The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism [1911] - Get a Free Blog

282 THE ORIENTAL RELIGION.
5. It is well known that the poems of Prudentius (348-410),
especially the Peristephanon, contain numerous attacks on pa
ganism and the pagans.
6. Cf. La polemique de I Ambrosiaster centre les paiens (Rev.
hist, et lift, relig., VIII, 1903, pp. 418 ff.). On the personal
ity of the author (probably the converted Jew Isaac), cf.
Souter, A Study of Ambrosiaster, Cambridge, 1905 (Texts
and Studies, VII) and his edition of the Quaestioncs (Vienna,
1908), intr. p. xxiv.
7. The identity of Firmicus Maternus, the author of De
errore profanarum religionum, and that of the writer of the
eight books Matheseos appears to have been definitely estab
lished.
8. Maximus was Bishop of Turin about 458-465 A. D. We
possess as yet only a very defective edition of the treatises
Contra Paganos and Contra Judaeos (Migne, Patr. lat., LVII,
col. 781 ff.).
9. Particularly the Carmen adversus paganos written after
Eugene s attempt at restoration in 394 A. D. (Riese, Anthol.
lat., I, 20) and the Carmen ad senatorem ad idolorum
servitutem conversum, attributed to St. Cyprian (Ilartel. ed.,
Ill, p. 302), which is probably contemporaneous with the
former.
10. On this point see the judicious reflections of Paul Allard,
Julien I Apostat, I, 1900, p. 35.
11. Hera was the goddess of the air after the time of the
Stoics ("Hpa zr: drip) .
12. Cf. supra, pp. 51, 75, 99, 120, 148. Besides the Oriental
gods the only ones to retain their authority were those of the
Grecian mysteries, Bacchus and Hecate, and even these were
transformed by their neighbors.
13. The wife of Praetextatus, after praising his career and
talents in his epitaph, adds : "Sed ista parva : tu pitis mystes
sacris | teletis reperta mentis arcano premis, | divumque numen
multiplex doctus colis" (CIL, 1779= Dessau. Inscr. sel,
1259).
14. Pseudo-August. [Ambrosiaster], Quaest.
Vet. et Nov.
Test., (p. 139, 9-11, Souter ed) : "Paganos elementis esse sub-