of Valerius was much used for school purposes, and its popularity throughout the Middle Ages is attested by the large number of manuscripts in which it has been preserved: indeed, B. G. Niebuhr went so far as to claim that it was then "the most important book next to the Bible".[13] Like other schoolbooks it was epitomised: one complete epitome, probably of the 4th or 5th century, bearing the name of Julius Paris, has come down to us; also a portion of another by Januarius Nepotianus [fr].[14] Only in the Renaissance, however, did it enter the central Latin curriculum in unabridged form, and it is then that its influence was arguably at its peak.[15] Dante for example used Valerius for details in his account of the generosity and modesty of Pisistratus.[16]

Although in the manuscripts of Valerius a tenth book is given, which consists of the so-called Liber de Praenominibus, this is the work of some grammarian of a much later date.[17]

Editions and translations

[edit]

Editions by C. Halm (1865), C. Kempf (1888), contain the epitomes of Paris and Nepotianus.[3] New editions have been produced by R. Combès (1995-) with a French translation, J. Briscoe (1998), and D.R. Shackleton Baily (2000) with an English translation. Recent discussions of Valerius' work include W. Martin Bloomer, Valerius Maximus and the Rhetoric of the New Nobility (Chapel Hill, 1992), Clive Skidmore, Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen: the Work of Valerius Maximus (Exeter, 1996), and Hans-Friedrich Mueller, Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus (London, 2002).

A translation into Dutch was published in 1614,[18] and was read by Rembrandt and other artists (and their patrons), stimulating interest in some new subjects such as Artemisia drinking her husband's ashes.[19]

600 manuscripts of Valerius have survived, 800 when counting epitomes, more than any other Latin prose writer after the grammarian Priscian. Most manuscripts date from the late Middle Ages, but 30 predates the 12th century.[1] The three oldest manuscripts are the authoritative sources for the text:

  • Burgerbibliothek, Bern, Switzerland, n°366 (manuscript A).
  • Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy, Ashburnham 1899 (manuscript L). Both A and L were written in northern France in the 9th century and share a common source.
  • Royal Library, Brussels, Belgium, n°5336 (manuscript G). It was probably written at Gembloux Abbey (south of Brussels) in the 11th century. Briscoe says that G has a different parent from A and L, as several mistakes shared by A and L are not found in G.[20]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b Briscoe, Valerius Maximus, p. 15.
  2. ^ H J Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (London 1966) p. 356
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Chisholm 1911.
  4. ^ Briscoe, Valerius Maximus, p. 1.
  5. ^ H Nettleship, A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (London 1891) p. 664
  6. ^ H J Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (London 1966) p. 356
  7. ^ H J Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (London 1966) p. 356
  8. ^ H Nettleship, A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (London 1891) p. 664
  9. ^ H J Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (London 1966) p. 356
  10. ^ Reading for the moral in Valerius Maximus
  11. ^ J Boardman ed, The Oxford History of the Classical World (1986) p. 495
  12. ^ H-F Mueller, Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus (2002) p. 2 and p. 118
  13. ^ Quoted in M Crab, Exemplary Reading (2015) p. 1
  14. ^ H J Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (London 1966) p. 356
  15. ^ M Crab, Exemplary Reading (2015) p. 2-3
  16. ^ Dante, Purgatory, Canto XV (Penguin 1971; p. 187)
  17. ^ H J Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (London 1966) p. 357
  18. ^ Maximus, Valerius (1614). Des alder-vermaertsten ende wel-sprekensten Histori-schrijvers Valerii Maximi, negen boecken, van ghedenck-weerdighe, loflicke woorden, daaden ende gheschiedenissen der Romeynen en de uytlantsche volcken (in Dutch).
  19. ^ Golahny, Amy, Rembrandt's Reading: The Artist's Bookshelf of Ancient Poetry and History, pp. 129-133, 2003, Amsterdam University Press, ISBN 9053566090, 9789053566091
  20. ^ Briscoe, Valerius Maximus, pp. 15–21.

Bibliography

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  • Bloomer, W. Martin. Valerius Maximus and the Rhetoric of the New Nobility. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, 1992.
  • Briscoe, John. "Some Notes on Valerius Maximus." Sileno 19: 398–402, 1993.
  • ——, Valerius Maximus, Facta Et Dicta Memorabilia, Book 8: Text, Introduction, and Commentary, Berlin/Boston, de Gruyter, 2019.
  • Farrell, Joseph. "The Poverty of Our Ancestral Speech." Latin Language and Latin Culture from Ancient to Modern Times. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  • Guerrini, Roberto. Studi su Valerio Massimo. Pisa, Italy: Giardini, 1981.
  • Holford-Strevens, Leofranc. "Getting Away with Murder: The Literary and Forensic Fortune of Two Roman 'Exempla.'" International Journal of the Classical Tradition, vol. 7, no. 4, 2001, pp. 489–514.
  • Ker, James. "Roman Repraesentatio." The American Journal of Philology, vol. 128, no. 3, 2007, pp. 341–365.
  • Koster, Isabel K. "How to Kill a Roman Villain: The Deaths of Quintus Pleminus." The Classical Journal, vol. 109, no. 3, 2014, pp. 309–332.
  • Lennon, Jack. "Dining and Obligation in Valerius Maximus: The Case of the Sacra Mensae." The Classical Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 2, 2015, pp. 719–731.
  • Lobur, John Alexander. Consensus, Concordia and the Formation of Roman Imperial Ideology, Routledge, 2008 (chapter six).
  • Mueller, Hans-Friedrich. Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus. Routledge: London, 2002.
  • Murray, J. and Wardle, D. (eds). Reading by Example: Valerius Maximus and the Historiography of Exempla. Brill: Leiden/Boston, 2022.
  • Nguyen, V. Henry T. Christian Identity in Corinth: A Comparative Study of 2 Corinthians, Epictetus and Valerius Maximus. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe 243. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008.
  • Skidmore, Clive. Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen: The Work of Valerius Maximus. University of Exeter Press: Exeter, 1996.
  • Vorobyova, Nataliya. "Valerius Maximus: Moral Exempla in Kierkegaard's Writings" in Kierkegaard and the Roman World edited by Jon Bartley Stewart. Ashgate: Farnham, 2009.
  • Wardle, David. "Valerius Maximus and the End of the First Punic War." Latomus, vol. 64, no. 2, 2005, pp. 377–384.
  • Wardle, David. The Sainted Julius: Valerius Maximus and the Dictator. Classical Philology 92:323–345, 1997.
  • Wardle, David. Valerius Maximus' Memorable Deeds and Sayings: Book 1. Oxford University Press (Clarendon Ancient History Series): Oxford and New York, 1998.
  • Welch, Tara S. "Was Valerius Maximus a Hack?" American Journal of Philology 134:67–82, 2013.
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