[134] The chief Latin writer on philosophy was Firmicus Maternus, whose eight books, _Matheseos_ (_Of Learning_), published about 354 A. D., are occupied with Neoplatonic astrology. He is to be distinguished from his Christian contemporary and namesake, who wrote of the _Error of the Pagan Religions_. Gaius Marius Victorinus, who also lived about the middle of the century, was an African by birth, but taught rhetoric at Rome. He was the author of philosophical works, chiefly translations and adaptations from the Greek, but is best known by his extant work on metres in four books, and by some other extant grammatical treatises. In his later life he became a Christian, and wrote commentaries on St. Paul’s epistles, besides some controversial tracts. [135] These grammatical works have little literary value of their own, and owe their importance to the fact that they contain information which is not elsewhere preserved. The same is true of several handbooks of various kinds compiled in the fourth century. Such are the _Itineraries_, giving the distances and routes between the towns along the Roman roads, the _Notitia_, describing the regions of the city of Rome, and a historical handbook of Rome for the year 354 A. D. preserved most fully in a manuscript in Vienna. A few maps of this period also exist, the most famous of which is the _Peutinger Tablet_ (_Tabula Peutingeriana_), now in Vienna. A handbook of _Agriculture_ (_De Re Rustica_) by Palladius, and the _Epitome of Military Science_ (_Epitoma Rei Militaris_) by Flavius Vegetius Renatus, who also wrote an extant treatise on _Veterinary Medicine_ (_Mulomedicina_), may properly be mentioned here, and these works possess also some slight literary interest. [136] In 369 A. D. Festus wrote a handbook similar to that of Eutropius, but of less merit. The list of prodigies that took place from 249 to 12 B. C., compiled by Julius Obsequens from an abridgment of Livy, probably belongs to about the same time. Since a large part of Livy’s history is lost, such works as these are of some value. [137] _De Bello Gildonico_, i, 21-25. [138] _De Reditu Suo_, i, 55-66. Translated by A. J. Church. INDEX [This index contains the names of all Latin authors mentioned in this book, and in addition the names of some historical personages. Reference is also made to a number of special topics. When several references are given, the chief reference to any author stands first. The titles of works are in Italics.] Accius (Lucius), 12; 13; 32; 43; 53; 236. Acilius (Gaius), 33; (Lucius), 37. Acro (Helvius), grammarian, 234. Ælius Aristides, Greek sophist, 240. Ælius Julius Cordus, 255. Ælius (P.), jurist, 37; (Sextus), jurist, 37. Æsop, 172; 276. Æsopus, actor, 66. _Ætna_, ascribed to Virgil, 141; 181; 188. Afranius, comic poet, 29; 43. African school of literature, 248; 257. Agrippa (M. Vipsanius), 99. Agrippina, 191; 177; 178.