Practical Ethics For Roman Gentlemen: The Works of Valerius Maximus

160 Pages·1996·1.907 MB·English

by  Clive Skidmore

Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen
The Work of Valerius Maximus
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Practical Ethics
for Roman Gentlemen
The Work of Valerius Maximus
Clive Skidmore
UNIVERSITY
of
EXETER
PRESS
First published in 1996 by
University of Exeter Press
Reed Hall, Streatham Drive,
Exeter, Devon EX4 4QR
UK
www.exeterpress.co.uk
Reprinted 2002
Printed digitally since 2012
© Clive Skidmore 1996
The right of Clive Skidmore to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted by him in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 85989 477 7
Typeset in I0/12pt Linotype Sabon by Kestrel Data
Printed by Edwards Brothers
in Plymouth (UK) and Chicago (USA)
For my mother

Contents
Acknowledgements Vlll
List of Abbreviations IX
Introduction XI
Part One: The Subject
1. Teaching by Examples: Greek 3
2. Teaching by Examples: Roman 13
3. Quintilian and Seneca 22
Part Two: The Form
4. Convenience 31
5. Chreiai, Apophthegmata and other Compilations 35
6. The Roman Tradition 44
Part Three: The Work
7. Valerius's Moral Purpose 53
8. Valerius's Choice of Examples 83
9. Valerius's Criteria of Belief 93
Part Four: Author and Audience
10. The Audience 103
11. The Author 113
Notes 119
Bibliography 132
Index 138
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mr Jones, Mr Hughes and Miss Hawes, all formerly
of Dudley Grammar School, for the love of the Latin language and its
literature which they bestowed on me.
I would also like to thank the staff of the Classics Department of Exeter
University, especially Susanna Morton Braund (now Professor of Classics
at Royal Holloway, University of London) and David Harvey for their
continued support and encouragement.
Above all however, I owe thanks to Professor T. P. Wiseman of Exeter
University, who always kept me on the right path, and without whose
enthusiasm and energy this project would never have come to fruition.
Note on the Jacket Illustration
The marble sculpture of a Roman patrician probably dates from the first
half of the First Century BC. It is located in the Museo Torlonia in Rome.
List of Abbreviations
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
CQ Classical Quarterly
G&R Greece and Rome
GIF Giornale Italiano di Filologia
GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
H&T History and Theory
HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
Kl. Pauly Der Kleine Pauly
PIR Prosopographia Imperii Romani
RE Pauly Realencyclopiidie der klassischen
Altertumswissenschaft, 189 3-
REL Revue des etudes Latines
RLAC Reallexicon fur Antike und Christentum
SBAW Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften
TAPA Transactions of the American Philological Association