thumb|Illustrated title page of the 1520 [[editio princeps, edited by Beatus Rhenanus]]
Marcus Velleius Paterculus (; ) was a Roman historian, soldier and senator. His Roman history, written in a highly rhetorical style, covered the period from the end of the Trojan War to AD 30, but is most useful for the period from the death of Caesar in 44 BC to the death of Augustus in AD 14.
Biography
Few details of Velleius' life are known with certainty; even his praenomen is uncertain. Priscian, the only ancient author to mention it, calls him "Marcus", but the title page of the editio princeps, printed in 1520, calls him "Publius", probably due to confusion with a Publius Velleius mentioned in Tacitus. Elsewhere, the same volume calls him Gaius. Some modern writers use the latter name, based on an inscription found on a milestone at El Harrouch in Algeria, once part of Roman Numidia; but the inscription identifies this Gaius Velleius Paterculus as legatus Augusti, an office that the historian is not known to have held, and it is thought to date from the reigns of Claudius or Nero, by which time he is thought to have been dead. The Gaius Velleius Paterculus referred to may be the same man who was consul in AD 60, and a Lucius Velleius Paterculus was consul in the following year; but it is not apparent how either of them were related to the historian.
Our remaining information comes from Velleius' own brief description of his life, included in his history. He was born into a noble Campanian family about 19 BC, although the place of his birth is unknown. He was a great-great-great-grandson of Minatus Magius of Aeculanum in Samnium, who received the Roman franchise for his actions during the Social War. Several of his ancestors in subsequent generations held important magistracies or military commands, including his uncle, Capito, who was a member of the Roman Senate.
As a young man, Velleius served as a military tribune in Rome's eastern provinces. In AD 2, he was with the army of Gaius Caesar, and personally witnessed the meeting between the young general and Phraates V of Parthia on the banks of the Euphrates. Two years later, Velleius was a cavalry prefect serving in the command of Tiberius in Germania, having already held the office of praefectus castrorum. He continued as a senior member of Tiberius' staff until the future emperor's return to Rome in AD 12. While serving under Tiberius, Velleius was also elected quaestor, an important step on the cursus honorum, filling that office in AD 7. ("Publius Velleius Paterculus' two volumes of Roman History to the consul Marcus Vinicius"), but this was probably assigned the work by a copyist, or by one of the grammarians. The second book, which continues the history from the age of the Gracchi to the consulship of Marcus Vinicius, in AD 30, is intact. According to Velleius, the peak of perfection in any literary field is arrived at quickly by the first arrivals. However, this was not an original insight, but a standard view of his time.
Style
Velleius' style is characterized by the showy rhetoric, hyperbole, and exaggerated figures of speech that were typical of Silver Age Latin. Modern appraisals of his approach and its results vary considerably. In the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith writes,
<blockquote>In the execution of his work, Velleius has shown great skill and judgment, and has adopted the only plan by which an historical abridgement can be rendered either interesting or instructive. He does not attempt to give a consecutive account of all the events of history; he omits entirely a vast number of facts, and seizes only upon a few of the more prominent occurrences, which he describes at sufficient length to leave them impressed upon the recollection of his hearers. He also exhibits great tact in the manner in which he passes from one subject to another; his reflections are striking and apposite; and his style, which is a close imitation of Sallust's, is characterized by clearness, conciseness, and energy, but at the same time exhibits some of the faults of writers of his age in a fondness for strange and out-of-the-way expressions. As a historian Velleius is entitled to no mean rank; in his narrative he displays impartiality and love of truth, and in his estimate of the characters of the leading actors in Roman history he generally exhibits both discrimination and judgment.