The epitoma of Ianuarius Nepotianus is a short compendium of the collection of exempla composed by Valerius Maximus in the age of Tiberius, entitled Facta et dicta memorabilia (summarized in its entirety by Julius Paris, securely dated to late antiquity).

The epitome, of uncertain date, is presented in twenty-one chapters, consisting of excerpta drawn from the first three books of Valerius (the synthesis ends at 3.2.7).  The chief arguments advanced concern the Roman civil-religious sphere, sometimes accompanied by examples drawn from the Greek world and from other people: religious beliefs, festivals, the contemptus observantiae, haruspicy, prodigies, dreams, ancient customs, traditional mores, and lastly paradigmatic examples of fortitudo, with the introduction of the figure of Sertorius alongside the Valerian examples (Horatius Cocles and Cloelia).

The work has been transmitted to us by a single parchment manuscript, Vaticanus Nepotiani 1321, of the 14^th c. (Schullian), which is extremely corrupt and hard to read. 

The author demonstrates a certain independence in respect to the original: to the original’s rhetorical structure of παράδειγμα he applies modifications of different sorts, responding to his own personal taste and adhering to the principle of brevitas (igitur de Valerio Maximo mecum sentis opera eius utilia esse, si sint brevia), as is set forth in the prefatory epistle dedicated to a certain Victor.  This same praefatio is the work’s programmatic manifesto: its purpose is clearly didactic, aimed at the rhetorical formation of a youth about whom we know nothing; the work of Valerius is considered material rich in learning, a valuable collection of exempla from which one can draw for oratory, once abridged and stripped of digressions quod legentium aviditati mora ipsa fastidio est; the final warning - cave hic aliud quam brevitatem requiras, quam solam poposcisti - forcefully restates the compendium’s nature as an instrument for consultation in a manner that prevents the reader from expecting anything more than its author has declared.

Omissions, additions - e.g. the anecdotes on Scipio’s arrival on African soil (6 nov. 1) and the miraculous effects of Pyrrhus’ right thumb (8 nov. 2)) - anticipations, and postponements (recidam, ut uis, eius redundantia et pleraque transgrediar, nonnulla praetermissa conectam) that are independent of Valerius Maximus and Julius Paris reveal Nepotian’s freedom in criteria and linguistic selections; furthermore, one must grant to this epitome the value of filling certain lacunae in the first book of Valerius.

The medieval fortune of Nepotian is considerable; evidence for this resides in Ennodius’ citation, Landolfo’s knowledge (most likely) of the entire epitome, and the conspicuous presence of extracts from the epitoma in the first six books of Paulus Diaconus’ Historia miscella (Droysen, Ihm).  It was only in 1831 that Angelo Mai published the work’s editio princeps.  [N. Rosso; tr. C. L. Caterine].