MATERNUS, ma-ter'nus, JULIUS FIRMICUS: Latin apologist of the fourth century. To him is ascribed the authorship of the De errors profanarum religionum, a work written between 343 and 348, possibly in 346. Nothing is known concerning Maternus, but in the fourth century a pagan astrological work entitled LArii octo matheseoa was composed by a certain Julius Firmicus Maternus Junior Siculus, and the identity of name and time, a similarity of style, the Sicilian home of the pagan author and the familiarity with Sicily evinced by the Christian writer give foundation to the supposition that the two are the same. On the other hand, the pagan Maternus is a cosmopolitan and moralistic neo-Platonist, while the Christian author is a fanatic. But since the Ltbri mathesem was composed between Dec. 30, 335, and May 22, 337, it becomes probable that the two books were by the same author and that the neo-Platonist became a Christian.

As the descendant of a senatorial family, Maternus received the customary training in literature and philosophy, while as a Christian he studied the works of Christian authors. Although he cites only Homer and Porphyry, he shows an acquaintance with Plutarch, Cicero, Athenagoras, Minucius Felix, Tertullian, and the writings of Cyprian. The De errors profanarum religionum, of which only a single manuscript, that in the Vatican, is known, is incomplete, four folios of the codex being lost. The general plan of the work, however, is clear. It falls into two parts. The first part (chaps. i.-xvii.) treats of the false objects of religious worship, and contains a polemic against the deities of the Greco-Roman state religion and against Oriental cults. The second part (chaps. xviii.-xxix.) seeks to show that the pagan mysteries were a caricature of the words of the Bible and the mystery of salvation. The work closes with an urgent appeal to the emperors to destroy all idols and

temples.

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: The latest ed, of the De enrore is by C. Helm in C$EL vol. ii., 1887. It was previously edited by MGnter at Copenhagen, 1828, with commentary, reproduced in MPL, xii. Consult: Moors, Julius Pirmicus Maternua, der Heide und der Christ, Munich, 1897; w. 8. Teuffel, Geschichte der rbmsachen Litteratur, ed. L. Schwabe, ii. 1028 sqq., Leipsic, 1888; A. Ebert, Geschichte der christlich-Iateinischen Litteratur, pp. 129 sqq., ih. 1889; O. Bardenhewer, Patrologie, p. 8b4, Freiburg, 1901; DCB, iii. 862-883.