Reference edition:

L. Ampelius, Aide-mémoire (Liber memorialis), texte établi et traduit par M.-P. Arnaud-Lindet, Paris 1993 (Collection des Universités de France).

Lucius Ampelius wrote the Liber memorialis at an uncertain date, but probably between the third and fourth century AD. The work was preserved thanks to lucky circumstance: Claude de Saumaise obtained a private copy of the text of this work, taken from an ancient manuscript that later disappeared. As a result, the copy that belonged to de Saumaise – today München, CLM 10383 ° – and formed the basis of his editio princeps of the Liber memorialis (published in 1638), became the sole witness for the manuscript tradition of this work. The short treatise is written with an eminently didactic or educational purpose, and contains fifty short monographic chapters gathering elementary notions on astronomical (1-3), natural (4-5), geographical (6-8), mythological (9), historical (10-47) and political (48-50) subjects. The history section is the largest part of the work and includes the most important events in political history starting from the Assyrian empire until the time of the Emperor Trajan.A simple, very clear style, entirely appropriate to the educational purpose of the work, characterises the presentation of the subject matter.  [D. Paniagua; tr. L. Battezzato]