Valerius Maximus
noceret quam ingeniis prodesset. itaque maximum poetam aut certe summo proximum, quia domum sibi invisam obscenis maledictis laceraverat, carminum exsilio multarunt.
ext. 2Athenienses autem Timagoran, inter officium salutationis Dareum regem more gentis illius adulatum, capitali supplicio adfecerunt, unius civis humilibus blanditiis totius urbis suae decus Persicae dominationi summissum graviter ferentes.
ext. 3Iam Cambyses inusitatae severitatis, qui mali cuiusdam iudicis e corpore pellem detractam sellae intendi in eaque filium eius iudicaturum considere iussit. ceterum et rex et barbarus atroci ac nova poena iudicis ne quis postea corrumpi iudex posset providit.
4. Graviter Dicta Aut Facta
praef.Magnam et bonam laudis partem in claris viris etiam illa vindicant quae aut ab iis dicta graviter aut facta pertinax memoria viribus aeternis comprehendit. quorum ex abundanti copia nec parca nimis nec rursus avida manu quod magis desiderio satisfaciat quam satietati redundet48 hauriamus.
1aCivitate nostra Cannensi clade perculsa, cum admodum tenui filo suspensa rei publicae salus ex sociorum fide penderet, ut eorum animi ad imperium Romanum tuendum
Book VI
their intelligence. So they punished with banishment the greatest, or at least the second greatest, of poets because he had lashed a family he hated with obscene insults.19
The Athenians inflicted capital punishment on Timagoras because in the ceremony of saluting king Darius he had followed the adulatory custom of that nation. They were indignant that the glory of their whole city should be humbled before Persian dominion by the crawling flattery of a single citizen.20
Cambyses’21 severity was unusual. He flayed the skin from a certain corrupt judge and had it stretched over a chair on which he ordered the man’s son to sit when passing judgment.22 He was a king and a barbarian and by the horrible and novel punishment of a judge he sought to make sure that no judge could be bribed in the future.
4. Impressive Sayings or Doings
A great and good part of the glory of famous men is claimed by their impressive sayings or doings which pertinacious memory includes in her immortal power. From their abundant store let us draw, not with too sparing nor yet with too greedy a hand, enough to satisfy desire rather than to overflow satiety.
When our community was stricken by the disaster at Cannae, the survival of the commonwealth hung upon the loyalty of our allies, suspended by a very thin thread. To