Gaius Marius Victorinus (also known as Victorinus Afer; ) was a Roman grammarian, rhetorician and

Neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

philosopher. Victorinus was African by birth and experienced the height of his career during the reign of

Constantius II Constantius II (; ; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civ ...

. He is also known for translating two of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's books from

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

into Latin: the '' Categories'' and ''

On Interpretation ''On Interpretation'' (Ancient Greek, Greek: , ) is the second text from Aristotle's ''Organon'' and is among the earliest surviving philosophical works in the Western philosophy, Western tradition to deal with the relationship between language an ...

'' (''De Interpretatione''). Victorinus had a

religious conversion Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...

, from being a

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

to a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, "at an advanced old age" (c. 355), which has been described in Augustine's ''Confessions''.

Life

Birthplace and early career

Victorinus, at some unknown point, left his home of

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

to live permanently in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(hence some modern scholars have dubbed him ''Afer''), probably for a teaching position, and had great success in his career, eventually being promoted to the lowest level of the senatorial order. That promotion probably came at the time when he received an honorific statue in the Forum of Trajan in 354. Victorinus'

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

(c. 355), "at an advanced old age" according to

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

, made a great impression on

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

, as recounted in Book 8 of the latter's '' Confessions''. Marius Victorinus developed a theology of predestination and justification that anticipated St. Augustine, as well as themes that we find again in the anti-Pelagian treatises of Augustine. His conversion is historically important in foreshadowing the gradual conversion to Christianity of the traditionally

intellectual class. Jerome, who was his student of rhetoric, dedicated the following words to him:

I am not unaware that Gaius Marius Victorinus, who taught me rhetoric in Rome when I was a young man, has published commentaries on the apostle; but, versed as he was in knowledge of secular literature, he was completely ignorant of the Scriptures; and no one, no matter how eloquent, can correctly discuss something he knows nothing about.

Victorinus' historical milieu

Brought up a

, Emperor Julian had converted to a philosophical and mystical form of paganism; and once in power upon the providential death of

, Julian attempted to reorganize the highly decentralized pagan cults, on lines analogous to the Christian Church. The emperor, wanting to purge the schools of Christian teachers, published an edict in June 362 mandating that all state appointed professors receive approval from municipal councils (the emperor's accompanying brief indicated his express disapproval of Christians lecturing on the poems of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

, because their religion was considered incongruous with the religion of Homer and Virgil). Victorinus resigned his position as official ''rhetor'' of the city of Rome, a professor of rhetoric, not an orator. He continued writing treatises on

Trinitarianism The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

to defend the adequacy of the

Nicene Creed The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...

's definition of Christ the Son being " of the same substance" (Gr. '' homoousios'') with the Father. His writings illustrate a crucial fusion of Neo-Platonic philosophy and Christian theology, in which Victorinus effectively weaponized the former to prove and disprove arguments of the various Trinitarian debates raging during the fourth century. Sister Mary Clark has noted that the fourth century was one of deep conflict between pagans and Christians, which she summarized as "the renaissance of pagan culture ndthe birth of Christian culture", at the crossroads of which stood Victorinus. His importance is also seen in his large-scale use of

lexical innovation In linguistics, specifically the sub-field of lexical semantics, the concept of lexical innovation includes the use of neologism or new meanings (so-called semantic augmentation) in order to introduce new terms into a language's lexicon. Most comm ...

(e.g. neologisms) to introduce new technical terms into Christian theological debates, especially in his translation of Greek theological and philosophical expressions (e.g. ''consubstantialis'' from ὁμοούσιος, ''consistentia'' from σύστασις, ''essentialitas'' from ὀντότης).

Works

After finishing this series of works (begun probably in late 357), he turned his hand to writing commentaries on the Pauline Epistles, the first in Latin. Although it seems from internal references that he wrote commentaries on Romans and the Corinthians letters as well, all that remains are works, with some lacunae, on Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians (the comments from the first 16 verses of this latter are missing). We are fairly well informed on his previous works, mostly texts for his teaching areas of grammar and rhetoric. His most important works from the standpoint of the history of philosophy were translations of Platonist authors (

Plotinus Plotinus (; , ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a Greek Platonist philosopher, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher was the self-taught philosopher Ammonius ...

and Porphyry at least), which are unfortunately lost. They greatly moved Augustine and set him on a road of creating a careful synthesis of Christianity and Neoplatonism that was very influential. Victorinus wrote a brief treatise ''De Definitionibus'' (''On Definitions''), which lists and discusses various types of definitions used by rhetoricians and philosophers; he recommends the ''substantial definitions'' preferred by the latter (prior to the late 19th century, this work was ascribed to

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

). Victorinus' manual of prosody, in four books, taken almost literally from the work of Aphthonius, still exists. His commentary on

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

's ''De Inventione'' is very diffuse. It incorporates many paraphrases to enable students to understand Cicero's text, along with philosophical explanations and digressions that reflect its Neoplatonist character. He retained his

philosophy after becoming Christian, and in ''Liber de generatione divini Verbi'', he argues that God is above Being, and thus it can be said that He is not. Victorinus noted, "Since God is the cause of Being, it can be said in a certain sense, that God truly is (''vere'' ''ων''), but this expression merely means that Being is in God as an effect is in an eminent cause, which contains it though being superior to it." As well, Victorinus' ''Adversus Arium'' books ("Against

Arius Arius (; ; 250 or 256 – 336) was a Cyrenaica, Cyrenaic presbyter and asceticism, ascetic. He has been regarded as the founder of Arianism, which holds that Jesus Christ was not Eternity, coeternal with God the Father, but was rather created b ...

") would prove influential in blending Neo-Platonism and Christianity in the Latin West. For medieval authors, Victorinus' works became important to students of the Scholastic movement. Later, they were widely exploited by Claudius of Turin at the beginning of the 9th century, by Haimo of Auxerre around 850 and by Atto of Vercelli around 920. Sister Mary T. Clark has identified the following works attributed to Victorinus:

Theological works

Candidi Arriani ad Marium Victorinum rhetorem de generatione divina
(in Latin)

(in Latin) * Marii Victorini rhetoris urbis Romae ad Candidum Arrianum

(in Latin) * ttp://ardownload.catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=Fathers-OR/PL.008.html;query=;subDocument=PL.008.html.xml.00000155;brand=default Adversus Arium(in Latin) ("Against Arius") ** I. Liber Primus *** IA. pars prior *** IB. pars posterior ** II. Liber Secundus ** III. Liber Tertius ** IV. Liber Quartus * De homoousio recipiendo * Hymnus Primus * Hymnus Secundus * Hymnus Tertius

Exegetical works

In epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios libri duo
(in Latin)

(in Latin) * ttp://ardownload.catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=Fathers-OR/PL.008.html;query=;subDocument=PL.008.html.xml.00000171;brand=default In epistolam Pauli ad Philippenses liber unicus(in Latin)

Secular works

* Ars grammatica * Explanationes in Ciceronis Rhetorica * In Ciceronis Topica commenta ''(lost)'' * De syllogismis hypotheticis ''(lost)''

Notes

References

*Bruce, F. F. (1946), ‘Marius Victorinus and his works’, ''The Evangelical Quarterly'' 18, 132–53. *Clark, M.T. (1978). ''Fathers of the Church: Theological Treatises on the Trinity''. Washington, DC. * *Copeland, Rita, and Ineke Sluiter (eds) (2015), 'Marius Victorinus, Commentary on the ''De inventione'', Before 355', in Rita Copeland, and Ineke Sluiter (eds), ''Medieval Grammar and Rhetoric: Language Arts and Literary Theory, AD 300 -1475'' (Oxford, 2012; online edn, Oxford Academic, 3 Mar. 2015). *Dowson, C.J. (2022). 'The Translation of Greek Philosophical Terminology in Marius Victorinus’ ''Opera Theologica'': A Quantitative and Qualitative Study,' ''Antichthon'' 56: 203–225. * *Usener, H. (1877). ''Anecdoton Holderi: ein beitrag zur Geschichte Roms in ostgotischer Zeit''. Leipzig: Teubner. *

External links

Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina
*
Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum: complete texts and full bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marius Victorinus, Gaius Ancient Roman rhetoricians 4th-century Romans 4th-century Christian theologians 4th-century philosophers 4th-century writers in Latin 4th-century translators Victorinus Marius Gaius Catholic philosophers Neoplatonists Converts to Christianity from ancient Roman religions Victorinus, Gaius Greek–Latin translators