Macrobius

Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, commonly referred to as Macrobius, was a Roman who flourished during the early fifth century. He is primarily known for his writings, which include the Saturnalia, a compendium of ancient Roman religious and antiquarian lore, the Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis ("Commentary on the Dream of Scipio"), which was an important source for Platonism in the Latin West during the Middle Ages, and De differentiis et societatibus graeci latinique verbi ("On the differences and similarities of the Greek and Latin verb") which is now lost.

Name

The correct order of his names is "Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius", which is how it appears in the earliest manuscripts of the Saturnalia, and how he is addressed in the excerpts from his lost De differentiis. Only in later manuscripts were his names reversed as "Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius", which James Willis then adopted for his edition of the Commentary. Alan Cameron notes that Cassiodorus and Boethius both refer to him as "Macrobius Theodosius", while he was known during his lifetime as "Theodosius": the dedication to the De differentiis is addressed Theodosius Symmacho suo ("Theodosius to his Symmachus"), and by the dedicatory epistle to Avianus's Fables, where he is addressed as Theodosi optime.^[2]

Life and works

Macrobius presenting his work to his son Eustachius. From an 1100 copy of Macrobius' Dream of Scipio.

Little is known for certain about Macrobius, but there are many theories and speculations about him. He states at the beginning of his Saturnalia that he was born sub alio ortos caelo ("under foreign skies"), and both of his major works are dedicated to his son, Eustachius.^[3] His major works have led experts to assume that he was a pagan.

Which "foreign skies" Macrobius was born under has been the subject of much speculations. T. R. Glover considers Macrobius either an ethnic Greek, or born in one of the Greek-speaking parts of the Roman Empire, such as Egypt, due to his intimate knowledge of Greek literature. J. E. Sandys went further and argued that Macrobius was born in one of the Greek provinces. However other experts, beginning with Ludwig van Jan, point out that despite his familiarity with Greek literature Macrobius was far more familiar with Latin than Greek—as evidenced by his enthusiasm for Vergil and Cicero—and favor North Africa, which was part of the Latin-speaking portion of the Roman Empire.^[4]

Scholars have attempted to identify him with a Macrobius who is mentioned in the Codex Theodosianus as a praetorian prefect of Spain (399–400), and a proconsul of Africa (410).^[5] The Codex Theodosianus also records a praepositus (or lord chamberlain) named Macrobius in 422.^[6] A number of older authorities go as far as identify Macrobius the author with the first, and date his floruit to 399–410. There are objections to either identification: as Alan Cameron notes, the complete name of the first candidate is attested in an inscription to be "Flavius Macrobius Maximianus", while the second is excluded because "A praepositus must at this period have been a eunuch."^[7]

However, Macrobius is frequently referred to as vir clarissimus et inlustris, a title which was achieved by holding public office, we can reasonably expect his name to appear in the Codex Theodosianus. Further, Cameron points out that during his lifetime Macrobius was referred to as "Theodosius", and looking for that name Cameron found a Theodosius who was praetorian prefect of Italy in 430. "It is significant that the only surviving law addressed to this Theodosius sanctions a privilege for Africa Proconsularis on the basis of information received concerning Byzacena," Cameron notes.^[8]

Saturnalia

The most important of Macrobius' works is the Saturnalia, containing an account of the discussions held at the house of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus during the holiday of the Saturnalia. It contains a great variety of curious historical, mythological, critical, antiquarian and grammatical discussions. There is little attempt to give any dramatic character to the dialogue; in each book some one of the personages takes the leading part, and the remarks of the others serve only as occasions for calling forth fresh displays of erudition.

Works of Macrobius, ca. 1470. Book burned by the Germans during the Planned destruction of Warsaw.^[1]

The first book is devoted to an inquiry as to the origin of the Saturnalia and the festivals of Janus, which leads to a history and discussion of the Roman calendar, and to an attempt to derive all forms of worship from that of the Sun. The second book begins with a collection of bons mots, to which all present make their contributions, many of them being ascribed to Cicero and Augustus; a discussion of various pleasures, especially of the senses, then seems to have taken place, but almost the whole of this is lost. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth books are devoted to Virgil, dwelling respectively on his learning in religious matters, his rhetorical skill, his debt to Homer (with a comparison of the art of the two) and to other Greek writers, and the nature and extent of his borrowings from the earlier Latin poets. The latter part of the third book is taken up with a dissertation upon luxury and the sumptuary laws intended to check it, which is probably a dislocated portion of the second book. The seventh book consists largely of the discussion of various physiological questions.

The primary value of the work lies in the facts and opinions quoted from earlier writers. The form of the Saturnalia is copied from Plato's Symposium and Gellius's Noctes atticae; the chief authorities (whose names, however, are not quoted) are Gellius, Seneca the philosopher, Plutarch (Quaestiones conviviales), Athenaeus and the commentaries of Servius and others on Virgil.

Commentary on the "Dream of Scipio"

Macrobius is also the author of a commentary in two books on the Dream of Scipio narrated by Cicero at the end of his Republic. The nature of the dream, in which the elder Scipio appears to his (adopted) grandson, and describes the life of the good after death and the constitution of the universe from a Stoic and Neo-Platonic point of view, gave occasion for Macrobius to discourse upon the nature of the cosmos, transmitting much classical philosophy to the later Middle Ages. Of a third work On the Differences and Similarities of the Greek and Latin Verb, we only possess an abstract by a certain Johannes, doubtfully identified with Johannes Scotus Eriugena (9th century).

See editions by Ludwig von Jan (1848–1852, with a bibliography of previous editions, and commentary) and Franz Eyssenhardt (1893, Teubner text); on the sources of the Saturnalia see H. Linke (1880) and Georg Wissowa (1880). The grammatical treatise will be found in Jan's edition and Heinrich Keil's Grammatici latini; see also Georg Friedrich Schömann, Commentatio macrobiana (1871).

Gallery

Cicero's Dream of Scipio described the Earth as a globe of insignificant size in comparison to the remainder of the cosmos.^[9] Many early medieval manuscripts of Macrobius include maps of the Earth, including the antipodes, zonal maps showing the Ptolemaic climates derived from the concept of a spherical Earth and a diagram showing the Earth (labeled as globus terrae, the sphere of the Earth) at the center of the hierarchically ordered planetary spheres.^[10] (See also: flat Earth).

Images from a 12th-century manuscript of Macrobius's Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis (Parchment, 50 ff.; 23.9 × 14 cm; Southern France). Date: ca. 1150. Source: Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, ms. NKS 218 4°.

• 

  Initial E shaped in the form of a writing man, probably representing Macrobius himself.

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  The Universe, the Earth in the centre, surrounded by the seven planets within the zodiacal signs.

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  The five climes of the Earth. Frozen climes in yellow; Temperate climes in blue; Torrid clime in red.

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  Sketch map showing the inhabited northern region separated from the antipodes by an imagined ocean at the equator.

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  Diagram showing a lunar eclipse.

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  Diagram showing a solar eclipse.

Honours

A prominent lunar crater is named after Macrobius.^[11]

Macrobius Cove in Antarctica is named after Macrobius.

Notes

Editions and translations

• Robert A. Kaster (ed.), Macrobius: Saturnalia. Loeb classical library 510-512. Cambridge, MA/ London: Harvard University Press, 2011. 3 volumes.
• Percival Vaughan Davies (trans.), Macrobius: The Saturnalia. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.
• William Harris Stahl (trans.), Macrobius: Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952. (Second printing, with revisions, 1966)

Bibliography

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Macrobius

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius.

• Frateantonio, C., "Praetextatus – Verteidiger des römischen Glaubens? Zur gesellschaftlichen (Neu-)Inszenierung römischer Religion in Macrobius' Saturnalien," Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum, 11,2 (2007), 360–377.
• Kaster, R. (ed), Studies on the Text of Macrobius’s ‘Saturnalia’ (New York, 2010) (American Philological Association. American Classical Studies, 55).
• Cameron, A., The Last Pagans of Rome (Oxford, 2011).

See also

• Allegory in the Middle Ages
• Macrobius (crater) (named after him)

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Bibliography.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Iohannis (Scoti) defloratio de Macrobio.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Macrobii excerpta Bobiensa.

External links

• Macrobius: The Saturnalia, the Latin text of the critical edition edited by Ludwig von Jan (Gottfried Bass; Quedlinburg and Leipzig, 1852), web edition by Bill Thayer.
• Iohannis (Scoti) defloratio de Macrobio, a paraphrase of Macrobius' De uerborum Graeci et Latini differentiis uel societatibus
• Macrobii excerpta Bobiensa, some extracts from Macrobius' De uerborum Graeci et Latini differentiis uel societatibus
• Bibliography on Macrobius' grammatical work

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press