This chapter examines the representation of oratory in chapter 8.9 Quanta Vis Sit Eloquentiae: ‘How Great is the Force of Eloquence’, of Valerius Maximus’ Facta et Dicta Memorabilia. While Valerius’ text is frequently used as a source of fragments of Republican oratory, this chapter argues that readers need to be acutely aware of the way that these extracts are framed in the structure of the wider chapter, as Valerius is certainly an author with his own, distinctive ideas. This is evidenced by the fact that traditional exemplary models of oratory such as Cicero and Demosthenes are ignored in 8.9. Valerius instead creates a dark vision of Republican oratory that links eloquence inextricably to the loss of freedom and the development of tyranny and despair under Julius Caesar and his heirs.
