Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/166

Rh 1.52 FIRMICUS. posius ever existed, and that the real author of these trifles is no less a personage than the Latin father Caelius Firmianus Lactantius, the pupil of Amobius, who taught at Sicca ; the author, as we learn from Jerome, of a Symposium. This hy- pothesis, although supported by much learning, is 80 wild as scarcely to deserve confutation. It will be sufficient to remark that all MSS. agree in re- presenting Symposius (or something like it) as a proper name, — that there are no grounds for sup- posing the Sympoidum of Lactantius to have been of a light or trivial character, but that we are rather led to conclude that it was a grave dialogue or dis- quisition, resembling in plan the Symposia of Xe- nophon, of Plato, and of Plutarch, or the Satur- nalia of Macrobius. The Aeniyiyiata were first printed at Paris, 8vo. 1 533, along with the Sayings of the Seyen Wise Men of Greece : the most elaborate edition is that of Heximann, Hannov., 8vo. 1722, which was fol- lowed by that of Heynatz, Francof. ad Viad., 8vo. 1775 ; the most useful is that contained in the Poet. Lot. Min. of Wernsdorf, vol. vi. part ii. p. 474, with very complete prolegomena (p. 410). The Odes are given in the same collection, vol. iii. pp. 386, 389. See also vol. v. part iii. p. 1464, and vol. iv. part ii. p. 853. [W. E..] FIR'MICUS MATERNUS, JU'LIUS, or perhaps Vl'LLIUS. We possess a treatise, which bears the title Julii Firmici Materni Junioris Si- culi V. C. MatJteseos Libri VIII., the writer of Avhich, as we gather from his own statement (lib. iv. praef.), during a portion of his life, practised as a forensic pleader, but abandoned the profession in disgust. The production named above is a formal introduction to judicial astrology, according to the discipline of the Egyptians and Babylonians, as expounded by the most renowned masters, among whom we find enumerated Petosiris, Necepso, Abraham, and Orpheus. The first book is chiefly occupied with a defence of the study; the second, third, and fourth contain the definitions and max- ims of the science, while in the remainder the powers and natal influences (apotelesmata) of the heavenly bodies in their various aspects and combi- nations are fully developed, the horoscopes of Oe- dipus, Paris, Homer, Plato, Archimedes, and various other remarkable individuals, being ex- amined, as examples of the propositions enunciated. It would appear that the task was commenced towards the close of the reign of Constantine the Great, for a solar eclipse, which happened in the consulship of Optatus and Paullinus, A. D. 334, is spoken of (lib. i. 1.) as a recent event. It seems prol)able, however, that the whole was not pub- lished at once ; for while each book is formally addressed to Manutius LoUianus, the title of pro- consul is added to his name in the dedication to the last four only. If this LoUianus be the Fl. LoUianus who appears in the Fasti along with Fl. Arbitio, in the year 355, the conclusion of the work might be referred to an epoch somewhat later than this date. Although we can trace in several passages a correspondence with the Astronomica of Manilius, we are led to suppose that Firmicus was ignorant of the existence of that poem ; for his expressions on two occasions (lib. ii. Praef. viii. 2) imply bis belief that scarcely any Roman writers had touched upon these themas except Cicero and Cae- sar, the translators of Aratus, and Fronto, who FIRMICUS. had followed the Antiscia of Hipparchus, but had erred in presupposing a degree of knowledge on the part of his readers that they were little likely to possess. In the Libri Matlieseos we find references to other pieces previously composed by the author upon similar topics, especially to a dissertation l)e Domino Geniiurae et Chronocrato7ie, and De Fine Vitae ; the former addressed to a friend, Murinus (iv. 14, vii. 6.), while he promises to publisli " twelve books " as a supplement to his present undertaking (v. 1), together with an explanation of the Myriogenesis (viii. Praef.), and a translation of Necepso upon health and disease (viii. 3). Of these not one has been preserved. Firmicus Maternus was first printed at Venice, fol. 1497, by Bivilacqua, from a MS. brought to Italy by Pescennius Franciscus Niger from Con- stantinople ; again by Aldus, fol. 1499, in a vo- lume containing also Manilius, the Phaenomena of Aratus, in Greek, with the translations by Cicero, Caesar Germanicus, and Avienus, the Greek com- mentaries of Theon on the same work, the Sphere of Proclus, in Greek, and the Latin version by Linacer ; a collection reprinted four years after- wards under the inspection of Mazalis (fol. Rheg. Ling. 1503). The last edition noticed by biblio- graphers is that corrected by Pruckner, fol. Basil. 1551, and published along with the Quadriparti- tum, the Centiloquium, and the Inerrantiuvi Stel- larum Significationes^ translated from the GJreek of CI. Ptolomaeus ; the Astronomica of Manilius ; and sundry tracts by Arabian and Oriental astrologers. (Sidon. Apollin. Carm. xxii. Praef.) In the year 1562 Matthias Flaccius published at Strasburg, from a Minden MS., now lost, a tract bearing the title Julius Firmicus Maternus V.C. de Errore Profanarum Religionum ad Constatitium et Constantem Augustas. No ancient authority makes any mention of this piece, nor does it con- tain any allusions from which we might draw an inference with regard to the personal history of the composer. The supposition, at one time generally admitted, that he was the same person with the astrologer spoken of above, rests upon no proof whatever except the identity of name, while it is rendered highly improbable by several considera- tions, and is much shaken by a chronological argu- ment. For, as we have already seen, the Matlie- seos Libri were certainly not commenced until after A. D. 334, and in all likelihood not finished for a considerable period ; it being evident, moreover, from the spirit which they breathe, that the writer was not a Christian ; while, on the other hand, the attack upon the heathen gods must have been drawn up before A. d. 350, since in that year Con- stans, one of the emperors, to whom it is inscribed, was slain. The object of the essay is not so much to enlarge upon the evidences of the true faith as to demon- strate the falsehood of the different forms of pagan belief, to trace the steps by which men fell away from the service of the true God, first by personify- ing the powers of nature, and then by proceeding to raise mere men to the rank of divinities. In this portion of the argument the theory of Euhe- merus [Euhemerus], which ever since the days of Ennius had exercised great influence over the Roman mind, is followed out, and the discussion concludes with an exhortation to the heathen to abandon such a system of worship, and with an appeal to the emperors, urging them to take