International audience Valerius Maximus' illuminated manuscripts in French, produced at the end of the Middle Ages for government clients, present in a didactic perspective the gradual transition of the Roman Republic to an imperial regime. The execution of the rebellious Capuan senators, by Proconsul Flaccus, against the advice of the Senate, illustrates the progressive affirmation of the magistrate's power. This emblematic episode, a clash of values between severity and humanity, maintains for contemporary readers imagined memory solidarities between the past and the present. Its brutality gives rise to various visual interpretations. Charles V's copy alone shows the consequences of the excesses of repression. In the southern Netherlands a century later, this criticism is countered by a justification of rigour, which insured the final victory of the prince - proconsul - over the rebels and the reformist assemblies, a discourse of crisis.