Macrobius' Saturnalia Book One

textatus and Symmachus, he was a staunch supporter of the old Roman religion and gave his life for it at the battle on the Frigidus (394 A.D.).“Nearly forty years after the battle on the Frigidus the Emperors Valentinian and Theodosius did justice to the virtues and distinction of Flavianus in a monument which is still extant” CIL VI, 1783; Dill. p. 20. For an account of the battle and a description of the terrain, see T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders (Oxford, 1885-99), I (2d ed.), 569ff. and Dudden, Life and Times of St. Ambrose, II, 429ff.

Macrobius says he surpassed even his father VenustusPerhaps the Vicar of Spain mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus (23. 1. 4 and 28. 1. 24). in the distinction of his character, the dignity of his life, and in the abundance and depth of his learning (1. 5. 13). In the proposed discussion on Vergil, he promises to speak of the poet’s knowledge of augural lawIn the anonymous Carmen contra paganos (Song against the pagans), the object of the attack (who, although not named, is generally supposed to be Flavianus) is called Etruscis semper amicus original: "always a friend to the Etruscans.". (1. 24. 17), but his contribution to that discussion—which probably formed part of the now incomplete third book—has not survived. He is referred to in the dialogue as a friend of Eustathius, another character (1. 6. 4), and in the seventh book, he counters certain remarks made by his friend about the natural properties of wine (7. 6).

The Albini

Of the two Albini, politely described by Praetextatus as by far the most learned men of the time (6. 1. 1), Caecina is a contemporary of Symmachus (1. 2. 15) and is thought by Jan to be the Albinus mentioned in the prologue as the father of the Decius who is represented there as asking Postumianus for an account of the symposium—an account which, Decius says, he could have had from his father had the latter not departed for Naples as soon as the holidays of the Saturnalia were over (1. 2. 2-3). He is identified by Dill and Glover with the Publilius Caeonius Albinus, the pontiff who had a Christian wife and of whom Jerome speaks with respect.Dill, p. 14; Glover, p. 171; Jerome Epistulae 107. 1.