Paterculus belonged to a distinguished
Campanian family, and entered the
army at an early age. He served as military tribune in
Thrace, Macedonia, Greece and the East, and in
AD 2 was present at the interview on the
Euphrates between
Gaius Caesar, grandson of
Augustus, and the
Parthian king
Phraataces. Afterwards, as praefect of
cavalry and
legatus, he served for eight years (from
AD 4) in
Germany and
Pannonia under
Tiberius. For his services he was rewarded with the
quaestorship in
AD 8, and, together with his brother, with the praetorship in
AD 15. He was still alive in
AD 30, for history contains many references to the
consulship of M. Vinicius in that year. It has been conjectured that he was put to death in
AD 31 as a friend of
Sejanus, whom he praises.
His
Compendium of Roman History consists of two books dedicated to M. Vinicius, and covers the period from the dispersion of the
Greeks after the
siege of Troy down to the death of
Livia (
AD 29). The first book brings the history down to the destruction of
Carthage, 146 BC; portions of it are missing, including the beginning. The later history, especially the period from the death of
Caesar, 44 BC, to the death of
Augustus, AD 14, is treated in much greater detail. Brief notices are given of Greek and
Roman literature, but no mention is made of
Plautus, Horace or
Propertius. The author does not display real historical insight, although generally trustworthy in his statements of individual facts. He may be regarded as a courtly annalist rather than an historian. His chronology is inconsistent. On Caesar, Augustus and above all on his patron Tiberius, he lavishes praise or flattery. The repetitions, redundancies, and slovenliness of expression may be partly due to the haste with which (as the author frequently states) it was written. The inflated
rhetoric, the straining after effect by means of
hyperbole, antithesis and
epigram, belong firmly to the
Silver Age, of which Paterculus is the earliest example. He purposed to write a fuller history of the later period, including the
civil war between Caesar and
Pompey and the wars of Tiberius; but there is no evidence that he did so. His chief authorities were
Cato's Origines, the
Annales of
Q Hortensius, Pompeius Trogus, Cornelius Nepos and
Livy.
Velleius Paterculus was little known in antiquity. He seems to have been read by
Lucan and imitated by
Sulpicius Severus, but he is mentioned only by the scholiast on Lucan, and once by Priscian.
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