Reference edition:

Grammatici Latini, VI. Scriptores artis metricae. Marius Victorinus, Maximus Victorinus, Caesius Bassus etc., ex recensione H. Keilii, Hildesheim 1961, 31-173 (reprografischer Nachdruck der Ausgabe Leipzig 1874).

The text of this metrical treatise, which can be ascribed to the first half of the IV century, is contained in three miscellaneous codices from the Carolingian period that probably date, according to Lindsay's position (p. 271), from a 5th-6th century oncial manuscript. The codices are as follows: 1) Vaticanus Palatinus Latinus 1753 (A), membranaceous, IX century, copied at the Benedictine monastery of St. Nazarius in Lorsch; later interventions by a corrector antiquus (A¹) and a corrector recentior (A²) are recognisable; 2) Parisinus Latinus 7539 (B), membranaceous, IX century, copied at the Benedictine monastery of Corbie; in it the section de re metrica is attributed in its entirety to Marius Victorinus; 3) Valentianus 395 ol. M. 6. 10 (V), membranaceous, IX century, copied at the monastery of Saint-Amande-les-Eaux, apograph of A, of which it completes a lacuna and offers the original text where it is corrected by A², having been copied after A¹ but before A². In the manuscript tradition, the treatise on metrics is preceded by the initial section of the Ars grammatica of Gaius Marius Victorinus; this section preserves the chapters de voce, de litteris, de orthographia, de syllabis, which is followed, after a lacuna of at least one folio ascribable to the archetype, by an extensive treatise on metrics in four books. Keil, while realising the difficulty (lacuna quam indicavi exciderunt quaedam, GLK 6, 31), chose to attribute the long section to Marius Victorinus, giving value to the subscriptio that closes Book I: MARII VICTORINI DE METRICIS DIDASCALICIS LIB. I EXPLICIT FELICITER; this choice made the first book of the work conspicuously thicker than the other three, and is based on the belief that the fusion of the two works was the result of a decision by Marius Victorinus. Instead, it is far more likely that the union of the two treatises, the grammatical one and the metrical one, was due to a mechanical failure in the transmission of the texts, probably the dropping of an undetermined number of sheets. The four books that make up the treatise can instead be attributed to Aelius Festus Aphthonius - a IV century grammarianus for whom the hypothesis of an African origin has been put forward, unsupported by certain data - on the basis of the subscriptio that closes the fourth book: AELII FESTI APTHONII (sic) V(IRI) P(ERFECTISSIMI) DE METRIS OMNIBUS EXPLIC. LIB. IIII. Since all books are preceded by an introductory section, the structuring into four books must be considered original. The usual title, based on the subscriptio, is de metris omnibus, but Morelli favours the title de metris, more in line with the tradition of earlier and contemporary treatises. The work is notable for the breadth of its treatment, as will be clear from the tituli of the various thematic sections, which are given below:

lib. I: DE ENVNTIATIONE LITTERARVM; DE SYLLABARVM NATVRA ET CONEXIONE; DE MENSVRA LONGARVM ET BREVIVM SYLLABARVM; DE ARSI ET THESI; DE RHYTHMO; DE METRIS; DE COLIS METRORVM; DE VERSV; DE POETICE; DE STROPHE ET ANTISTROPHE ET EPODO; DE METRORVM FINE SEV CLAVSVLA; DE EPIPLOCE ID EST METRORVM AMPLEXIONE; DE TOME SIVE INCISIONE VERSVVM; DE CONCVRSV ET COLLISIONE VOCALIVM; DE VITIIS VERSVVM.

lib. II: DE DACTYLICO METRO; DE ANAPAESTICO METRO; DE IAMBICO METRO; DE METRO TROCHAICO; DE METRO IONICO ΑΠΟ ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ; DE METRO IONICO ΑΠ’ΕΛΑΣΣΟΝΟΣ; DE PAEONICO METRO; DE METRO PROCELEVMATICO.

lib. III: DE CONIVNCTIS INTER SE ET MIXTIS METRIS PRAGMATICVS.

lib. IIII: DE CONEXIS INTER SE ATQVE INCONEXIS QVAE GRAECI ΑΣΥΝΑΡΤΗΤΑ VOCANT PRAGMATICVS; DE METRIS HORATIANIS. [D- Di Rienzo]