Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius
A grammarian probably of Greek extraction, since he says in the preface to his
Saturnalia that Latin was to him a foreign tongue. He lived in the fourth
century A.D., and was probably a pagan. His extant works are:
1.
Saturnaliorum Conviviorum Libri VII., consisting of a series of discussions
on history, mythology, criticism, and various points of antiquarian research, supposed to
have been delivered during the holidays of the Saturnalia at the house of Vettius
Praetextatus, who was invested with the highest offices of State under Valentinian and
Valens. The form of the work is avowedly copied from the dialogues of Plato, especially the
Banquet: in substance it bears a strong resemblance to the
Noctes
Atticae of Gellius; and the material of it is drawn from a great variety of sources,
such as Suetonius, Seneca, Plutarch, and Athenaeus. The first book treats of the festivals of
Saturnus and Ianus, of the Roman calendar, etc. The second book commences with a collection
of bon mots, ascribed to the most celebrated wits of antiquity; to these are appended a
series of essays on matters connected with the pleasures of the table. The following four
books are devoted to criticisms on Vergil. (See
Vergilius.) The seventh book is of a more miscellaneous character than the preceding.
The
Saturnalia contains the first pagan mention of the Slaughter of the
Innocents at Bethlehem (ii. 4).
2.
Commenta-
rius ex Cicerone in Somnium Scipionis, a work in his book much studied
during the Middle Ages. The Dream of Scipio, contained in the sixth book of Cicero's
De Republica, is taken as a text, which suggests a succession of discourses
on the physical constitution of the universe, according to the views of the New Platonists,
together with notices of some of their peculiar tenets on mind as well as matter.
3.
De Differentiis et Societatibus Graeci Latinique Verbi, a treatise purely
grammatical, of which only an abridgment is extant, compiled by a certain Ioannes.
The best editions of the works of Macrobius are by Gronovius
(Leyden, 1670);
Jan
(Quedlinburg, 1848-52); Eyssenhardt
(Leipzig, 1868; rev. 1893).
There is no English version of Macrobius, but a French translation by De Rosoy appeared at
Paris in 1826.
