Ammianus Marcellinus’s Use of Exempla

The Latin word exemplum is related to the verb eximere (“to take from” or “to take out of”) and in its literal sense indicates a sample that accurately represents the whole. The force of “accurate representation” is extended to the ethical and educational use of an exemplum as an act or a saying (or a combination of both) that stands as an exemplar of an action or an attitude (usually reflecting a vice or a virtue) to be imitated or avoided. The Romans habitually taught by example and argued through example; and the strong ethical colouring, as well as the anecdotal structure, which this process imparts, comes through in many of their writings.