Valerius Maximus

“ But it is as a chapter in the history of the Latin language that the work of Valerius chiefly deserves study. Without it our view of the transition from classical to silver Latin would be much more imperfect than it is. In Valerius are presented to us, in a rude and palpable form, all the rhetorical tendencies of the age, unsobered by the sanity of Quintilian and unrefined by the taste and subtlety of Tacitus. Direct and simple statement is eschewed and novelty pursued at any price. ”

“ Valerius Maximus eulogizes him for his rigid integrity and impartiality, and relates that when at the expiration of his consulship he was sent to take command of the army against Numantia, he chose for his lieutenants Metellus and Pompeius, both his intensely bitter enemies, but the men best fitted for the service. ”

“ And now becoming eminent and noted, he passed, with Valerius himself, through the greatest commands, being first his colleague as consul, and then censor. But among all the ancient senators, he most attached himself to Fabius Maximus; not so much for the honor of his person, and greatness of his power, as that he might have before him his habit and manner of life, as the best examples to follow: and so he did not hesitate to oppose Scipio the Great, who, being then but a young man, seemed to set himself against the power of Fabius, and to be envied by him. ”

“ The barrier between the diction of poetry and that of prose is broken down; the uses of words are strained; monstrous metaphors are invented; there are startling contrasts, dark innuendoes and highly coloured epithets; the most unnatural variations are played upon the artificial scale of grammatical and rhetorical figures of speech. It is an instructive lesson in the history of Latin to compare minutely a passage of Valerius with its counterpart in Cicero or Livy. ”

“ Valerius [148] [See English page] Maximus ait hiatum illum terrae in medio foro, cum se in eum Curtius armatum adacto equo immisisset, iterum coisse inque pristinam formam continuo revertisse. Item Iunonem Monetam, cum a quodam milite Romano captis Veiis per iocum interrogata esset, an Romam migrare vellet, respondisse velle.
Quorum neutrum Titus Livius sentit et prior auctor et gravior. Nam et hiatum permansisse vult, nec tam fuisse subitum quam vetustum, etiam ante conditam urbem, appellatumque Curtium lacum quod in eo delituisset Curtius Mettius Sabinus Romanorum fugiens impressionem ”

“ Valerius is no more a Christian than she who accuses him.”
“I know not, sirs, how we are to understand all this,” said one of the Sempronii, in a calm voice. “Is this young man the same Valerius who is living in the house of Licinius?—Yet it must be he. I have been with Licinius this very day; and if this be he, whatever he may have known before, I am sure he knows nothing of where Athanasia is now,—and, sister, I am well assured he is no Christian.”
“It is the same, sir,” said Sabinus. “He is the same Caius Valerius of whom you spake, and I am Sabinus, a Centurion of the Prætorians.” ”

“ He rose to high distinction after he had joined the army, and in 305 he was raised by his uncle, Galerius, to the rank of Caesar, with the government of Syria and Egypt. In 308, after the elevation of Licinius, he insisted on receiving the title of Augustus; on the death of Galerius, in 311, he succeeded to the supreme command of the provinces of Asia, and when Licinius and Constantine began to make common cause with one another Maximinus entered into a secret alliance with Maxentius. ”

“ In the meantime, what avails it to distress ourselves more than is necessary? Licinius is able to do something; and as for Valerius, the best thing he can do is to get on horseback, and go with Sextus and myself to inspect the cohorts that have arrived from Calabria. ”

“ The keeper read, and said, “So preserve me the power of Jove! A Valerius! and born in Britain! Can you be the son of the same Valerius who was Centurion in the ninth legion under Agricola?”—“You have guessed rightly—I am the same.”—“Then [pg 232] the more is the pity,” he replied, in a grave voice, “that you should have entered, in such a case as this, the dwelling of one that was a true soldier beneath the eagle of your father. ”

“ Maximinus made his son, of the same name, emperor, as soon as he was invested with the purple, and his choice was unanimously approved by the senate, by the people, and by the army.――Galerius Valerius, a shepherd of Thrace, who was raised to the imperial dignity by Diocletian, A.D. 305. He was nephew to Galerius Maximianus, by his mother’s side, and to him he was indebted for his rise and consequence in the Roman armies. As Maximinus was ambitious and fond of power, he looked with an eye of jealousy upon those who shared the dignity of emperor with himself. ”

“ When Valerius was consul alone he began to build a house for himself on the Velian Hill, and a cry was raised that he intended to make himself king, upon which he stopped building. The people were ashamed of their conduct and granted him land to build on. One of his laws enacted that whoever should attempt to make himself king should be devoted to the gods, and that any one might kill him. When Valerius died he was mourned by the matrons for ten months. See Plutarch, Poplicola. ”

“ The little company of heroes embarked on unsailed seas and beset with strange peril are scarcely more than a string of names, that drop in and out, as though the work were a ship's log rather than an epic. In Valerius, though he attempts no detailed portraiture, they are men who can at least fight and die. ”

“ Valerius was instructed to attack the Volscians before the enemy became more numerous, and he proceeded with his army to Satricum. Here he was met by the Antiates and other Volscian troops who had been previously mobilised in case of any movement on the side of Rome. The old standing hatred between the two nations made each side eager for battle ”

“ Handsome, rich, noble, and young she may be; but I am sure, she has neither such a heart, nor such a mind, as should belong to the wife of your Sextus. A luxurious woman is Rubellia, and I have seen her find luxury in the contemplation of blood. Wed not Rubellia to your son.”—“Peace, Valerius,” he answered; “what boyish nonsense is this?—I will wed Rubellia to my son; and let him see to it, that he tempts me not farther with his disobedience.”
Licinius said these last words in a voice of so much earnestness, that I knew not well what answer to make to him ”

“ Certainly the Romans departed thence as victors, the Etrurians as vanquished. For as soon as it was light, and not one of the enemy was now to be seen, P. Valerius the consul collected the spoils, and returned thence in triumph to Rome. His colleague's funeral he celebrated with all the magnificence then possible. But a far greater honour to his death was the public sorrow, singularly remarkable in this particular, that the matrons mourned him a year, [71] as a parent, because he had been so vigorous an avenger of violated chastity. ”

“ He certainly always shaved himself when he grew to be a man, but it is rather hard to believe that in fencing he used his rapier, which he held between his big toe and the next, 'with as much skill as his adversary,' standing on his left leg the while.
The admiration of his playfellows at his cleverness filled him with pride, and Valerius was always trying fresh feats to show off to his audience. ”

“ After the death of Decius Valerian retained the confidence of his successor, Trebonianus Gallus, who sent him to fetch troops to quell the rebellion of Aemilianus, governor of Moesia and Pannonia. The soldiers in Raetia, however, proclaimed Valerian emperor; and marching slowly towards Rome he found both his rivals dead, slain by their own soldiers. Valerian was about sixty-three years of age, and had scarcely the vigour to deal with the enemies that threatened every frontier of the empire. ”

“ Think, dear sister, of all the love that we bear to you—and, oh! think of Valerius.”
“The more, then, is the sacrifice!” said Athanasia. “Caius Valerius also is a Christian—at least I hope in God he will soon be sealed into our brotherhood.”
“Amen! amen!” said Aurelius.
The Priestess turned round when he uttered this, and observing that he also was fettered, “Blasphemer!” cried she, “behold the end of your frenzy. Your eyes are dim, your clay is already yearning, it may be, to be sprinkled into ashes; but behold your victim. ”

“ Valerius smote down Julius, Of Rome's great Julian line; Julius, who left his mansion, High on the Velian hill, And through all turns of weal and woe Followed proud Tarquin still. Now right across proud Tarquin A corpse was Julius laid; And Titus groaned with rage and grief, And at Valerius made. Valerius struck at Titus, And lopped off half his crest; But Titus stabbed Valerius A span deep in the breast. Like a mast snapped by the tempest, Valerius reeled and fell. Ah! woe is me for the good house That loves the people well! ”

“ Valerius was in great straits, not knowing how the battle had gone, and observing that his soldiers were despondent when they looked at the corpses of their comrades, and elated when they saw those of the enemy, so equal and undecided had been the slaughter. Yet each side, when it viewed its own dead close by, was more inclined to own itself defeated, than to claim the victory because of the supposed losses of the enemy. Night came on, and it was spent as may be imagined by men who had fought so hard. ”

“ Valeria was beautiful; he proposed himself to her in marriage, knowing the second husband would have great right over the heritage of the first. But insensible to love, and too proud to shock that propriety which would not permit an empress to yield to a second marriage, she fled from the court of Licinius, with Prisca, and Candidien, and sought refuge with Maximin, one of the other emperors. He had already a wife and children; and, as the adopted son of Galerius, had been accustomed to regard Valeria as a mother: but his brutal and passionate soul took fire even sooner than that of Licinius. ”

“ I guess, that hastiness of various sorts, not, however, entirely without excuse in a person of your age, has been the means of implicating you in the affairs of a sect, equally unworthy of your communication, whether you consider the country in which their superstition originated, or the barbarities with which it is stained. But even for beauty, my young friend, it becomes not a Roman, least of all a Valerius, to forget what is due to the laws of Rome, and the will of the Prince. Consider with yourself how nearly you have escaped serious evil. ”

“ Lartius, with a party of light-armed troops, to post himself at the Colline gate till the enemy should pass by, and then to throw himself in their way so that there may be no return to the river. The other consul, T. Lucretius, marched out of the Nævian gate with some companies of soldiers; Valerius himself led some chosen cohorts down from the Cœlian mount, and they were first descried by the enemy. Herminius, when he perceived the alarm, rose out of the ambush and fell upon the rear of the Tuscans, who had charged Valerius. ”

“ In all things else I bow to age and understanding so much above my own; but here I have thought for myself, and my faith is fixed.”
Licinius heard me with a countenance of painful and anxious emotion. In the eye of young Sextus I saw a tear ready to start, and his whole aspect was that of one sad and bewildered. Sempronius leaned his brow upon his hand, and turned himself away from me. But as [pg 354] for the Centurion, he preserved his usual air; and after a moment, all the rest continuing silent, said, “Valerius, I have been in love ere now, and perhaps am not out of the scrape at present ”

“ I have been baptized in the name of the one true God—I have partaken of the symbols of the Christian mystery—and I have no more power to bring myself out of this peril, than he that stands in the front rank—without sword or buckler—deprived of all things but his honour.”
“Athanasia!” said Velius, “alas! my dear girl, what madness is this? Do you hold yourself wiser than all the wise men, and all the good, and all the great men [pg 332] that have ever lived in Rome? Do you deem yourself able to penetrate mysteries from which all the sages of the earth have retreated with humility? ”

“ At the same time that they delivered this intelligence, they entreated him to bring them succour, and repel that decided enemy of the Romans by land or by a naval force, since they were attacked for no other cause than that they lay over against Italy. Marcus Valerius, leaving Publius Valerius lieutenant-general charged with the protection of that quarter, set sail with his fleet equipped and prepared, having put on board of ships of burthen such soldiers as there was not room for in the men of war, and reached Oricum on the second day ”

“ Valerian is represented on them in a humble attitude, but not fettered, and never in the posture of extreme degradation commonly associated with his name. He bends his knee, as no doubt he would be required to do, on being brought into the Great King’s presence; but otherwise he does not appear to be subjected to any indignity. It seems thus to be on the whole most probable that the Roman emperor was not more severely treated than the generalty of captive princes, and that Sapor has been unjustly taxed with abusing the rights of conquest. ”