The Ancient Library

Scanned text contains errors.

On this page: Maximus


Disseiiationes ; in the second of which (represented by the version of Paccius, the Parisian MS. fol­ lowed by Heinsius, and the Harleian MS.> one of those employed by Davis for his.second'edition) he corrected the errors in argument of the first edition, but left unconnected the numerous errors as to historical facts. (Fabric. Biblioth. Graec. vol. i. p. 516, vol. iii. p. 77, vol. v. p. 515, &c.; Hein­ sius, Davis, Markland, alii, Praefat. Notae 8{c. ad Opera Maaeimi Tyrii.) [J. C. M.]

MAXIMUS, VALERIUS. l.M\ valerius (volusi f.) volusus maxim us, was the first of the Valerian house who bore the surname of Maximus. He was a brother of P. Valerius Poplicola, and was dictator in b. c. 494, when the dissensions between the burghers and commonalty of Rome de Neons were at the highest. Valerius was popular with the plebs, and induced them to enlist for the Sabine and Aequian wars, by promising that when the enemy was repulsed, the condition of the debtors (nexi) should be alleviated. He defeated and triumphed over the Sabines ; but unable to fulfil his promise to the commons, resigned his dictator­ship. The plebs, seeing that Valerius at least had kept faith with thern^ escorted him: honourably home. As he was advanced in life at the time of his dictatorship, he probably died soon after. (Dionys. vi. 39—45; Liv. ii. 30, 31; Cic. Brut. 14.)

2. M. valerius MYr. volusi n. lactuca maximus, son of the preceding, was consul in b. c. 456. He opposed Icilius, tribune of the plebs, in his efforts to assign the Aventine hill to the com­mons. (Dionys. x. 31—33; Liv. iii. 31.) The cognomen Lactuca, lettuce, a favourite esculent of the early Romans (Mart. Ep. x. 14) belongs to the same class of surnames as Cicer (Gicero) (Plin. H. JV. xviii. 3; Plut. Cic. 1) and Stolo in the Licinian family. (Varr. R. R. i. 2.)

3. M. valerius M. f. M. n. lactucinus maximus, was one of the military tribunes, with consular power, in b. c. 398 and 395. (Liv. v. 14, 24.)

4. M. valerius M. f. M. n. maximus, was four times praetor and consul in b.c. 312. His province was Samnium, and it afforded him a triumph, De Samnitibus Soraneisque (Fasti). He was legatus to the dictator, Papirius Cursor, in b.c. 308, and censor in b. c. 307, when he ex­tended or improved the roads through the demesne lands. (Liv. ix. 29, 40, 41, 43.)

5. M. valerius M. f. M. n. maximus, with the agnomen corvinus, derived from his father, M. Valerius Corvus, who was five times consul in the Samnite wars. He was consul in B. c. 289 (Fasti). From the loss of Livy's second decade, the history of his consulship is lost.

6. M. valerius maximus, with the agnomen potitus, was consul in b. c. 286. The agitation attending the Hortensian laws occupied the consuls of this year. (Fast.; Plin. H. N. xvi. 10.)

7. M. valerius maximus, was consul in a. d. 253,256. (Fasti.) [W. B. D.]

MAXIMUS, VALERIUS, to whom the prae-nomen Marcus is assigned in one of the best MSS., and that of Publius in another, is known to us as the compiler of a large collection of historical anec­dotes, entitled De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus Libri IX.., arranged under different heads, the say­ings and doings of Roman worthies being, more­over, kept distinct in each division from those of



foreigners. No reasonable doubt can be enter­tained with regard to the period when he flou­rished. The dedication is indeed couched in such general terms, that the adulation might apply to almost any Caesar ; but when we find the writer speaking of himself as removed by two generations only from M. Antonius the orator (vi. 8. § 1), when we remark the studied abhorrence every­where expressed towards Brutus and Cassius (vi. 4. § 5, i. 8. § 8), and the eager flattery so lavishly heaped upon the Julian line, we at once conclude that he lived under the first emperors. The de­scription of the reigning prince as one descended from both of the two illustrious censors, Claudius Nero and Livius Salinator (ix. 2. § 6), distinctly marks out Tiberius ; and, this point being fixed, we can determine that the parricide, whose-treason and destruction form the theme of a glowing invec­tive (ix. 11. § 4), must be the notorious Sejanus. The opinion hazarded by some of the earlier scho­lars, that we ought to regard this Valerius Maximus as the same person with the consul of that name who held office for the first time under Volusianus in a. d. 253, and for a second time under Gallienus iii a. D. 256, seems to be totally devoid of any foundation, and is directly contradicted not only by the evidence recited above, but also by the fact that the Valerius Maximus whom we are now con­sidering is referred to by the elder Pliny (H. N. i. ind. lib. vii.), by Plutarch (Marcell. sub fin.), and by Aulus Gellius (xii. 7), the testimony of the last especially being quite impregnable. Of his personal history we know nothing, except the solitary circumstance, recorded by himself, that he accompanied, but in what capacity we are not told, Sex. Pompeius into Asia (ii. 6. § 8), the Sextus Pompeius apparently who was consul a. d. 14, at the time when Augustus died, and who was the first to render homage to his successor.

The subjects treated of are of a character so miscellaneous, that it would be impossible, without transcribing the short notices placed at the head of each chapter, to convey a clear idea of the contents. Iii some books the topics selected for illustration are closely allied to each other, in others no bond of union can be traced. Thus the first book is en­tirely devoted to matters connected with sacred rites, and we have a succession of narratives : De Religione Observata, De Religione Neglecta^ De Re* ligione Simulata, De Religione Peregrina Rejecta, De Auspiciis, De Ominibus, De Pfodigiis, De Somniisi De Miraculis; the second book relates chiefly to certain remarkable civil institutions ; the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, to the more prominent social virtues ; but in the seventh the chapters De Stratc'ffemalis, De Repulsis, are abruptly followed by those De Necessitate, De Testamentis Rescis&is^ De Ratis Testamentis et Insperatis. Upon observing the symmetry which prevails in some places with the disorder so perceptible in others, we feel strongly disposed to conjecture that particular sec­tions may have been at one time circulated sepa­rately, and afterwards collected without due atten­tion being paid to their proper collocation ; while at the same time we are impressed with the conviction that a much more suitable and natural disposition of the different parts might be introduced. In this, way something like a general plan would become visible; for without going so far as to assert that the whole ought to be regarded in the light of a formal treatise on morality, taught by examples, it

About | First



page #  
Search this site
Ancient Library was developed and hosted by Tim Spalding of