Macrobius' Saturnalia Book One

(7. 4-5); why women rarely become drunk but old men readily (7. 6); why women feel the cold less than men (7. 7); what causes gray hair and baldness (7. 10), blushing and pallor (7. 11); why a ring is worn usually on the fourth finger of the left hand (7. 13); why fresh water is a better cleansing agent than sea water (7. 13); the nature of the nervous system (7. 9) and of vision (7. 14); which came first, the egg or the hen (7. 16); and some observations on the curative property of copper (7. 16). The abrupt ending of the book suggests that the conclusion of the work has been lost.43

THE VERGILIAN CRITICISM

The central topic in the Saturnalia is an appreciation of Vergil. A close acquaintance with the poet's works was part of the intellectual equipment of an educated Roman, and these works are discussed in three books (4, 5, and 6) and in certain chapters of two more (1 and 3) of the seven books of which the Saturnalia, as we have it, consists.

Suetonius in his Vita Vergili original: "Life of Vergil" (s.43) says that Vergil had never lacked hostile critics, adding (no doubt with the Homeromastix original: "Scourge of Homer" of Zoilus in mind) that this was not surprising, since Homer too had had his detractors. Thus Carvilius Pictor wrote an Aeneidomastix original: "Scourge of the Aeneid"; Vipsanius Agrippa censured Vergil as the inventor of a new kind of affectation in language (novae cacozeliae repertor original: "inventor of a new bad style"); and Herennius published a list of his Faults (Vitia), Perellius Faustus of his Thefts (Furta), and Octavius Avitus of his Resemblances (Ὁμοιότητες original: "Similarities"), i.e., passages in Vergil reminiscent of passages in the works of other authors. On the other hand, a Reply to the Detractors of Vergil was written by Asconius, and the poet may have had other friendly critics whose names have been lost. Since Vergil's poems, from the first, not only became a textbook for schools but also continued to supply teachers of grammar and rhetoric with material to illustrate their rules, these early critical.

43. It is noteworthy that the conversation in the Saturnalia never touches on contemporary politics.