259 



VALERIUS ANTIAS, QUINTUS. 



VALLA, LORENZO. 



persecution of the Christians aa that which had taken place in the 

 reign of Decius. 



Coin of Valerianus. 

 British Museum. Actual size. 



(Trehellius Pollio, Valerianus; S. Aurel. Victor, Epitome, c. 32; 

 Eutropius, ix. 6; Zonaras, xii., p. 625 ; Eusebius, Hist. JEccles., vii. 10: 

 compare Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall, c. x.) 



VALE'RIUS A'NTIAS, Q UINTUS, or Valerius of Antium, wrote 

 Annals of Rome from the foundation of the city to about the time of 

 Sulla, in 45 books at least. Gellius (vii. 9) mentions the 45th book. 

 He is often cited by Livy; but Livy used his Annals with caution, and 

 observes on his exaggerations in numbers. 



VALE'RIUS FLACCUS. [FLACCUS, CAIOS VALERIUS.] 



VALE'RIUS MA'XIMUS was, according to an anonymous Latin 

 life of him, of a Patrician family, and of the Gens Valeria : on his 

 mother's side he belonged, according to the same authority, to the 

 Gens Fabia, and from these two families derived his name of Valerius 

 Maximus. But this account of the origin of the name Maximus may 

 be safely rejected. The anonymous Life states that Valerius Maximus 

 spent his youth and part of his early manhood in improving himself 

 by education : he afterwards served in the army, and accompanied 

 Sextus Pompeius to Asia. This last circumstance is confirmed by 

 Valerius (ii. c. 6) in a passage in which he speaks of Sextus Pompeius 

 and himself witnessing in the island of Ceos the death of an old 

 woman, who, being weary of life, determined to die by poison, and 

 invited Pompey to be present on the occasion. This Sextus Pompeius 

 was consul in A.D. 14, the year in which Augustus died, and seems to 

 have been afterwards proconsul of Asia, and to have had Valerius 

 Maximus among his comites. Nothing more is known of Valerius. 



Valerius Maximua is the author of a work in nine books, entitled 

 'Exemplorum Memorabilium Libri Novem ad Tiberium Caesarem 

 Augustum." It is dedicated to the emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus, 

 who is eulogised as the patron of all virtues and the enemy of vice. 

 It is concluded from a passage in the ninth book (c. 11) that this 

 work was written after the downfall of Sejanus, who appears to be 

 clearly pointed at in this passage, though his name is not mentioned. 

 The work of Valerius consists of short stories and anecdotes, taken 

 from various writers. The chapters into which each book is divided 

 have their appropriate headings, under which the subdivisions of each 

 chapter are arranged : such as (lib. i.) ' on religion,' ' on simulated 

 religion," 'on foreign religion rejected,' 'on auspices,' 'on omens,' 'on 

 prodigies,' ' on dreams,' 'on miraculous things;' (lib. ix.), ' on luxury 

 and lust,' ' on cruelty,' ' on anger and hatred,' and so on. Each head 

 is illustrated by examples. This collection has some value, as the 

 author has preserved many facts which would be otherwise unknown ; 

 but his want of judgment renders his statements doubtful when they 

 cannot be confirmed by other authority. He was not critically 

 acquainted with the history and constitution of his own country, and 

 accoi'dingly his work should be used with caution. A singular blunder 

 of his is pointed out by Savigny ('Das Recht des Besitzes,' p. 175, 

 5th ed.). The style of Valerius Maximus is totally devoid of all 

 merit : it falls so far below the best writers of his age, that some 

 critics have, on this ground alone, in opposition to the evidence 

 already given, assigned him to a much later period. Julius Paris, a 

 writer of uncertain date, epitomised the work of Valerius ; and this 

 epitome, which has been published by Mai, varies somewhat from the 

 present text of Valerius both as to matter and expression. There is 

 also an epitome by Januarius Nepotianus ; and another, which was 

 made at the close of the 15th century, by J. Honorius. 



There is appended to the work of Valerius in its present form a 

 fragment of a work, entitled ' De Nominibus, Prsenominibus, Cogno- 

 miuibuB, Agnominibus,' which is on a different subject from' the other 

 nine books. It professes to be an epitome or compendium by the 

 same Julius Paris. This is clearly an extract from some other work 

 than that of Valerius Maximus, and it has been conjectured that it is 

 an extract from the ' Annales ' of Valerius of Antium ; but on what 

 this conjecture is founded is not clear. 



The first edition of Valerius Maximus was printed at Strasbourg 

 about 1470. Subsequent editions are numerous. One of the best is 

 by A. Torrenius, 4to, Leyden, 1726 ; the latest is by C. Kempfius, 

 8vo, Berol., 1854. Valerius Maximus has been translated into most 

 European languages. There is an English version by Speed, 8vo, 

 London, 1678. The epitome of Julius Paris was published by Mai, in 

 his ' Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio,' 4to, Rome, 1828, vol. iii., 

 which also contains the epitome of Januarius Nepotianus. 



(Vossius, De Historicis Latinit ; Biihr, Geschichte der Romischen 

 Literatur.) 



VALE'RIUS POPLI'COLA. [PUBLICOLA.] 



VALE'RIUS PROBUS, MARCUS, a Roman grammarian, who was 

 living in the time of Nero, was a native of Berytus in Syria. He 

 served originally in the army, but afterwards betook himself to study. 

 Having formed a taste for verbal criticism, he applied himself to the 

 emendation of authors and to annotations on them. A abort time 

 before his death he made an emendation of the following passage of 

 Sallust : " Satis eloquentise, sapientiao parum ; ' in which he read 

 ' loquentise ' for ' eloquentise.' He was perfectly satisfied of the truth 

 of this emendation, and gave a reason for it. (Gellius, i. 15.) Accord- 

 ing to Gellius, he also wrote on the accent of certain Punic words, and 

 on the secret meaning of the letters or symbols in the Epistles of 

 C. Julius Caesar to C. Oppius and Balbus Cornelius. This Valerius 

 Probus may be the grammarian of the same name who is often cited 

 in the Scholia on Terence, and also the author of Scholia on Virgil's 

 ' Georgics ' and ' Bucolics.' 



The work entitled 'De Interpretandis Notia Romanorum' is not 

 that to which Gellius refers, for the work mentioned by Gellius was 

 on secret writing, whereas this is on abbreviated writing, or steno- 

 graphy. There are several editions of this work. One of the best is 

 by Lindebrog, 8vo, Leyden, 1599. The two books ' Institutionum 

 Grammaticarum,' which bear the name of Valerius Probus, are also 

 supposed to be by another and a later writer. They were edited by 

 Lindemann, in his 'Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum,' 4to, Leipzig, 

 1831. 



(Suetonius, De Illustribus Grammaticit; Biihr, Geschichte der Romi- 

 schen Literatur.) 



VALESIUS. [V ALOIS, H. DE.] 



VALLA, LORENZO, one of the most distinguished Latin scholars 

 of the 15th century, was born at Rome, according to Drakenborch, in 

 1407, but according to others five years later. He was the son of au 

 eminent lawyer, was educated at Rome, and became acquainted with 

 the Greek language under the tuition of Aurispa. Owing to the . 

 troubles consequent upon the death of Pope Martin V., Valla with- 

 drew from Rome, and was engaged for a time in teaching rhetoric at 

 Pavia and Milan. In 1435 he went to Naples, where he continued the 

 same occupation, and gained the friendship of King Alfonso I. of 

 Naples. He is said to have instructed the king in the Latin language. 

 Valla and Beccadelli used to read to the king during dinner the works 

 of the ancients, and especially Livy's Roman History, and to converse 

 with the king about the subjects which were read. While at Naples, 

 Valla began by his writings to show his talent as a critic and a scholar. 

 The freedom with which he treated Livy, and the fearless manner in 

 which he attacked historical and theological errors, drew upon him 

 the enmity of contemporary scholars and theologians ; for to doubt 

 the accuracy of Livy's statements was regarded in those times as a 

 kind of heresy. After having spent some years at Naples he went to 

 Rome, and became a canon of St. John in the Lateran. But his 

 heresies endangered his safety ; and after some time he was compelled, 

 by the command of the pope, to quit Rome. Valla returned to 

 Naples, where Alfonso, as before, gave him protection against his 

 enemies, and in 1443 the king appointed him his private secretary. 

 The number of his- enemies, among whom we may mention Beccadelli, 

 Facius, and Poggio, was increased by the bitterness with which Valla 

 inveighed against them ; and a theological dispute, in which he 

 became involved at Naples, had the most serious consequences for 

 him : he was summoned by the Archbishop of Naples before an 

 assembly of all the clergy of the city, and condemned to be burnt 

 alive. Valla evaded the execution by declaring that he believed 

 everything which the Church required, until Alfonso had time to 

 rescue him. Poggio relates that he was scourged round a convent at 

 Naples, and then expelled from Naples. This story is believed to be 

 a malicious fabrication of Poggio ; but however this may be, Valla left 

 Naples and went to Rome to justify himself before the pope and the 

 cardinals, and he succeeded so well that Pope Nicholas V. not only 

 treated him with great distinction, but appointed him professor of 

 rhetoric with a handsome salar^ He was also restored to his place as 

 canon of St. John in the Lateran, and was at last raised to the office 

 of secretary to the pope. He died at Rome in 1457, or, according to 

 others, in 1465, and was buried in the church of which he had been 

 a canon, where his tombstone still remains. It had at one time been 

 removed from the church, but Niebuhr discovered it and caused it to 

 be restored. 



Valla was the ablest Latin scholar of his time. He was the first 

 who read the ancient writers in a true critical spirit. He was also 

 the first who pointed out inconsistencies in Livy, for which he was 

 bitterly persecuted by Poggio and Morandus of Bologna. The con- 

 troversies which were carried on between him and his antagonists are 

 almost unequalled in the history of literature for their bitterness : 

 they are full of the most vehement invectives and slanderous imputa- 

 tions. Valla's works are partly historical, partly controversial or 

 critical : after his death two collections of them were published, one 

 at Venice in 1-102, and a more complete one at Basel in 1540. Those 

 works which deserve especial mention are his ' Elegantioe Scrmonia 

 Latini,' which has often been printed, and is still very useful ; his 

 'Notfo in Novum Testamentum, sive de Collatione Novi Testamenti,' 

 in two books ; and his Commentaries on Livy and Sallust. A alia 

 also translated into Latin the Fables of .<Esop, Homer's Iliad, Thucy- 



