Julius Firmicus Maternus
Julius Firmicus Maternus, a Christian[1] Latin writer and notable astrologer, who lived in the reign of Constantine I and his successors.
Life and works
He was also a Sicilian lawyer from upper nobility; his manuscripts include titles indicating the Senatorial order. Author of Matheseos Libri Octo ("Eight Books of Astrology", c. 330) and De errore profanarum religionum ("On the error of profane religions"). The lunar crater Firmicus was named in his honor.
About the year 346 he composed a work entitled De errore profanarum religionum, which he dedicated to Constantius II and Constans, the sons of Constantine, and which is still extant. He holds up to scorn the religious beliefs and practices of pagans and implores the Emperor to stamp out the old religions as a sacred duty which will be rewarded by God.[2] In the first part (chs. 1‑17) he attacks the false objects of worship among the Oriental cults; in the second (chs. 18‑29) he discusses a number of formulae and rites connected with the mysteries. The whole tone of the work is fanatical and declamatory rather than argumentative, and is thus in such sharp contrast with the eight books on astronomy/astrology (Libri VIII Matheseos) bearing the same author's name, that the two works have usually been attributed to different writers. Theodor Mommsen (Hermes vol. 29, pp. 468‑472) has, however, shown that the astronomy — a work interfused with an urbane Neoplatonic spirit — was composed about 336 and not in 354 as was formerly held. When we add to this the similarity of style, and the fact that each betrays a connection with Sicily, there is the strongest reason for claiming the same author for the two books, though it shows that in the 4th century acceptance of Christianity did not always mean an advance in ethical standpoint.
The Christian work, "On The Error of Profane Religions", is preserved in a Palatine manuscript in the Vatican library. It was first printed at Strassburg in 1562, and has been reprinted several times, both separately and along with the writings of Minucius Felix, Cyprian or Arnobius. The most correct editions are those by Conr. Bursian (Leipzig, 1856), and by C Halm, in his Minucius Felix (Corp. Scr. Eccl, Lat. ii.), (Vienna, 1867). The Neoplatonist work was first printed by Aldus Manutius in 1501, and has often been reprinted.
Bibliography
- De errore profanarum religionum, translated by Clarence A. Forbes as The Error of the Pagan Religions, Newman Press, 1970.
- Matheseos libri VII, 2 vols, edited by W. Kroll and F. Skutsch, Stuttgart, Teubner, 1968. Translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Park Ridge, NJ, Noyes Press, 1975.
Notes and References
Reference Works
- G. Ebert, Gesch. der chr. let. Litt., ed. 1889; p. 129 ff.
- Otto Bardenhewer, Patrologie, ed. 1901, p. 354.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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