De Aletris LiberHe was the author of
De Aletris Liber, dedicated to Maximus
and Simplicius. All that we know with regard to the writer is comprised in the brief notice
prefixed by himself to his work "Marius Plotius Sacerdos composui Romae docens de metris."
From the prooemium which follows we learn that this essay formed the third and concluding
book of a treatise upon grammar, the subject of the first book having been
De Institutis Artis Grammaticae, and of the second
De Nominum Verborumque Ratione nec non de Scripturarum
Compositionibus.Although we have no direct means of determining the period when Plotius flourished we are
led to infer from his style that he cannot be earlier than the fifth or sixth century.
Editions
The "Liber de Metris" was first published by Putschius in his "Grammnaticae Latinae
Auctores antiqui," 4to. Hannov. 1605. p. 2623-2663, from a MS. or MSS. belonging to
Andreas Schottus and Joannes a Wouwer. It will be found also in the
"Scriptores Latini Rei Metricae" of Gaisford, 8vo. Oxon. 1837. u. 242-302.
M. Claudii Sacerdotis Artium Grammaticarum Libri
DuoEndlicher published in his "Analecta Grammatica" from a MS. which once belonged to the
celebrated monastery of Bobbio a tract, entitled
M. Claudii Sacerdotis
Artium Grammaticarum Libri Duo, which he endeavoured to prove were in reality the
two books by Marius Plotius Sacerdos described above, but there is not sufficient evidence
to warrant this conclusion.