SOURCE: Hodgson, Jr., Robert. “Valerius Maximus and Gospel Criticism.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 51, no. 3 (July 1989): 502-10.

In the following essay, Hodgson contends that contemporary scholarly criteria justifying the denigration of Valerius's Memorable Doings and Sayings may be obsolete and that the work offers insight into the development of the exempla tradition in its transition from secular Roman to Christian forms.

I. Valerius Maximus1

In the early years of Tiberius' reign Valerius took to reading Latin and Greek history and collecting anecdotes for an anthology of Roman life. Dedicated to Tiberius and published in the wake of Sejanus' trial and execution, thus late in 31 c.e., Valerius' work has come down to us as the Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri Nouem (Of Noteworthy Deeds and Sayings Nine Books) in Codex Laurentianus and Codex Bernensis, both of the ninth century. In addition there are 5th-cent. epitomes by Julius Paris and Januarius...