MEMORABLE DOINGS AND SAYINGS
BY VALERIUS MAXIMUS
Valerius Maximus was a Roman rhetorician who wrote during the reign of Tiberius (AD 14-37). His nine books of Factorum et dictorum memorabilium (Memorable Doings and Sayings) is a collection of historical anecdotes, mostly Roman, intended for use in schools of rhetoric. Presented here is everything in them of Greek love interest.
The translation is by D. R. Shackleton Bailey for the Loeb Classical Library volumes 492 and 493 published by the Harvard University Press in 2000. The Latinisation of Greek names has been undone in favour of transliterated forms of the Greek.
III 5 Of those who degenerated from famous parents Qui a parentibus claris degeneraverunt
| In an abundant crop of brilliant talents and eminent citizens Q. Hortensius occupied the highest grade of authority and eloquence. His grandson Hortensius Corbio[1] passed a life more abject and obscene than any harlot and in the end his tongue was prostituted in brothels to the lust of all comers as his grandfather’s had kept vigil in the Forum for the welfare of his countrymen. | [4] Nam Q. quidem Hortensii, qui in maximo et ingeniorum excellentium et civium amplissimorum proventu summum auctoritatis atque eloquentiae gradum obtinuit, nepos Hortensius Corbio omnibus scortis abiectiorem et obsceniorem vitam exegit, ad ultimumque lingua eius tam libidini cunctorum inter lupanaria prostitit quam avi pro salute civium in foro excubuerat. |
III 8 Of Resolution De constantia
| Ephialtes,[2] an effective attorney of acknowledged integrity, was made public prosecutor and obliged to lay charges against Demostratos among others, whose son Demochares, a singularly handsome boy, lodged in Ephialtes’ heart with a passionate fondness. Thus by the lottery of public office a ferocious prosecutor but by circumstance of private feeling a pitiable defendant, he could not bring himself to repulse the boy when he came to beg him to bear lightly on the charges against the father nor yet to look at him as he fell in supplication at his knees, but with covered head, weeping and groaning, let him set forth his entreaties. None the less he prosecuted Demostratos in good faith and secured a conviction; a victory whether gained with more glory than torment I know not. For before crushing the guilty man, Ephialtes conquered himself. | [ext. 4] efficacis operae forensis, fidei non latentis Athenis Ephialtes accusare publice iussus et inter ceteros Demostrati nomen deferre coactus est, cuius filius erat Demochares excellentis formae puer, animo eius flagrantissimo inhaerens amore. itaque communis officii sorte truculentus accusator, privati adfectus condicione miserabilis reus, puerum ad se exorandum quo parcius patris criminibus insisteret venientem neque repellere neque supplicem genibus suis advolutum intueri sustinuit, sed operto capite flens et gemens preces expromere passus est, nihilominusque sincera fide accusatum Demostratum damnavit. victoriam nescio laude an tormento maiore partam, quoniam prius quam sontem opprimeret se ipsum vicit Ephialtes. |
IV 3 ext. 1 On abstinence and continence
For this anecdote, see the article Sophokles as a Boy-lover.
v
| I would say the ex-Censor [Q. Fabius Maximus Servilianus] showed himself too harsh if I did not see what a severe parent P. Atilius Philiscus was in later life, who as a boy had been forced by his master to earn money by prostitution. For he put his daughter to death because she had defiled herself with the guilt of illicit intercourse.[3] How sacred then should we think chastity was in our community, in which we see even the hucksters of lust becoming such severe chastisers of it! | Dicerem censorium virum nimis atrocem exstitisse, nisi P. Atilium Philiscum, in pueritia corpore quaestum a domino facere coactum, tam severum postea patrem cernerem: filiam enim suam, quia stupri se crimine coinquinaverat, interemit. quam sanctam igitur in civitate nostra pudicitiam fuisse existimare debemus, in qua etiam institores libidinis tam severos eius vindices evasisse animadvertimus? |
vii
For this anecdote, see the article The Impeachment of Scantinius Capitolinus, ca. 226 BC.
ix
For this anecdote, see the article The Outrage by Papirius, 326/5 BC.
Continuing directly from his narration of the outrage by Papirius:
| Is it surprising that the Conscript Fathers as a body thus decreed? C. Fescenninus, Triumvir Capitalis[4], put public chains on C. Cornelius for having sexual intercourse with a freeborn youth, though Cornelius had served as a soldier with great bravery and had four times received from his commanders the honour of the First Spear[5] for his valour. He appealed to the Tribunes, not denying the act but declaring his readiness to wager that the adolescent[6] in question had openly and without concealment practised prostitution. The Tribunes refused their intervention and Cornelius had to die in prison. For the Tribunes of the Plebs thought it wrong that our commonwealth should strike bargains with brave men for them to buy luxuries at home with perils abroad. | Et quid mirum si hoc universi patres conscripti censuerunt? C. Fescenninustriumvir capitalis C. Cornelium, fortissimae militiae stipendia emeritum virtutisque nomine quater honore primi pili ab imperatoribus donatum, quod cum ingenuo adulescentulo stupri commercium habuisset, publicis vinculis oneravit. a quo appellati tribuni, cum de stupro nihil negaret, sed sponsionem se facere paratum diceret quod adulescens ille palam atque aperte corpore quaestum factitasset, intercessionem suam interponere noluerunt. itaque Cornelius in carcere mori coactus est: non putarunt enim tribuni plebis rem publicam nostram cum fortibus viris pacisci oportere ut externis periculis domesticas delicias emerent. |
xi
For this anecdote, see the article The Lechery of Laetorius, ca. 312 BC.
xii
For this anecdote, see the article The Killing of Gaius Lusius, 104 BC.
VIII 1 For what reasons ill-famed defendants were acquitted or convicted lnfames rei quibus de causis absoluti aut damnati sint
absol. viii
| C. Cosconius was charged under the Servilian law[7], guilty beyond a doubt by reason of many fully evident criminal acts. He was put on his feet by a poem of his prosecutor Valerius Valentinus recited in court, in which by way of a literary joke Valerius had intimated that a free-born boy[8] and a free-born girl had been seduced by himself. The jury thought it improper to send away victorious a man who deserved not to win victory over somebody else but to yield the same over himself. However, Valerius was condemned in Cosconius’ acquittal rather than Cosconius acquitted in his own case.[9] | C. etiam Cosconium Servilia lege reum, propter plurima et evidentissima facinora sine ulla dubitatione nocentem, Valerii Valentini accusatoris eius recitatum in iudicio carmen, quo puerum praetextatum et ingenuam virginem a se corruptam poetico ioco significaverat, erexit, si quidem iudices iniquum rati sunt eum victorem dimittere qui palmam non ex alio ferre, sed de se dare merebatur. magis vero Valerius in Cosconii absolutione damnatus quam Cosconius in sua causa liberatus est. |
absol. xii
| As hostile as jurors were to a very eminent prosecutor, so merciful were they in the case of a defendant of far lesser degree. Calidius of Bononia was caught at night in a married man’s bedroom and brought up on a charge of adultery. Struggling in the big rough breakers of ill fame, he emerged, clutching a pretty flimsy sort of defence like the fragment of a wreck; for he said he had been led there because of a passion for a boy slave. The place was suspicious, as was the time, as was the person of the wife, as too was his own early life, but the confession of incontinence cleared the charge of lust.[10] | Tam vehementes iudices adversus excellentissimum accusatorem quam mites in longe inferioris fortunae reo. Calidius Bononiensis in cubiculo mariti noctu deprehensus, cum ob id causam adulterii diceret, inter maximos et gravissimos infamiae fluctus emersit, tamquam fragmentum naufragii leve admodum genus defensionis amplexus: adfirmavit enim se ob amorem pueri servi eo esse perductum. suspectus erat locus, suspectum tempus, suspecta matris familiae persona, suspecta etiam adulescentia ipsius, sed crimen libidinis confessio intemperantiae liberavit. |
damn. viii
| Nor must I suppress the condemnation of a man who was swept away by excessive passion for a little boy of his. Asked by him in the country to order tripe for dinner, he satisfied the boy’s craving by killing a domestic ox, since there was no means of buying beef in the neighbourhood. For that reason he was condemned by a public court—innocent if he had not been born in so ancient an epoch.[11] | Non supprimenda illius quoque damnatio qui pueruli sui nimio amore correptus, rogatus ab eo ruri ut omasum in cenam fieri iuberet, cum bubulae carnis in propinquo emendae nulla facultas esset, domito bove occiso desiderium eius explevit, eoque nomine publica quaestione adflictus est, innocens, nisi tam prisco saeculo natus esset. |
IX 1 Of luxury and lust De luxuria et libidine
vi
| A similar revolution appeared in the house of the Curios. Our Forum saw the father’s solemn frown and the son’s sixty millions of debt, contracted by infamous outrage upon noble youths. Thus at the same time and in the same residence diverse epochs dwelt, one most frugal, the other most profligate.[12] | Consimilis mutatio in domo Curionum exstitit, si quidem forum nostrum et patris gravissimum supercilium et filii sescenties sestertium aeris alieni aspexit, contractum famosa iniuria nobilium iuvenum. itaque eodem tempore et in iisdem penatibus diversa saecula habitarunt, frugalissimum alterum, alterum nequissimum. |
vii
For this anecdote, see the article A Roman Jury Corrupted by Lust for Boys, 61 BC.
Following straght on from the story of the corruption of the jury trying P. Clodius in 61 BC:
| Equally outrageous was the banquet which Gemellus, a tribunician messenger free by birth but by employment base below servile condition, prepared for Consul Metellus Scipio and the Tribunes of the Plebs to the signal shame of the community. He set up a brothel in his house and in it as prostitutes Mucia and Fulvia, both famous through their fathers and husbands, and a boy of noble birth, Saturninus.[13] Bodies infamously patient, destined to be playthings for drunken lust! Feast for a Consul and Tribunes not to attend but to punish! | Aeque flagitiosum illud convivium, quod Gemellus, tribunicius viator, ingenui sanguinis sed officii intra servilem habitum deformis, Metello Scipioni consuli ac tribunis plebis magno cum rubore civitatis comparavit: lupanari enim domi suae instituto, Muciam et Fulviam, cum a patre tum a viro utramque inclitam, et nobilem puerum Saturninum in eo prostituit. probrosae patientiae corpora, ludibrio temulentae libidini futura! epulas consuli et tribunis non celebrandas sed vindicandas! |
IX 12 Of deaths out of the ordinary De mortibus non vulgaribus
viii
| Macer’s death was brave, that of those I am about to mention quite ludicrous. Cornelius Gallus, an ex-Praetor, and T. Hetereius, a Roman knight, were carried off during sexual intercourse with boys. And yet why mock their deaths? It was not their lust that took them off but the nature of human frailty. | Fortis huius mors, illorum perridicula: Cornelius enim Gallus praetorius et T. Hetereius eques Romanus inter usum puerilis veneris absumpti sunt. [ix] quamquam quorsum attinet eorum cavillari fata, quos non libido sua sed fragilitatis humanae ratio abstulit? |
ext. xii
| But Pindar had fallen asleep in the gymnasium with his head in the lap of a boy, his particular favorite, and it was only when the man in charge wanted to close the place and Pindar could not be aroused that they realised he was dead.[14] I could well believe that so much poetic eloquence and so peaceful an end were bestowed upon him by the same divine favour. | At Pindarus, cum in gymnasio super gremium pueri, quo unice delectabatur, capite posito quieti se dedisset, non prius decessisse cognitus est quam gymnasiarcho claudere iam eum locum volente nequiquam excitaretur. cui quidem crediderim eadem benignitate deorum et tantum poeticae facundiae et tam placidum vitae finem attributum. |
[1] The first Hortensius mentioned was evidently the best-known: the orator and consul Q. Hortensius (114-50 BC). The latter’s son of the same name, partly disinherited by his father, tried to restore his fortunes in the civil war following Caesar’s assassination on 44 BC, but ended up executed after defeat at the battle of Philippi in 41 BC. Presumably this sealed the family’s doom. One of his sons, Marcus, was living in great poverty in AD 16. (Tacitus, Annals II 37-8). Nothing else is known about Corbio, presumably a brother of Marcus, but it sounds likely from this anecdote that he had been so destitute after Philippi that he joined a boy brothel. Fellatio was regarded as an exceptionally demeaning kind of sex.
[2] Ephialtes was presumably the best known man of his name, the Athenian politician killed in 461 BC, but this episode s not mentioned in any other surviving source.
[3] Not found elsewhere. [Translator’s footnote]
[4] The office of Triumvir Capitalis was first established in 290/87 BC (Livy, Roman History XI 8), so the incident happened after that. Eva Cantarella, Bisexuality in the Ancient World, translated by Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin, New Haven: Yale University Press, 192, p. 105 gives reasons for dating it to ca. 280 BC. It is thus evidence that Roman boys were prostituting themselves a full century before the onslaught of luxurious Greek ways.
[5] He was promoted Chief Centurion. Apparently the rank might lapse after a campaign. He is noticed only here. [Translator’s footnote]
[6] As is his habit, the translator has given a false impression by translating adulescens as “young man” here replaced by “adolescent”.
[7] Unfortunately there is no indication of which Servilian law is meant: two are known, passed in 106 and 100 BC, which may help with dating the anecdote.
[8] “Free-born boy” is not quite a satisfactory translation for puerum praetextatum, which means a boy who wore a freeborn boy’s toga praetexta as opposed to the adult’s toga virilis, adopted in a coming-of-age ceremony between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. Nevertheless, it is better than the translator’s “boy under age”, which poses the here unasked question of “of what?” or “for what?” The author’s point in using praetextatum is to make it clear that the boy was freeborn and therefore not a legitimate object of seduction (noting to do with his age), which he would have been had he been a slave of any age. Valerius Valentinus could not himself be convicted, since there was apparently no complainant, but he lost his case against Cosconius by outraging public opinion through making light of having violated the chastity of freeborn Romans..
[9] A Valerius Valentinus, author of a literary joke, was mentioned by Lucilius; cf. RE Valerius 372. [Translator’s footnote]
[10] Sex with another man’s wife (ie. adultery) was a crime. Sex with his boy slave was certainly not (though in seeking it one ought to exercise a degree of self-control). Valerius Maximus is the only source for this anecdote. All that can be said of its date is that Bononia (modern Bologna) was not founded until 189 BC.
[11] Killing an oxen had once been a capital offence (Columella, On Agriculture VI pr. vii), and this was the only thing the unnamed man had done wrong. Pliny the elder told the same story in his Natural History VIII 180, describing the boy as his master’s concubinus and adding that the man was exiled.
[12] Comparison with Cicero’s Second Philippic against Mark Antony, 45-6, leaves no doubt the Curios referred to here were C. Scribonius Curio (consul in 76 BC) and his son of the same name (quaestor in 54 BC). According to Cicero, the younger Curio was besotted with the teenage Antony (who acted as his wife) and stood surety for him for a debt of six million sesterces, causing his father great anguish. If true (one must allow for the usefulness of the story as political invective), this would have happened in the early 60s BC.
[13] Metellus Scipio was consul in 52 BC. Mucia’s father was a consul and pontifex maximus, the triumvir Pompey was her former husbandand her husband in 52 BC was an ex-praetor expelled from the Senate that year. Fulvia’s husband was a former tribune of the plebs murdered in political violence that year and she went on to be wife of the triumvir Mark Antony. The Sentii Saturnini were a distinguished consular family, but this particular Saturninus cannot be identified within it. What was shocking and illegal was that married women and a freeborn boy were being prostituted, and it was even more outrageous in view of their high birth.
[14] Pindar (ca. 518-ca. 438 BC) was the greatest Theban lyric poet. Some of his poems celebrated the love of boys, includes one praising the beauty of Theoxenos, who is named by the Souda s.v. Πίνδαρος as the boy on whose lap he died, having “asked for the finest thing in life to be given to him.”
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