Iulius Paris, the epitomizer of Valerius, speaks of ten
books, only nine are extant, and it may be doubted whether there ever
was a tenth. Book i. is mutilated.

There are only two passages which throw any light on the date of
composition--viii. 11, _ext._ 4, a denunciation of Seianus, obviously
written after his fall in A.D. 31; and vi. 1 praef., before the death
of Livia, A.D. 29. The work was published at latest in A.D. 37, for it
is dedicated to Tiberius, who is the object of the most servile
flattery (_e.g._ ii. 9, 6); similar language is used of Iulius Caesar
(iv. 5, 6), and Augustus (i. 7, 1), while Brutus and Cassius are
denounced as parricides (i. 5, 7; i. 8, 8).

Two abridgments of Valerius Maximus are extant.

CELSUS.

Of the life of Celsus nothing is known; but he was an older
contemporary of Columella. Colum. iii. 17, 4, 'Iulius Atticus et
Cornelius Celsus, aetatis nostrae celeberrimi auctores, patrem atque
filium Sasernam secuti.'

He wrote an encyclopaedic work on agriculture, medicine, war,
rhetoric, and philosophy, but only the section on medicine is extant.

Quint. xi. 12, 24, 'Cum etiam Cornelius Celsus, mediocri vir ingenio,
non solum de his omnibus conscripserit artibus sed amplius rei
militaris et rusticae et medicinae praecepta reliquerit.'

The first part consisted of five books on agriculture: cf. Colum. i.
1, 14, 'Cornelius totum corpus disciplinae quinque libris complexus
est.' This section of the work was probably written in the reign of
Tiberius, for it was known to Iulius Graecinus, whose execution took
place under Caligula. Plin. _N.H._ xiv. 33, 'Graecinus, qui alioqui
Cornelium Celsum transcripsit.'

There are eight books _De Re Medica_. The only indication of their
date is in iv. 7, where Celsus mentions a prescription as not found
'in monumentis medicorum.' As this prescription is given by Scribonius
Largus, who wrote about A.D. 47, Celsus must have written before that
year.

The section on war was used by Vegetius (_De Re Mil._ i. 8).

Rhetoric was also treated in the encyclopaedia. Quintilian, who
mentions him as one of the more careful writers on that subject (iii.
1, 21, 'accuratius scripsit Celsus'), frequently combats his opinions
and speaks of him rather contemptuously: _e.g._ ix. 1, 18, 'Cornelius
Celsus nimia profecto novitatis cupidine ductus. Nam quis ignorasse
eruditum alioqui virum credat,' etc. He may be the Celsus of Juv. 6,
245, who (according to the