Editing Julius Firmicus Maternus

{{short description|4th century Latin writer and astrologer}}
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'''Julius Firmicus Maternus''' was a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Latin]] writer and [[astrologer]], who received a pagan classical education that made him conversant with [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]; he lived in the reign of [[Constantine I]] (306 to 337 AD) and his successors. His triple career made him a public advocate, an astrologer and finally a [[Christian apologist]].<ref>Johannes Quasten, Walter J. Burghardt, and Thomas Comerford Lawlor, eds. ''Firmicus Maternus: The Error of the Pagan Religions, Issue 37'' (1970): "Life of Firmicus" p3.</ref>
The ''[[Incipit|explicit]]'', or end-tag, of the sole surviving [[manuscript]] of his ''De errore profanarum religionum'' ("On the error of profane religions") gives his name as ''Iulius Firmicus Maternus V C'', identifying him as a ''[[vir clarissimus]]'' and a member of the [[Roman Senate|senatorial class]]. He was also author of the most extensive surviving text of [[History of astrology|Roman astrology]], ''Matheseos libri octo'' ("Eight books of astrology") written around 334–337.<ref>Internal evidence summarized by Quasten ''et al.'' 1970: "Life of Firmicus" p. 4.</ref> Manuscripts of this work identify him as "the younger" (''iunior'') or "the Sicilian" (''Siculus'').<ref>Firmicus states explicitly that he was of [[Sicily|Sicilian]] birth (''oriundo'') in ''Matheseos'' I, proemium, 4.</ref> The [[lunar crater]] [[Firmicus (crater)|Firmicus]] was named in his honour.

The ''Matheseos'' was dedicated to the governor of Campania, [[Lollianus Mavortius]], whose knowledge of the subject inspired Firmicus, and whose encouragement supported him during the composition of this handbook. It is among the last extensive handbooks<ref>The text by [[Paulus Alexandrinus]] of 378 is an introduction to the subject.</ref> of a "scientific" astrology that circulated in the West before the appearance of Arabic texts in the 12th century.<ref>Quasten et al. 1970:6.</ref> [[Augustine of Hippo]], drawn to astrology in his youth in the mid-fourth century,<ref>''Confessions'': "“These impostors, whom they designate astrologers, I consulted without hesitation, because they used no sacrifices and invoked the aid of no spirit for their divination.”.</ref> fulminated against the study's impieties, in part based on the astrologers' view that the planets were divinities, but also on rational grounds, taking, for instance, the divergent careers of twins.<ref>''Confessions'': "Why, in the life of twins—in their actions, the events that befall them, their professions, arts, honors and other things pertaining to human life, as well as in their very deaths—is there often so great a difference that, as far as these things are concerned, many entire strangers are more like them than they are like each other, though separated at birth by the smallest interval of time but at conception generated by the same act and at the same moment?”</ref>  The [[Neoplatonist]] astrological work was first printed by [[Aldus Manutius]] in 1499, and has often been reprinted.

About the year 346<ref>There is a clear reference to [[Constans]]' expedition in Britain in 343.</ref> he composed ''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]].<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06080a.htm Patrick J. Healy, "Firmicus Maternus", ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1909)], </ref> In the first part (chs.&nbsp;1‑17) he attacks the false objects of worship among the Oriental cults; in the second (chs.&nbsp;18‑29) he discusses a number of formulae and rites connected with the [[Mystery religions|mysteries]], with particular attention and animus toward alleged homosexual practices,<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'', Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003, p. 132; the passage is in ''De errore'' 12.2.</ref> recovering in a certain way the contempt that the senators had at the time of the Republic to the Hellenization of the Roman religion and culture.

For 19th-century readers, ''De errore profanarum religionum'' provided such a sharp contrast with Firmicus' book on astrology (commonly referred to as the ''Matheseos'') that the two works were generally attributed to different writers. However, Clifford Herschel Moore soundly identified the single authorship of the two works, by idiosyncratic choices of vocabulary and syntax, in a dissertation overseen by [[Eduard Wölfflin]] (1897).<ref>Johannes Quasten, Walter J. Burghardt, and Thomas Comerford Lawlor, eds. ''Firmicus Maternus: The Error of the Pagan Religions, Issue 37'' (1970): "Life of Firmicus".</ref> [[Theodor Mommsen]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mommsen |first1=Theodor  |year=1929 |title=Firmicus Maternus |journal=Hermes |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=468–472 |jstor=4472455 |issn=0018-0777 }}</ref> has shown that the ''Matheseos'' was composed in the year 336 and not in 354 as was formerly held, thus making it an earlier work than ''De errore profanarum religionum''; modern readers who find astrology incompatible with [[Early Christianity]]<ref>Such as the editors of the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'': "This theory of course supposes that the author wrote one work before, the other after, his conversion.".</ref> argue that it would have been written prior to Firmicus' conversion to Christianity.

The Christian work is preserved in a single manuscript from the [[Bibliotheca Palatina]]. It was first printed at Strasbourg in 1562, and has been reprinted several times, both separately and combined with the polemical writings of [[Marcus Minucius Felix|Minucius Felix]], [[Cyprian]] or [[Arnobius the Younger|Arnobius]].<ref>Editions by [[Conrad Bursian]] (1856), and by [[Karl Felix Halm]], in his ''Minucius Felix'' (''[[Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum|Corpus Scrip. Eccles. Lat.]]'' ii, 1867)</ref>

==Bibliography==

===Editions===
*''Matheseos libri VIII'', 2 vols, edited by W. Kroll and F. Skutsch, Stuttgart, Teubner, 1968.

===Translations===
*''De errore profanarum religionum'', translated by {{ill|Clarence A. Forbes|de|Clarence A. Forbes}} as ''The Error of the Pagan Religions'', Newman Press, 1970 ([[Ancient Christian Writers]], 37). {{ISBN|9780809100392}}
*[https://www.academia.edu/36454531/Book_334_Firmicus_Maternus_Ancient_astrology_theory_and_practice.pdf ''Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice. Matheseos Libri VIII by Firmicus Maternus''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727031310/https://www.academia.edu/36454531/Book_334_Firmicus_Maternus_Ancient_astrology_theory_and_practice.pdf |date=2021-07-27 }}, translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Park Ridge, Noyes Press, 1975.
*''Mathesis'', edited and translated by James Herschel Holden, Tempe, Az., A.F.A., Inc., 2011.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* [[Adolf Ebert]], ''Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Literatur'', ed. 1889; p.&nbsp;129&nbsp;ff.
* [[Otto Bardenhewer]], ''Patrologie'', ed. 1901, p.&nbsp;354.
* Béatrice Caseau, "Firmicus Maternus: Un astrologue converti au christianisme ou la rhétorique du rejet sans appel," in ''La religion que j'ai quittée'', éd. D. Tollet, Paris, Presses de la Sorbonne, 2007, 39–63.

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Firmicus, Maternus Julius}}
* [http://www.skyscript.co.uk/firmicus.html David McCann's ''Profile of a Roman Astrologer'']

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Julius Firmicus Maternus}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:4th-century deaths]]
[[Category:People from Syracuse, Sicily]]
[[Category:Christian apologists]]
[[Category:Christian writers]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman astrologers]]
[[Category:4th-century Christians]]
[[Category:4th-century Romans]]
[[Category:4th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:Julii|Maternus, Julius Firmicus]]