Commentary on the Dream of Scipio and the Saturnalia

...admit often and willingly, it must be explained through the stages of divisions. Fables—a name which indicates a profession of falsehood—were invented either merely for the sake of pleasing the ear, or for the purpose of encouraging moral improvement original: "in bonam frugem". Literally "into good fruit" or "harvest," a metaphor for a productive or virtuous life.. They soothe the hearing, just as comedies do, like those Menander A famous Greek dramatist known for "New Comedy" which focused on domestic life rather than politics. or his imitators produced for the stage; or plots filled with the fictional misfortunes of lovers, a style in which Petronius Arbiter The author of the "Satyricon." practiced much, or in which we are surprised to find Apuleius The author of "The Golden Ass." sometimes amused himself. Philosophy banishes this entire category of fables, which professes only to delight the ear, from its sanctuary to the cradles of nurses.

However, among those fables that encourage the reader’s intellect toward a certain appearance of virtue, a second distinction is made. For in some, the plot itself is based on fiction, and the sequence of the narrative is woven together through lies: such are those Aesopic fables, famous for the elegance of their fiction. But in others, the plot is founded on the solidity of truth, yet this truth itself is presented through composed and fictional elements. This type is no longer called a "fable," but a fabulous narrative narratio fabulosa: a story that uses a fictional outer shell to protect or convey a core of philosophical truth. Examples include the sacred ceremonies of Hesiod and Orpheus Legendary poets whose works dealt with the origins and genealogies of the gods., which tell of the ancestry or deeds of the gods, or the mystical teachings reported by the Pythagoreans Followers of Pythagoras who used symbols and allegories to hide their philosophical doctrines from the uninitiated..

Therefore, according to this second division we have mentioned, the first type—which is conceived of falsehood and told through falsehood—is foreign to books of philosophy. The latter type is further divided by another distinction. For when truth underlies the plot and only the narrative is "fabulous," there is more than one way to relate truths through fiction. Either the narrative is woven from things that are shameful and unworthy of the divine, or resemble monstrosities—such as gods committing adultery, or Saturn The Roman equivalent of the Greek Titan Cronus. cutting off the genitals of his father Caelus The Roman personification of the sky, equivalent to the Greek Uranus., and Saturn himself then being cast into chains by the son who seized his kingdom. This entire category philosophers prefer to ignore original: "nescire malunt" — literally "prefer not to know," suggesting they reject these crude or literal interpretations of myths as unworthy of serious thought.. Or, the understanding of sacred matters [is presented] under a pious fiction—