learned or entertaining features of Virgil’s life, knowl-
edge, and poetry. Virgil is esteemed by almost every
celebrant as a master of all knowledge; his Aeneid is
itself viewed as a kind of sacred poem deserving ad-
miration and understanding. Various topics are chosen
for discussion and debate during the gathering. On the
fi rst day, the men take up different Roman institutions
such as the Saturnalian feast itself, the calendar, and
religion; these subjects are followed, in the afternoon,
by striking sayings from antiquity and, later, topics
such as wine and pleasure (Books 1 and 2). On the
second day, they take up philosophical and astronomi-
cal topics and legal institutions, then commentary on
civilization, and fi nally the quality of different fruits
(Book 3). On the third and last day, there is discussion
of Virgil as an artist, and especially as a rhetorician
and a consummate imitator of Homer and other Greek
and Latin antecedents; this section includes extensive
quotations from, and cross-references to, Virgil’s three
masterpieces: the Aeneid, Bucolics, and Georgics
(Books 4, 5, and 6). The last book treats scientifi c and
medical matters. The Saturnalia therefore illustrates
what was of interest to educated, civilized Romans in
Macrobius’s time.
The Commentary on the Dream of Scipio survives
complete. Its two books contain extensive commentary
on scientifi c and philosophical topics suggested by
Cicero’s account of Scipio’s dream of his elevation to
the heavens after death. The most infl uential part of the
Commentary is found at the beginning. Here Macro-
bius discusses the uses of fables (narratio fabulosa) in
philosophical discourse and the distinction between true
and false dreams. Philosophical fables are allegories in
which the myth covers a truth about divinity, science,
or morality. Among the allegories are dreams, which
Macrobius classifi es as true or false prophecies (he
categorizes them according to mode). The most impor-
tant are enigmatic dreams that may be true (somnium)
or false (insomnium), as in wish-fulfi llment dreams or
nightmares. The visum shows the dreamer what will
actually happen, and the oraculum has someone tell
him or her of future events. However, if what is seen or
foretold in the dream is false, it is termed a visio. These
defi nitions serve as an introduction to Cicero’s text,
the fi ctional account of a dream. The commentary that
follows draws its abundant philosophical and scientifi c
information from Platonic cosmology.
The Saturnalia and the Commentary were widely
disseminated during the Middle Ages, although their
relative infl uence varied, if we can judge by the dates
and numbers of manuscripts that survive from differ-
ent periods. Both served as encyclopedic sources in
Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy and cosmogony.
The infl uence of the Commentary reached a high point
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, whereas the Sat-
urnalia came into its own in the late medieval period
and the Renaissance. This is not to say, however, that
both were not widely known and used in all periods.
In Italy, Macrobius infl uenced Boccacio, Petrarch, and
probably Dante, among others. Moreover, the discussion
in Saturnalia concerning Virgil’s art fi t medieval ideas
on literary composition and interpretation, especially
in the art of invention and rewriting of antecedent
sources. Such rewriting could be original. The way
Virgil is said to imitate and allude to his Greek and
Latin antecedents might well have infl uenced Dante’s
rewriting of his master Virgil in the Divine Comedy.
The representation of his universe might well have been
infl uenced by cosmogonies like that in Macrobius’s
Commentary.
See also Boccaccio, Giovanni; Dante Alighieri;
Petrarca, FrancescoFurther ReadingEditions and Translations
Macrobius. Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, trans. William
Harris Stahl. Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies,- New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
——. Commentarii in somnium Scipionis, ed. Jacob Willis.
Leipzig: Teubner, 1963a.
——. Saturnalia, ed. Jacob Willis. Leipzig: Teubner, 1963b.
——. I saturnali, ed. and trans. Nino Marinone. Classici Latini.
Turin: Unione Tipografi co-Edkrice Torinese, 1967.
——. The Saturnalia, trans. Percival Vaughan Davies. Records
of Civilization: Sources and Studies, 79. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1969.
Studies
Barker-Benfi eld, B. C., and P. K. Marshall. “Macrobius.” In Tex t s
and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics, ed. L. D.
Reynolds. Oxford: Clarendon, 1983, pp. 222–235.
De Paolis, Paolo. “Macrobio 1934–1984.” Lustrum, 28–29, 1986,
pp. 107–254.
——. “Addendum.” Lustrum, 30, 1988, pp. 7–9.
Dronke, Peter. Fabula: Explorations into the Uses of Myth in
Medieval Platonism. Mittellateinische Studien und Texte, 9.
Leiden, Cologne: Brill, 1974.
Hüttig, Albrecht. Macrobius im Mittelaker: Ein Beitrag zur
Rezeptionsgeschicbte der Commentarii in Somnium Scipi-
onis. Freiburger Beiträge zur Mittelaiterlichen Geschichte:
Studien und Texte, 2. Frankfurt, Bern, New York, and Paris:
Peter Lang, 1990.
Kelly, Douglas. The Conspiracy of Allusion: Description, Rewrit-
ing, and Authorship from Macrobius to Medieval Romance.
Studies in Christian Thought, 20. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
Maronine, Nino. “Macrobio.” Enciclopedia virgiliana, Vol. - Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italians, 1987, pp.
299–304.
Rabuse, Georg. “Macrobio, Ambrosio Teodosio.” Enciclopedia
dantesca. Vol. 3. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana,
1984, pp. 757–759.
Douglas Kelly
MACROBIUS