What we call people’s wealth and power are in fact very short-lived and fragile things, like a child’s toys. They come to us suddenly,...

If any woman is too fond of drinking wine, she definitely closes the door on all the virtues and opens it to all kinds of mischief....

The next story tells of frankness that was brave and witty too. There was a very old woman at Syracuse, and though everyone else was...

I would have said that this former censor was too fierce, if I did not see that Publius Atilius Philiscus, who had been forced by his...

the death masks of one’s ancestors, with a list of their achievements, were deliberately placed in the most conspicuous part of the house...

What good does education do us? It makes our characters more polished; it does not make them better. Maximus, Valerius. Valerius Maximus,...

Can we imagine how distinguished Menenius Agrippa must have been if the Senate and plebs chose him as the man to make peace between them?...

A man who longs for nothing obviously has everything, and even more securely than a man who owns every possession. Maximus, Valerius....

Alexander may have acquired the reputation of being unconquerable, but he was unable to conquer the self-restraint of Diogenes the Cynic....

Fabricius Luscinus felt the same way. In his day, he held the highest offices and exercised the greatest influence in the entire state,...

A household, a state, a kingdom will easily survive on a permanent basis provided that the desire for sexual pleasure and money wins the...

So I am not at all surprised that he was consistently moderate in dealing with his pupil Xenocrates. He had heard that Xenocrates had...

Archytas of Tarentum was immersing himself deeply in the teachings of Pythagoras at Metapontum, and after a long time and a lot of hard...

I shall begin with the birth of our highest public office. Valerius won the name of Publicola (devoted to the people) because he had such...

The bravest commanders do not allow me to linger any longer on these frivolous stories. His fellow citizens were angry with Epaminondas,...

Scipio matched this confidence after he had landed in Africa. Two spies sent by Hannibal were caught in his camp, and when they were...

In a truly great generation of talented and distinguished citizens, Quintus Hortensius reached the highest level of influence and...

The state of Sparta was very close to our ancestors in its austerity, and it held the same principles as they did. In keeping with the...

People long ago generally paid homage to the gods in the hope that the gods would confer benefits on them, but they worshiped Febris in...

Young people used to shower thoughtful honors on the elderly, as if all the older men were shared by the young as their fathers. That is...

If ever some argument arose between a man and his wife, they would go to the shrine of the goddess Viriplaca, which is on the Palatine....

Women who had restricted themselves to one marriage were honored with the garland of modesty: our ancestors felt that the heart of a...

Since we have moved on to foreign stories, here is something that happened to a very learned man in Athens. He was hit on the head by a...

When Midas, the one who ruled over Phrygia, was a boy, some ants piled up grains of wheat in his mouth as he was sleeping. His parents...