Marius Victorinus

Victorinus came to Rome from Africa as a married professor of rhetorics ca. 340. He was so famous that in 354 his statue was erected on the Forum of Trajan. He converted to Christianity and was baptised in 355. In protest against Emperor Julian’s edict of 362, excluding Christians from public teaching, he gave up his chair. He probably died soon after 363. In 386, his friend Simplicianus told the story of his conversion to Augustine in Milan (Conf. 7, 2, 3–4). (Charles Kannengiesser, Handbook of Patristic Exegesis, vol. II, The Bible in Ancient Christianity 1 (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2004) 1014. See also J. Quasten, Patrology, vol. 4 (Notre Dame IN: Christian Classics, 1983) 69–80.)

Works

  • Collected Works
    • Victorinus, Marius: Traites theologiques sur la Trinite, 2 vols, SC 68-69 (ed. P. Henry, trans. P. Hadot; 1960).
    • CSEL 83.1 (eds. P. Henry and P. Hadot; 1971). [Opera Theologica: Ad Candidum Arrianum, Adversus Arium, De homoousio recipiendo, Hymni]
    • Marii Victorini Afri opera theologica, Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana (ed. A. Locher; Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1976).
    • CSEL 83.2 (ed. F. Gori; 1986). [Opera exegetica: In epistulam Pauli ad Ephesios, In epistulam Pauli ad Galatas, In epistulam Pauli ad Philippenses]
  • [Clavis 94] De definitionibus
    • Edition: C. Marius Victorinus, Liber de definitionibus: eine spätantike Theorie der Definition und des Definierens: mit Einleitung, Übersetzung und Kommentar, Studien zur klassischen Philologie 103 (ed. A. Pronay; Frankfurt am Main; New York: P. Lang, 1997).
    • Translation: Pronay, above.
  • [Clavis 94a] Commenta in Topica Ciceronis
    • Edition: CSEL 83.1 (eds. P. Henry, P. and P. Hadot; 1971) 313-321.
  • [Clavis 94b] De syllogismis hypotheticis
    • Edition: CSEL 83.1 (eds. P. Henry, P. and P. Hadot; 1971) 323-327.
  • [Clavis 95] «Aduersus Arium»
    • Edition: SC 68 (ed. P. Henry, trans. P. Hadot; 1960). — CSEL, 83.1 (eds. P. Henry, P. and P. Hadot; 1971).
    • Translation: Hadot, above.
  • [Clavis 96] De generatione diuini Verbi (ad Candidum Arrianum)
    • Edition: SC 68 (ed. P. Henry, trans. P. Hadot; 1960) 130-172. — CSEL 83.1 (eds. P. Henry, P. and P. Hadot; 1971).
    • Translation: Hadot, above. — Marius Victorinus: Theological treatises on the Trinity, The Fathers of the Church 69 (trans. M.T. Clark; 1981).
  • [Clavis 97] De homoousio recipiendo
    • Edition: SC 68 (ed. P. Henry, trans. P. Hadot; 1960) 606-616. — CSEL 83.1 (eds. P. Henry, P. and P. Hadot; 1971).
    • Translation: Hadot, above. — Marius Victorinus: Theological treatises on the Trinity, The Fathers of the Church 69 (trans. M.T. Clark; 1981).
  • [Clavis 98] Commentarii in epistulas Pauli ad Galatas, ad Philippenses, ad Ephesios
    • Edition: Marii Victorini Afri Commentarii in epistulas Pauli ad Galatus ad Philippenses ad Ephesios, Bibliotheca scriptorum graecorum et romanorum Teubneriana (ed. A. Locher; Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1972). — Mario Vittorino: Commentari alle epistole di Paolo agli Efesini, ai Galati, ai Filippesi, Corona Patrum 8 (ed. F. Gori; Torino: Società editrice internazionale, 1981).
    • Translation: Gori, above. — Marius Victorinus’ Commentary on Galatians: Introduction, translation, and notes (trans. S.A. Cooper; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
  • [Clavis 99] Hymni iii de Trinitate
    • Edition: SC 68 (ed. P. Henry, trans. P. Hadot; 1960) 620-652. — CSEL 83.1 (eds. P. Henry, P. and P. Hadot; 1971). — Marii Victorini Afri opera theologica, Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana (ed. A. Locher; Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1976).
    • Translation: Marius Victorinus: Theological treatises on the Trinity, The Fathers of the Church 69 (trans. M.T. Clark; 1981).
  • [Clavis 100] De physicis Spuria.
    • Edition: PL 8,1295-1310.
  • [Clavis 1543] Ars grammatica
    • Edition: Marii Victorini Ars grammatica, Serie dei classici greci e latini. Testi con commento filologico 6 (ed. I. Mariotti; Firenze: F. Le Monnier, 1967).
  • [Clavis 1544] Explanationes in Ciceronis rhetoricam
    • Edition: CCL 132 (ed. A. Ippolito; 2007). [8 microfiches in pocket].
  • [Clavis 1544a] De soloecismo et barbarismo fragmentum Spuria.
  • Cf. 680 Candidi De generatione diuina
    • Edition: SC 68 (ed. P. Henry, trans. P. Hadot; 1960) 106-124.
    • Translation: Hadot, above. — Marius Victorinus: Theological treatises on the Trinity, The Fathers of the Church 69 (trans. M.T. Clark; 1981).
  • Cf. 681 Candidi Epistula ad Marium Victorinum
    • Edition: SC 68 (ed. P. Henry, trans. P. Hadot; 1960) 176-182.
    • Translation: Hadot, above. — Marius Victorinus: Theological treatises on the Trinity, The Fathers of the Church 69 (trans. M.T. Clark; 1981).

Secondary references

  • R.A. Markus, ‘Marius Victorinus’, in: ed. A.H. Armstrong, The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970) 331-340.
  • P. Hadot, Marius Victorinus: recherches sur sa vie et ses œuvres (Paris: Études augustiniennes, 1971).
  • J. Igal, ‘The Neoplatonism of Marius Victorinus the Christian’, in: eds. H.J. Blumenthal and R.A. Markus, Neoplatonism and Early Christian Thought: Essays in honour of A. H. Armstrong (London: Variorum Publications, 1981).
  • M.T. Clark, ‘A Neoplatonic commentary on the Christian Trinity’, in: ed. D. J. O’Meara, Neoplatonism and Christian thought, Studies in Neoplatonism 3 (Norfolk: International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, 1982).
  • D.N. Bell, ‘Esse, vivere, intellegere. The noetic triad and the image of God’, Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale 52 (1985) 5-43.
  • M.T. Clark, ‘Victorinus and Augustine: Some Differences’, Augustinian Studies 17 (1986) 147-159.
  • M. de Nonno, ‘Tradizione e diffusione di Mario Vittorino Grammatico con edizione degli Excerpta de orthographia’, Rivista di filologia e d’istruzione classica 116 (1988) 5-59.
  • P.F. Beatrice, ‘Quosdam Platonicorum libros. The platonic readings of Augustinus in Milan’, Vigiliae Christianae 43 (1989) 248-281.
  • M. Marin, ‘Sulla successione delle epistole paoline in Mario Vittorino’, Vetera Christianorum 26.2 (1989) 377-385.
  • P. Manchester, ‘The Noetic triad in Plotinus, Marius Victorinus, and Augustine’, in: ed. R. T. Wallis, Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, Studies in Neoplatonism 6 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992) 207-222.
  • K. Bergner, Der Sapientia-Begriff im Kommentar des Marius Victorinus zu Ciceros Jugendwerk “De inventione”, Studien zur klassischen Philologie 87 (Frankfurt am Main; New York: P. Lang, 1994).
  • S.A. Cooper, Metaphysics and Morals in Marius Victorinus’ Commentary on the Letter to the Ephesians: A Contribution to the History of Neoplatonism and Christianity, American university studies. Series V: Philosophy 155 (New York: P. Lang, 1995).
  • Michael von Albrecht, A History of Roman Literature 2 (New York: Brill, 1996) 1616-1627.
  • M. M. Castro (ed), Marius Victorinus, Scriptores Latini de re metrica 16 (Granada: Departamento de Filología Latina, Universidad de Granada, 1998). [Concordance]
  • M. Baltes, Marius Victorinus: zur Philosophie in seinen theologischen Schriften, Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 174 (München; Leipzig: K.G. Saur, 2002).

Online resources