Summary The paper aims at specifying Nepos’ principles of composition in the Liber de excellentibus ducibus exterarum gentium. After reviewing the hypotheses on the structure of the work it will be argued mainly on the basis of the editorial notes and cross-references written in the book that the generals are lined up according to their provenance and arranged in a kind of frame structure to express the translatio imperii. The author focuses attention on the Athenian commanders to demonstrate the organic nature of history: in the background of their vitae the biography of Athens itself is also depicted. With the help of these observations most of the uncertainties, including the striking chronological discrepancies, can be clarified.