SOURCE: Bloomer, W. Martin. “Audience and Design.” In Valerius Maximus and the Rhetoric of the New Nobility, pp. 11-58. Chapel Hill, N. C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

In the following excerpt, Bloomer concentrates on the intended audience for and the structural design of Memorable Doings and Sayings, arguing that Valerius's reasons for composing the work were not antiquarian or historical, but rather were motivated by his desire to reinterpret and “de-historicize” existing material.

From what Valerius tells his reader Memorable Deeds and Sayings is a time-saving, smooth, and seamless collection. In his proem and the prooemia to the various chapters Valerius is concerned to ease transition so as to maintain his reader's interest, to ensure that the reader keeps reading. Assiduous and self-conscious transitions mark, of course, the difficulty of joining two sections and, at the same time, draw attention to the person and skill of...