Macrobius' Saturnalia Book One

from notebooks for the benefit of his son.There are many references to a “reader,” but these are not necessarily incompatible with the dialogue; the occasional use of the second person singular may often be explained by assuming the speaker is addressing his host or his questioner. Nevertheless, in 1. 20. 6 and 16, and in 1. 23. 17, Macrobius seems to be addressing his son. Furthermore, the use of inserui (I inserted) in 5. 4. 4, transcribere (to transcribe) in 6. 2. 30, and the use by a Greek speaker of noster (our) in 5. 21. 7 and nos (us) in 5. 21. 17 can hardly be explained as anything other than slips.

Of these twelve characters, half are prominent members of the Roman nobility (1. 1. 1)—three of them (Praetextatus, Symmachus, and Flavianus) being leaders of the “anti-Christian Fronde”—and the remaining six are men of learning interested in the topics they discuss. However, although Sidonius could say in Gaul a hundred years later (Epistulae 8. 2) that culture was the sole criterion of nobility; and although, for the purpose of the dialogue, Macrobius refers to Flavianus and Eustathius as a par insigne amicitiae a distinguished pair of friends (1. 6. 4; cf. 1. 5. 13) and represents Praetextatus as having invited Eusebius to take the place of Postumianus (1. 6. 2), it may be doubted whether, in Rome, all of these remaining six would have been on such intimate terms with the others as the dialogue might suggest.Servius, as a grammarian; Eusebius, as a rhetorician; and Eustathius, as a philosopher, are introduced into the dialogue because much of the Saturnalia is taken up with these aspects of Vergil’s works, and the contents of the seventh book account for the inclusion of the physician Disarius. See Appendix A: Doctors and Dons.

Praetextatus

Vettius Agorius Praetextatus was a worthy representative of the last generation of paganism in the latter half of the fourth century. He is described by Ammianus Marcellinus as “a senator of noble character and old-time dignity,”Ammianus Marcellinus 22. 7. 6. Compare Symmachus, who, writing of Praetextatus, says: gaudia corporis ut caduca calcavit original: "He trampled upon the pleasures of the body as though they were fleeting." (Epistulae 10. 12. 2). and the same writer mentions the high distinction with which he discharged the office of Prefect of the City (367 A.D.). It was as Prefect of the City that he ended the bloody dispute between Damasus and Ursinus for the papacy by banishing the latter.Ammianus Marcellinus 27. 3. 12 and 9. 8-9.

Reference is made in the Saturnalia to his serenity and strength