Information on the life of Aurelius Victor is unfortunately scanty. The little we know is derived mainly from the what he says in his work, the Histories abbreuiatae or Liber de Caesaribus, and from the pages of Ammianus Marcellinus. In the Life of Constantine (40, 14), Victor hints that he personally witnessed the final stages end of Constantine’s reign; if so, he must have been before 337 AD, perhaps not too far from 330 AD. In addition, in the Life of Septimius Severus (20, 6), he states that he was of African origin, like Septimius Severus (his favourite emperor, not by chance). His African origin is stated again in the Titulus of the Origo gentis Romanae, where he is called Victor Afer. In another passage in the Life of Septimius Severus (20, 5), Victor also mentions his rural, not particularly wealthy, origins (rure ortus tenui atque indocto patre), However, he apparently overcome the limitation of his modest origins thanks to his refined education, which enabled him to enter the legal profession and, later on, the imperial administrative career. Ammianus Marcellinus (21, 10, 6) informs us that Aurelius Victor met the emperor Julian in 361 at Sirmium. The emperor gave him the title of consularis, which meant that he was associated to the senatorial order; moreover, he gave him the governorship of Pannonia Secunda, a position he kept probably until the death of the emperor himself, in 363. Then, for about a quarter-century, the historian seems lost. It is possible that he fell out of favour under the Valentinians. However, in 389, during the reign of Theodosius, as Ammianus tells us (21, 10, 6), Aurelius Victor was summoned to hold the position of praefectus Urbi, a very powerful position, certainly an exceptional one for a provincial man of modest origins like him. The scanty information on Victor makes it however certain that he was a contemporary not only of the emperor Julian, but especially of Ammianus Marcellinus, who did not hesitate to call him uir sobrietatis gratia aemulandus (21, 10, 6). Ammianus’ flattering judgement was probably due to a shared appreciation for refined literary culture, for the faith in paganism and ancient Roman traditions, as well as to a shared passion for historical reconstruction. [G. Vanotti; tr. L. Battezzato]