# Faits et dits mémorables des romains [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MASTER of the Dresden Prayer Book]() - Date: 1451-1500 - Technique: Manuscript \(Ms 43:91 MS 81\), 175 x 194 mm ## Commentary Faits et dits mémorables des romains 1475-80 Manuscript \(Ms 43:91 MS 81\), 175 x 194 mm J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles The Memorable Deeds and Sayings of the Romans is a compilation of stories about ancient customs and heroes. Written in the first century A.D. by Valerius Maximus \(active c. A.D. 20\), it continued to be read during the Middle Ages. Loosely organized by moral and philosophical categories \(temperance, charity, cruelty, etc.\) Valerius Maximus, as the book is often called, served as a textbook of rhetorical exercises. The miniature shown here is a cutting from a folio-size copy of a French translation made for Jan Crabbe, the Abbot of the Cistercian Abbey at Duinen, south of Bruges. The large miniature appeared at the beginning of Book 2. It shows Valerius instructing the emperor Tiberius \(to whom he dedicated the text\) on the value of temperance. In a spacious dining room, the upper classes shown at the back behave decorously - displaying temperance - while in the foreground the antics of lower class characters illustrate the antithesis. ## Related artworks - [Hours of Philip the Fair]() - [Hours of Philip the Fair]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()