Valerius Maximus

To The Man Of Virtue, All Soil Is Native

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There is a line in Statius’s Thebiad (VIII.320) which reads,

Omne homini natale solum.

This means, “All soil is native to man.”  I think it is appropriate to interpret soil in an abstract form, and understand it as signifying land.  He does not mean just any land, but terra incognita: the vast expense of the unknown, untamed and hostile. Does this line have any significance, or is it just another poetic garland?  To me the poet is trying to communicate the idea that, for the brave man, every piece of ground on this earth may be claimed as his own, and called his own; and that, through his discipline and efforts, the man of virtue may conquer the challenges of his environment, wherever the locale may be. 

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Swords And Years

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There is an anecdote found in Valerius Maximus (VI.2.10) that calls our attention to the difference between the respective powers of raw force and steady patience.  A brutal consul named Cnaeus Carbo was threatening to put the city of Placentia under siege.  He ordered a city magistrate named Marcus Castricius to give him hostages as part of his campaign of destruction. 

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The Mysterious Onager Of Bahram Gur

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An enigmatic story is contained in Ibn Khallikan’s biographical summary of the life of the seventh century Basran poet Ibn Mufarrigh.  The story is one of the few times that the biographer, speaking of himself in the first person, relates an incident connected with his own life. 

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The Artificial Man, And The Man Of Substance

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Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Man That Was Used Up” was first published in 1839.  The plot line of the story is as follows.

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The Resolution Of Mevius

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We find a stirring anecdote in the history of Valerius Maximus that does not appear in any other ancient source.  There was once a centurion named Mevius who fought for Octavian (who would eventually become Caesar Augustus) during the civil war between him and Antony.  Of Mevius we know very little; even his full name has eluded history.

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The Four Pillars Of Self-Confidence

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So much has been written on the subject of self-confidence that a few more observations are unlikely to draw an objection.  It seems to me that self-confidence rests on four pillars:  (1) one must accurately and honestly assess one’s value; (2) self-confidence should never veer into the territory of arrogance or insolence; (3) self-confidence must be buttressed by demonstrated experience; and (4) while all can improve in self-confidence, it is essentially a character trait that comes easier to some than to others.

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Virtue Is Not Exacting In Her Admittance

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There is an interesting passage in the writings of Valerius Maximus (III.3) that is open to different interpretations.  It reads as follows:

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Only The Brave Will Find Redemption

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There are two things that a man must learn to accept in life:  the inherent ambiguities in choosing between alternatives, and the omnipresence of suffering.  Consider the story told about Socrates in Diogenes Laertius’s Lives of the Philosophers (II.33):  a young man asked the philosopher for his advice on whether he should get married.  The old man told him that there were good arguments both for and against the proposition, and that he would regret whatever decision he made.  “If you do not get married,” he said, “you may be lonely and your bloodline will die out; if you do get married, you may be henpecked, beset by financial strains, and dubious in-laws.  You may also have to tolerate bad children.”

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The Final Act Of All Is Never Considered Late

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It is a feature of human nature to try to control our environment.  We wish to exert some kind of influence over the outcome of events, and thereby enhance our own feelings of security and comfort.  Yet there are many times when human labor will fall short; it will prove itself to be incapable of dealing with a situation, or unable to weigh the nuances of an evenly balanced pattern of fact.  When these situations come about, we must step back from the work-shop; we must move away from the work-table, the field of conflict, or the courtroom, and Fortune take over the guidance of events.

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The Wrath Of Least Persistence

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Everyone has heard the tired phrase, “path of least resistance.”  It represents a principle that I have no objection to.  Of course there is no reason to make more work for oneself without good reason.  No one is arguing with this idea.  All things being equal, the shortest path to a goal is usually the best.  But it occurred to me today to take this phrase and modify it a bit to create another principle, one perhaps equally valid, yet one far less frequently discussed.  Let us consider this new phrase:  the wrath of least persistence.  What do I mean by this?

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