A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1002 MAXIMUS. MAXIMUS.
is even now very evident that the greater number and Nepotianus are concerned, by the researches of
of the stories are designed to illustrate some great Angelo Mai, who detected in the library of the
moral principle. In an historical point of view the Vatican MSS. of these very abridgements, and
work is by no means without value, since it pre- printed them in his " Scriptorum Veterum Nova
serves a record of many curious events -not to be Collectio e Vaticanis Codicibus edita," 4to. Rom.
found elsewhere; but from the errors actually de- 1828, vol. iii. pt. iii. p. 1-116. The abridgement
tected upon points where we possess more precise of Julius Paris includes the whole of the nine books,
information, it is manifest that we must not repose and also the Liber Decimus de Praenominibus, which
implicit confidence in the statements unless where terminates, it would seem, abruptly, for the index at
they are corroborated by collateral testimony. The the beginning of the MS. promises six chapters,.
writer is much too eager to make a strong impres- De Praenominibus, DeNominibus, De Cognomninibus,
sion, and is willing to sacrifice both simplicity and De Agnominibus, De Appellationibus, De Verbis, of
probability for the sake of astonishing and con- which the first only is extant. There is a dedicafounding his readers. The style, in like manner, tion likewise to a Licinius Cyriacus, in which Paris
although not destitute of force and point, is through- declares " decem Valerii Maximi libros dictorumn et
out constrained and ambitious, full of violent anti- factorum memorabilium ad unum volumen epitomae
theses and harsh metaphors, cumbrous and obscure. coegi." This piece was unquestionably executed
The Latinity which was pronounced by Erasmus at a very early period, for the phraseology is very
to bear no more resemblance to that of Cicero than pure, and is by no means a close transcript of the
a mule does to a man, is of. such an inferior stamp original, from which the epitomator departs not only
that many critics have been unable to persuade in words, but occasionally in facts also, as may be
themselves that it could have proceeded from one seen from the examples quoted in Mai (praef. xxii.).
who bordered closely upon the Augustan age, and The abridgement of Nepotianus again is very imhence have been driven to adopt the hypothesis perfect, breaking off in the second chapter of the
that what we now possess is not really the produc- third book: it belongs to a later epoch than the
tion of Valerius Maximus, but a series of extracts former, but is quite independent of it, it is more
from him, collected and compressed by a later hand, brief, passes over several of the examples given by
according to the plan pursued by Justin towards Valerius, and substitutes others in their room. We
Trogus Pompeius [JUSTINUS]; and Vossius sup- are led to surmise that the same MS. may at one
poses that this task was performed by a certain time have embraced the abridgement of Probus
Julius Paris. Without dwelling upon the a priori also, for subjoined to the conclusion of Julius Paris
argument, which is, however, very convincing, that we read the title C. TITI PROBI FINIT EPITOMA
the pages now before us contain many ornaments, HISTORIARUM DIVERSORUM EXEMPLORUMQUE
many diffuse descriptions, and many grandiloquent ROIMANORUM. FELICITER EMENDAVI DESCRIPperiods, which would have been omitted, curtailed, TUM RABENNAE RUSTICIUS HELPIDIUS DoMand tamed down by an epitomator, we must make NULUS, V. C. If these words stand upon a separate
some inquiries into the extent of the original work, leaf, which is not quite certain from the description
and these will be found to bear directly upon the of Mai, we should be induced to conclude that a
origin and plausibility of the theory which we have large number of sheets had been left out in binding
just stated. up the MS., and that these had comprehended the
All the most important MSS. and the earliest five missing sections, "De Nominum Ratione,"
printed editions present us with nine books and no together with the whole abridgement of Probus.
mlore. But to. a few codices a short tract is found Although the question with respect to the tenth
appended on the history and import of the praeno- book of Valerius is involved in greater obscurity
men among the Romans. To this are usually pre- than ever by the result of the above investigations,
fixed two brief introductions, first published from we may now feel certain that the second and third
MSS. by Pighius. One professes to be C. Titi of the three propositions by which Vossius endeaProbi in Epitomen suam Praefatio, the other is voured to get rid of the difficulties by which the
anonymous; but both regard this fragment as be- subject is embarrassed, cannot be maintained.
longing to an abridgment of a tenth book of Valerius These were: i. That Julius Paris was the epitoMaximus, which is supposed to have discussed all mator of the nine books of Valerius Maximus; 2.
the different names in use; and the second preface That he was the author of the essay "De Nominum
ascribes the abridgement expressly to " Julius Ratione;" 3. That Probus merely drew up an
Paris, the abbreviator of Valerius," who, it is epitome of the essay by Julius Paris.
added, entitled it Liber Decimus de Praenominibus Finally, we must not omit to point out that even
et similibus. Now, although the. "Epitome de before the discovery of Mai the abridgment by
Nominum Ratione," as it is sometimes called, does Paris was not altogether unknown. There is a
not, as it stands, bear the slightest resemblance in blank in the MSS. of Valerius Maximus extending
form or in substance to the Memorabilia, and from i. 1. ~ 5, of the 1"externa exempla," down to
although it is hard to understand how it could, the end of chapter IV. This hiatus Aldus filled
from whatever source derived, have been in any up by an extract supplied to him by Cuspinianus,
way connected with it, we are fully entitled to from the epitome of Paris then existing at Vienna;
infer from these little prefaces that Valerius Max- and this has been retained in all subsequent ediimus had been abridged by a Titus Probus, and by tions, so that what we now read within the above
a Julius Paris; and, in addition to these two, a limits are not the words of Maximus, but of
letter published by Labbe.(Biblioth. MSS. vol. i. Paris.
p. 669) furnishes us with the name of a third epi- Besides the abridgements already specified, Mai
tomator, Januarius Nepotianus. The belief, how- found no less than three more among the MSS. of
ever, that what now passes as the work of Valerius the Vatican, two of them anonymous; the third
Maximus was, in truth, one of these abridgments, by "John the son of Andrew;" and so late as the
has been completely overthrown, in so far as Paris end of the fifteenth century Robert de Valle and